George Christian Gniel (6 April 1919 – 12 September 1989) 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 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). Gniel debuted in the VFL for

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, ...

. He was recruited by the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

and made his debut for the Blues in round 2 of the 1942 season. After winning the

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 ...

award in 1943 he decided to leave the Blues and return to Geelong to finish his career, being named captain in 1947. The next year Gneil was cleared to Tasmania to coach and play with APPM club in the NWFU. He remained in that region until 1950, also being chosen to represent the NWFU in intrastate matches.

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George Gniel
at Blueseum * 1919 births 1989 deaths Carlton Football Club players Geelong Football Club players John Nicholls Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) {{AFL-bio-1919-stub