Neil Davies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neil Davies

Personal information
Full name Neil Davies
Date of Birth December 9, 1931
Place of Birth Broken Hill
Recruited from
Height/Weight 185 cm / 84 kg
Position Centre
Playing Career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1951-54, 1956-63
1955
Glenelg
Richmond
143 (105)
2 (1)
¹ Club statistics to end of 1963 season
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}}

Neil Davies (born December 9, 1931) was an Australian rules footballer who played in four states, but most notably for Glenelg in the SANFL. He also had a stint with VFL club Richmond.

Originally from Broken Hill, Davies started his SANFL career in 1951 and played mainly as a centreman. In his debut season, despite having only three games experience, he represented South Australia in an interstate game against the VFA. He would go on to represent his adopted state on 20 occasions in total, including the 1953 Adelaide Carnival where he was an All-Australian. His best season for Glenelg came in 1953 when he not only won Glenelg's 'Best and fairest' but was also runner up in the Magarey Medal.

Davies joined Richmond in 1955 but managed just two senior appearances, against Essendon and Footscray. He felt that he was receiving harsh treatment from the club and quit, moving to the Northern Territory where he would play in the NTFL. He captain-coached Darwin's St Marys to the 1955/56 premiership and was a Nichols Medalist.

He briefly flirted with a rugby league career and spent a winter in England before returning to Australian rules football and Glenelg for the 1956 season. In his first year back he won another 'Best and fairest' as well as topping the Tiger's goal kicking. Davies was appointed club captain in 1957 and his leadership role was expanded to captain-coach the following season. After steering Glenelg to a Preliminary Final in 1959 he opted to concentrate on his football and passed on the captaincy and coaching. He played his last SANFL game in 1963 and finished with 143 games for the club.

The fourth and final state of Davies football career was Queensland and from 1964 to 1967 he played for Western Districts. He even represented Queensland's interstate team.

In 2002 he was named in Glenelg's Hall of Fame and the same year was one of the inaugural inductees into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame.

[edit] References

  • Full Points Footy profile
  • Holmesby, Russel and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.