Arthur John Pink (15 November 1900 – 5 June 1986) 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

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

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).

Football

Pink, who was born in

Beeac Beeac is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the shore of the hyper-saline Lake Beeac in the Colac Otway Shire local government area, 160 kilometres southwest of the state capital, Melbourne. At the ...

, went to

Geelong High School Geelong High School is a co-educational, public, secondary school located in East Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The school opened in 1910, making it one of Victoria's oldest state secondary schools, and moved to its curr ...

and was recruited from the Newtown Football Club. A lightly built rover, Pink started his Geelong career in 1923 when he played 15 league games. This included Geelong's semi final loss to

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

, during which he received a knock to the head that left him temporarily unconscious. He was given the award for Geelong's best junior player at the club awards that October. Pink appeared in all 16 games Geelong played in the

1924 VFL season The 1924 VFL season was the 28th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured nine clubs, ran from 26 April until 27 September, and comprised a 16- ...

. Towards the end of the season he was a VFL representative at the Hobart Carnival and was named amongst the state's best players in a win over

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, with four goals. He polled three votes in the

1924 Brownlow Medal The 1924 Brownlow Medal was the inaugural year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Victorian Football League (VFL) home and away season. Edward 'Carji' Greeves of the Geelong Football Club won the ...

, which were enough to finish equal fifth. A knee injury sustained in the opening round of the 1925 season kept Pink out of the team until round 13, a win over

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. The following week, against St Kilda at

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Junc ...

, Pink again injured his knee. The club doctor gave Pink the unfortunate news that the knee cartilage was damaged so badly his football career was over.

War service

Pink volunteered for part time service in the Volunteer Defence Corps during

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 ...

, serving for three years in the

area.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pink, Arthur 1900 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Geelong Football Club players Newtown Football Club players 1986 deaths Volunteer Defence Corps soldiers