Australian Football

When Hugh Gavin first broke into the Essendon team he was seen as the natural replacement for champion full back 'Ned' Officer, who was approaching the end of his illustrious career. Sure enough, Gavin proved to be a fine full back, but it was after he was moved to centre half back that he truly came into his own. Superb overhead, and fast and sure at ground level, he rapidly became acknowledged as the finest exponent of the position in Victoria. In 1897 he was a key factor in Essendon's securing the first ever VFL premiership, while four years later his consummate display of all the skills of the game earned him best afield honours in the Grand Final win over Collingwood.

Gavin was by this time probably at his peak as a player, and in 1902 he represented the VFL, as he had done in 1900 and 1901, and would do again in 1904. In 1903 he ventured to the West Australian goldfields where he spent the season as captain-coach of Boulder City.

After returning briefly to the Same Old in 1904 to take his final tally of VFL games to 112, Gavin spent a year as captain-coach of Essendon Association before heading back to Boulder, where he played for Boulder Stars, in 1906. The following year saw him fall victim to a strong wave of anti-professional feeling that swept through the GFA and he ended up being suspended for two years after openly describing himself at an inquiry as a 'professional footballer'.

Gavin still had plenty of fine football left in him, however. He resumed with Boulder City in 1909, and was a member of the club's premiership teams both that year and the next. In 1910 he captained a combined goldfields team that achieved a famous victory over Port Adelaide, while in 1911 he was chosen to skipper Western Australia's team at the Adelaide carnival. Hugh Gavin rounded off his illustrious career with participation in Mines Rovers' 1915 premiership-winning team.

Author - John Devaney