Raymond Arthur Allsopp (20 December 1933 – 20 October 2021) was an
Australian rules football player who played for the
Richmond Football Club in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...
(VFL) from 1955 to 1959. Allsopp played as a rover and was known for reading the ball well off packs. Allsopp represented
Victoria in 1957. The 1957 season was Allsopp's best in his VFL career—he kicked a career-high 35 goals and polled six
Brownlow Medal
The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...
votes. He finished his career having played 54 games and having kicked 69 goals.
He went on to become the first full-time administrator in the VFL and was charged with developing Vickick, a junior football program, now known as
Auskick
Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian rules football (AFL) to boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective pr ...
. The Victorian Australian Football Coaches Association (AFCA) annually recognises his contribution to junior football through the ''Ray Allsopp Auskick Coach of the Year'' award.
He was given an AFL Life Membership for administration in 2010 and the
Medal of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
in 2017 for his service to sport.
See also
*
Australian football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Australian rules football was one of two demonstration sports at the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stipulated that each Summer Olympics host must organise both a "national" game and a sport ...
References
1933 births
2021 deaths
Richmond Football Club players
University Blacks Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
Australian footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
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