Sydney Quinton Barker Sr. (26 November 1887 – 23 March 1930) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

and

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). His son, also named Syd Barker, had a brief league career with North Melbourne. Barker's long footballing career began at Essendon 'A' in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFA) with whom he played before joining Richmond in 1908 for their inaugural VFL season. He managed just a couple of games and decided to return to the VFA, this time with North Melbourne. A ruckman, Barker became an integral player in North's illustrious "invincibles" side that won premierships in 1910, 1914, 1915 and 1918. He captained the club in their last two premierships and through a record 58-game unbeaten streak from 1914 to 1919. In 1921, North

disbanded The fifth season of the American television series ''Arrow (TV series), Arrow'' premiered on The CW on October 5, 2016, and concluded on May 24, 2017, with a total of 23 episodes. The series is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, a cost ...

as part of a plan to merge with Essendon and join the VFL in 1922. Barker moved to Essendon's VFL side in mid-1921 in good faith that the merger would go ahead, but it ended up being blocked by the State Government, and Barker was unable to return to the VFA, having been suspended for crossing without a clearance. He became captain-coach at Essendon in 1922 and led the club to back to back premierships in 1923 and 1924 before announcing his retirement. Barker came out of retirement in 1927 and returned to his old club North Melbourne, who were in their third VFL season. As captain-coach he could only manage three wins and the club finished the season second last. Barker was a fireman by profession and less than three years after his last VFL match he died suddenly while at work at the Abbotsford Fire Station. North Melbourne best and fairest winners are awarded the

Syd Barker Medal The Syd Barker Medal is awarded to the North Melbourne Football Club player who has been judged the best and fairest of the footy season. The award has been given out continuously since 1937. Before then it was known as the Syd Barker Memorial Tr ...

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Coaching record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Syd Sr. 1887 births 1930 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Richmond Football Club players Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club premiership players North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club (VFA) players Essendon Football Club coaches Essendon Football Club premiership coaches North Melbourne Football Club coaches Essendon Association Football Club players VFL/AFL premiership players VFL/AFL premiership coaches People from Collingwood, Victoria