Charlie Stewart (footballer, born 1939)

Charlie Stewart (born 19 March 1939) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He is most notable for playing for Footscray in the Victorian Football League. Stewart was of Indigenous Australian descent.[1]

Charlie Stewart
Personal information
Full name Charles Stewart
Date of birth (1939-03-19) 19 March 1939
Original team(s) Essendon reserves, Lemnos
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb)
Position(s) Wingman
Playing career
Years Club Games (Goals)
1957 Essendon 0 (0)
1961 Footscray 20 (4)
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Playing career

Charlie Stwart played with the Nathalia Football Club from 1955 to 1957.

Stewart played reserve grade for Essendon in 1957 before a stint with Lemnos.[2]

In April 1961, Stewart was cleared by Essendon to Footscray.[2] He played 20 matches in the 1961 VFL season. He was a reserve player in the Footscray team that lost the 1961 VFL Grand Final. He was released by Footscray in April 1962.[3]

Coaching career

Stewart was playing coach of Victorian country team Kyabram until the end of the 1966 season.[4] For the 1967 season he moved to Stanhope where he continued as a playing coach.[5][6]

Honours

On 26 May 2014, the Western Bulldogs designed an Indigenous guernsey that features the names of all 18 indigenous players that have represented the club in senior VFL/AFL competition. It was worn against Fremantle at their home Indigenous round match on 1 June 2014. Stewart was one of the 18 players recognised.[7]

At the conclusion of the 1961 Grand Final, the players from opposing sides swapped jumpers. Stewart traded jumpers with his opposing wingman, Hawthorn's John Fisher. In 2012, Stewart was cleaning out his house and found Fisher's old jumper in a box. He donated the guernsey to the Hawthorn Football Club museum who said it was a "wonderful gesture" and described the jumper as being "in mint condition".[8]

References
  1. "Past Indigenous Players in the AFL". Australian Football League. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  2. "Footscray Wait on Dons for Stewart". The Age. 12 April 1961. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  3. Hobbs, Greg (5 April 1962). "Stewart Discard In Surprise At Footscray". The Age. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  4. Beames, Percy (17 November 1966). "Wadham coach at Kyabram". The Age. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  5. "Coach will play against former team". The Age. 11 August 1967. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  6. "Stanhope to break hoodoo". The Age. 2 June 1967. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  7. "Bulldogs launch Club's first Indigenous Guernsey". Western Bulldogs. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  8. Haby, Peter (3 October 2012). "John Fisher's premiership guernsey back at Hawthorn". Hawthorn Football Club. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
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