George William Hawkins (7 December 1908 – 20 July 1979) 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

Prahran Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...

in the

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). Hawkins was a full-forward and centre half-forward for Prahran during the 1930s. He began his senior career in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

, and became a prolific goalkicker during the era. He scored his first century of goals in the 1934 season, kicking 107 goals. He was a premiership player with Prahran in 1937, and kicked six goals in that season's Grand Final. In 1939, Hawkins kicked a new Association record of 164 goals and was the VFA leading goalkicker for the only time in his career; his record surpassed Western Australian

George Doig George Ronald Doig (25 May 1913 – 27 November 2006) was an Australian rules footballer who played for and later coached the East Fremantle Football Club in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). A member of the Doig sporting ...

's national senior record of 152 goals, although Hawkins' claim to the record was disputed because the VFA, having introduced the throw-pass rule in 1938, was no longer considered to be playing the national code. Hawkins retired during the 1940 season due to ongoing difficulties with an ankle injury; at this stage, he had a career total of 596 goals. But, he returned to play in September that same year, and was still with the club in 1946, leading the club as captain its Association rules exhibition match in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

following that season. After he retired altogether, he had played a total of 151 games and kicked 657 goals for Prahran. Hawkins also played cricket in summer during his career. He played one first-class match for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

against

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

in Launceston in 1933/34, and played 59 district cricket matches for the

Prahran Cricket Club The Prahran Cricket Club is an Australian cricket club based in Prahran, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. They play in Victorian Premier Cricket, the highest competition in the state. The club was originally known as Hawksburn Cricket ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, George 1908 births Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Prahran Football Club players Victoria cricketers Cricketers from Melbourne 1979 deaths People from Brunswick, Victoria

See also

References