Frederick Rowden "Flops" Phillips (27 May 1905 – 21 April 1933) 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).
Family
The son of Frederick John Edmonds Phillips (1859–1931), and Sylvia Amy Phillips (1870–1950), née Rowden, Frederick Rowden Phillips was born in
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 27 May 1905. He was born with a
"hare lip".
[Spaul (2018).]
Education
He was educated at Laing's Prahran College, and, later, at
Scotch College, Melbourne
(For God, for Country, and for Learning)
, established =
, type = Independent, day and boarding
, gender = Boys
, denomination = Presbyterian
, slogan =
, ...
, where he excelled at both cricket and football.
Football
::Fred Phillips was a highly skilled and stylish footballer; and was said to be a strong overhead mark. Standing at 183 cm, Fred could hold down key positions in defence or attack. He had an added advantage, over many footballers of that era, because he could kick proficiently with both feet.
::In those early days of football, many players were "branded" as "one-sided" which meant that they turned the same way on each occasion when winning possession of the ball. Such players were/are "predictable and therefore vulnerable" with close checking.
St Kilda (VFL)
Phillips could play as a ruckman or in defensive key positions. A strong mark of the ball, Phillips was St Kilda's
best and fairest
In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...
in 1930. He finished eighth in the 1931 Brownlow Medal, and equal 9th the following season.
Hawthorn (VFL)
In early March 1933 he was appointed to the role of captain-coach but by the time the season began a few weeks later he had died from blood poisoning caused by an elbow cut. It was believed the dye in the new club jumper was toxic.
Interstate football
Originally selected as 19th man for the Victorian team to play against South Australia at the MCG on 11 June 1932, Phillips replaced Collingwood's
Frank Murphy
William Francis Murphy (April 13, 1890July 19, 1949) was an American politician, lawyer and jurist from Michigan. He was a Democrat who was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included serving ...
in the selected side. Victoria beat South Australia by 8 points — 12.20 (92) to 12.12 (84 — and Phillips was one of the best on the ground; and, along with Richmond's Frank Titus, he scored three goals.
Death
He died in a private hospital in
Glenferrie, Victoria on 21 April 1933. The prevailing view is that he died from blood poisoning, caused by the (toxic) dye from his Hawthorn jumper running into a cut on his elbow.
Funeral
Phillips was buried on Monday, 24 April 1933 at the
Melbourne General Cemetery
The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large (43 hectare) necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North.
The cemetery is notably the resting place of four Prime Ministers of Australia, more than any other nec ...
. A large crowd followed his coffin's journey to the cemetery.
::A great tribute to the memory of the late St Kilda player and recently appointed coach of the Hawthorn Football Club, was paid by a crowd of 1500 which attended the burial service in the Melbourne Cemetery today. Mr Phillips, who had played for St. Kilda for nine seasons, and also represented Victoria in Interstate contests, died suddenly on Friday night, aged 27.
::Almost every football and cricket organisation in Melbourne was officially represented. There was a large representation of present and past players, committeemen, coaches, secretaries and supporters of every league football club, and friends and relatives. In the crowd was a big sprinkling of women.
::The funeral moved from the residence at 10 Meadow Street, East St. Kilda, of Mrs S. A. Phillips, the dead man's mother. Three-quarters of a mile long, it passed round the St. Kilda football Ground where the flags were at half mast, and passed by way of Queen's Road and St. Kilda Road, through the city, to the cemetery. More than 200 cars followed the hearse. ''The Riverine Herald'', 25 April 1933.
Footballer's Funeral: Tribute to F.R. Phillips, ''The Riverine Herald'', (Tuesday, 25 April 1933), p.3.
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Footnotes
References
Spaull, Roger, "Fred Phillips — The Tragic Tale of a True Champion", ''Boyles Football Photos'', 23 October 2018.
External links
*
*
Fred Phillips, ''Boyles Football Photos''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Fred
Trevor Barker Award winners
1905 births
1933 deaths
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
St Kilda Football Club players
Deaths from sepsis
People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne
Infectious disease deaths in Victoria (Australia)