Australian Football

Hailing from Coleraine Eric Moore played 80 VFL games and kicked 94 goals for Richmond between 1966 and 1972, numbers which clearly confirm that he was by no means a first choice senior player. Nevertheless, he did achieve something to which every footballer aspires, lining up at full forward as Richmond shook off a determined Carlton combination to claim the 1969 premiership. Moore was not listed among the best players that day, but he did contribute a couple of goals to the Tigers' tally of 12.13. Although he lacked height - he stood 83cm tall - his raw strength enabled him to hold his own in physical contests, both in the air and on the ground.

Midway through the 1972 season Eric Moore crossed to South Melbourne but failed fully to establish himself, managing just 18 games and 28 goals in one and a half seasons. The 1974 season saw him at VFA first division club Oakleigh which reached that season's grand final, losing to Port Melbourne. He later played with fellow first division side Caulfield but in 1976 he was forced to call time - temporarily as it turned out - on his playing career because of hamstring problems.

Moore returned to football in 1982 when he was appointed coach of a Box Hill team which had been abjectly underperforming in the VFA's second division for nigh on a decade. Under Moore the Mustangs underwent a dramatic improvement culminating in a second division flag - the club's first in the VFA - 1984. Moore himself even made a brief comeback as a player, playing a dozen games and kicking 41 goals in 1982-3. In 2000 Moore was named as coach of Box Hill's official 'Greatest Ever Team'.

Author - John Devaney