George Holden (Australian rules footballer)

George Holden
Cigarette card of Holden in 1910
Personal information
Full name	George Hugh Holden
Date of birth	(1889-04-15)15 April 1889
Place of birth	Fitzroy North, Victoria
Date of death	21 July 1959(1959-07-21) (aged 70)
Place of death	Forest Hill, Victoria
Original team(s)	West Melbourne (VFA)
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1907	West Melbourne (VFA)	002 0(0)
1908–1919	Fitzroy (VFL)	164 (37)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1911, 1914	Victoria	5 (2)
Coaching career^3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1916–1919	Fitzroy	54 (24–28–2)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1919. ^2 State and international statistics correct as of 1914. ^3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1919.
Career highlights
2× VFL premierships: 1913, 1916 Fitzroy captain: 1917–1918 2× Fitzroy Club Champion: 1908, 1915
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

George Hugh Holden (15 April 1889 – 21 July 1959) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the West Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and the Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Family

The son of William Fullerton Holden (1860–1917),^[1] and Christina Braud Holden (1867–1949), née Balfour,^[2][3] George Hugh Holden was born at Fitzroy North, Victoria on 15 April 1889.^[4]

He married Olive Myrtle Browne (1887–1945) in 1915.^[5][6] They had one child, a daughter.

Football

West Melbourne (VFA)

He played in the last two matches of the 1907 VFA season for West Melbourne: the Semi Final, against Richmond, on 21 September 1907, and the Grand Final, against Williamstown, on 28 September 1907,^[7]

Fitzroy (VFL)

Recruited from West Melbourne, Holden was both a centreman and wingman during his career with Fitzroy, which began in 1908.^[8][9] He was club champion in his debut season, winning the best and fairest award for the second time in 1915.

One of Fitzroy's best in their 1913 Grand Final win over St Kilda,^[10] Holden was named as the club's coach in 1916, and was also a premiership player, against Carlton, in 1916, his first year as coach.

Continuing as Fitzroy's coach, he was also the team's captain in 1917,^[11] and in 1918;^[12] but had to retire at the start of the 1919 season after suffering a serious thigh injury in the match against Carlton, at Princes Park, on 3 May 1919.^[13][14]

Death

He died at his residence in Forest Hill, Victoria on 21 July 1959.^[15]

• 
  George Holden (1910).^[16]
• 
  Fitzroy Football Team (1913)
  Holden is standing, at far right.
• 
  Enthusiast's Letter to the Editor
  The Herald, 21 Sept. 1934.^[17]

Notes

1. Deaths: Holden, The Age, (Wednesday, 24 October 1917), p. 1.
2. Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.6384/1886.
3. Deaths: Holden, The Argus, (Tuesday, 15 February 1949), p. 9.
4. Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Births Registration no.12174/1889.
5. Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.10246/1915.
6. Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Deaths Registration no.7391/1945.
7. The VFA Project.
8. The Fitzroy Team, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 27 June 1908), p. 25.
9. The Fitzroy Team, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 15 May 1909), p. 26.
10. Devaney (2009), p. 190.
11. Rival Captains for Great League Final, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 15 September 1917), p. 21.
12. Man who leads Fitzroy, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 18 May 1918), p. 20.
13. Donald (2005), pp. 41–42.
14. "George Holden does not think that he will be able to play again, owing to strained thigh muscles. He gave the leg a trial the other day, and he was by no means satisfied that it would stand the rough and tumble of a match.": Points of Play, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Friday, 30 May 1919), p. 3.
15. Deaths: Holden, The Age, (Wednesday, 22 June 1959), p. 21.
16. Prominent League Football Players, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 9 July 1910), p. 29.
17. 'Enthusiast', "Best Ever in Victoria (Letter to the Editor)", The (Melbourne) Herald, (Saturday, 22 September 1934), p. 30.

References

• Devaney, John P. (2009). The Full Points Footy Encyclopedia Of Australian Football Clubs. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-9556-8970-3.
• Donald, Chris (2005). Fitzroy: For the Love of the Jumper. Pan Australia. ISBN 978-1-8770-2918-9.

External links

• George Holden at AustralianFootball.com
• George Holden's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• George Holden's playing statistics from The VFA Project.