Alan Louden Pearsall (21 May 1915 – 8 March 1944) was an Australian sportsman who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) with

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

Family

The son of Benjamin James Pearsall (1880-1951), and Olive Mabel Pearsall, née Marsden, Alan Louden Pearsall was born at the Edinburgh Hospital, MacQuarie Street, Hobart, Tasmania on 21 May 1915. He married Dorothy Eva Bumford on 15 March 1941.

Education

He was educated at the Hobart High School.

Cricket

Pearsall made seven first-class appearances for Tasmania during the 1930s, scoring a total of 300 runs at 23.07 and taking 6 wickets. He made his debut in a match against an Australian XI team and dismissed Bill Brown for 96. Ian Johnson and

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

are other Test players whose wicket he took in his career. He opened the batting against Victoria at Launceston in 1935/36 and made the only half century of his career, an innings of 56.

Football

Pearsall played football for Lefroy in Tasmania from 1933 until 1940. When Pearsall moved to Victoria to do his pilot training he joined South Melbourne and played two VFL games for the club in 1941.

Military service

In World War II, Pearsall served as a Flying Officer with the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Death

He died, on active service, on 8 March 1944, when his plane came down into the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. ::"Alan Pearsall enlisted in the RAAF when war broke out and trained as a pilot. He was transferred to the RAF and took part in the Battle of Britain as a fighter pilot. On the 8th March 1944 he was returning from a photographic sortie north-east of Calais, France when he radioed to say that his engine on his Hurricane had failed.
On instruction he bailed out over the English Channel at around 2000 feet. Aircraft were immediately despatched to search, but no accurate fix was obtained on Pearsall’s position. Air Sea Rescue was delayed due to gale force winds, and although a search continued for two days no trace of Pearsall or his plane was ever found."Smith, Rick, ''Lest We Forget Tasmania’s Cricketing Soldiers'', (2007)
at crickettas.com.au.

Footnotes

References

World War Two Service Record: Flying Officer Alan Louden Pearsall (408266), ''National Archives of Australia''.

Roll of Honour: Flying Officer Alan Louden Pearsall (408266), ''Australian War Memorial''.

RAAF Casualty List: Overseas: Previously Reported Missing, Now Presumed Dead: Pearsall, A.L. FO, Sandy Bay (T), ''The Argus'', (Monday, 12 March 1945), p.7.
* Main, J. & Allen, D., "Pearsall, Alan", pp. 311–314 in Main, J. & Allen, D., Fallen – The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War, Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002.

External links

from AFL Tables
Allan (sic) Pearsall's profile
at AustralianFootball.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearsall, Alan 1915 births 1944 deaths Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Sydney Swans players Lefroy Football Club players Australian cricketers Tasmania cricketers Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian military personnel killed in World War II Cricketers from Hobart Australian World War II pilots