Alex Denney
Australian rules footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander David Denney (24 June 1926 – 26 April 2004) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[2]
Wycheproof, Victoria
| Alex Denney | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Alexander David Denney | ||
| Born |
24 June 1926 Wycheproof, Victoria | ||
| Died | 26 April 2004 (aged 77) | ||
| Original team | Wycheproof / Caulfield Grammar[1] | ||
| Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1947–1948 | Collingwood | 35 (2) | |
|
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1948. | |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Family
The son of Powley Denney (1893–1964),[3] and Nellie Violet Denney (1894–1947), née Glover,[4] Alexander David Denney was born in Wycheproof, Victoria on 24 June 1926.
In 1949 he married Betty Lois Coventry, the daughter of Gordon Coventry.[5]
Education
He was educated at Wycheproof State School (No.1757).[6] After winning a major residential scholarship,[7] he attended Caulfield Grammar School, as a boarder, from 1939 to 1942.[8] There, he distinguished himself not only as a student — he was dux of his class in 1939[9] — but also as a footballer,[10] cricketer,[11] and, especially, an outstanding athlete.[12][13][14]
At the school's October 1942 Annual Sports, Denney won the Open 100 yards, 220 yards, and 440 yards races, the 120 yards hurdles, and the long jump.[15] The Australasian's schools' correspondent declared Denney to be "an all-round runner of great promise",[16] in a report to which was appended a photograph of Denney rounding the last bend (in front of the school's tennis courts) of either the 220 or 440 yards races.[17]
Later that same month, when competing for the school in the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria Combined Sports on 23 October 1942, he broke the 23-year-old record for the Open 100 yards (he won by four yards, in 10 3⁄10 secs),[18] came second on the Open 220 yards, and won the Open 440 yards.[19]
Military service
He served with the RAAF during the Second World War.[20] During that time, he played football, in Sydney, along with his future brother-in-law, George Coventry, for the RAAF.[21]
Football
Wycheproof Football Club (TFL)
In 1946, Alex Denney was voted the best and fairest player for the Wycheproof Football Club in the Tyrrell Football League.[22]
Collingwood (VFL)
Recruited from Wycheproof in 1947, Denney played in his first senior VFL match, against South Melbourne, on 10 May 1947, on the wing, as a replacement for the injured Des Fothergill.[23]
At the end of the 1947, "Clubman", the Weekly Times football correspondent rated ex-Wycheproof Denney the second-best of all of the first-year "former country players" in that year's VFL Competition: the best was the ex-Echuca Melbourne player, Eddie Jackson, and the third-best was the ex-Granya Footscray player, Norm Webb.[24]
After his first four games (two on the wing and two on the half-forward flank), he was transferred to the half-back flank, where he played for almost all of the rest of his career,[25][26] including the 1948 Semi-Final (against Footscray),[27] and the 1948 Preliminary Final (against Melbourne), his last VFL game, where he was one of Collingwood's best players, although in a losing team.[28][29]
Wycheproof Football Club (TFL/NCFL)
In April 1949, Collingwood cleared Denney to back to Wycheproof.[30]
Having won the TFL premiership in 1951,[31] and with ex-Collingwood Hugh Coventry (Denney's wife's cousin) as its captain-coach, the Wycheproof Football Club transferred from the Tyrrell Football League to the North Central Football League (NCFL) in 1952.[32]
Denney was not only the vice-captain of the Wycheproof team that won the 1952 NCFL premiership, defeating the Donald Football Club 15.17 (107) to 4.9 (33),[33][34] but was also the league's best and fairest player that year.[35]