Geoffrey William Ainsworth (27 May 1946 – 2 February 2011) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

History

The son of a local lawyer, William Charles Ainsworth, Geoff matriculated to the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 1965, where he was resident at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. He represented the college in tennis, athletics, cricket and football, and also played football with the

University Blues Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. Founded in 1859, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the world. The club fields two teams, kno ...

, where he was noticed by the senior teams. Ainsworth played in jersey no. 25 with Geelong, who used him as a defender in the

back pocket Vulfpeck is an American funk/soul music, soul band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2011. Founded by multi-instrumentalists Jack Stratton, Theo Katzman, Woody Goss, and bassist Joe Dart, the band has released four extended plays, six studio a ...

over the course of his eight-season career. He was a member of Geelong's losing 1967 VFL Grand Final side in his first year at the club. After missing all but one game of the 1971 season as he was travelling in Europe, Ainsworth went on to become club captain in 1973. He lost the captaincy role the following season and retired, aged only 28, at the end of the year in order to concentrate on his legal career. During his career Ainsworth had polled a total of five

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

votes. In 1976 he was made a life member of the Geelong Football Club. Ainsworth died on 2 February 2011.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club captains People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) University Blues Football Club players 1946 births 2011 deaths Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub