| Ron Hartridge | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Ronald Osmond Hartridge | ||
| Date of birth | 8 November 1919 | ||
| Date of death | 28 May 1973 (aged 53) | ||
| Original team(s) | South Melbourne Tech Col | ||
| Height | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1938–1940 | St Kilda | 15 (11) | |
| 1943–1946 | South Melbourne | 50 (71) | |
| Total | 65 (82) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1946. | |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Ronald Osmond "Ron" Hartridge (8 November 1919 – 28 May 1973) [1] was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda and South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, or simply called Aussie rules, football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of eighteen players on an oval-shaped field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval-shaped ball between goal posts or between behind posts.
The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club plays in the Australian Football League, the sport's premier league.
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). Established in Melbourne as the South Melbourne Football Club in 1874, the Swans relocated to Sydney in 1982, thus making it the first club in the competition to be based outside Victoria.
Hartridge had a slow start to his career, after arriving at St Kilda from South Melbourne Technical College. [2] A key position player, he could only put together 11 appearances in his first three seasons and then didn't play any VFL football in 1941 and 1942. [3]
He had his first seasons with South Melbourne in 1943 and the following year was finally able to make regular appearances, playing 17 games. [3] In 1944 he also kicked 31 goals to top South Melbourne's goal-kicking. [4] He didn't miss a single game in 1945 and was again successful up forward with 32 goals, but would only play as a reserve in the 1945 VFL Grand Final. In 1947 he made two appearances early in the season but would finish the year at Coburg in the Victorian Football Association. [5]
The 1945 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the South Melbourne Football Club and Carlton Football Club, held at Princes Park in Melbourne on 29 September 1945. It was the 49th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1945 VFL season. The match, attended by 62,986 spectators, was won by Carlton by a margin of 28 points, marking that club's seventh premiership victory. The game is well remembered for its extremely rough and violent nature, and has commonly been referred to as The Bloodbath.
The Coburg Football Club, nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club based in Coburg, a northern suburb of Melbourne, and currently playing in the Victorian Football League. It is based at Coburg City Oval which has been renamed to Piranha Park, due to naming rights. Coburg has historically been a proud club and has won 6 VFA/VFL premierships with the most recent premiership in 1989. The club spent time aligned as a reserve side for the Richmond Football Club from 2001, but as of 2014 has become a stand-alone club in the Victorian Football League.
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is the major state-level Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league evolved from the former Victorian Football Association (VFA), and has been known by its current name since 1996. For historical purposes, the present VFL is sometimes referred to as the VFA/VFL, to distinguish it from the present day Australian Football League, which was known until 1990 as the Victorian Football League and is sometimes referred to as the VFL/AFL.
