William 'Bice' Cleary (20 February 1868 – 27 January 1942) 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 the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

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). Cleary came from South Ballarat, and after two seasons crossed to Fitzroy. He was vice captain in 1894–1896, and after Tom Banks retired, was 28 when he captained Fitzroy in the inaugural VFL season. He resigned the captaincy, which went to

Alec Sloan Alexander Barclay Sloan (12 December 1870 – 29 June 1938) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and the Victorian Football League (VFL). Sloan was a member of ...

the following season. His final game was as a

forward 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 Fitzroy's 1899 Grand Final triumph, having come into the side towards the end of the season after not playing for over a year.

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External links

* * *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. 1868 births Australian rules footballers from Ballarat Fitzroy Football Club (VFA) players Fitzroy Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club premiership players South Ballarat Football Club players 1942 deaths VFL/AFL premiership players Sportspeople from the Colony of Victoria {{AFL-bio-1860s-stub