Cyril Collard (footballer)

Cyril Collard
Personal information
Date of birth (1934-09-20)20 September 1934
Date of death 20 December 2011(2011-12-20) (aged 77)
Original team(s) Subiaco
Height 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 73 kg (161 lb)
Position(s) Rover
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1957–1958 Hawthorn 13 (3)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1958.
Career highlights

Noongar Sports Award Recipient, 1998

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Cyril Collard (20 September 1934 – 20 December 2011) played 13 games for Australian rules football club Hawthorn between 1957 and 1958, scoring 3 goals.[1] He was the first Indigenous Australian to play for Hawthorn[2] being of the Noongar people of Western Australia.

Collard started his career at Subiaco Football Club achieving top three finishes in the best and fairest award during his two seasons at the club.[3] He moved to Melbourne in 1956 and after initially training with Collingwood he chose to play with Hawthorn.[4] Subiaco, however refused to clear him[5] and he sat out of football for the 1956 season until the National Football Council granted him a clearance for the 1957 season.[6][7]

After retiring from professional football Collard became a professional runner reaching the final of a Stawell Gift.[3]

He served in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade between 7 February 1958 and 3 June 1988 reaching the rank of senior fire fighter.[citation needed]

  1. ^ AFL Tables - All Time Records - Hawthorn
  2. ^ "Aboriginal Hawks"[permanent dead link], The Age, 8 May 2005
  3. ^ a b "Who am I?" Archived 22 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine Lion's Roar: Official Newsletter of the Subiaco Football Club, June 2006.
  4. ^ "Mystery of 3 'missing' players". The Argus. Melbourne. 1 March 1956. p. 20. Retrieved 17 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "A plea fails in the West, and HAWKS WON'T GET STAR FROM WA". The Argus. Melbourne. 21 June 1956. p. 19. Retrieved 17 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Round 16 Footy Flashbacks[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "THREE GET "ALL CLEAR"". The Argus. Melbourne. 24 November 1956. p. 24. Retrieved 17 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.