Charlie Sutton

Australian rules footballer, born 1924

Australian rules footballer
Charlie Sutton
Personal information
Full name Charles Alfred George Sutton
Date of birth (1924-04-03)3 April 1924
Place of birth Rushworth, Victoria
Date of death 5 June 2012(2012-06-05) (aged 88)
Place of death Footscray, Victoria
Original team(s) Spotswood Citizens
Height 169 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 87 kg (192 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1942–1956 Footscray 173 (65)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
Victoria 18 (12)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1951–1957 Footscray 123 (72–50–2)
1967–1968 Footscray 038 0(9–29–0)
Total 162 (81–79–2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1956.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1968.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Charlie Sutton (3 April 1924 – 5 June 2012) was an Australian rules footballer who represented Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Although he served the club for many years as coach and committee man, he is perhaps best known for captaining the Bulldogs to their first VFL premiership in 1954.

Recruited from Spotswood, Sutton was a tough, nuggety footballer who embodied the club's fighting spirit. He played as a rover and half forward, but it was as a back pocket player that he made his name. In 1950, he finished equal third in the Brownlow Medal count and won the Con Weickhardt Trophy (as it was then known) as the Bulldogs' best and fairest player that season.[1]

He was captain-coach of the team from 1951 to 1955.

After his retirement as a player, Sutton coached Footscray from 1956 until 9 July 1957, when he was unceremoniously dismissed and replaced by Ted Whitten. Sutton later returned to coach Footscray in 1967 (replacing Ted Whitten) and 1968 (after which he resigned having decided that the ever-increasing demands of coaching clashed far too much with his business of running a hotel at Yarraville).

In 1978 Sutton took over the position of President of the Footscray Football Club when Dick Collinson resigned.[2]

He has the Western Bulldogs best and fairest award, the Charles Sutton Medal, named in his honour.

In 1996 Sutton was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Sutton died in 2012 at the age of 88.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Charlie Sutton Footscray's Best". The Age. No. 29, 757. Victoria, Australia. 11 September 1950. p. 12. Retrieved 23 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ Sheahan, Michael (30 August 1978). "Collinson quits Dogs". The Age. p. 30. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  3. ^ Blake, Martin (5 June 2012). "Bulldogs legend Charlie Sutton dies". The Age. Retrieved 5 June 2012.

Bibliography

  • Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0
  • Ross, J. (ed), The Australian Football Hall of Fame, HarperCollinsPublishers, (Pymble), 1999. ISBN 0-7322-6426-X

External links

  • "AFL: Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2 October 2009.
  • Charlie Sutton's playing statistics from AFL Tables
  • "Full Points Footy Biography: Charlie Sutton". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011.
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Footscray Football Club 1954 VFL premiers
Footscray 15.12 (102) defeated Melbourne 7.9 (51), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Coach: Sutton
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Captains of the Footscray Football Club/Western Bulldogs
VFL/AFL
AFL Women's
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Coaches of the Footscray Football Club/Western Bulldogs
VFL/AFL
AFL Women's
  • 2017–2019: Groves
  • 2020–: Burke
Italics denote caretaker coach
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Western Bulldogs: Team of the Century
Full-back
  • Charlie Sutton
  • Herb Henderson
  • John Schultz
Half-back
Centre
Half-forward
Full-forward
Ruck
Interchange
Coach
  • Charlie Sutton
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Charles Sutton Medal · Western Bulldogs best and fairest winners
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Western Bulldogs · leading goalkickers
VFL/AFL
AFL Women's
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Jock McHale Medal · AFL premiership coach
* awarded retroactively
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1948 Sporting Life Team of the Year
Defenders
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1949 Sporting Life Team of the Year
Forwards
  • Bob Hank (West Torrens)
  • Fred Flanagan (Geelong)
  • Les Foote (North Melbourne)
  • Followers
  • Jack Howell (Carlton)
  • Merv McIntosh (Perth)
  • Steve Marsh (South Fremantle)
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    1950 Sporting Life Team of the Year
    Midfielders
  • Arthur Hodgson (Carlton)
  • Bob Hank (West Torrens)
  • Doug Olds (Norwood)
  • Forwards
  • Bob Davis (Geelong)
  • Fred Flanagan (Geelong)
  • Len Dockett (Melbourne)
  • Followers
  • Bill Morris (Richmond) (Captain)
  • Jack Whelan (Brunswick)
  • Bill Hutchison (Essendon)
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    1951 Sporting Life Team of the Year
    Defenders
    Midfielders
  • Arthur Hodgson (Carlton)
  • Bob Rose (Collingwood)
  • Lyle Griffin (North Adelaide)

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