Colin Campbell (Australian sportsman)

Colin Campbell
Personal information
Full name Colin Mansfield Campbell
Date of birth 13 August 1872
Place of birth Cressy, Tasmania
Date of death 3 April 1907(1907-04-03) (aged 34)
Place of death Winlaton, England
Debut Semi Final, 1897, Essendon vs. Geelong, at Corio Oval
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1897–1899 Essendon 12 (4)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1899.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Colin Mansfield Campbell (13 August 1872 – 3 April 1907) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and a first-class cricketer, representing Tasmania.

Family

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The youngest son of Donald Campbell (1833–1907),[1] and his second wife, Elizabeth Campbell (1825–1910), née Brumby,[2] Colin Mansfield Campbell was born at Cressy, Tasmania on 13 August 1872.

Education

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Educated at Horton College, Ross, Tasmania,[3] he commenced his medical studies medicine at Queen's College at the University of Melbourne in 1891,[4] and completed them in Scotland.

In 1903 he qualified for the Scottish Triple Conjoint Diploma; and, in so doing, he gained the following qualifications:

Football

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He attracted the Essendon (then VFA) club's attention during Essendon's 1890 Tasmanian tour match against a combined North-Eastern Football team.[5] Immediately he arrived in Melbourne to commence his medical studies,[6] he began his career with Essendon, kicking a goal, and one of its best players, in the first match of the 1891 season, against Footscray, on 2 May 1891.[7]

Campbell played for Essendon in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1891 to 1896, was its vice-captain in 1893, and was a member of its four premiership sides.[8][9]

Although not playing at all during the home-and-away season, he played for Essendon (VFL) in the first two matches of the three-match inaugural VFL finals series on 21 August (against Geelong) at the Corio Oval,[10] on 28 August 1897 (against Collingwood) at the MCG.[11] He was unavailable for the third and final match, on 4 September 1897 (against Melbourne) at the Lake Oval, due to illness.[12][13] On the basis of the team's victories in the round-robin competition, and because no Grand Final was needed, Essendon was awarded the 1897 premiership;[14] and, so, due to the round-robin nature of the contest, Campbell was (and still is) legitimately recognized as "a premiership player".

He also played in 1898 and 1899,[15] including the (losing) 1898 VFL Grand Final, in which he played at centre half-forward.[16]

Cricket

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Also in 1897, Campbell represented Tasmania in a first-class cricket match against Victoria at the North Tasmania Cricket Association Ground. He was dismissed in both innings by another debutant in James Giller, for scores of 0 and 17.[17]

Whilst in England he played rugby and cricket, scoring over 1000 runs in a season for the Ryton Cricket Club.[18]

Death

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He died in 1907 of pneumonia, whilst working and living in Winlaton, England.[19][20][21]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Death of Mr. Donald Campbell, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Tuesday, 30 July 1907), p.5; Obituary: Mr. D. Campbell: An Old and Respected Colonist, The (Launceston) Daily Telegraph, (Tuesday, 30 July 1907), p.5.
  2. ^ Deaths: Campbell, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Wednesday, 12 January 1910), p.1.
  3. ^ They Passed the Ordeal, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 1 June 1889), p.7; Melbourne University Matriculation Examination, The (Launceston) Colonist, (Saturday, 8 June 1889), p.21; Horton College, The (Launceston) Colonist, (Saturday, 27 December 1890), p.23.
  4. ^ University of Melbourne: Annual Examination – December, 1898: Third Year Medicine, The Australasian, (Saturday, 24 December 1898), p.24.
  5. ^ Intercolonial Football Match, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Monday, 21 July 1890), p.3.
  6. ^ Current Topics, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Wednesday, 11 February 1891), p.2; Launceston, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Thursday, 12 February 1891), p.3.
  7. ^ Football, The North Melbourne Advertiser, (Friday, 8 May 1891), p.3.
  8. ^ Maplestone, 1996, pp.437-439.
  9. ^ Essendon Football Club: Premiers 1891, State Library of Victoria.
  10. ^ Essendon v. Geelong, The Geelong Advertiser,(Monday, 23 August 1897), p.3; The Football Season, The Argus, (Monday, 23 August 1897), p.6.
  11. ^ The Football Season, The Age, (Monday, 30 August 1897), p.3; Football Notes, The Australasian, (Saturday, 4 September 1897), p.22.
  12. ^ Both Campbell (influenza) and the 1897 Stawell Gift winner, George Stuckey (injured) were unable to play in that third and last match; they were replaced by Tod Collins and Maurie Collins, respectively (see: Football, The Sportsman, (Tuesday, 7 September 197), p.6.
  13. ^ Note that the VFL records for the match are correct in that both Maurie Collins and Tod Collins did play for Essendon in that match. By contrast, Maplestone (1996, pp. 51, 440), has mistakenly omitted both Maurie Collins and George Hastings from the team, and has mistakenly listed both Campbell and Stuckey as participating in the match.
  14. ^ Tassies in the "Same Old", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 24 July 1937), p.8.
  15. ^ Maplestone, 1996, pp.440-442.
  16. ^ Old Timer, "Football", The Referee, (Wednesday, 29 May 1907), p.9.
  17. ^ "Tasmania v Victoria 1896/97". CricketArchive.
  18. ^ "Late Dr. Colin Campbell". The Examiner (Daily ed.). Launceston, Tasmania. 20 May 1907. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ Deaths: Campbell, The Leader, (Saturday, 25 May 1907), p.51.
  20. ^ Obituary: Dr. Colin M. Campbell, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Saturday, 18 May 1907), p.7.
  21. ^ Remember Colin Campbell?, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 24 July 1937), p.8.

References

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  • Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
  • Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0
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