Des Fothergill | |||
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Personal information | |||
Full name | Desmond Hugh Fothergill | ||
Date of birth | 15 July 1920 | ||
Place of birth | Northcote, Victoria, Australia | ||
Date of death | 16 March 1996 | (aged 75)||
Place of death | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | ||
Original team(s) | Collingwood Tech | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
1937–1940, 1945–1947 | Collingwood | 111 (337) | |
Representative team honours | |||
Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
Victoria | 2 (4) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1947.
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Career highlights | |||
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Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Desmond Hugh "Des" Fothergill (15 July 1920 – 16 March 1996) was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and briefly in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).
From Collingwood Tech, Fothergill was a gifted sportsman who made his VFL debut aged 16, for the Collingwood Football Club in 1937. Fothergill was a small midfielder/half-forward who seemed too small at the start, at 172 cm and 73 kg, but his brilliance as a footballer was something that over-shadowed his liabilities. Fothergill made an impact straight away as he played brilliant football, winning a Copeland Trophy as Collingwood's best and fairest in his debut season, and kicking 56 goals being the club's leading goalkicker.
In 1938, Fothergill was once again a dominant member of the side, winning his second consecutive Copeland Trophy at the age of 18, and two years later, in 1940, Fothergill won win his third Copeland Trophy. Also in 1940, Fothergill and South Melbourne player Herbie Matthews tied for first place in Brownlow Medal voting as best and fairest in the VFL, with a then-record 32 votes; at the time, neither player won the Brownlow Medal itself, as their records could not be separated on countback and there was no provision for a shared medal, but both men were awarded Brownlow Medals in 1989 when the VFL decided to retrospectively eliminate the countback from the award.
In 1941, Fothergill went to Victorian Football Association (VFA) club Williamstown without receiving a clearance from the VFL, as many other high-profile League players had done during the VFA's throw-pass era. In his sole season with Williamstown, he won the Recorder Cup and VFA Medal as best and fairest in the VFA, polling a record 62 votes and winning by a huge margin of 29 votes. He had signed with Williamstown until the end of 1944, but when VFA competition was suspended from 1942 until 1944 due to World War II, his career at Williamstown came to an end. He joined the army in 1942, and was forced to move on after a knee injury when in Darwin, Northern Territory.