Henry Arthur 'Harry' Dowdall (29 June 1872 – 9 May 1912) 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 for Collingwood in the 1897 inaugural

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) season.

Family

The son of James Dowdall and Isabella McGowan, Harry was small of stature and lightly built, and used these traits to his advantage, particularly in wet weather.

Football

Harry's older brother

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

had both previously played for South Melbourne 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 ...

(VFA) from 1887, with Harry playing in the 2nd Twenty. In 1892 they both tried to move to Collingwood. Jim was unsuccessful and instead played for Richmond.Contemporary newspaper reports In Collingwood's final game of the 1897 VFL season, Harry refused to play unless he was allowed to play on the ball for the entirety of the game. Although not pleasing Collingwood officials with his stance, he remained at the club for a further three seasons, playing 38 games and kicking 21 goals, before crossing to St Kilda in 1901 at the age of 29, where he played only one game.

Notes

References

Football and fighting

'Follower', "The Footballers' Alphabet", ''The Leader'', (Saturday, 23 July 1898), p.17.
* Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowdall, Harry 1872 births South Melbourne Football Club (VFA) players Collingwood Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players 1912 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne People from South Melbourne