Thomas Joseph McMahon (28 July 1918 – 24 September 2005) 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 with Footscray 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).

War service

Thomas Joseph McMahon enlisted to serve in the Australian Army in World War II in January 1940.

Football career

McMahon played two senior VFL games for Footscray in 1943, against Essendon and St Kilda. After Footscray played Essendon, the local South Melbourne newspaper reported “Tom McMahon gave a sound display on the wing. Close on 6 ft., well-built and very fast (he appeared at Stawell), McMahon was born in Draper Street and served his apprenticeship in the printing department of 'The Record' Office.” In 1944 McMahon joined his local side, South Melbourne, but did not make a senior appearance, only making the supplementary list in 1945. He subsequently applied to join Prahran in the Victorian Football Association. Although not granted a clearance by South, by June 1945 McMahon was playing with Prahran. In 1947, McMahon was appointed acting captain of the Prahran side when

Keith Stackpole Keith Raymond Stackpole Jr. (born 10 July 1940) is a former Victorian and Australian cricketer who played in 43 Test matches and six One Day Internationals between 1966 and 1974. He went on to become a cricket commentator on radio and TV in t ...

was injured in what was to be his final year of senior football.

Sprinting career

McMahon was an accomplished sprinter, competing in the

Stawell Gift The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short-distance running race. It is the main event in an annual carnival held on Easter weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, with the main race finals on the holiday Monday, at Central Park, St ...

in 1940 and 1941, but failed to make it past the heat stage. In 1946, McMahon won his heat at Stawell but failed to make the final after finished second to Jim Baird in his semi-final.

Personal life

In November 1944 Tom McMahon married Phyllis Mary Mullins. He worked in the printing industry and lived in the Melbourne suburb of

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 ...

for most of his life. Thomas Joseph McMahon died at the age of 87 in 2005.

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Tom 1918 births Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Western Bulldogs players Prahran Football Club players Australian military personnel of World War II 2005 deaths People from South Melbourne Military personnel from Melbourne