Len Fitzgerald

Len Fitzgerald
Personal information
Date of birth	(1929-05-07)7 May 1929
Date of death	17 April 2007(2007-04-17) (aged 77)
Place of death	Adelaide
Original team(s)	Collingwood Technical School
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	86 kg (190 lb)
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1945–1950	Collingwood	96 (49)
1951–1955, 1959–1962	Sturt	125 (201)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
	Victoria	2
	South Australia	20
Coaching career3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1951–1955	Sturt
1963–1966	Glenelg
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1962. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1966.
Career highlights
Sturt captain 1952-1955 Sturt best and fairest 1952, 1953 and 1954 Magarey Medallist, 1952, 1954 and 1959 All-Australian 1953 Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee 1996 SANFL Hall of Fame inductee 2002
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Len Fitzgerald (7 May 1929 – 17 April 2007) was an Australian rules footballer of exceptional talent in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and South Australian National Football League (SANFL). At various time he played in the key positions of centre half-forward, centre half-back and ruck-rover.

VFL career

Fitzgerald started his career at Collingwood at the age of 15, in 1945. By 1950 he was an established key player with arguably the country's most illustrious sporting club.

Move to SANFL

In 1951 he was lured to the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian competition.

Fitzgerald was clearly attracted to the offer of better paying employment proffered by Sturt. One source has suggested however that the move was engineered by Collingwood powerbroker John Wren at the behest of a political ally in South Australia.

SANFL career

Arriving at Sturt in 1951, Fitzgerald quickly made an impression, being appointed captain after three games, and took over the coaching role mid-season. In 1952 Fitzgerald dominated the League, winning his first Magarey Medal as the "fairest and most brilliant" player in the League. He was to win two more in 1954 and 1959.

Despite Fitzgerald's brilliance, Sturt was unable to secure a premiership. In 1955 Fitzgerald got Sturt to the preliminary final, but the club failed to honour a promise of a bonus. Fitzgerald took himself to the Ovens and Murray League for the next three seasons, coaching and playing for Benalla.

When Fitzgerald returned to Sturt in 1959, he helped them to make the finals that year, the first time since his departure. Injuries began to take their toll on his playing and Fitzgerald finished his playing career in 1962 after playing 127 games for Sturt, kicking 201 goals and winning the club's best and fairest award three times. He represented his adopted State of South Australia 20 times and was named an All Australian in the 1953 Adelaide Carnival.

Fitzgerald coached Glenelg for three seasons after his retirement as a player, but with little success.

He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and the SANFL Hall of Fame in 2002, as one of the inaugural inductees in each.

External links

• Len Fitzgerald's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Len Fitzgerald at AustralianFootball.com
• SANFL Hall of Fame
• Rucci, Michelangelo (17 April 2007). "Sturt legend Fitzgerald dies". Archived from the original on 6 June 2007.