Australian Football

The Australian football landscape of half a century ago was considerably different to that of today. In particular, there was no equivalent of the Australian Football League. While the AFL has in recent years been systematically manufacturing a 'history' for itself which derives from an imaginary contiguity with the old suburban VFL, the truth is that, prior to the re-location of South Melbourne to Sydney in 1982, the VFL was a state competition pure and simple. Granted, it was by some measure the strongest state competition in Australia, and this strength had tended to magnify as more and more elite non-Victorian players entered the league. However, whereas nowadays it would be reasonable to suggest that nigh on 100% of the very best footballers in Australia ply their trade in the AFL, this was very far from being the case in the old, suburban VFL.

A classic case in point is Len Fitzgerald. His move from Victoria Park to Unley in 1951 after 96 games with Collingwood was indicative of the fact that, even to an elite player at what was then Australia's most illustrious sporting club, football was not the prime controlling influence in life. Football players did not depend for their livelihood on the game, and so when Sturt managed to secure more lucrative employment for Fitzgerald than the Magpies had been able to arrange for him in Melbourne, the result was that the balance of football power between South Australia and Victoria shifted ever so slightly in favour of the former.

If Len Fitzgerald had been a prominent player at Collingwood, he soon developed into a veritable champion with the Double Blues. After a relatively slow start to his SANFL career 'Fitzie'- who took over the Sturt coaching reins midway through his debut season - gradually went from strength to strength. In 1952 he won every media award going, together with Sturt's club champion award and the first of his three Magarey Medals. The 1953 season brought interstate selection for South Australia at the Adelaide carnival, followed by inclusion in the inaugural All Australian team. The second Magarey Medal followed in 1954 but Fitzgerald declared himself more concerned by Sturt's late season loss to wooden spoon side Glenelg which cost the Double Blues a place in the finals.

Matters were rectified somewhat in 1955 as Sturt reached the Preliminary Final but the club's failure to honour a verbal pledge to bestow a £50 bonus upon its coach induced Fitzgerald to start an immediate search for pastures new.

The next three seasons saw Fitzgerald starring for and coaching Benalla in the powerful Ovens and Murray Football League but he returned to Sturt purely as a player in 1959 and won another Magarey as the Double Blues reached the finals for the first time since his departure.

Nagging injuries blighted Fitzgerald's final couple of seasons in league football but nothing should mar the memory of a supremely adaptable footballer with lightning reflexes, excellent ball handling skills and, perhaps above all else, an awesome strength which was exhibited both in body on body clashes with opponents as well as when taking seemingly miraculous marks in pack situations. All told, he played a total of 125 SANFL matches for Sturt, booting 201 goals, and represented South Australia 17 times, kicking five goals.

As a league coach, Len Fitzgerald experienced significantly less success, steering Glenelg to fourth, sixth and last places in three seasons in charge during the 1960s.

He retained his passion for the game throughout his life, and news of his death in April 2007 saddened football followers from all over Australia and beyond.

Author - John Devaney