Oldest surviving footballers – Full list

Here is the full list of oldest surviving players from VFL/AFL historian/statistician Col Hutchinson.

 

 

Players listed by: Name, DOB, club(s), years, games, goals & status (alive, deceased or unknown)

 

 

  • Jack James McKenzie, 09/09/1908, Essendon (1929), 5, 1, unknown

 

  • Billy Leahy, 07/03/1911, Footscray (1934-36), 40, 22, unknown

 

  • Jack Matthews, 22/10/1914, North Melbourne (1941), 3, 1, unknown

 

  • George Prismall, 10/03/1915, Essendon (1935), 1, 0, unknown

 

  • Jim K. McDonald, 24/06/1916, Melbourne (1942), 1, 0, unknown

 

  • Alby Williams, 03/08/1916, North Melbourne (1943), 3, 0, unknown

 

  • Keith Rae, 30/07/1917, Carlton (1939, 1943) & Richmond (1946), 15 & 2, 2 & 1, alive

 

  • Bob Sayers, 26/10/1917, Fitzroy (1938-39), 4, 0, alive

 

  • Jim H. Miller, 30/05/1919, Footscray (1938-41, 1943-48), 131, 27, alive

 

  • Ron Howell, 14/11/1919, North Melbourne (1941-42), 9, 2, alive

 

  • Dick Day, 17/02/1920, North Melbourne (1943), 2, 0, unknown

 

  • Don Benson, 09/04/1920, Richmond (1945), 3, 0, alive

 

  • Hadyn Sharp, 20/10/1920, Footscray (1939), 4, 4, unknown

 

  • Bob Dawson, 03/01/1921, St Kilda (1941), 3, 0, alive

 

  • Alex Mathieson, 11/05/1921, Geelong (1944), 7, 1, alive

 

  • Keith McNaughton, 20/08/1921, South Melbourne (1940), 1, 0, alive

 

  • Gerald Tanner, 24/08/1921, Richmond (1941), 1, 0, alive

 

  • Tom J. McMahon, 11/09/1921, Footscray (1943), 2, 0, alive

 

  • Bob McIntosh, 17/10/1921, St Kilda (1945-46), 4, 0, alive

 

  • Bob Aubrey, 14/11/1921, St Kilda (1945), 5, 0, alive

 

  • Jack M. Fisher, 22/01/1922, Hawthorn (1947), 2, 0, alive

 

  • Harold L. Lambert, 16/05/1922, Essendon (1940-41, 1946-51), 99, 2, alive

 

  • Milton Clark, 27/06/1922, Essendon (1945) & North Melbourne (1946), 3 & 2, 0 & 0, unknown

 

  • Jim Kirby, 21/12/1922, North Melbourne (1946), 1, 0, unknown

 

  • Kevin Hevey, 30/04/1923, Hawthorn (1946-47), 5, 0, alive

 

  • Fred Pemberton, 22/05/1923, St Kilda (1948-50), 24, 1, alive

 

  • Bert James, 05/06/1923, Richmond (1947), 3, 0, unknown

 

  • Ron “Ripper” Hines, 11/07/1923, Carlton (1943-48), 58, 21, alive

 

  • Russell “Hooker” Renfrey, 11/08/1923, Geelong (1946-56), 201, 165, deceased – 28/04/2018 (aged 94)

 

  • Fred Burge, 06/09/1923, Richmond (1942-50), 118, 105, alive

 

  • Lyal “Mick” Keighran, 12/09/1923, South Melbourne (1944, 1947), 10, 6, alive

 

  • Les Gardner, 30/09/1923, St Kilda (1947), 3, 0, unknown

 

  • Joe Malone, 04/02/1924, North Melbourne (1946-47), 10, 2, unknown

 

  • Neville “Inky” Way, 16/03/1924, St Kilda (1942), 8, 7, alive

 

  • Jack Taylor, 09/05/1924, Hawthorn (1945), 2, 0, alive

 

  • Bob Reid, 08/06/1924, Footscray (1948-49), 19, 27, unknown

 

  • Graham Dunscombe, 07/07/1924, North Melbourne (1947), 5, 1, alive

 

