He was also an outstanding cricketer in his youth and received many offers to play in England, but preferred to stay in Melbourne over the Australian winter and play football for Carlton.
Gallagher played 34 first eleven games of Melbourne District cricket for the Carlton Cricket Club between 1966 and 1971.[1]
Football
Widely known as "Gags", he also went by the nickname "Golly" before he started to lose his mop of curly hair.
Carlton (under 19s)
Best and fairest player for the Carlton Under 19 team in 1963,[2] he kicked one goal in the team's Grand Final win against the Essendon Under 19s, at Maddingley Park, in Bacchus Marsh, on 12 October 1963.[3]
Carlton (First XVIII)
Gallagher made his debut for the Carlton First XVIII on 23 May 1964 (round 6), against St Kilda at the Junction Oval. He was a tenacious, courageous left-footer, renowned for fearlessly burrowing into dense packs and coming out with the ball.
Footscray
Under the short-lived VFL's "10-year rule", which allowed players with ten years' service at one club to move to another club without a clearance,[4] Gallagher left Carlton and moved to Footscray at the beginning of the 1973 season.[5][6]
North Melbourne
In 1976 he moved to North Melbourne, but only played one game[7]
^The 10-year rule was introduced by the VFL in August 1972, in order to render it immune from the sorts of "restraint of trade" difficulties that were being experienced, at the time, in New South Wales in relation to Rugby League footballers. Although twenty-two VFL players were eligible under the rule, only George Bisset, Barry Davis, Carl Ditterich, John Rantall, Gallagher, and Doug Wade, took advantage of it – transferring to Collingwood, North Melbourne, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Footscray, and North Melbourne (respectively). The rule was rescinded in May 1973.
