Ernest William Taylor (10 June 1898 – 23 November 1980) 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 in the

VFL 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 ...

between 1920 and 1926 for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

Family

The son of the former Richmond (VFA) captain, Charles Henry Taylor (1872-1951), and Annie Ethel Maud Taylor (1877–1938), née Mitchell, Ernest William Taylor was born at

Richmond, Victoria Richmond is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra local government area. Richmond recorded a population of 28,587 at the 2021 census, with a medi ...

on 10 June 1898. He married Amelia Jane Comans (1896-1927) in 1920. He married his second wife, Mary Evelyn "Mae" Grace (1908-1991), in 1932.

Football

A back-pocket and half-back flanker, he was recruited from the Burnley Football Club, and made his senior debut with Richmond against South Melbourne, at the Lake Oval, on 14 August 1920. In his fifth First XVIII match he played in the back pocket for Richmond in its 1920 Grand Final win over Collingwood, 7.10 (52) to 5.5 (35). In his seventeenth match he played in the back-pocket for Richmond in its 1921 Grand Final win over Carlton, 5.6 (36) to 4.8 (32). In what was thought, at the time, to be his last game for Richmond, he played in the back-pocket for Richmond against South Melbourne, at Windy Hill, on 13 September 1924 as part of the VFL's one-year-only experiment with a "''

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

''" in place of the regular "'' ''Argus'' system''". He was badly injured during the last quarter of the match, and was in hospital for a number of weeks. South Melbourne's

Bill Condon William Condon (born October 22, 1955) is an American director and screenwriter. Condon is known for writing and/or directing numerous successful and acclaimed films including '' Gods and Monsters'', ''Chicago'', '' Kinsey'', ''Dreamgirls'', ' ...

was charged with elbowing Taylor; however, due to the severity of Taylor's injury (fractured skull and two facial fractures), the hearings were controversially suspended for a considerable time, with, eventually, the case being dismissed on the grounds of the considerable delay raising doubts about the reliability of the participants' recall of the events in question. After retiring as a player Taylor served on the Richmond Football Club Committee between 1925 and 1936, and then later in 1941 and 1942, being elected Vice President in 1935 and 1936. Although he had declared his retirement, following his 1924 injuries, at the beginning of the 1925 season, he went on to play another four senior games two in 1925, and two in 1926 to help Richmond out when it was short of players.

Death

He died at

Camberwell, Victoria Camberwell is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Camberwell recorded a population of 21,965 at the 2021 census. The ...

on 23 November 1980.Memorial plaque at
Ernest William Taylor, at ''Find a Grave''.
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Notes

References

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers of Old: A complete History of Every Player to Represent the Richmond Football Club between 1908 and 1996'', Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996.

External links

* * 1898 births 1980 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Richmond, Victoria {{AFL-bio-1898-stub