Doug Strang

Doug Strang was an Australian rules footballer who played as a full forward in the VFL between 1931 and 1935 for the Richmond Football Club.

Strang was originally recruited from Jindera as part of a major country recruiting drive by the Tigers, who were eager to break a run of Grand Final losses to Collingwood dating back to 1927. In just his second VFL game, his 14 goals kicked against North Melbourne in 1931 still stands to this day as the record for the most goals kicked by a Richmond player in a single game, and as the youngest player to kick ten or more goals in a VFL game, at just 18 years and 300 days old. In his first season Strang’s brilliant overhead marking, in spite of exceptionally wet weather for much of the winter, brought him sixty-eight goals with long drop kicks. In 1932, Strang struggled severely in another rainy winter, but from the time he kicked a goal after the bell to end an eleven match winning streak by Carlton, his brilliant marking asserted itself, most notably in a wonderful display on a dry ground in the second-semi-final.

1933 saw Strang begin to suffer from injuries later in the season. After he had seeming returned to his best form with ten goals at Arden Street in the thirteenth round, he damaged a thigh when playing for the Tigers against the Ballarat League between the fifteenth and sixteenth rounds,^[1] and was not at his best when returning for the finals due to knee problems. When the 1934 season opened it was thought Doug Strang would be fully fit,^[2] but after one impressive match in the second round against St. Kilda, it was soon discovered that the knee required an operation to repair a slipped disc, and Strang did not play again until the fourteenth found against Carlton. After that, however, the disc incapacitated him once more and he was a passenger on the forward flank by the seventeenth round.

These injuries meant Strang left Richmond during 1935, but he continued to play for Kyneton in 1936 before returning to Albury as a hotelier in 1937^[3] after it was thought he would go back to Richmond. Strang continuing to kick many goals in the local leagues: in one game in 1939 he kicked 20,^[4][5] and he captain-coached Albury to two premierships in 1939 and 1940.

He was the brother of dual Richmond premiership player Gordon Strang and father of dual Richmond premiership player Geoff Strang. In addition to his footballing ability, Strang was an excellent bowler in country cricket for a number of years, in one innings for Kyneton he took six wickets for four runs each.^[6] Strang did tragically at the age of just forty-one when he was hit by a car on Dean Street in Albury.^[4]

References

• Hogan P: The Tigers Of Old, Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
• Statistics