Kevin Murray (Australian rules footballer)

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**Kevin Murray**
Personal information

Birth	18 June 1938 (1938-06-18) (age 69),
Recruited from	Fitzroy thirds
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 4, 7 May 1955, Fitzroy FC vs. Geelong FC, at Brunswick Street Oval
Team(s)	Fitzroy FC (1955-1964, 1967-1974) 333 games, 51 goals
Coaching career¹
Team(s)	Fitzroy FC 1963 - 1964 (playing coach)
¹ Statistics to end of 2004 season
Career highlights
333 VFL games 44 WAFL games Brownlow Medal 1969 Represented Victoria 24 times Represented Western Australia 6 times All-Australian side 1958, 1966 Fitzroy best-and-fairest 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1969 East Perth best-and-fairest 1965

Kevin 'Bulldog' Murray (born 18 June 1938) was a champion Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League in 333 games over 18 seasons.

Murray played for Fitzroy from 1955 to 1964, and from 1967 to 1974, winning nine best-and-fairest awards for the club. He was playing coach of Fitzroy in 1963, a job he also filled in 1964, along with representing and captaining his home state of Victoria.

In 1965 and 1966 he moved to Western Australia to play for and captain/coach East Perth Football Club. During that time he played 44 West Australian Football League (WAFL) games and captained WA at the 1966 Hobart Carnival during which is he was awarded a Simpson Medal for his match against VFA. He also won East Perth's best-and-fairest award in 1965. In 1966 he led East Perth to the WAFL Grand Final but they lost to Perth, which was captain/coached by former East Perth player Mal Atwell. Atwell had left the Royals to Perth because he didn't agree with Murray's methods.

His return to Fitzroy was triumphant. He won the club's best-and-fairest award in his first two years back, and in 1969 he was awarded the Brownlow Medal.

Amongst Murray's other honours, he was named an All-Australian player in 1958 and 1966.

His 333 games for Fitzroy was a then VFL record, but 208 of these games resulted in losses, the most ever suffered by a single player in the VFL/AFL. He also played 44 games for East Perth, 24 for Victoria and 6 for WA.

At the end of the 1996 season, Fitzroy merged with the Brisbane Bears to form the Brisbane Lions. Murray was a great supporter of the new entity, and the Lions' club championship award, the Merrett-Murray Medal, is part-named in Murray's honour.

[edit] References

Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2004). The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers: Every Brisbane and Fitzroy AFL Player Ever. Melbourne: BAS Publishing. ISBN 1-920910-09-3.