Geoffrey Mervyn "Tex" Rosenow (1 February 1942 – 25 March 1999) 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 1960s. Rosenow missed out on playing in Geelong's 1963 premiership team despite appearing in most of their home and away fixtures but played in their losing 1967 Grand Final. He became a regular member of the side towards the end of his career and from

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

until late in the

1970 VFL season The 1970 VFL season was the 74th season of the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, and ran from ...

Rosenow played exactly 100 consecutive games. He ran out as Geelong captain versus Fitzroy in the first match at

Waverley Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) is an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. The first venue to be designed and built specifically for Australian Rules football, for most of its history, its pu ...

in 1970 as it was his 100th game. Rosenow was used mostly as a ruckman and defender. He was a strong marker of the ball and did not shy away from physical confrontation, as demonstrated by a famous incident in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. The incident occurred in a game against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria, South Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major Australian Football League, AFL stadium, a seco ...

when he allegedly 'king-hit' North Melbourne coach Alan Killigrew in the players race which caused a brawl. No charges were laid against him. After leaving Geelong Rosenow became playing coach of the Wangaratta Football Club from 1971 to 1974 and won their

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award in 1973 and was runner up in the 1973

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...

best and fairest award, the Morris Medal. He joined

Victorian Football Association 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 ...

(VFA) club Mordialloc in 1975 as captain-coach, steering them to the second division premiership two years later. He served in that role from 1975 until 1978. In 1979, Rosenow was appointed playing coach of GVFL club Rochester. In 1980 he took the team to its first GVFL finals campaign where it was dismissed in "straight sets". He continued coaching Rochester until 1982. Rosenow returned to Mordialloc as coach from 1983 until 1984. In 1984, Rosenow coached the VFA Division 2 team in a win against the SAFA. He was named captain of the Mordialloc Team of the Century and positioned in the back pocket. Rosenow returned to Rochester in 1987, and the team played finals in 1988 but was again knocked out in straight sets. A police officer, Rosenow died in 1999 and was posthumously inducted into the

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...

sporting hall of fame.

References

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

External links

*
Geoff 1942 births
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)">{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenow," target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="Geoff Geoff 1942 births
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Football Club players">1942 births">Geoff 1942 births
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Football Club players Mordialloc Football Club players Wangaratta Football Club players Echuca Football Club players Mordialloc Football Club coaches 1999 deaths