Harry Collier

Harry Collier (1 October 1907 – 16 August 1994) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League.

Harry Collier
Personal information
Full name Harry Collier
Date of birth (1907-10-01)1 October 1907
Place of birth Collingwood, Victoria
Date of death 16 August 1994(1994-08-16) (aged 86)
Height 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 72 kg (159 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1926–1940 Collingwood 253 (299)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
Victoria 12 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1940.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Playing career

Originally from Ivanhoe, Victoria, Collier played for the Collingwood Football Club, debuting in 1926. Collier was a player in Collingwood's legendary premiership sides from 1927–1930, the only side to have won four premierships in a row in the entire history of the VFL/AFL.

He was appointed captain in 1935, a position which he held until 1939. During this period, his team won two premierships (in 1935 and 1936)), and finished runners-up in the other three years he was captain. He was said to be Collingwood's best player during the era, taking out the Club Best and Fairest award in 1928 and 1930. Collier retired in 1940 after only one game for the season - his career record standing at 259 games and 299 goals with the Magpies.

Post-playing career

Following his playing career, Collier coached the Essendon reserves to a premiership in 1941. He later became a committeeman for Collingwood.

Collier was also a noted television personality, during the time of Australia's first year of broadcasting in 1956 and subsequent years.

Collier died in 1994.

Honours

Collier was retrospectively rewarded a Brownlow Medal, after originally tying for the 1930 award. He, Stan Judkins (Richmond) and Allan Hopkins (Footscray) all finished with an equal number of votes. The Umpires Board (which administered the award) recommended that no medal be awarded as there was no provision for a tied result. However, the VFL administration overruled the umpires board and created a criterion that the medal should be awarded to the player who played the fewest games. Judkins' banishment to the seconds had won him the award. Adding to the controversy, one vote for a Collingwood game was simply labeled "Collier", but as there were two Collier brothers playing in the game, the vote was not counted. To avoid situations like this in the future the rules were altered to a 3-2-1 system in 1931. In 1989, Hopkins and Collier, while both still living, were awarded a Brownlow Medal retrospectively for their performances in the 1930 VFL season.
Other honours include his posthumous induction into Collingwood's Team of the Century and, in 1996, induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Collier was the older brother of former champion Collingwood player (and the 1929 Brownlow Medal winner) Albert.

References
  • Ross, John (1999). The Australian Football Hall of Fame. Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers. p. 53. ISBN 0-7322-6426-X.
  • Australian Football Hall of Fame
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