Henry Gordon "Harry" Rowe (2 February 1925 – 1 April 2014) 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

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and umpired 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). A

VAFA The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division 4. In addition there ...

premiership player with Melbourne High School, Rowe played twice at the Melbourne Football Club over two separate seasons. In 1948 Rowe took up field umpiring with the VFL Second Eighteens (later VFL Reserve Grade) and the following season he was promoted to the VFL senior list. He umpired his first VFL Second Eighteens match in 1950 and in 1951 he was appointed to his first VFL senior match – South Melbourne versus

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

at the

Lake Oval Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association football club South M ...

. At the conclusion of this match the crowd hurled various missiles at Rowe but none struck him. Rowe umpired the 1955

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

versus

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, ...

match in which Fitzroy forward Tony Ongarello scored two goals from place-kicks. These remain the last two goals to be scored in such a fashion in the VFL/AFL. It was Rowe's final VFL senior match. Continuing to umpire until 1963, primarily in the country, his final career totals were 16 VFL, 27 VFL Second Eighteens, 244 VCFL, 25 Tasmanian and 3 Metropolitan Football League matches, including 48 finals over 15 seasons. He was awarded life membership of the Victorian Football League Umpires' Association in 1959. Through much of his time as a footballer and umpire Rowe also played for the Richmond Cricket Club and was selected for 81 First XI matches. Rowe died in Melbourne on 1 April 2014.

References

* *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Harry 1925 births 2014 deaths Melbourne Football Club players Australian Football League umpires Melbourne High School Old Boys Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne People from St Kilda, Victoria Richmond cricketers