Joe Pearce (footballer)
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Arthur Mueller "Joe" Pearce (28 January 1885 – 25 April 1915) 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 with
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
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). Throughout his life, he was always known as "Joe". He was a member of the First AIF, and was killed in action whilst landing at
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
,
Ottoman Turkey The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...
on 25 April 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign. His 152 League games became the most of any VFL player killed in World War I.


Family

The son of Arthur John Pearce, the headmaster of the Bendigo Grammar School, and Lena Margaret Pearce, née Mueller, he was born at Sandhurst (Bendigo) on 28 January 1885. He was educated at Bendigo Grammar School, and was employed in a well-paid position in the Australian Mutual Provident Society, firstly in Bendigo, and then in Melbourne. Once he had moved to Melbourne he became very involved in the community of the Anglican Holy Trinity Church, in East Melbourne; he was Church Treasurer, the Sunday School Superintendent, the Secretary of the
Church of England Men's Society Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian co ...
, and a member of the church choir. His cousin, Jack Mueller, played 216 senior VFL games for Melbourne from 1934 to 1950.


Footballer

Recruited from the
South Bendigo Football Club The South Bendigo Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Bloods'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the city of Bendigo, Victoria. The club teams currently compete in the Bendigo Football Netball League. History South ...
in 1904, he played as a strict amateur, and even refused to accept out of pocket expenses. He played his first senior game for Melbourne, aged 19, against Collingwood, at the MCG, on Saturday, 14 May 1904 (round two). Pearce played well in a Melbourne team that lost by 6 points to Collingwood. He played his last senior match for Melbourne against Essendon, on the MCG, on Saturday, 30 August 1913 (round eighteen). Essendon won by 10 points, 6.16 (52) to 6.6 (42), and Pearce was one of the best players in a losing team. A specialist full-back, Pearce was a regular player for Melbourne from 1904 to 1913, and was noted for "clear nghis goal with a dash which took the ball past the centre", playing 152 games, and represented Victoria at the
1908 Melbourne Carnival The 1908 Melbourne Carnival was the inaugural Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian football interstate competition, held in Melbourne in August 1908. It was known at the time as the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival because i ...
. In 1922, champion full-forward
Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Lee was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle arts award, for music in 2005. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan fathe ...
, who played for Collingwood from 1906 to 1922, told a reporter that he thought that Pearce was, by far, the best full-back of his day; and only matched in that time (1922) by the current Richmond full-back
Vic Thorp Victor Charles Thorp (25 October 1890 – 1 October 1941) was an Australian rules footballer for the Richmond Football Club in the VFL/AFL, Victorian Football League between 1910 and 1925. Nicknamed "Flippa", Thorp was the first true champion ...
.


Sportsman

He played sub-district cricket with Coburg, and also played with the Melbourne Cricket Club's Club XI's. He was also good at lawn tennis, and at lacrosse.


Soldier

Leaving his lucrative employment as a clerk with the Australian Mutual Provident Society, he enlisted in the First AIF on 17 August 1914 (he was the eighth man to enlist at Essendon on day one); he was immediate given the rank of Lance-Corporal, and was promoted to Corporal on 6 April 1915.


Death

He was killed in action with the 7th Battalion, whilst taking part in the landings at
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
,
Ottoman Turkey The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...
on 25 April 1915. He was shot before his boat could reach the beach. In May 1919, an unidentified former Melbourne footballer, wrote to the football correspondent of ''The Argus'' as follows: ::"In 1914 the Melbourne football team, after its junction with the University, was a fine team, and succeeded in reaching the semi-finals.
Out of this combination the following players enlisted and served at the front:—
C. Lilley (seriously wounded), J. Hassett, H. Tomkins (severely wounded), J. Evans (seriously wounded), W. Hendrie, R. L. Park, J. Doubleday (died), A. Best, C. Burge (killed), C. (viz., A.) Williamson (killed), J. Brake, R. Lowell, E. Parsons (seriously wounded), A. M. Pearce (killed), F. Lugton (killed), A. George, C. Armstrong, P. Rodriguez (killed), J. Cannole (viz., Connole), A. Fraser (seriously wounded),
T. Collins T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the English alphabet. T may also refer to: Codes and units * T, Tera- as in one trillion * T, the symbol for "True" in logic * T, the usual symbol for period, the reciprocal of frequency * T, the symbol ...
.
These are all players of note, and in themselves would have formed a very fine side, but there is only one of them playing at the present time, viz., C. Lilley, who, as a matter of fact, takes the field under some disability owing to severe wounds which he received on service." – ''The Argus'', 16 May 1919.


