Ernest Taylor (Australian rules footballer)

Ernest William Taylor (10 June 1898 – 23 November 1980)[1] was an Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL between 1920 and 1926 for the Richmond Football Club.

Ernest Taylor
Personal information
Full name Ernest William Taylor
Date of birth 10 June 1898
Place of birth Richmond, Victoria
Date of death 23 November 1980(1980-11-23) (aged 82)
Place of death Camberwell, Victoria
Original team(s) Burnley
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 82 kg (181 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1920–1926 Richmond 58 (2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1926.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of the former Richmond (VFA) captain,[2][3][4][5][6] Charles Henry Taylor (1872-1951),[7] and Annie Ethel Maud Taylor (1877–1938), née Mitchell,[8] Ernest William Taylor was born at Richmond, Victoria on 10 June 1898.

He married Amelia Jane Comans (1896-1927) in 1920.[9] He married his second wife, Mary Evelyn "Mae" Grace (1908-1991), in 1932.

Football
Richmond's 1920 Premiership Team:
Taylor, extreme right, back row.
Richmond's 1921 Premiership Team:
Taylor, second from left, back row.

A back-pocket and half-back flanker, he was recruited from the Burnley Football Club, and made his senior debut with Richmond against South Melbourne, at the Lake Oval, on 14 August 1920.

In his fifth First XVIII match he played in the back pocket for Richmond in its 1920 Grand Final win over Collingwood, 7.10 (52) to 5.5 (35). In his seventeenth match he played in the back-pocket for Richmond in its 1921 Grand Final win over Carlton, 5.6 (36) to 4.8 (32).

In what was thought, at the time, to be his last game for Richmond, he played in the back-pocket for Richmond against South Melbourne, at Windy Hill, on 13 September 1924 as part of the VFL's one-year-only experiment with a "round-robin tournament" in place of the regular "Argus system". He was badly injured during the last quarter of the match, and was in hospital for a number of weeks. South Melbourne's Bill Condon was charged with elbowing Taylor; however, due to the severity of Taylor's injury (fractured skull and two facial fractures), the hearings were controversially suspended for a considerable time, with, eventually, the case being dismissed on the grounds of the considerable delay raising doubts about the reliability of the participants' recall of the events in question.[10][11][12]

After retiring as a player Taylor served on the Richmond Football Club Committee between 1925 and 1936, and then later in 1941 and 1942, being elected Vice President in 1935 and 1936.

Although he had declared his retirement, following his 1924 injuries, at the beginning of the 1925 season, he went on to play another four senior games — two in 1925, and two in 1926 — to help Richmond out when it was short of players.

Death

He died at Camberwell, Victoria on 23 November 1980.[13]

Notes
  1. "Ernie Taylor - Player Bio". Australian Football. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  2. Charlie "Fishy" Taylor, at The VFA Project.
  3. A Football Scandal: An Association Player charged with Attempted Bribery: Conflicting Evidence, The Age, (Saturday, 23 August 1902), p.10.
  4. The Football Scandal: Attempted Bribery Proved: Chas. Taylor Disqualified for Life, The Age, (Saturday, 30 August 1902), p.12.
  5. A Football Scandal: Charge of Bribery Upheld: A Life Disqualification, The Argus, (Saturday, 30 August 1902), p.16.
  6. Football Discipline, The Argus, Saturday, 18 June 1904), p.16.
  7. Deaths: Taylor, The Argus, (Monday, 3 September 1951), p.15.
  8. Deaths: Taylor, The Argus, (Saturday, 29 October 1938), p.8.
  9. Deaths: Taylor, The Argus, (Tuesday, 25 October 1927), p.1.
  10. Case of Condon (South Melbourne) Adjourned, The Age, (Friday, 19 September 1924), p.6.
  11. Football Tribunal: Elbowing Complaint to be Heard, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Tuesday, 16 December 1924), p.8.
  12. Football: Rough Play Charge Dismissed, The Argus, (Friday, 19 December 1924), p.5.
  13. Memorial plaque at: Ernest William Taylor, at Find a Grave.

References
  • Hogan P: The Tigers of Old: A complete History of Every Player to Represent the Richmond Football Club between 1908 and 1996, Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
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