George Ronald Doig (25 May 1913 – 27 November 2006) was an
Australian rules footballer who played for and later coached the
East Fremantle Football Club in the
Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). A member of the
Doig sporting family, Doig kicked 1095 goals from his 202 games playing almost exclusively as a forward, becoming East Fremantle's leading goalkicker of all-time, and leading the
WANFL's goalkicking on six occasions. He kicked more than 100 goals in a season nine times, which included a haul of 152 goals in 1934 that set an elite record which was not broken until
Bernie Naylor () kicked 167 goals in 1953. Doig captained the club for two seasons, from 1940 to 1941, also filling the role of coach during the first season.
Doig also represented the
Western Australian state side in 14 matches, kicking 62 goals. He was inducted into the
Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002, and was named as a "Legend" in the
West Australian Football Hall of Fame
The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...
in 2004. Doig was named at full forward in East Fremantle's Team of the Century, and the
Fremantle Football Hall of Legends.
Early life
Doig was born on 25 May 1913 to
Charles George Alexander Doig and his wife, Isabella Brand Doig (née Miller), at their residence at 30 Howard Street,
Fremantle. Doig was a member of the
Doig sporting family which produced 17 WAFL footballers. His father,
Charles Doig, Sr.
Charles George Alexander Doig (27 April 1883 – 31 October 1944) was an Australian rules football player and coach. A member of the Doig sporting family, Doig played 209 games for the East Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Footbal ...
, played 209 games for East Fremantle between 1903 and 1921, and later coached the club for one season, in 1940. His brother,
Charles Doig, Jr., played 196 games for East Fremantle and also captained the club.
Doig attended
Fremantle Boys' School in
Fremantle, but played "little football" at school.
[Clubs Must Discover Goalkickers](_blank)
– ''The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...
''. Published Tuesday, 12 May 1954. Retrieved fro
Trove
19 January 2012. In 1931, Doig played for an East Fremantle side in the Fremantle Suburban Football Association, a local competition. Despite his team finishing second from last, Doig kicked 126 goals from 20 games to lead the competition's goalkicking. In a 1954 interview, Doig characterised himself as part of the "barefoot brigade".
In one match against Palmyra at Fremantle Park, Doig kicked his team's entire score, 26 goals and 20 behinds, to Palmyra's seven goals and seven behinds. ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' noted it as "a splendid performance". The following season, Doig played with East Fremantle's affiliate in the Western Australian National Football Association (WANFA), which acted as a
reserve or seconds team for the WANFL club.
Football career
In 1933, he was promoted to the League team at
East Fremantle
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
. In his first game, he kicked 9 goals. For the season he kicked 106 goals, the first person in the
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...
to kick more than 100 goals in a season at League level.
The following year he kicked 152 goals, which was an Australian record until 1953, when
Bernie Naylor, from the
South Fremantle Football Club kicked 167 goals (including finals matches). In the 1934 season George kicked 19 goals, 3 behinds in one match (then an Australian record) followed by 13 goals, 4 behinds in the following match.
In 1935, George kicked 113 goals, followed by
:108 goals
in 1936,
:144 goals
in 1937,
:100 goals
in 1938,
:106 goals
in 1939,
:108 goals in 1940 and
:146 goals in 1941.
Due to the Second World War, 1941 practically marked his retirement from football. He had represented Western Australia on fourteen occasions and kicked 62 goals in State matches. In 1945, at the request of the committee, George returned to play six games and help East Fremantle win the Premiership for that season.
During his career he played in eight Grand Finals and kicked ten or more goals on 14 occasions. Only once in 202 matches, against
Swan Districts in the third round of 1938, did he fail to score a goal.
In 1938 the East Fremantle Football Club played a match in Sydney against the New South Wales State team. A newspaper report on the match referred to George Doig as "the
Don Bradman of WANFL football" as he had by then achieved more than 100 goals in six consecutive seasons.
George kicked an aggregate of 1083 goals in his nine consecutive seasons from 1933 at the East Fremantle Football Club. This represents an incredible 120 goals per season and 5.46 goals per game. In 1945, after an absence from the game for three years due to the Second World War he returned to play a few more games, kicking a further 28 goals, to bring his career aggregate to 1111 goals.
Fremantle's
best and fairest award, the
Doig Medal
The Doig Medal is the best and fairest award given out to the player considered best and fairest during a season for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL.