Remembered

He was buried at No 2 Outpost Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey (one and a half miles from where he first landed), and his name is located name is located at panel 51 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial. A bronze memorial plaque was erected at the Holy Trinity Church, East Melbourne. On Saturday, 12 June 1915, playing against Essendon (in round eight), "the Melbourne players wore black armbands, as a token of respect for a former comrade, Lance-Corporal Pearce, a well-known back man of a few seasons ago, who was killed in action at the Dardanelles". As a devoted church-man, Joe Pearce would have been pleased to know that he was the subject of a sermon, "Football, the Game and the Barracker", delivered by Rev. Ernest George Petherick (1879–1950) at the Horsham Presbyterian Church on Sunday, 12 September 1926. His sister Ethel, and a "F.W. Hastings" each inserted an "In Memoriam" notice in the newspaper, every year, at least until 1956.In Memoriam: On Active Service: Pearce, ''The Argus'', (Wednesday, 25 April 1956), p.11.
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See also

* List of Australian military personnel killed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 *
List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service Since the inception of the Australian Football League#VFL era (1897–1989), Victorian Football League in 1897, many of its players have served in the armed services, including Second Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, World War I, World War II, t ...
*
1908 Melbourne Carnival The 1908 Melbourne Carnival was the inaugural Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian football interstate competition, held in Melbourne in August 1908. It was known at the time as the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival because i ...


Notes

East Fremantle East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...
's "Hooky" Doig, a member of that famous football family, played 225 games for Old Easts – sixteen more than Thomas – between 1899 and 1912 before being killed in World War I at the age of forty.


References

;General * Main, J. & Allen, D., "Pearce, Joe", pp. 144–146 in Main, J. & Allen, D., ''Fallen – The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War'', Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002. *
Australian War Memorial: Red Cross Wounded and Missing Records: 418 Corporal Arthur Mueller Pearce

Australian Losses: 37th Casualty List: Killed in Action: Victoria (Cpl. Pearce, A. M., 7th Batt., Bendigo), ''The Argus'', (Monday 14 June 1915), p.6.

Personal Particulars: Corporal A. M. Pearce, ''The Argus'', (Monday 14 June 1915), p.6.

Bendigo and District, ''The Argus'', (Monday, 21 June 1915), p.10.

World War I Service Record: Arthur Mueller Pearce (418)

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour: Arthur Mueller Pearce (418)

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour "Circular": Arthur Mueller Pearce (418)

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty Details: Pearce, Arthur Muellar (sic)

Story of Rembrance: Corporal Arthur 'Joe' Pearce, Australian Imperial Force, Army, First World War (1914-18), ''Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance''.

Batchelder, A., "Melbourne Cricket Club Roll of Honour 1914-1918", Melbourne Cricket Club Library, 1998: No.106. Corporal Arthur Mueller Pearce (p.20)

In Memoriam: Roll of Honour – On Active Service: Pearce, ''The Argus'', (Wednesday, 25 April 1956), p.11.


External links

*
Demonwiki Profile: Joe Pearce
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Joe 1885 births 1915 deaths Melbourne Football Club players South Bendigo Football Club players Australian military personnel killed in World War I Australian Army soldiers Australian rules footballers from Bendigo Military personnel from Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportsmen