Albert Thurgood
Encyclopedia
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
er in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Western Australian Football Association
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
(WAFA).
He is considered to be the first champion player of the VFL, winning the Champion of the Colony
Champion Of The Colony
The Champion of the Colony award refers to a list that was most likely compiled in the late 1940s by Australian football historian C.C. Mullen for the publications "Mullen's Footballers' Australian Almanac 1950", and 1951, plus a History of Australian rules football he wrote in about 1958...
award three times. He usually played at centre-half-forward, but his versatility enabled him to be switched to any position on the ground.
Early life
Born on 11 January 1874 at Errol Street, North Melbourne, to John Thurgood, a builder and Amelia, née Buckland. After his education at Brighton Grammar SchoolBrighton Grammar School
Brighton Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day school for boys, located in Brighton, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
, he joined the Essendon Football Club
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).
VFA
Thurgood played for Essendon in the VFA (1892–94) during its run of four successive premierships (1891–94).At six feet tall (182 cm) and twelve stone (76.2 kg), Thurgood possessed qualities that made him a versatile key position
Key position
In the sport of Australian rules football, a "key position" refers to positions on the ground that are considered vital to the structure of a team.Key position players make up what is known as the "spine" of a team...
player: he was extraordinarily fast, a superb mark
Mark (Australian football)
A mark is a skill in Australian rules football where a player cleanly catches a kicked ball that has travelled more than 15 metres without anyone else touching it or the ball hitting the ground....
, and very nimble and agile.
His greatest asset was his kicking.
Usually playing at centre half-forward
Centre half-forward
In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a Centre-Half-Back....
, he could regularly punt-kick over 80 yards (73.1 m) and drop-kick over 90 yards (82.3 m).
One slightly wind assisted place kick
Place kick
The place kick is a kicking style commonly used in rugby league and rugby union. It is also seen in Association football, American football and Canadian football.-American and Canadian football:...
by Thurgood, measured at practice at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground
East Melbourne Cricket Ground
The East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a sports venue located at the corner of Wellington Parade and Jolimont Parade, in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
on 22 June 1899, travelled 107 yds 2 ft 1in (98.48 m); another, measured at practice at the same venue on 27 August 1901, that was not wind assisted, travelled 101 yds (92.35 m). In an actual match, Essendon vs. Carlton
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in August 1893, he kicked a place-kick that travelled 104 yds 2 ft (95.71 m).
During an era of low scoring games, he became the first player to kick more than 60 goals in a season (1893, and again in 1894) and in a game against Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
in 1893 scored twelve of the Essendon's fourteen goals.
Although records of the time are somewhat unreliable, it is believed that he played a total of 163 VFA games for Essendon and kicked 625 goals.
Western Australia
In 1895 he left Essendon to seek work in Western AustraliaWestern Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and played for the original Fremantle Football Club (not connected to the current club
Fremantle Football Club
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed The Dockers, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...
of the same name) in the Western Australian Football Association
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
(WAFA). During his stint there he topped the WAFA goal kicking list on three consecutive occasions between 1895 and 1897, helping the side lift premierships in the first two of those years.
VFL
He returned to Essendon in 1898 in the newly formed Victorian Football League (VFL later AFL) heading the goalkicking list in 1900 (25) and 1902 (33). While contemporaries noted that Thurgood was slower, heavier and less keen, he produced his finest performance in the 1901 VFL Grand Final1901 VFL Grand Final
The 1901 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Lake Oval in Melbourne on 7 September 1901. It was the 4th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for...
against arch-rival Collingwood
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
when he kicked three of the side's six goals and was a major contributor to Essendon's victory. The same year he was voted Champion of the Colony
Champion Of The Colony
The Champion of the Colony award refers to a list that was most likely compiled in the late 1940s by Australian football historian C.C. Mullen for the publications "Mullen's Footballers' Australian Almanac 1950", and 1951, plus a History of Australian rules football he wrote in about 1958...
for the third time and also won Essendon's best and fairest
Best and Fairest
Best and Fairest is the term commonly used in Australian sport to describe the player adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition while not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season.In the...
award.
In 1902 there were widespread allegations that he had 'laid down' against Collingwood in the challenge final, which Essendon lost by the heavy margin for the time of 33 points. In disgust, Thurgood demanded, and was refused, a clearance to the Magpies, whereupon he decided to retire. He was tempted back to Essendon four years later, but after playing eight games he was forced to retire permanently when he sustained a serious ankle injury
Australian rules football injuries
Australian rules football is a sport known for its high level of physical body contact compared to other sports such as soccer and basketball. High impact collisions can occur from any direction, although deliberate collisions from front-on...
.
Personal life
Thurgood married Ida Alma Mary Thomas at Fairfield on 26 April 1899.He was a better than average cricketer and golfer. After his retirement from football Thurgood became active in horse-racing, for some years as a bookmaker and subsequently as an owner. He ran a number of successful horses, including Amazonia which won the Bagot Handicap in 1921 and was placed third in the Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
that year.
Thurgood died in 1927 as the result of a car accident and was buried with Anglican rites in Brighton Cemetery
Brighton Cemetery
Brighton Cemetery is located in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South, Victoria, but takes its name from Brighton, Victoria.The Cemetery pre-dates the Caulfield Roads Board - the first official recognition of the suburb of Caulfield. Opened in 1855 it became, together with St. Kilda Cemetery, an...
. His wife and two daughters survived him.
In 1996 Thurgood was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame
The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...
. He was named in the Essendon Team of the Century which was selected in their VFL/AFL centenary year of 1997. In 2004 he was inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame.
He is also a relative of former Hawthorn player Josh Thurgood
Josh Thurgood
Josh Thurgood is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.Drafted onto the Hawthorn Football Club's Rookie List for the 2004 season, Thurgood suffered a serious knee injury in Round 2 of the VFL season playing for the Box Hill Hawks...
. Albert is Josh's Great, Great Uncle.
Career highlights
Playing career:- Essendon (VFA) 1892–94 (Games: 163; Goals: 625)
- Essendon (VFL) 1899–1902, 1906 (Games: 46; Goals: 89)
- Fremantle (WAFA) 1895–1898 (Games: 48; Goals: 128)
Player honors:
- VFL Leading goalkicker 1900 – 25 goals (equal)
- Essendon Best and Fairest 1901
- Essendon leading goalkicker 1900, 1902
- "Champion of the Colony" 1893, 1894, 1901
- WAFA Leading goalkicker 1895, 1896, 1897
- Essendon "Team of the Century" (1997)
External links
- Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Full Points Footy Bio
- AFL: Hall of Fame
- Albert John 'The Great' Thurgood (1874–1927) Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic)