Peter John Hudson AM (born 19 February 1946) is a former

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 Hawthorn Football 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) and for the

New Norfolk Football Club The New Norfolk District Football Club, nicknamed ''The Eagles'', is an Australian rules football club currently playing in the Southern Football League, in Tasmania, Australia. History Origins The club was founded in 1878 with the first p ...

and

Glenorchy Football Club The Glenorchy District Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently playing in the Tasmanian State League and the Southern Football League in Tasmania, Australia. History The club is nicknamed the Magpies after its black and ...

in the

Tasmanian Australian National Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" (formerly known as the "Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL)" and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian ru ...

(TANFL). A legend in the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

, Hudson is considered one of the greatest full-forwards in the game's history. He holds the highest career goal-per-game average (5.64) in VFL/AFL history, and he is only one of two VFL/AFL footballers (the other being 's John Coleman) to average more than 5 goals per game. He was the first VFL/AFL player to kick 100 or more goals in a season five times, equalled Bob Pratt's VFL/AFL record of 150 goals in a season in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and, after the AFL decided to retrospectively recognise the leading VFL goalkickers during the home-and-away season back to 1955, won the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals in the home-and-away season. It is named after Essendon full-forward John Coleman, one of the most ...

four times. Hudson was a superb reader of the play and knew how to use his body well in one-on-one contests. He had a safe pair of hands and although he was known for using the flat punt when kicking for goal, he was usually very accurate. Over his career, he kicked 1,721 goals in 288 premiership games between 1963 and 1979, and 1981. His final match was in the 1981 TANFL Preliminary Final for Glenorchy, where Hudson, who had made a brief comeback with two rounds remaining due to Glenorchy having a string of injuries, kicked 30 goals in three matches, including six in his team's Preliminary Final loss to New Norfolk. Hudson was kept goalless just four times during his career in premiership matches by Richmond's Barry Richardson in Round 7 of 1969, Collingwood's Ian Cooper in Round 2 of 1974, Carlton's

Rod Austin Rodney Albert Austin (born 26 January 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Nicknamed "Curly" due to his mop of wavy black hair, Austin was a player with ...

in Round 14 of 1977 and in the TANFL, Bruce Greenhill of Sandy Bay in 1978. Some sources list Hudson as playing 107 games and kicking 769 goals for Glenorchy for a TANFL total of 185 games and 1,147 goals, and a career total of 314 games and 1,875 goals. These discrepancies arise from the TANFL including goals scored in intrastate matches representing the TANFL in TANFL player's career statistics at that time, a ruling that was later rescinded. If the Tasmanian competitions, representative and night series games are considered, Hudson played an overall total of 372 matches and kicked 2,191 goals – an average of 5.89 goals a game over his entire career – making him the highest goalkicker in elite Australian rules football history. Hudson also experienced success as a coach during and after his playing days, leading Glenorchy to a TANFL premiership as playing coach and later coaching

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

to successive finals appearances. He also became a respected club administrator, serving as CEO at and during the 1990s.

Early life

Peter Hudson was born in 1946 in New Norfolk, Tasmania.

VFL career

Hudson's arrival in the VFL came at a period when full-forwards were beginning to experience a resurgence, most notable being

Doug Wade Douglas Graeme Wade (born 16 October 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was the League's leading goal scorer (winn ...

of and

Peter McKenna Peter McKenna (born 27 August 1946 in Brunswick West, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Collingwood and Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. He also represented Devonport ...

of . After sitting out the first game of

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, as he didn't meet the league's residential requirements, Hudson's first game was against . Lining up against rugged full-back

Wes Lofts Wesley Victor Lofts (15 November 1942 – 22 May 2014) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s. A key defender, Lofts represented the Victorian interstate team in both ...

, he managed to kick four goals. In 1971, he equalled Bob Pratt's

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

of 150 goals in a season after kicking three goals in Hawthorn's winning

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 ...

side. Hudson kicked into the man-on-the-mark Barry Lawrence ( St Kilda) in one of his attempts to break the record during the grand final. In the first round of 1972, he seriously injured his knee just before half time. He had already kicked 8 goals and had just taken a mark within distance when he fell awkwardly. It was thought that his career had finished. On 25 August 1973 he returned from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

to kick eight goals against Collingwood at VFL Park. After playing Rounds 1 and 2 in 1974, he again injured his knee and returned to Tasmania. Later that year, after hurting his knee playing netball, he decided to have knee surgery in the summer. He did not play another VFL game until lured back for the 1977 season, during which he kicked 110 goals for the season.

VFL statistics

: , - ,

, , , , , 26 , 17 , , 57 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 55^† , , 179 , , 29 , , 208 , , 90 , , 3.4 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 3.2^† , , 10.5 , , 1.7 , , 12.2 , , 5.3 , , 3 , - ,

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

, , , , , 26 , 19 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 125^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 62^† , , 274 , , 31 , , 305 , , 113 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.6^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 3.3^† , , 14.4 , , 1.6 , , 16.1 , , 5.9 , , 16 , - ,

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, , , , , 26 , 19 , , 120 , , 40 , , 217 , , 16 , , 233 , , 111 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.3^† , , 2.1 , , 11.4 , , 0.8 , , 12.3 , , 5.8 , , 8 , - ,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, , , , 26 , 22 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 146^† , , 44 , , 282 , , 19 , , 301 , , 140 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.6^† , , 2.0 , , 12.8 , , 0.9 , , 13.7 , , 6.4 , , 14 , - , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

