Harold Kennedy "Joe" Littler (17 July 1879 – 10 December 1956) 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 South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also had a long career in Tasmania playing in the Northern Tasmanian Football Association, North West Football Union (NWFU), and the North West Football Association (NWFA). Littler was a premiership player in his debut season at Launceston, as an 18-year-old in 1897. He spent the following NTFA season at Launceston but then crossed to NWFA club Mersey and captained their 1899 premiership team and participated in two further premierships before attempting a VFL career. Signed up South Melbourne, Littler kicked a couple of goals on his debut, a win over Essendon, but didn't experience another victory in the rest of the nine matches that he played in the

1903 VFL season The 1903 VFL season was the seventh season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured eight clubs, ran from 2 May until 12 September, and comprised a 17 ...

. One of those, a loss to Melbourne at the MCG, is noted for South Melbourne's inaccurate score line of 3.17 and the fact that Littler kicked all three of those goals. He resumed as Mersey captain in 1904 and the following year experienced another premiership in the NWFA. Launceston lured him back to their club in 1908, the same year that he returned to the mainly briefly to represent Tasmania at the Melbourne Carnival. Littler spent 1909 as an umpire in the Zeehan District Football Association. In 1910 he returned to Launceston and played with

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in another NTFA premiership team. At an age where many players would retire, Littler began a 20-year stint at

Wynyard Wynyard may refer to: Australia: *Wynyard, Sydney, the district of Sydney CBD around Wynyard railway station, Sydney *Wynyard Park, Sydney *Wynyard, Tasmania *County of Wynyard, in the Murrumbidgee–Tumut region of New South Wales Canada: *Wynya ...

which included a further three premierships. He spent the 1924 season as captain of Yeoman. In 1932 Wynyard were short of players for an NWFU roster match. Littler, secretary of the club at the time, came out of retirement for the day to help make up the numbers, thus playing a senior first-class match at the age of 52. He was, in 2006, inducted into the

Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame The Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame was established to help recognise outstanding services and overall contribution made to the sport of Australian rules football in Tasmania. Any participant of the sport, including players, umpires, media person ...

Footnotes

References

* Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
Wynyard Council Clerk: Suspension Confirmed, ''The (Launceston) Examiner'', (Wednesday, 20 October 1920), p. 2.

Alleged Misappropriation,''The (Burnie) Advocate'', (Thursday, 11 November 1920), p. 2.

Misappropriation, ''The (Launceston) Examiner'', (Wednesday, 1 December 1920), p. 7.

Case of H. K. Littler, ''The (Burnie) Advocate'', (Wednesday, 1 December 1920), p. 2.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Littler, Joe 1879 births 1956 deaths Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Sydney Swans players Launceston Football Club players Wynyard Football Club players City-South Football Club players Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees

See also

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References

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