Ernest Clyde Cowley (17 August 1892 – 20 October 1975) 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

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 ...

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).

Background

Cowley came to Carlton from Brunswick and had a strong debut season, kicking 35 goals to top the VFL's goalkicking. He played just one more year with Carlton before returning to the VFA where he joined

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...

. Cowley was also a proficient baseball pitcher who represented Victoria in interstate competition. Cowley invented the football game called "

Austus Austus was a variation of Australian rules football which was played in Australia during World War II between Australians and visiting soldiers from the United States. The name comes from the first four letters of Australia (AUST) and the initi ...

", a combination of Australian and American football which was played between Australians and visiting American servicemen during World War II. He was a journalist with the Sporting Globe and wrote on American sports, particularly baseball.

References

* *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. 1892 births Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Carlton Football Club players Brunswick Football Club players Prahran Football Club players VFL Leading Goalkicker Medal winners Australian sports journalists 1975 deaths People from Brunswick, Victoria {{AFL-bio-1892-stub