Australian Football

Percy Marsh was a vigorous defender cum utility who filled a variety roles through a distinguished career. Originally from Victoria, he played for Queensland over an eleven-year period from 1926 to 1936 and skippered the Maroons in the 1933 carnival in Sydney. He took a break from Australian Football in 1929 when he opted to play Rugby Union and was subsequently selected for the Queensland state team. He was a premiership player at Brisbane who also played for Valleys and represented Queensland in soccer. 

Not only was he a champion sportsperson he was a champion bloke. He was an a warm hearted humanitarian who stayed behind with the wounded at Singapore Hospital in World War II, before being transferred to Changi prison where he cared for the sick and dying. He was then taken on the Japanese Hell Ships to work in the coal mines, where he sustained horrific injuries that were to scar him for life. This did not stop his involvement in the Surf Life Saving movement where he gave many years of service. His father George played 7 games for Collingwood in 1905.

Author - Murray Bird and Peter Blucher