George Mervyn Dougherty (9 December 1913 – 21 November 1991) 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 for four clubs 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) from

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

Family

The son of Cahir Dougherty (1878-1958), and Helen Mary "Nellie" Dougherty (1885-1951), née Smeaton, George Mervyn Dougherty was born at Beulah, Victoria on 9 December 1913. His brother, Noel Dougherty (1916-), tried out with Carlton (in 1933), Fitzroy (in 1935), and Geelong (in 1937), and another brother, Lyle Dougherty (1926-2015), tried out with South Melbourne (in 1950). He married Verlie Norma Clifford (1921-1991) in 1941.

Football

Carlton (VFL)

A ruckman who also played up forward, recruited from the Beulah Football Club in the Southern Mallee Football League, Dougherty started his VFL career with

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

Geelong (VFL)

After two and a half seasons with Carlton, he transferred to

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 exchange for Bill Kuhlken, who went to Carlton) where he would play his best football. Dougherty was a key member of Geelong's

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

premiership winning side, kicking 38 goals for the year and was the starting ruckman in their

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

win over Collingwood. In

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

he polled well in the

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 ...

, finishing equal seventh.

Footscray (VFL)

Dougherty moved to Footscray in

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

, when Geelong were unable to compete in the 1942 and 1943 VFL competitions, due to wartime restrictions on travel.

Geelong (VFL)

He returned to Geelong in 1944, when the team resumesd its place in the VFL competition, due to the earlier travel restrictions being relaxed.

South Melbourne (VFL)

Dougherty spent a year at

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

in the 1945 season, before retiring due to the broken ankle he sustained when playing against Hawthorn in the last home-and-away match of the 1945 season.

Death

He died at

, Victoria, on 21 November 1991.''findagrave.com''.

Notes

References

George Mervyn Dougherty, at ''findagrave.com''.

External links

* *
George Dougherty, at ''Blueseum''.
1913 births Carlton Football Club players Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club premiership players Sydney Swans players Western Bulldogs players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1991 deaths VFL/AFL premiership players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1913-stub