Garry Hamer (born 13 February 1943) is a former

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

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

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).

Football

Geelong (VFL)

Hamer was a half forward, defender and ruckman, recruited to Geelong from

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

, a Shepparton-based club. He made his debut in the opening round of the

1961 VFL season The 1961 VFL season was the 65th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 15 April until 23 September, and comprised an ...

against Collingwood, one of eight appearances he would make that year. In 1962 he was one of three Geelong players to appear in all 21 games. This included both the drawn

preliminary final The McIntyre System, or systems as there have been five of them, is a playoff system that gives an advantage to teams or competitors qualifying higher. The systems were developed by Ken McIntyre, an Australian lawyer, historian and English lect ...

against Carlton and the controversial five-point loss in the replay a week later. On 6 July 1963 he was a member of the Geelong team that were comprehensively and unexpectedly beaten by Fitzroy, 9.13 (67) to 3.13 (31) in the

1963 Miracle Match The 1963 Miracle Match was an Australian rules football game contested in the second half of the 1963 VFL season home-and-away competition’s round 10 "split round" matches. The match, between the Fitzroy Football Club and the Geelong Fo ...

. He played eight games in 1963 and didn't feature in Geelong's premiership team, but did play in the Geelong reserves grand final win. The following year he again won a premiership with the reserves, after making only five appearances in the seniors. He brought up his 50th league game in the penultimate round of the 1965 home and away season. At the end of the year, at the age of just 22, Hamer was granted a clearance to join

Wimmera Football League The Wimmera Football League is a major Australian rules country league based in Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns in the Wimmera region: the regional centres along the Western Highway from Ararat to Nhill as well as Minyip-Murtoa ...

side

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

as playing coach.

Coaching career

From 1966 to 1970, Hamer coached a strong Horsham side, which made the finals each year. In his first season, he finished second in the Toohey Medal and led Horsham to the grand final, which they lost to Nhill, the game decided off the last kick. He then led Horsham to back to back premierships in 1967 and 1968. After leaving Horsham he played with

Geelong West Geelong West is a commercial and residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. When Geelong was founded, the area was known as Kildare but its name was changed to Geelong West in 1875. The main street is Pakington Street. At the 2016 c ...

, then in 1972 joined

Barwon Heads Barwon Heads (previously known as Point Flinders) is a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the west bank of the mouth of the Barwon River below Lake Connewarre, while it is bounded to ...

and was best on ground for the club in that year's grand final win. He was considered one of the favorites to fill the vacant position of Geelong senior coach for the

1976 VFL season The 1976 VFL season was the 80th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 3 April until 25 September, and comprised a 22 ...

, having just steered the reserves team to the 1975 premiership, his sixth since he began coaching. The job however went to Rodney Olsson and Hamer remained at the club as an assistant coach in 1976, before joining Barwon. He was coach of Geelong West in the

1982 VFA season The 1982 Victorian Football Association season was the 101st season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 22nd season of second division competition. It was the first season of a restructured two-division com ...

Cricket

Hamer also played for the Richmond Cricket Club in Victorian district cricket, as a fast bowler. In the 1963/64 summer, Hamer was chosen to represent a Victorian Country XI, against the touring South Africans at

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of ...

. He took 3/50 and had

Eddie Barlow Edgar John Barlow (12 August 1940 – 30 December 2005) was a South African cricketer (an all rounder). Barlow was born in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, and played first-class cricket for Transvaal and Eastern Province from 1959–60 to 1 ...

as one of his wickets, bowled for a duck. When the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) came to Horsham in 1970/71, Hamer again represented Victoria Country and dismissed

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Univers ...

leg before wicket Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...

for a duck.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamer, Garry 1943 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Football Club players Geelong West Football Club players Geelong West Football Club coaches Horsham Football Club players Shepparton Swans Football Club players Barwon Football Club players Richmond cricketers Living people