Fred McGinis

Fred McGinis[1] (11 November 1874 – 30 March 1953) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Fred McGinis
Personal information
Full name Alfred Ernest McGinis
Date of birth 11 November 1874
Place of birth Hobart
Date of death 30 March 1953(1953-03-30) (aged 78)
Place of death Hobart
Original team(s) City (Hobart)
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 74 kg (163 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1894–1896 Melbourne (VFA) 45 (41)
1897–1901 Melbourne 84 (36)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1901.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of Louis McGuiness (1841-1908),[2] and Mary Ann McGuiness (1840-1911), née Toogood,[3][4] Alfred Ernest McGuiness was born at Hobart on 11 November 1874.[5]

Football

McGinis began his career with Melbourne at the age of nineteen in 1894 in the VFA,[6][7] and was its leading goalkicker in 1895.

A rover, he starred for Melbourne in its debut season in the VFL in 1897.

He was a premiership player with Melbourne in 1900.[8]

Vision difficulties

Vision difficulties forced him out of the game by 1902 and he returned to Tasmania.

Benefit matches

As he neared total blindness, a match was played for his benefit between combined teams from the VFA and VFL on 4 September 1902; the match, won by the VFL, raised £200. The match was the first time that the two bitter rival football competitions had ever played against each other.[9]

Death

He died in Hobart on 30 March 1953, and was cremated at the Cornelian Bay Cemetery the next day.

Hall of Fame

McGinis was regarded as one of the best players of his era,[10] with some contemporaries, including Mick Grace, Jack Leith and George Cathie, naming him as the best overall.[11][12]

Although primarily a rover, he could play and succeed at any position on the ground, and was proficient at all skills: accurate kicking, high marking, speed and endurance.[13]

In all my experience I have never seen a more accomplished player – one qualified to rank on the hlghest rung of the ladder of fame among the football champions of Australia. His scintillating brilliancy on the field was unfortunately cut short at the height of his fame by failing eye-sight. (George Cathie, 1943).[14]

McGinis is the first listed inductee in the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame, his citation describing him as "Tasmania's first true football superstar".[15]

See also

Footnotes
  1. His family name was variously rendered as "McGinis", "McGinnis", "M‘Guiness", and "McGuiness".
  2. Deaths: McGuiness, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Monday, 7 September 1908), p.1.
  3. Marriages: M‘Guiness—Toogood, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Wednesday, 22 July 1863), p.4: note that, at the time, "M‘Guiness" and "McGuiness" were alternate ways of writing the same family name.
  4. Deaths: McGuiness, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Friday, 25 August 1911), p.1.
  5. His registration on the Electoral Rolls over many years consistently has his name as "Alfred Ernest McGinniss".
  6. The Melbourne Football Team, The Australasian, (Saturday, 22 June 1895), p.1178.
  7. 'Old-Timer', "Chat with Fred McGinis", The Referee, (Wednesday, 12 August 1914), p.12.
  8. The Melbourne Team (Premiers 1900), (Melbourne) Punch, (Thursday, 27 September 1900), p.369.
  9. "Football. M'Ginis Benefit Match". The Argus (17, 519). Melbourne. 5 September 1902. p. 8. Retrieved 6 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Tribute to a Tasmanian, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Thursday, 6 August 1908), p.8.
  11. 'Old-Timer', "The Best Footballer", The Referee, (Wednesday, 23 August 1911), p.1.
  12. Cathie, G.J., "Fred McGinis: Most Brilliant Player of All", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 27 July 1935), p.7.
  13. 'Old-Timer', "Old-Time Champion Footballers", The Referee, (Wednesday, 24 June 1914), p.16.
  14. Cathie, G.J., "Champion Footballers", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 20 February 1943), p. 4
  15. "1. Fred McGinis". AFL Tasmania. Retrieved 14 July 2016.

References
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