William Gent (19 June 1879 – 7 July 1957) 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 ...

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). A rover from Essendon Association, Gent was noted for his bad behaviour on the field. In 1904 he received a 20-game suspension for striking numerous Fitzroy players, while in 1907 he was suspended for life by the league for striking 's

Dick L. Harris Richard Leonard Harris (14 October 1885 – 31 October 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon, Carlton and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Harris was a defender and played his early football with No ...

. His expulsion was lifted on appeal after seven games when it was ruled to be illegal – he had been reported by the Carlton club secretary, rather than by the game's umpire, which was traditionally allowed under VFL rules but turned out no longer to be allowed under the

Australasian Football Council The Australian National Football Council (ANFC) was the national governing body for Australian rules football in Australia from 1906 until 1995. The council was a body of delegates representing each of the principal leagues which controlled the ...

rules which had come into effect in 1907. Gent played four more games after return before retiring.

Notes

References

South Melbourne Team, ''Melbourne Punch'', (Thursday, 4 June 1903), p. 16.
* Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* * 1879 births Sydney Swans players Essendon Association Football Club players 1957 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) {{AFL-bio-1870s-stub