It was renamed in 2000 after the legendary Fremantle footballing family, the Doigs, who ...
, is named for the Doig family, 17 of which have played football at senior level in Western Australia over three generations. A function room at
Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood.
Subiaco Oval was the high ...
has been named the Doig Room in recognition of the family's influence on West Australian football. He is a member of the
West Australian Football Hall of Fame
The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...
and has legend status.
Doig married Margaret Jean Mossman on Saturday, 21 August 1937, at the Old Scots Church in
Fremantle. He and his brother,
Charlie Doig, who acted as
best man
A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...
, had both played for East Fremantle against at
Fremantle Oval on the same day as the wedding, with George kicking four goals in a 27-point loss.
1941–1945: "Four figures" and retirement
Despite taking the club to a
preliminary final as playing coach the previous season, Doig was unavailable to coach in 1941. After two years coaching the
Aquinas College football team, former East Fremantle player and coach
Jerry Dolan
John "Jerry" Dolan (25 December 1901 – 26 December 1986) was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) before becoming a politician. He played for as well as coached East Fremantle and was also a ...
was appointed non-playing coach of East Fremantle. At a club meeting on 9 April, Doig was re-elected captain for the 1941 season. He was also elected as one of two players' representatives to the general committee, along with R. Daniel.
Doig kicked his 1000th career goal against at
Fremantle Oval on Saturday, 5 July 1941, becoming the fourth player in the "Big Three" football leagues (the
South Australian National Football League
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Originally formed as t ...
, 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 ...
, and the WANFL) to reach this mark, after
Gordon Coventry (),
Ken Farmer
Kenneth William George Farmer (25 July 1910 – 5 March 1982) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
Dubbed the 'Bradman of football' in So ...
(
North Adelaide
North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands.
History
Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...
), and
Ted Tyson (). Doig had started the match with 998 goals to his credit, and nine minutes after the start of play, had scored the two goals required to reach the milestone. The 1000th goal itself was reached with what ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' called a "well judged snap shot", and was followed by "
stained cheering and hand clapping", with the game being "momentarily held up while players rushed to congratulate him".
For the ninth consecutive season, Doig kicked a century of goals, 146 in total, to again lead East Fremantle's goalkicking. He also led the
WANFL's goalkicking, for the first time since 1937, which marked the sixth time he had filled this role, a record not equalled until 1954, by
Bernie Naylor, and not broken
until 1971, by
Austin Robertson, Jr.
Austin Christopher Robertson (born 29 April 1943) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). He is the son of former South Me ...
, who led the league's goalkicking a total of eight times.
At the conclusion of the 1941 season, the WANFL voted to restrict the competition to players under the age of 18, to allow fit men to enlist in the military. This limit was in place for three seasons, from 1942 to 1944. During this period, Doig, having turned 30 in 1943, was too old to enlist, and continued working at his job with the Harbour and Light Department. After much criticism, and several proposals to restrict the competition to players under the age of 25, the WANFL was returned to an "open" competition for the 1945 season. After three years' absence, Doig announced his desire to return to the game, if his club needed him. He returned to football in round 14 of the 1945 season, against at
Fremantle Oval, kicking seven goals. ''
The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...
'' reported he had "lost little if any of his former skill":
At the conclusion of the home-and-away season, East Fremantle finished on top of the ladder, with 16 wins and four losses from their 20 games. The club won their last eight games to set up a
semi-final against , which the club won by 52 points. In the
derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
grand final against at
Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood.
Subiaco Oval was the high ...
the following week, East Fremantle won by 36 points in front of a crowd of 21,000 people.
Post-playing life
After his retirement from football, Doig continued with the Harbour and Light Department at
Fremantle Harbour
Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval vi ...
, where he worked until his retirement in 1973.
[Farewell](_blank)
– George Doig. Retrieved 20 January 2012. After his retirement, he enjoyed a number of recreational pursuits, including
lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
, fishing, which included occasional trips to
Kalbarri. In 1967, he joined the Royal Fremantle Golf Club, later shooting a
hole in one
In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. A ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a h ...
. In 1988, he underwent
open heart surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to c ...
. Doig died at his home in
Bicton on 27 November 2006, at the age of 93.
