Stanley "Pops" Heal (30 July 1920 – 15 December 2010) 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

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 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) as well as West Perth in the

West Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WANFL) during the 1940s and early 1950s. Heal played his best football as a wingman but was also used on occasions as a rover. The Western Australian spent just one season at Melbourne, who had acquired his services while he was temporarily stationed in Victoria. Despite playing just eight games he was a member of Melbourne's 1941 premiership team. The following week he played in another premiership, back home in Western Australia with West Perth. He was also regular interstate representative for Western Australia, winning a

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pla ...

for his performance in a game against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in 1949 and captaining his state at the

1950 Brisbane Carnival The 1950 Brisbane Carnival was the 11th edition of the Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian rules football interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Inter ...

. As coach of West Perth from 1947 to 1952 he steered his club to two premierships, in 1949 and 1951. From 1953 to 1965 he was a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

, representing the seat of West Perth until 1962 and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

thereafter. Heal was inducted into 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 ...

in 2010. He died on 15 December 2010.Demon star Stan 'Pops' Heal dies at 90
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References

External links

* *
Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heal, Stan 1920 births 2010 deaths Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Melbourne Football Club players West Perth Football Club players West Perth Football Club coaches Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Melbourne Football Club Premiership players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Australian military personnel of World War II Military personnel from Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Australian sportsperson-politicians