George Davidson (footballer)

George Davidson
George Davidson
	Davidson in 1899
Personal information
Full name	George Davidson
Date of birth	13 June 1872
Place of birth	Bealiba, Victoria
Date of death	25 August 1945 (aged 73)
Place of death	Corryong, Victoria
Playing career1
Years	Club
1897–1900	South Melbourne
	1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1900.
	Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

George Davidson (13 June 1872 – 25 August 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football Association and South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[1] His football career ended prematurely when he broke his leg in 1900.

Family

The eighth of the ten children of David Davidson (1824-1895),^[2]^[3] and Hellen Davidson (1828-1887), née Forrest,^[4] George Davidson was born at Bealiba, Victoria, on 13 June 1872.

He married Alice Margaret Graves (1879-1962), at Rutherglen, Victoria, on 25 October 1904.^[5] They had four children.

Football

Collingwood (VFA)

Recruited from Mission Ramblers in 1894,^[6] he played in 13 games (kicked 2 goals) for Collingwood in the VFA over the team's last three seasons in the VFA competition (1894-1896).^[7]

South Melbourne (VFL)

He played his first match for South Melbourne, against Geelong, at the Lake Oval on 24 July 1897.^[8]

In his second-last match, playing on the half-back flank, he was one of the best players in the South Melbourne 1899 Grand Final team that lost to Fitzroy by one point: 3.8 (26) to 3.9 (27).^[9]

In the final quarter of his last match for South Melbourne, against Essendon on 5 May 1900 — he had been appointed the team's captain for the 1900 season^[10] — he fell and broke his leg.^[11] He did not play VFL football again.^[12]^[13]

1899 team of "champions"

At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for The Argus, Reginald Wilmot ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition:

Backs: Maurie Collins (Essendon), Bill Proudfoot (Collingwood), Peter Burns (Geelong).
Halfbacks: Pat Hickey (Fitzroy), George Davidson (South Melbourne), Alf Wood (Melbourne).
Centres: Fred Leach (Collingwood), Firth McCallum (Geelong), Harry Wright (Essendon).
Wings: Charlie Pannam (Collingwood), Eddie Drohan (Fitzroy), Herb Howson (South Melbourne).
Forwards: Bill Jackson (Essendon), Eddy James (Geelong), Charlie Colgan (South Melbourne).
Ruck: Mick Pleass (South Melbourne), Frank Hailwood (Collingwood), Joe McShane (Geelong).
Rovers: Dick Condon (Collingwood), Bill McSpeerin (Fitzroy), Teddy Rankin (Geelong).

From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — Wilmot selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season.^[14]

Death

He died (suddenly) at Corryong, Victoria on 25 August 1945.^[15]^[16]^[17]

Notes

References

Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2014), The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: Every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.), Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.