William George Goddard (24 February 1880 - 26 August 1939) 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 for

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 ...

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

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).

Family

The son of Arthur Goddard (-1884), and Matilda Goddard, née Clark, William George Goddard was born at

Corop, Victoria Corop is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Campaspe and on the Midland Highway, north of the state capital, Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is ...

on 24 February 1880.

Football

WAFL

A late-comer to VFL football, Goddard played a game for South Fremantle in 1900 and spent five years at North Fremantle before going to Victoria; and, in June 1903, he was suspended for entering the opposition's change rooms after the match and assaulting one of its players. He had previously visited the eastern state in 1904 when he toured with the Western Australian interstate football team.

VFL (South Melbourne)

Goddard, who was a centreman, performed well in his first season at South Melbourne but missed out on a place in their 1907 Grand Final team. He played fourteen games for South Melbourne in 1908.

Application for clearance (1909)

In 1909, having played in all of South Melbourne's pre-season practice games, yet not having been being selected to play, and " avingseen a couple of the Carlton players who told him that he could get a game" and " aving seenone of the committee, and avingdecided to apply for a clearance", Goddard took the extraordinary step of independently applying for an (unsolicited) clearance to Carlton.Migratory Footballers: A Peculiar case, ''The Argus'', (Thursday, 20 May 1909), p.5.
/ref> The VFL Permit Committee (the chairman was C.N. Hickey, also secretary of the Fitzroy Football Club) met on 19 May 1909, and considered Goddard's request. An ''

in camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

'' discussion (the press excluded) was held between the Committee, Goddard,

Jack Worrall John Worrall (20 June 1861 – 17 November 1937) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the VFA, and a Test cricketer. He was also a prominent coach in both sports and a journalist. A small, nugge ...

, the Carlton delegate, and Henry Hawkins Skinner, the South Melbourne delegate. Noting that, although South Melbourne had agreed to release Goddard – having informed Goddard "that he will not be selected in our team as we do not considered him good enough as a player" – it also noted that Jack Worrall stated that "This application has been made without the consent of my committee, and I further wish to state the committee do not desire the services of Mr. Goddard". The Committee refused his application; and, "in answer to a question by Goddard as to whether he could apply to go to another club,

he Committee He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

said, "Your clearance is not sufficient to entitle you to a permit to play with any club"." As a consequence, Goddard did not play anywhere at all in the VFL in 1909; and, although there was talk of him possibly going to play with Prahran in the VFA, there is no evidence of him ever having done so.

VFL (Carlton)

He was granted a clearance from South Melbourne to Carlton in 1910; and played there as a defender. In a tumultuous season for Carlton, which began with the sacking of coach

and ended with two players ( Doug Fraser and

Alex Lang Alex Lang (12 March 1888 – 9 July 1943) was an Australian rules footballer who played with the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Despite being a three-time premiership player, Lang will be remembered by history as t ...

) suspended for taking bribes, Carlton still managed to make the Grand Final. Goddard played at

back pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

in the 1910 Grand Final, in which Carlton lost to Collingwood by 14 points.

VFL (St Kilda)

In 1911, he crossed to St Kilda, with whom he played seven senior games.

WAFL

Goddard continued to play in the WAFL well into his 30s and was a member of

East Fremantle East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

's 1914 premiership side. His final season was in 1918 (at the age of 38); and only an injury stopped him from ending his career with another premiership, with East Fremantle winning that year's Grand Final.

Death

He died at

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

on 26 August 1939.Deaths: Goddard, ''The West Australian'', (Monday, 28 August 1939), p.1.
/ref>

Footnotes

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Bill 1880 births Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Sydney Swans players Carlton Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players East Fremantle Football Club players South Fremantle Football Club players North Fremantle Football Club players 1939 deaths

Family

Football

WAFL

VFL (South Melbourne)

Application for clearance (1909)

VFL (Carlton)

VFL (St Kilda)

WAFL

Death

See also

Footnotes

References

External links