2014 Round 20, Half time.

24th July Birthdays.

 

Mark Bairstow '63, John Blakey '66, Ern Henfrey '21, Steven Koops '78,
Peter Walsh '76.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Grant Tanner, born 24th July 1970.

Originally from Norwood in the SANFL, Grant was listed at one time with Adelaide but played all his senior AFL football at Geelong. 

Playing his first game of 69 in 1994 he was at the club until 1997 and kicked 28 goals. 

Though there was not much of him he was a good tackler and moved around the ground well.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

Simon Beasley – Coleman Medalist.

Before Simon crossed the Nullarbor to take up his role with Footscray he had already shown his ability in front of goals with Swan Districts.  He kicked 291 goals in 80 games for the club and was the WAFL top goal scorer on at least one occasion.

Continuing his great form with the Bulldogs, he topped their goal kicking from 1982 to 1987 and won the Coleman medal in 1985 with 105 goals for the season.

Three times he kicked 12 goals in a match and also kicked 11 and 10 in two other games.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

 

THE GREAT GAME SPREADS ACROSS THE LAND.

When you have something as great as ‘Aussie Rules’ you want other people to know about it and so it should have been no surprise that it spread to the other colonies.  Some of course accepted it as their main game while in NSW and Queensland rugby remained stronger.

Tasmania was actually the first outside Victoria to start playing 'football', though it was not a formal competition with 'Victorian' rules until the mid 1860’s. However, by the mid 1870’s it was flourishing.  It is interesting that, though Tasmania is the smallest state, they actually had Northern and Southern associations.

South Australia really took to the game and have been playing since about 1860, with 13 clubs in their association when it was formed in 1877.

It is recorded that Ipswich and Brisbane Grammar schools had been playing games under ‘Victorian rules’ since about 1870 but the Queensland football association was actually established in 1880.

The New South Wales football association was also established in 1880, but of course it was more low-key than in other states.  When the Victorians were trying to expand the game they sent a team to Sydney for a game that was played by Australian rules for one half and Rugby rules for the other half.  Quite expectedly the players for the individual codes played well in their half and struggled when playing an unfamiliar game.

It took a little longer for the news to reach Western Australia with them first playing in the early 1880’s and their association starting in 1885 with only 3 or 4 teams.

The first recorded game in the Northern Territory was in 1916, though it is now believed that they have more players per capita in the national league than any other state.

Source: A National Game and More Than A Game.
 

Shane and Ty Zantuck.

Shane Zantuck played football for 3 clubs. Starting his career at North Melbourne , he represented them in only 5 games in 3 seasons (1974-1976) and averaged 1 goal per season.

Moving to South Melbourne in 1977, he was there until 1980 and was in 56 games for 36 goals.

His third club was Melbourne where he played 88 games for 13 goals, mainly due to the fact that he was on the wing early but was used as a strong back pocket later on. He was with the Demons from 1981-1986.

Ty Zantuck is Shanes son but didn’t play for any of the clubs his father had.

Joining Richmond in 2000 he played 68 games for 20 goals.  Like his father he had pace, which he used to full advantage, and in 2002 and 2003 he played in every match.

2004 was not so good and in 2005 he crossed to Essendon where he played 9 games in his 1 year with the club.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.