Neil Trezise

Neil Benjamin "Nipper" Trezise AM (8 February 1931 – 20 August 2006) was an Australian rules footballer who represented Geelong in the Victorian Football League and later a politician who represented the Labor Party in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He was of Cornish descent.[1]

Neil Trezise
Personal information
Date of birth 8 February 1931
Place of birth Ballarat, Victoria
Date of death 20 August 2006(2006-08-20) (aged 75)
Original team(s) Redan
Debut 16 July 1949, Geelong vs. Footscray, at Kardinia Park
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1949–1959 Geelong 185 (272)
Coaching career
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1963 Geelong 1 (0–1–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1959.
Career highlights
  • Geelong premiership sides 1951, 1952
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Football career

Originally from Redan, Victoria, Trezise played 185 games for 272 goals between 1949 and 1959 at the Geelong Football Club in the VFL. He played in the 1951 and 1952 premiership sides,[2] and in the second round of 1953 kicked eight goals against a champion Footscray defence, who would concede fewer points per match than any other team between 1919 and 2019.[3] Following his retirement in 1959 (a year in which he was Geelong captain), Trezise continued his service to the club, coaching the reserves side,[lower-alpha 1] and then becoming club president in 1974.[4]

Commonly called "Nipper", Trezise acquired the nickname as a young recruit at Geelong.[5]

Political career

After leaving football, Trezise pursued a political career with the Labor Party. He stood unsuccessfully for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Geelong in 1961, but won the seat of Geelong West in 1964, and held the seat and its subsequent successor Geelong North until 1992. In 1982 he became Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation (from 1985 just Minister for Sport and Recreation), a portfolio he held until 1992—throughout the entire terms of Premiers John Cain and Joan Kirner.[6]

Trezise was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to the Victorian Parliament and to sport".[7]

His son, Ian Trezise, also entered politics, representing Geelong in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Death

Trezise died of a heart attack on 20 August 2006, with his funeral held on 24 August.[8]

Notes
  1. On 6 July 1963, on the single occasion that he coached the Geelong First XVIII, he was the coach of the team that were comprehensively and unexpectedly beaten by Fitzroy, 9.13 (67) to 3.13 (31) in the 1963 Miracle Match.

References
  1. Payton, Philip, Making Moonta: The Invention of Australia's Little Cornwall
  2. Neil Trezise, AFL Tables.
  3. "Low Average Against since 1945". AFL Tables.
  4. Neil Trezise was a champ, Herald Sun, 22 August 2006.
  5. Strong, Geoff (25 August 2006). "Nipper farewelled at his old "church"". The Age. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  6. Trezise, Neil Benjamin, Re-Member ('Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament).
  7. "The Honourable Neil Benjamin Trezise". Australian Honours Search Facility, Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  8. Former Vic Govt minister Trezise dies, ABC News Online, 21 August 2006.
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