Claude Hamilton Clough (8 October 1884 – 23 February 1922) 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 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) during the early 1900s. He holds the record as the youngest-ever player in the league, having made his debut at 15 years, 209 days. Until March 2012, the record was thought to be held by

Keith Bromage Keith Bromage (born 8 November 1937) is a former Australian rules footballer. He played with Collingwood and Fitzroy in his Victorian Football League (VFL) career. When he debuted against Richmond in 1953 at 15 years of age and 287 days, he w ...

, who made his debut at 15 years and 287 days. Research by the official

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

historians discovered that Clough was born in 1884, not the previously thought 1880. Clough's first game of league football in 1900 was notable, as the result of the match was overturned almost a week after the game concluded. The match finished as a draw, with both teams having scored 68 points, but a point kicked by at the end of the third quarter was later disallowed and St Kilda was awarded the win. (It would take 106 years before another game's result would be later overturned—coincidentally involving St Kilda—in the infamous Sirengate match.) The 1900 victory with Clough also marked St Kilda's first win since they entered the league in 1897, and it was their only win for the season.

References

External links

* 1884 births 1922 deaths Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents St Kilda Football Club players Collegians Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne People from St Kilda, Victoria {{AFL-bio-1884-stub