^# , , , , 26 , 24 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 150^† , , 72 , , 346 , , 41 , , 387 , , 180 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.3^† , , 3.0 , , 14.4 , , 1.7 , , 16.1 , , 7.5 , , 18 , - ,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, , , , 26 , 1 , , 8 , , 1 , , 12 , , 1 , , 13 , , 9 , , 8.0 , , 1.0 , , 12.0 , , 1.0 , , 13.0 , , 9.0 , , 1 , - ,

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, , , , 26 , 1 , , 8 , , 3 , , 15 , , 0 , , 15 , , 10 , , 8.0 , , 3.0 , , 15.0 , , 0.0 , , 15.0 , , 10.0 , , 2 , - ,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, , , , 26 , 2 , , 3 , , 3 , , 10 , , 7 , , 17 , , 6 , , 1.5 , , 1.5 , , 5.0 , , 3.5 , , 8.5 , , 3.0 , , 0 , - ,

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, , , , 1 , 24 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 110^† , , 50 , , 243 , , 32 , , 275 , , 123 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 4.6^† , , 2.3 , , 10.1 , , 1.3 , , 11.5 , , 5.1 , , 16 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3 , Career ! 129 !! 727 !! 330 !! 1578 !! 176 !! 1754 !! 782 !! 5.6 !! 2.6 !! 12.2 !! 1.4 !! 13.6 !! 6.1 !! 78

Honours and achievements

Team * VFL Premiership player ():

* Minor premiership ():

* TANFL Premiership player ( Glenorchy):

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Individual * 4×

* 2× J.J. Dennis Memorial Trophy:

* 6× Hawthorn leading goalkicker:

* 2×

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

* 2×

William Leitch Medal The William Leitch Medal, named after the highly regarded former Australian rules player and Tasmanian Football Administrator William Douglas Leitch (1863-1943), was an annual award which was presented to the best and fairest player in the TANFL ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

New Norfolk New Norfolk is a town on the Derwent River (Tasmania), River Derwent, in the south-east of Tasmania, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2011, 2011 census, New Norfolk had a population of 5,543. Situated north-west of Hobart on the Lyell Hi ...

best and fairest: 1965 * 3× Glenorchy best and fairest: 1976, 1978, 1979 * 8× TFL leading goalkicker: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 * 4×

leading goalkicker: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 * 4× Glenorchy leading goalkicker: 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 *

– Legend status *

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 ...

Icon * Hawthorn Hall of Fame – Legend status * Hawthorn Team of the Century * Tasmanian Team of the Century *

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

life member

Post-VFL career

Hudson coached and played for Glenorchy Football Club in the TFL in 1975 and 1976, taking them to a premiership in his first year. Following his second return from the VFL, in 1978 he once again played for Glenorchy, kicking 153 goals and winning the highest individual honour in the TFL, the

. In the next season he again topped the goalkicking with 179 goals, winning his second William Leitch medal. He retired as a player at the end of the season. He coached

in the TFL in 1986–1987 for consecutive unsuccessful finals campaigns. In 1979, he was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) in the Australia Day Honours, for services to Australian football. He was inducted into the

in 1996 and elevated to "Legend" status in 1999. His citation reads: "''A freakish full-forward who just kept accumulating goals. Made brilliant use of the body, was deadly accurate and had an amazing ability to read the play. Holds the best goals per game average (5.59) in VFL/AFL history and in 1971 matched Bob Pratt's record for most goals in a season with 150.''" Hudson is well respected for his business acumen. Since retirement he has had a stint as the Chief Executive Officer at Hawthorn and St Kilda. Currently he is a senior executive of insurance giant

Bupa Bupa , legally British United Provident Association Limited, is an international health insurance and healthcare group with over 38 million customers worldwide. Bupa's origins and global headquarters are in the United Kingdom. Its main countrie ...

. Hudson was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

in 2001. Hudson is depicted in a Tasmanian state guernsey taking a mark against South Australia in

Jamie Cooper Jamie Cooper (born 14 June 1964) is an Australian painter and former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League. As a footballer, Cooper was recruited from Surrey Hills, Victoria. He made his senior VFL debut with the Fitzroy ...

's painting ''The Game That Made Australia'', commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport. In 2010, Hudson became the eleventh player to feature in a Toyota Memorable Moments advertisement with

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ...

and

Dave Lawson Dave Lawson (born 25 September 1978) is an Australian comedian, actor, and TV and radio personality. He is a regular performer on the stand up comedy circuit, and at one time participated in a talk back radio segment on the commercial radio st ...

, comically re-enacting his unsuccessful attempt to break Bob Pratt's season goalkicking record in the 1971 VFL Grand Final.Kelly Ryan
Herald Sun
"Flying Hawk hero Peter Hudson relives his glory days in Toyota ad", 14 August 2010, Retrieved 4 September 2010.

Family

His son Paul also played for the Hawthorn Football Club, Western Bulldogs and

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

, and nephew

Simon Minton-Connell Simon Minton-Connell (born 26 April 1969) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Australian Football League (AFL). VFL/AFL career Nephew of the great full-forward Peter Hudson ...

also played AFL football for the Carlton Football Club,

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

, Hawthorn Football Club and Western Bulldogs.

References

External links

* *
AFL Hall of Fame - Legends section

AFL official statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Peter 1946 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club premiership players Hawthorn Football Club administrators Peter Crimmins Medal winners Coleman Medal winners All-Australians (1953–1988) Tasmanian State of Origin players Glenorchy Football Club players New Norfolk Football Club players Hobart Football Club coaches Glenorchy Football Club coaches William Leitch Medal winners Members of the Order of Australia Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees VFL/AFL premiership players People from New Norfolk