[Fremantle mourns passing of legend](_blank)
– AFL Central. Posted 27 November 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
Reputation and awards
A 1948 history of the East Fremantle Football Club, ''The Jubilee Book of the East Fremantle Football Club'', written by
Dolph Heinrichs, a former East Fremantle player, called Doig the "
Bradman of W.A. football", in response to his goal-kicking feats. After a tour of
Sydney by East Fremantle in 1938, a Sydney newspaper had called him the "Bradman of Australian rules football", further embellishing his reputation. However, several other footballers were also referred to by this term, notably
Ken Farmer
Kenneth William George Farmer (25 July 1910 – 5 March 1982) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
Dubbed the 'Bradman of football' in So ...
, another full-forward, and
Haydn Bunton, a rover.
Doig was made a life member of the East Fremantle Football Club at a club reunion held at the
Fremantle Town Hall in February 1949.
Jerry Dolan
John "Jerry" Dolan (25 December 1901 – 26 December 1986) was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) before becoming a politician. He played for as well as coached East Fremantle and was also a ...
, who had previously coached Doig, called him "an ornament to the game and an example in every respect", emphasising his position as a
role model to "present-day players who had found the going hard". During the early 1950s, a number of upcoming footballers were compared to Doig, or said to be the "next George Doig". In 1955,
Bernie Naylor was called "the greatest centre-forward since George Doig".
Doig was inducted into the
Western Australian Institute of Sport
The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1983 by the Government of Western Australia to support athletes in Western Australia. Previously, if elite athletes from Western Australian needed to train or ...
's Hall of Champions in September 1988. As part of millennium celebrations, both the newspaper ''
The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...
'' and the Australian rules football website Full Points Footy named Doig in their Western Australian "Teams of the Century". He was also named in East Fremantle's Team of the Century, named in 1997 as part of the club's centenary celebrations, and was an initial inductee into the
Fremantle Football Hall of Legends, inaugurated in 1995 by the
Fremantle Football Club
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...
. In 2003, the
Fremantle Football Club
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...
named its
best and fairest award, the
Doig Medal
The Doig Medal is the best and fairest award given out to the player considered best and fairest during a season for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL.
It was renamed in 2000 after the legendary Fremantle footballing family, the Doigs, who ...
, in recognition of the contribution George Doig and the Doig family had made to football in Fremantle.
Doig presented the award until his death, when his son, Don, took over. After his death, a number of people acknowledged his contribution to football in Western Australia, including
Rick Hart, the president of the Fremantle Football Club, and
Alan Carpenter
Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...
, the
Premier of Western Australia
The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...
at the time. The
eulogy
A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...
at his funeral was given by
Cameron Schwab
Cameron Schwab (born December 4, 1963) is an Australian sports administrator.
Schwab became the youngest chief executive officer (CEO) of a club in Victorian Football League history when he joined Richmond in 1988. Early in the 1994 AFL seaso ...
, at the time the CEO of the Fremantle Football Club. A
cul-de-sac in a small housing development in Bicton, close to where Doig and his immediate family had lived, was named Doig Court a short time before his death.
Notes
Doig's 152 goal record was passed in the
Victorian Football Association
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 ...
in
1939 by
George Hawkins, and several times by other players prior to 1953; but Doig was still recognised as the national record holder because the VFA was playing under a
different set of rules at the time.
"Home-and-away season" is an Australian term referring to the "regular season" matches of a competition, that is, excluding
playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...
or pre-season games. The term derives from the practice of each team playing every other team in the league twice: once at each team's
home ground
In sports, home is the place and venue identified with a team sport. Most professional teams are named for, and marketed to, particular metropolitan areas; amateur teams may be drawn from a particular region, or from institutions such as sch ...
.
Sir Donald Bradman was an Australian cricketer widely considered the greatest Australian sportsman of all time. Bradman was known particularly for his accumulation of
runs and the number of
batting Batting may refer to:
* Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs
* Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...
records he broke during his career. Even during his career, "Bradman" became a
byword for any record-breaking Australian sportsman. Hence, outstanding Australian sporting achievements, whether in cricket or some other sport, are considered ''
Bradmanesque''.
References
External links
George Doig homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doig, George
1913 births
2006 deaths
Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Australian people of Scottish descent
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
East Fremantle Football Club coaches
East Fremantle Football Club players
Public servants of Western Australia
West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Australian rules footballers from Fremantle