George Rawle (2 December 1889 – 12 June 1978) was an

Australian rules 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 ...

footballer who played for

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in the VFL during the 1920s. Rawle suffered a severe ankle injury as a boy, and the bone calloused, leading to a deformed foot. He tightly bandaged the injured foot, which enabled him to play.

Family

The son of Hubert Trevillian Rawle (1854–1921) and Annie Maria Rawle (née Basedahl; ?–1971), George Rawle was born at

North Melbourne, Victoria North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

, on 2 December 1889. He married Lillian Charlott Allan (1894–1962) in 1917. Their son, Keith, later became an Essendon premiership player.

Football

Rawle was 33 years old when he made his league debut with Essendon in 1923, making him the second-oldest player to debut in history, behind his teammate

Charlie Hardy Charles Hardy (1 April 1887 – 19 May 1968) was an Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) during the 1910s and Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 19 ...

. He was a late inclusion in the 1923 VFL Grand Final, becoming one of just four footballers in history to play in a premiership on debut after Essendon beat Fitzroy by 17 points. The following season, he was a part of the 1924 finals squad that earned another premiership without the need to play a

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 ...

. The reason many Essendon players started their VFL careers late was because the likes of Rawle, Hardy and Syd Barker had been with

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 ...

in the VFA and joined Essendon when North briefly disbanded in 1921. Rawle's case was slightly different, as he crossed to the VFA club Essendon (A), also sometimes called Essendon Town, (and no relation to the VFL Essendon), and returned to North Melbourne in 1922 as captain-coach before becoming coach of Essendon's seconds in 1923. His career at North Melbourne had begun in 1911 and he played in their 1914, 1915 and 1918 premierships. After he left Essendon, he returned to the VFA as captain-coach of

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

for their inaugural season.

Notes

References

External links

* *
George Rawle, at ''The VFA Project''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawle, George 1889 births 1978 deaths Australian people of Cornish descent Australian rules footballers from Melbourne North Melbourne Football Club (VFA) players Essendon Association Football Club players Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club premiership players Camberwell Football Club players Camberwell Football Club coaches VFL/AFL premiership players People from North Melbourne