Geoff R. Tunbridge (7 April 1932 – 23 March 2015) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club 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). At the age of 25, Tunbridge was recruited to Melbourne from Ballarat, where he was an Old Boy (from 1949) and teacher at Ballarat Church of England Boys Grammar School. His jumper was number 23 and he was a red-headed, spearing left-foot flanker. He originally commenced his footy career for

University Blues Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. The club fields two teams, known as the "Blacks" and "Blues", who both compete in the Victorian Ama ...

in the

Victorian Amateur Football Association The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division ...

. He began studies in Science at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

in 1952, and in 1953 entered residence at

Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Trinity College is the oldest residential college of the University of Melbourne, the first university in the colony of Victoria, Australia. The college was opened in 1872 on a site granted to the Church of England by the government of Victo ...

, where he also played cricket and tennis. Tunbridge refused on ideological grounds to accept payment from Melbourne Football Club, as he believed that players should play for the love of the game. The only money he did accept was compensation for the cost of petrol, given the long drive between Ballarat and Melbourne (eight pence/year in his Volkswagen). He also often ate a

meat pie A meat pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often with other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide. Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Maillard reaction. M ...

half an hour before the game. Tunbridge earned a nomination on the forward flank for the Melbourne Team of the Century, but this position was ultimately awarded to

Garry Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mainly ...

. He played in three premierships for Melbourne in the late 1950s. His formal association with Ballarat Grammar spanned 40 years. He first came to the school as student in 1949 and retired from teaching at Ballarat Grammar School in 1989. Thereafter, Tunbridge taught at Leibler Yavneh College for a number of years.

Death

Tunbridge died in 2015, aged 82.

References

External links

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In DemonWiki 1932 births 2015 deaths Melbourne Football Club players University Blues Football Club players People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Australian rules footballers from Ballarat Melbourne Football Club Premiership players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub