The death of Pat Moroney
Australian rules champion dies
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Mr Claude Patrick (The Fox) Moroney, a life member and former captain-coach of Manuka Football Club, died in Canberra Hospital on Sunday, aged 70. Mr Moroney was one of Canberra's best Australian rules footballers during the 1930s, as well as being a talented golfer, bowler and snooker and billiards player.
"He was an excellent footballer and there was not much to be done in Canberra football that he did not do", the president of Manuka Football Club, Mr Bill Mahoney, said yesterday.
"He devoted a large amount of his leisure time to the club and was a great help to many of the younger players at Manuka."
Mr Moroney began his football career in Canberra in 1931, the year he arrived in the city. He played with Manuka from 1931-1939 and coached the side from 1935-38. Mr Cyril Cole, also a life member of Manuka, has records of the matches played during the 1930s and said yesterday that Mr Moroney figures prominently in them.
"He was a key player and had a good football brain", he said. "He played mainly in the important centre position, as well as the half-forward flank. He was a left-footer with a very accurate stab kick, and initiated many young players into the club."
Mr Cole remembers that one of Mr Moroney's proudest accomplishments was the recruiting of Tom Fitzmaurice from Victoria to play for Manuka.
"Fitzmaurice was a great footballer, one of those who would kick 10 goals each time he played", he said.
But some of the records were incomplete. Mr Cole has the fact that Mr Moroney played for the' ACT representative team in 1933 in Sydney, but was sure that he represented the Territory on many other occasions.
A report in The Canberra Times about a game played on September 26, 1931, said, "Pat Moroney showed himself as the most accomplished player Canberra has seen".
Mr Moroney worked at the Government Printing Office in Canberra from 1933 until his retirement in 1967, and lived in Barton House from the time it opened until his death.
He was a member of Royal Canberra Golf Club and the Canberra Bowling Club. The secretary of the Royal Canberra Golf Club, Colonel Hall, said yesterday that Mr Moroney had won most of the club's championships, including the Canberra Cup, an open event, during his career, and was a most accomplished player.
Footnotes
Title: Australian rules champion dies
Author: The Canberra Times
Publisher: The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)
Date: Wednesday 23 January 1974, page 34
Web: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11075799...
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