Noel Arthur Clarke (26 December 1930 – 7 August 2022) 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 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) and in Tasmania.

Career begins in Tasmania

Clarke signed with North Launceston at the start of the 1949 season, won the club's best first-year player award, and was among the better players on Grand Final day when North won the NTFA premiership. He was a star player the next season too when North Launceston won the State Premiership as well as another NTFA title.

Moves to Melbourne

Noel Clarke joined

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 ...

in 1951 and played most games at full forward. He played a major role in the 1955 Melbourne premiership side by kicking three goals in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

Return to Tasmania

In early 1956 Clarke was cleared by Melbourne to play with

North Hobart North Hobart is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. As its name suggests, it lies directly north of the CBD. The main street of North Hobart is Elizabeth Street, which extends northward from the Elizabeth Street Mall in the ...

in the TFL competition.

References

External links

* 1930 births 2022 deaths Australian rules footballers from Tasmania North Launceston Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players New Norfolk Football Club players North Hobart Football Club players Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees Melbourne Football Club premiership players VFL/AFL premiership players {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub