Doug Wade

Douglas Graeme "Doug" Wade (born 16 October 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club.

He was the League's leading goal scorer (winning the Coleman Medal) on four occasions from 1962 until 1974. He was only the second player (after Collingwood's Gordon Coventry), and the first post-WW2 to kick over 1,000 goals in his career. Only three other players – Gary Ablett Snr (Hawthorn/Geelong), Jason Dunstall (Hawthorn) and Tony Lockett (St.Kilda/Sydney) have emulated the effort.

After working for the CBC bank of Sydney at the age of 17 years, he tried out with the Melbourne Football Club in a number of practice games in 1960. Wade returned home to Horsham where he was playing with the Horsham football club. In 1961 Wade was lured back by the Geelong Football Club where made his VFL/AFL debut. Wade was a member of the Geelong side which won the VFL Premiership in 1963, and a Grand Final player in 1967.

Wade was involved in one of the most memorable umpiring decisions in VFL history. In the 1962 Preliminary Final Replay, Geelong was trailing Carlton by five points with seconds remaining. The ball came down to Wade and Carlton full-back Peter Barry, and Wade out-manoeuvered Barry to mark 25 metres out in front; but umpire Irving penalised Wade, who was in front, for holding on to Barry's shorts in the contest. Wade said: "All I did was to keep my eyes on the ball and maneuvered for position. The only possible way he could have penalised me was for sticking out my posterior as I went to mark." Percy Beames wrote in The Age: "Wade was extremely unlucky. Nine times out of ten these incidents are overlooked." Former umpire Allen Nash said at the time:" It was the most courageous decision I've ever seen by an umpire."

In the final minutes of a match against South Melbourne late in 1970, Wade had a shot at goal to put Geelong in front. A spectator threw an apple on the field, which collided with the football in mid-air as it dropped between Wade's hand and foot, and knocked the football clear of his boot which then failed to even connect with the ball. The umpire, faced with an unprecedented circumstance, signalled 'play on'. South Melbourne's key defender, John Rantall (later to be a teammate of Wade when they both crossed to North Melbourne in 1973/4) picked up the ball and cleared it down field. South Melbourne scored a goal on the rebound and won the game by 7 points. They went on to make it into the finals for the first time since 1945. Geelong had started the game one win and percentage behind South Melbourne and this loss seriously damaged their chance of making the finals, which they went on to miss for the first time since 1961. The umpire's 'play on' decision was considered valid, since there was no rule at the time, to account for this kind of 'spectator interference'. South Melbourne went on to lose to St Kilda in the Semi-final.