Vincenzo "Vin" Catoggio (born 13 May 1954) 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 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 ...

. He was noted for his outrageous

afro The afro is a hair type created by natural growth of kinky hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" ''Ebony'', February 1973. ...

haircut and because of this was considered one of the real characters of the game. He is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent and played for three VFL clubs.

Family

He is the second son of the five children of Leonardo and Rocchina Catoggio. Leonardo arrived in Australia in 1938, and Rocchina in 1936. Both Vin's grandfathers Carmine, and Vincenzo arrived together in Australia, from

Montemurro Montemurro is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demogr ...

, Italy, in 1927, and their families arrived later. Vin married Victoria Watson in 1982. They have two sons and one daughter.

Football

In 1972 he won the

Morrish Medal The Morrish Medal is an Australian rules football award. Formerly awarded to the best and fairest player in the VFL Under-19 competition (known as the Thirds prior to 1959), since 1992 the award has been given to the best player in the Victorian ...

which was awarded to the player voted best and fairest in the VFL 19s. In 1973 he won the Gardiner Medal which was awarded to the best and fairest player as adjudged by field umpires in the reserves competition. His first full game of VFL league football came in the

1973 VFL Grand Final The 1973 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between and at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 1973. It was the 76th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League (VFL), staged to determine the prem ...

. However, in 1974 he didn't play any games in the league side. In total he played 70 reserves games during his career. In 1977 he moved Western Australia to play for Subiaco 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), but returned to Carlton in 1978. Catoggio moved to Melbourne in 1981 as part of a deal that recruited Greg Wells to Carlton and played nine games over two years.

After football

After retiring from playing football he became a painter.

References

External links

* *
Vincent (Vin) Catoggio, at WAFL Footy Facts''.

Vinny Catoggio Biography at Blueseum.org

Demon Wiki profile

Vincent Cattogio (sic), at ''The VFA Project''
— note that the "Cattogio" who played for Preston in 1963 was Catoggio's uncle. 1954 births Living people Australian people of Italian descent Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Carlton Football Club players Subiaco Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players Sydney Swans players Prahran Football Club players Brunswick Football Club players {{AFL-bio-1950s-stub