Australian Football

One of Footscray's greatest ever servants, Arthur Olliver played 272 VFL games and kicked 354 goals for the club between 1935 and 1950. A perfectly proportioned big man at 189 cm and 87 kg he boasted all the skills of the game in ample measure, and was an inspirational on-field leader to boot. He won his team's best and fairest player award jointly with Norm Ware in 1941, and in his own right three years later.

In seven seasons as captain-coach, Olliver got the Bulldogs into the finals three times, and saw them miss out narrowly twice. A VFL representative player in both 1941 and 1948, Olliver was included on the interchange bench in Footscray's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

After leaving the Bulldogs at the end of the 1950 season, Arthur Olliver was appointed captain-coach of TANFL club New Norfolk, where he stayed for three years. In his debut season he won his club's best and fairest award, and captain-coached the Tasmanian state team.

Olliver's last involvement in top level football was as non-playing coach of West Perth between 1960 and 1963 where he steered the side to first, fifth, third and fifth place finishes for a commendable overall success rate of 56.2%.

Author - John Devaney