Albert George Sawley, also known as Pongo Sawley (27 October 1915 – 13 August 1983), was an

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 ...

er who played with Norwood in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) and St Kilda 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). He fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

alongside his brother Gordon Sawley, a Norwood and

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 ...

footballer who was killed in a training accident. Sawley started his career at Norwood and was their

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

winner in 1937. In the same year he represented

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

at the Perth Carnival. He spent a season at St Kilda in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

and played 11 games, including their preliminary final loss to Collingwood.AFL Tables: Albert Sawley
/ref> Back at Norwood, Sawley was a member of premiership sides in 1941 and 1946. During the war Norwood merged with fellow SANFL club

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

to form Norwood-North, which Sawley captained.'' The Advertiser'
"Football League Gives £500 to P.O. W. Fund"
9 October 1943, p. 8 He was named on a half forward flank in Norwood's

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

References

1915 births 1983 deaths Australian rules footballers from South Australia Norwood Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers {{AFL-bio-1915-stub