Neville Crowe (1 June 1937 – 2 September 2016) was an
Australian rules footballer who represented 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) during the 1950s and 1960s. He also served as club president from 1987 to 1993, and was at the forefront of the ''
Save Our Skins'' campaign in 1990, which saved the club from financial ruin.
In the 1967 Second Semi-final, Crowe was reported for allegedly striking ruckman
John Nicholls, and suspended. He subsequently missed Richmond's drought-breaking premiership victory in the
1967 VFL Grand Final
The 1967 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Richmond Football Club and Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 23 September 1967. It was the 70th annual grand final of the Victorian Footb ...
, and announced his retirement shortly afterward. Crowe's "phantom punch" is regarded as one of the most unlucky moments in VFL/AFL history.
Crowe retired at the end of 2008 from working at the club, finally ending his involvement that had extended to over 50 years.
In September 2012, it was reported that Crowe had been out riding his bicycle when he suddenly lost control and careered into the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower s ...
. A passing jogger, John Greene, who happened to be a lifelong Tigers supporter, dived into the muddy river and pulled Crowe to safety with the help of other passers-by who formed a human chain to get him to the embankment.
References
Bibliography
* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
External links
Richmond Football Club - Hall of Fame*
1937 births
2016 deaths
Richmond Football Club players
Caulfield Football Club players
Jack Dyer Medal winners
All-Australians (1953–1988)
Richmond Football Club administrators
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
Ormond Amateur Football Club players
{{AFL-bio-1930s-stub