Albert "Alby" Green

(1893-1899)   

The first medallist     

Alby Green became a part of football history when he won the 1898 Magarey Medal. The first medal of its kind in football.    

Born in the outback New South Wales town of Menindee in 1874, Alby Green first became prominent in football through his schooling at Saint Peters College in Adelaide and then at Geelong Grammar. At Geelong he captained the school's football team and cricket team, rowed in the head of the river and was a champion tennis player, athlete and marksman. It was also in these school years that he represented Geelong in 13 games.    

Alby came to Norwood in 1893 and his supreme skills and flair were used in the centre or as a rover. He played for a losing SA team against the Victorian Football Association team in 1893 and was a member of the Norwood premiership team of 1894.   

Alby was also an accomplished cricketer, playing for the Norwood and Sturt Cricket Clubs and representing SA at first class level     In 1926 a newspaper columnist wrote: “If ever there was a born all-round athlete, it was Alby Green .... it can be truly said that a more gentlemanly sportsman never existed.”    

He became a Norwood man and was loyal to the end. When a change in the boundary system came in 1899, Alby decided to retire from football rather than be forced to play for another club.    

The enigmatic Albert Green left SA in the early 1900s and his fate remains a mystery; a continuing source of speculation and enquiry for football historians.  

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