Nikolas Gelavis (born 15 June 1929) is a former
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
Footscray 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 Johannes "John" Gelavis (1898-1947), and Stavroula Gelavis (1908-2005), née Sarinas,
Nikolas Gelavis was born in
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...
on 15 June 1929.
Football
Subiaco (WAFL)
Gelavis began his senior career with
Subiaco in the
West Australian Football League (WAFL) and played from 1949 to 1951.
South Melbourne (VFL)
He was cleared from Subiaco to South Melbourne in 1952, and made his senior VFL debut in 1953.
Footscray (VFL)
Having not played a senior game for South Melbourne that season, Gelavis was cleared to Footscray on 12 June 1954. He played his first match for the Footscray First XVIII, against St Kilda, on 10 July 1954.
Sandringham (VFA)
In 1955 Gelavis moved to Sandringham 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 ...
.
Devonport (NWFU)
A mid-season job as a radio announcer in Tasmania led to Gelavis being given a clearance from Sandringham to
Devonport in the
North West Football Union
The North West Football Union (NWFU) was an Australian rules football competition which ran from 1910 to 1986 on the North West Tasmania, north-western coast of Tasmania. In its time it was one of the three main leagues in Tasmania, with the Tas ...
(NWFU) competition.
On 12 May 1956 Gelavis represented the NWFU in an intrastate match against the
Northern Tasmanian Football Association and was named among the best players.
[''NWFU Record'', 12 May 1956. annotated copy in QVMAG collection CHS 4 (Jack Donnelly)]
Notes
References
*
Gordon, Harry, "Migrant Sports Stars Among Our Top-Liners", ''The Good Neighbour'', No.45, (October 1957), Department of Immigration, (Canberra), pp.4-5 the article includes a photograph of Nick Gelavis, the captain of a team from Perth's Hellenic Club, that played an Australian Rules Football match, in Melbourne, against a team from Melbourne's Olympic Club (alongside the Olympic Club's captain,
Peter Kanis).]
External links
*
*
*
Nick Gelavis, ''The VFA Project''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelavis, Nick
Living people
1929 births
Australian people of Greek descent
Sportspeople of Greek descent
Sydney Swans players
Western Bulldogs players
Subiaco Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Kalgoorlie
20th-century Australian sportsmen