  • R. Jack Law, 18/07/1924, Footscray (1943-44), 6, 3, unknown

 

  • Bill C. Welsh, 03/08/1924, Collingwood (1950), 8, 8, alive

 

  • Ray Shearer, 16/09/1924, Melbourne (1942), 2, 0, unknown

 

  • Lionel Upton, 03/10/1924, North Melbourne (1948), 5, 1, alive

 

  • Jack R. Jones, 07/11/1924, Essendon (1946-54), 175, 156, alive

 

  • Jack Curtin, 08/11/1924, St Kilda (1947), 2, 0, alive

 

  • Gordon Yea, 13/11/1924, North Melbourne (1948), 2, 2, alive

 

  • Merv Smith, 25/12/1924, Fitzroy (1946-48), 9, 0, unknown

 

  • Geoff J. Kerr, 07/04/1925, St Kilda (1945, 1947), 7, 2, unknown

 

  • Stan V. Smith, 17/04/1925, Collingwood (1947-50), 46, 25, unknown

 

  • Bob Stone, 26/05/1925, Melbourne (1942-43, 1949), 8, 0, alive

 

  • Gordon S. Green, 31/05/1925, North Melbourne (1942), 1, 0, unknown

 

  • Jim Kettle, 04/07/1925, Fitzroy (1945, 1947-52), 41, 23, alive

 

  • Ian “Buster” Brown, 07/07/1925, Geelong (1944-45), 16, 0, alive

 

  • Ray A. Jones, 18/07/1925, Collingwood (1946-48) & Melbourne (1949), 22 & 1, 0 & 0, alive

 

  • Alf J. Callick, 14/08/1925, South Melbourne (1943, 1946-50), 57, 9, unknown

 

  • Max Glass, 02/10/1925, South Melbourne (1945), 3, 0, unknown

 

  • Jim Malone, 13/11/1925, North Melbourne (1945-52), 102, 24, unknown

 

  • Angus Abbey, 15/11/1925, Footscray (1949-54), 78, 0, alive

 

  • Malcolm Worrall, 10/12/1925, Hawthorn (1944-50), 80, 9, alive

 

  • Noel Allanson, 25/12/1925, Essendon (1947-51), 57, 1, alive

 

  • Jack M. “Tarz” McLeod, 10/02/1926, Hawthorn (1945-47, 1950-51), 64, 14, alive

 

 

You’ll have noticed there are quite a few players that we are unsure of their status at this time – we’d love if you could shed some light on them in particular. Again, feel free to send an email to the editors if you have anything you’d like to share.

 

Find the first part here.

 

Comments

  1. Troy Hill says

    Russell Renfrey unfortunately passed away earlier this year

  2. WhiteHartLane says

    Information on several of the players listed above can be found in a thread on BigFooty where a number of us have helped track down missing death details for Col Hutchinson/Steve Rodgers at the AFL. The thread can be found at https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/missing-dod-or-dob-for-league-players-afl.1172997/ and the first post contains a summary of the players investigated.

    From the unknowns in above list I can confirm Haydn Sharp died in 1998 and Gordon Green is still living – I have a current email address for him if it helps

  3. WhiteHartLane says

    And a few more of the unknowns who have passed away from the end of the BigFooty thread:
    R. Jack Law, 18/07/1924, Footscray (1943-44), died 26 Jan 2018
    Bert James, 05/06/1923, Richmond (1947) died 4 Dec 1991
    Jack Matthews, 22/10/1914, North Melbourne (1941) died Oct 1994
    Joe Malone, 04/02/1924, North Melbourne (1946-47) died 24 March 2018

  4. Don Benson (Richmond) passed away a few weeks ago aged 99.

  5. chris bickley says

    Ronald Bickley 21/10/1926 played 28 games for Fitzroy 1948 to 1951. Living

  6. Graham Cornes is still with us.

  7. John Paynter says

    My father Harry Paynter was born 17/9/1927 and received notice from a person alleging he was a Collingwood Football Historian this week to say that Henry (Harry) Paynter is now the oldest living League Collingwood player. He played a single League VFL match for Collingwood amongst 2 years of Reserves.

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