Michael John Grace (24 July 187421 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 the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

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

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The 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).

Family

The son of Thomas Grace, and Julia Grace, née O'Callaghan, Michael John Grace was born in

Burnley, Victoria Burnley is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra local government area. Burnley recorded a population of 794 at the 2021 census. Bu ...

on 24 July 1874. He was the brother of Fitzroy footballers Jim Grace and Joe Grace. He married Martha Drew in 1903.

Football

Mick Grace was a follower/forward who started his career at the top level in the VFA in 1895 with

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 ...

, joining his 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 ...

. Grace was part of Fitzroy's premiership team in that season (although no Grand Final was played in the VFA at the time). In 1897, Fitzroy was one of the eight clubs to form the VFL as a breakaway competition from the VFA, and in

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

and 1899, Grace was part of back-to-back VFL premierships with the Maroons. He was regarded as the best player on the ground in the 1898 Grand Final. Grace was part of the Maroons' 1900 losing premiership side, then retired from playing.Blueseum Profile. In 1903, influential coach

Jack Worrall John Worrall (20 June 1861 – 17 November 1937) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the VFA, and a Test cricketer. He was also a prominent coach in both sports and a journalist. A small, nugge ...

persuaded Grace to return to the VFL for

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

. Grace played for Carlton between 1903 and 1907. He won a further two VFL premierships with Carlton (in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and 1907), and in

he kicked 50 goals in a single season, the first VFL player ever to do so. Grace retired from the VFL again halfway through the 1907 season, and was set to play for

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

in the VFA for the remainder of the season, before Worrall convinced him to return to Carlton for the successful finals campaign. Grace left Carlton again at the end of the 1907 season, and moved to St Kilda where he played 16 games in 1908. Altogether throughout his career in Victoria, Grace won five premierships (three with Fitzroy, and two with Carlton). Grace also played four state games for Victoria.

Coach

Grace had a brief coaching career, serving as St Kilda's coach in 1908 while playing and as coach of University in 1910, and later coaching in Sydney.

Cricket

Grace was also a leading junior

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, representing the Combined Victorian Juniors against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) side during MCCs 1903/04 tour.

Death

He had been suffering from tuberculosis for some time. He died of tuberculosis, at Heidelberg, on 21 May 1912.Death of a Famous Footballer, ''The Barrier Miner'', (Monday, 27 May 1912), p.4.
/ref>

Footnotes

References

* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2014). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.)'', (Melbourne), Bas Publishing.

External links

* *
Mick Grace
at Blueseum {{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Mick 1874 births 1912 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club Premiership players Fitzroy Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club Premiership players St Kilda Football Club players St Kilda Football Club coaches Mitchell Medal winners VFL Leading Goalkicker Medal winners Fitzroy Football Club (VFA) players 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Australia Infectious disease deaths in Victoria (Australia) Four-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Burnley, Victoria