Michael John Grace (24 July 187421 May 1912) 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 the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

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 ...

and

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

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).

Family

The son of Thomas Grace, and Julia Grace, née O'Callaghan, Michael John Grace was born in Burnley, Victoria on 24 July 1874. He was the brother of Fitzroy footballers Jim Grace and Joe Grace. He married Martha Drew in 1903.

Football

Mick Grace was a follower/forward who started his career at the top level in the VFA in 1895 with Fitzroy, joining his older brother Jim. Grace was part of Fitzroy's premiership team in that season (although no Grand Final was played in the VFA at the time). In

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

, Fitzroy was one of the eight clubs to form the VFL as a breakaway competition from the VFA, and in

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

and

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

, Grace was part of back-to-back VFL premierships with the Maroons. He was regarded as the best player on the ground in the 1898 Grand Final. Grace was part of the Maroons' 1900 losing premiership side, then retired from playing.Blueseum Profile. In

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 10 – The Aceh Sultanate was fully annexed by the Dutch forces, deposing the last sultan, marking the end of the Aceh War that have lasted for al ...

, influential coach

Jack Worrall John Worrall (20 June 1861 – 17 November 1937) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football Association, VFA, and a Test cricket, Test cricketer. He was also a prominent coach in ...

persuaded Grace to return to the VFL for Carlton. Grace played for Carlton between 1903 and

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

. He won a further two VFL premierships with Carlton (in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

), and in

he kicked 50 goals in a single season, the first VFL player ever to do so. Grace retired from the VFL again halfway through the 1907 season, and was set to play for

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

in the VFA for the remainder of the season, before Worrall convinced him to return to Carlton for the successful finals campaign. Grace left Carlton again at the end of the 1907 season, and moved to St Kilda where he played 16 games in

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

. Altogether throughout his career in Victoria, Grace won five premierships (three with Fitzroy, and two with Carlton). Grace also played four state games for Victoria.

Coach

Grace had a brief coaching career, serving as St Kilda's coach in 1908 while playing and as coach of University in 1910, and later coaching in Sydney.

Cricket

Grace was also a leading junior

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, representing the Combined Victorian Juniors against the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) side during MCCs 1903/04 tour.

Death

He had been suffering from tuberculosis for some time. He died of tuberculosis, at Heidelberg, on 21 May 1912.Death of a Famous Footballer, ''The Barrier Miner'', (Monday, 27 May 1912), p.4.
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Footnotes

References

* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2014). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.)'', (Melbourne), Bas Publishing.
Pennings, Mark (2016), ''Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's early History: Volume 4: Tough Times: Victorian Football loses its Way, 1891 to 1896'', Brunswick, Victoria: Grumpy Monks Publishing.

External links

* *
Mick Grace
at Blueseum {{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Mick 1874 births 1912 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club premiership players Fitzroy Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club premiership players St Kilda Football Club players St Kilda Football Club coaches Mitchell Medal winners VFL Leading Goalkicker Medal winners Fitzroy Football Club (VFA) players 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Australia Infectious disease deaths in Victoria (state) VFL/AFL premiership players People from Burnley, Victoria