Alf Wood (Australian footballer)

Alf Wood
Personal information
Full name	Alfred Mathew Wood
Date of birth	(1875-02-15)15 February 1875
Place of birth	Glenlyon, Victoria
Date of death	16 November 1945(1945-11-16) (aged 70)
Place of death	East Melbourne, Victoria
Original team(s)	Maryborough
Position(s)	Defence
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1897–1899	Melbourne	43 (4)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1899.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Alfred Mathew Wood (15 February 1875 – 16 November 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Football

On many occasions the press (mistakenly) identified him as "Woods", rather than "Wood".

Melbourne (VFL)

His first game for Melbourne was on the half-back flank, against South Melbourne, at the Lake Oval, on 8 May 1897, the first round of the first year of the new VFL competition.

VFL representative

Wood played in the VFL team against Ballarat Football League in 1898.

1899 team of "champions"

At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for The Argus, Reginald Wilmot ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition:

• Backs: Maurie Collins (Essendon), Bill Proudfoot (Collingwood), Peter Burns (Geelong);
• Halfbacks: Pat Hickey (Fitzroy), George Davidson (South Melbourne), Alf Wood (Melbourne);
• Centres: Fred Leach (Collingwood), Firth McCallum (Geelong), Harry Wright (Essendon);
• Wings: Charlie Pannam (Collingwood), Eddie Drohan (Fitzroy), Herb Howson (South Melbourne);
• Forwards: Bill Jackson (Essendon), Eddy James (Geelong), Charlie Colgan (South Melbourne);
• Ruck: Mick Pleass (South Melbourne), Frank Hailwood (Collingwood), Joe McShane (Geelong);
• Rovers: Dick Condon (Collingwood), Bill McSpeerin (Fitzroy), Teddy Rankin (Geelong).

From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — Wilmot selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season.

Death

He died at a private hospital in East Melbourne, Victoria on 16 November 1945.

References

• Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
• Pennings, Mark (2016), Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's early History: Volume 4: Tough Times: Victorian Football loses its Way, 1891 to 1896, Brunswick, Victoria: Grumpy Monks Publishing. ISBN 978-0-646-93604-8

External links

• Alf Wood's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Alf Wood at AustralianFootball.com
• Alf Wood, at Demonwiki.
• Alf. Wood, at Blueseum.