Australian Football

Though he played a serviceable 34 games for Fitzroy between 1937 and 1939, Laurie Morgan is far better remembered for the two equestrian gold medals he won at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Morgan grew up in Yea and cut his footballing teeth with Yarrawonga before arriving at Brunswick Street in early 1937. Ruckman Morgan was described by the Sporting Globe's Hec de Lacy as having "the cut of a back pocket player"¹ but it was as a follower and in the forward line that Morgan impressed in the Maroons' pre-season practice matches.

Named in a forward pocket for his Fitzroy debut against St Kilda in the opening round of the 1937 season, Morgan put in an eye-catching performance in his first match, and the Sporting Globe delivered this glowing assessment of his debut: "Morgan played splendidly. Shouldered heavy ruck work and displayed amazing courage for first game."²

Morgan remained a solid performer for the rest of the season, playing 14 of 18 games and helping the previous year's wooden-spooners to seven wins and a seventh-placed finish.

Hip and shoulder injuries restricted Morgan to just nine games in 1938, and in 1939 he found himself in and out of Fitzroy's senior side, after which his VFL days came to a close and he returned to north-east Victoria to play with Marysville in the Mansfield-Alexandra District League.

As well as a being a good footballer, Morgan excelled at rowing, competing in the King's Cup, but it was on a horse that he reached his sporting peak, winning both individual and team equestrian gold medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He remains to this day the only V/AFL footballer to have won Olympic gold.

Two years after his Olympic triumph, Morgan was in the saddle competing in another great sporting event with his mount Colledge finished 14th in the 1962 Grand National at Aintree in Britain.

Author - Andrew Gigacz