Australian Football

Playing mainly as a forward, Charles Moore was a strong mark and accurate kick who began his career with his local side, Albert Park, before moving on to South Melbourne in the VFA. In 1897 he joined Essendon but only managed four games in the 'Same Olds' debut season in the new VFL competition. In his second season at the club, Moore began to fire, playing 15 games and topping  the club goalkicking with 20 majors. 

He played another 11 games, for 12 goals, in 1899, and looked destined for greater things, but in early 1900, with the Boer War raging, he answered the colonial call, and joined the Fourth Victorian Imperial Bushmen's Contingent to South Africa. He died of wounds the following year, on 12 May 1901, the first VFL player to die in a military conflict. 

Coincidently, the only other player to die in the South African conflict was Stanley Reid, who was one of Moore's opponents in the 1898 Grand Final between Fitzroy (Reid's team) and Esendon (Moore's), which saw the Maroons victorious.

Author - Adam Cardosi