Thomas Outridge (20 September 1898 – 27 September 1973) 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 ...

player and administrator. Originally from

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, he played 201 games for and in the

West Australian 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, ...

(WAFL), and also represented

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 25 interstate matches, captaining the side at the 1930 Australian National Football Carnival. Outridge was also the winner of the inaugural

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant and be ...

, in 1921. After his retirement, he served as secretary and later president of the Subiaco Football Club, and also as a commentator. In 2004, Outridge was inducted into the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...

Football career

Outridge was born in

Ballarat East Ballarat East is a suburb of Ballarat in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. From 1857 until 1921 the suburb had its own council (see below). The suburb covers a large area east of the city centre. It is the oldest urban area in Ballara ...

, to Henry Joseph and Hannah Elizabeth (née Rutherford) Outridge.Thomas Outridge
– Mundia. Retrieved 24 January 2012. His father had played for both Ballarat Imperials and South Ballarat in the

Ballarat Football League The Ballarat Football League (BFL) is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia. The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football ...

, captaining the latter side. He and his family moved to

Eastern Goldfields The Eastern Goldfields is part of the Western Australian Goldfields in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, covering the present and former gold-mining area east of Perth. Extent and name origin The region encompasses the town ...

in 1903, living first in Coolgardie, and then in Kunanalling, where his father opened a mine, the ''Shamrock''. Outridge began playing football for the Coolgardie H-Company Cadets in the Goldfields Cadets Association. In 1914, he progressed to the

Mines Rovers Football Club The Goldfields Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. Founded in 1896 as Hannans District Football Association, the league enjoyed a seat and full voting rights on the Austral ...

in the senior

Goldfields Football League The Goldfields Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. Founded in 1896 as Hannans District Football Association, the league enjoyed a seat and full voting rights on the Australi ...

(GFL), and played in the club's 1915 premiership win over

Boulder City Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is approximately southeast of Las Vegas. As of the 2020 census, the population of Boulder City was 14,885. The city took its name from Boulder Canyon. Boulder City is one of on ...

. After two seasons playing in Coolgardie, he was recruited by the

Perth Football Club The Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is an Australian rules football club based in Lathlain, Western Australia, currently playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Representing the south-east area of the Perth metropol ...

in the

(WAFL) in

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 ...

. In 1919, after three seasons and 33 games with the club, Outridge received a transfer to at the urging of Eddie du Feu, a Subiaco player. Playing mainly as a ruckman, Outridge excelled with Subiaco. He served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the club in 1920, and the following season won both Subiaco's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award and the inaugural

, awarded to the best player in the WAFL. He had tied for the Sandover Medal with

Cyril Hoft Cyril Louis Hoft (24 September 1896 – 5 July 1949) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the and Perth Football Clubs in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and the Glenelg Football Club in the South Australian Football Lea ...

of , but was awarded the medal on the casting votes of the league's president. Outridge made his debut for

at the 1921 Australasian Football Carnival, held in Perth, and was widely considered one of Western Australia's best players at the Carnival. Outridge went on to represent Western Australia in three more carnivals: the 1924 Australian Football Carnival held in

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 ...

, the 1927 Australian Football Carnival held in

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 ...

, and the 1930 Australian National Football Carnival held in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Overall, Outridge played 25 games for Western Australia in carnival and

interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

matches, kicking 36 goals. In 1930, Outridge was chosen as captain for the 1930 Australian National Football Carnival held in

. ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'' reported: "the fact that he was chosen in that capacity after such a long career as a follower was tribute to his ability, and he proved in Adelaide that he could rise to the occasion". Outridge badly injured a leg in a match against

, and was unable to play again in the carnival. In April 1931, it was reported that Outridge had decided to retire, however, he returned to play several games for Subiaco in June. While not playing in the senior team, Outridge represented the Subiaco side in the West Australian National Football Association (WANFA), which acted as a second-tier competition for the WANFL. A bout of

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a rup ...

in October of the same year forced Outridge to miss the 1931 WANFA Grand Final, in which Subiaco defeated Midland-Guildford by 25 points.

Post-playing career

After his retirement from playing, Outridge was employed by

Alfred Sandover Alfred Sandover M.B.E. (24 November 1866 – 4 May 1958), was a British-Australian hardware merchant and philanthropist born in Plymouth, England, the youngest of five children. Graduating from North Adelaide Grammar School in 1881, he came to Pe ...

's sporting goods company, Harris, Scarfe and Sandover's, along with Allan Evans, whom he had previously played with at Perth. Outridge also served as a commentator for WANFL matches on the radio, as well occupying the roles of secretary (from 1935 to 1940) and later president (in the 1941 season) of the

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

. He was made a life member of the club in 1935, and a life member of the league in 1956. In 1944, Outridge served as a

goal umpire An umpire is an official in the sport of Australian rules football who adjudicates the game according to the " Laws Of The Game", the official handbook of Australian Rules Football. Umpiring the game of AFL across all leagues be it professional ...

for a football match between two

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) units at

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. He later bought a hotel in Bunbury, which he worked at until his retirement. Outridge died in 1973 in

Honoured

The Tom Outridge Medal is awarded each season to the Subiaco Football Club's

player. A street in Subiaco, Outridge Crescent, is named after him. In 2004, Cazaly Resources, an Australian gold exploration company, named a discovery near Kunanalling "Outridge Prospect" after him. One of his sons, Thomas Michael Outridge Jr., played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

. He was posthumously inducted into the

in 2004, and was named in a forward pocket in Subiaco's Team of the Century in 2008.Official 'Team of the Century'
– Full Points Footy. Retrieved 29 January 2012.

Footnotes

External links

Thomas (Tom) Outridge, at ''WAFL Footy Facts''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Outridge, Tom, Sr. 1898 births 1973 deaths Australian people of Irish descent Australian rules football commentators Mines Rovers Football Club players Perth Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Ballarat Sandover Medal winners Subiaco Football Club administrators Subiaco Football Club players West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Subiaco Football Club coaches

Football career

Post-playing career

Honoured

See also

Footnotes

External links