Thomas Charles Calder (17 December 1917 – 23 June 1997) 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 with

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

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). He is a member of the Queensland Football Hall of Fame. Although born in Victoria, Calder played his early football in Tasmania and started his senior career at

North Hobart North Hobart is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. As its name suggests, it lies directly north of the Hobart City Centre. The main street of North Hobart is Elizabeth Street, which extends northward from the Elizabeth Stre ...

in 1935. While with North Hobart, Calder suffered a serious on-field injury and had a

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

removed. A centre-half back, he made his way to Queensland Australian National Football League club Ascot in 1940 and joined the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

in the same year, serving as a pilot during the war. Calder was posted at

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 1945 and was joined VFL club South Melbourne, with whom he would make five successive appearances from round 14. Although the club went on to make the grand final, Calder wasn't selected in any finals fixtures. When Calder returned to the QANFL in 1946, it was with Mayne, but after just one season he crossed to

Coorparoo Coorparoo ( ) is a suburb in the inner City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 18,132 people. Geography Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Ston ...

as captain-coach. He represented Queensland at interstate football regularly post war, until 1953, including matches in the 1947 Hobart and 1950 Brisbane Carnivals. In 1948 he was captain-coach of Queensland and had his most successful season with Coorparoo, winning the league's

Grogan Medal The J.A. Grogan Medal, commonly known as the Grogan Medal, is an Australian rules football award given to the best and fairest player in home and away rounds of each season's QAFL/Queensland State League competition. From 2011 to 2013 it was awa ...

. Calder won the award once more in 1950 and after retiring continued his involvement in Queensland football as an administrator.

References

External links

Mention of Tom Calder's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calder, Tom 1917 births 1997 deaths Sydney Swans players Australian rules footballers from Tasmania North Hobart Football Club players Mayne Australian Football Club players Coorparoo Football Club players Australian World War II pilots Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century Australian sportsmen