Bob Chitty

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Bob Chitty
Personal information
Full name Robert Mainwaring Chitty[1]
Date of birth (1916-07-04)4 July 1916
Place of birth Corryong, Victoria
Date of death 4 April 1985(1985-04-04) (aged 68)
Place of death Launceston, Tasmania
Original team(s) Cudgewa (UMFL)
Sunshine VSDL
Height 174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1937–1946 Carlton 147 (32)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1946.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Robert Mainwaring Chitty (4 July 1916 – 4 April 1985) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Family

The son of Alan Peter Chitty (1884-1981), and Hannah Evelyne Chitty (1887-1974), née Wilson, Robert Mainwaring "Bob" Chitty was born at Corryong, Victoria on 4 July 1916.

He married Hazel Irene Leggo (1907-1976) on 26 April 1941.[2]

Chitty's brother Peter played VFL football for St Kilda. Later, as a prisoner of War in Changi Prison, Peter was awarded a "Brownlow Medal" for being the Best and Fairest player in the Changi Football League.[3][4]

Football

Chitty played much of his junior and amateur football for his home town of Cudgewa.

Leaving the country for the city, Chitty played for Sunshine in the Victorian Sub-Districts before being signed by Carlton. Chitty made his debut for the Carlton Football Club in Round 7 of the 1937 season. While a brilliant, versatile player, Chitty built his reputation as one of the game's most fearsome hardmen:

"Some players manufacture aggression, others seem born to it; as far as Bob Chitty was concerned, aggression oozed out of his every pore." — australianfootball.com.

Chitty captained Carlton to victory in the infamous 1945 "Bloodbath" Grand Final. Chitty's king hit of South Melbourne's Ron Clegg in the second quarter is seen as what triggered the succession of violent incidents that garnered the match its nickname. In the fourth quarter, Chitty was knocked out by opponent Laurie Nash.[5] After the match, Chitty was suspended for eight weeks for elbowing Bill Williams.

After leaving Carlton at the end of the 1946 VFL season, Chitty spent several years in country Victoria as captain-coach of the Benalla Football Club in the Ovens and Murray Football League from 1947 to 1949,[6] during which time he led the goalkicking on two occasions.

Chitty then moved to Tasmania in 1950,[7] where he served as captain-coach of the Scottsdale Football Club. He won the Northern Tasmanian Football Association goalkicking in 1952 with 40 goals. He finished his playing career with Ringarooma in the North East Football Union;[8] and, in 1956, he kicked 105 goals for the season.

Actor

In 1947, while he was living in Benalla,[9] Chitty ("a good horseman and bushman")[10] starred as bushranger Ned Kelly in the critically panned feature film, The Glenrowan Affair, that was released in 1951.[11]

Death

He died at Launceston, Tasmania on 4 April 1985.

Notes

  1. ^ Nominal Roll.
  2. ^ Forthcoming Weddings, The Sunshine Advocate, (Friday, 21 March 1941), p.1.
  3. ^ Shaw, I. (2006) Bloodbath, Scribe, Melbourne.
  4. ^ Brownlow Medal: Corporal L. A. 'Peter' Chitty, 2/2 Australian Motor Ambulance Convoy, collection of the Australian War Memorial.
  5. ^ Laurie Nash tells Peter Banfield why . . . I clocked Chitty, The Argus Weekender, (Saturday, 21 May 1955), p.9.
  6. ^ Football Coach, The Benalla Ensign, (Friday, 20 December 1946), p.1.
  7. ^ Scottsdale F.C. Coach Welcomed, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Friday, 18 November 1949), p.11.
  8. ^ Bright Season Ahead for N.E.F.U., The North-Eastern Advertiser, (Friday, 23 April 1954), p.7.
  9. ^ Brown, Alf, "'Ned Kelly' hits the Town", The Herald, (Friday, 9 January 1948), p.1.
  10. ^ Ex-Football Captain in Ned Kelly Film, The Southern Cross News, (Friday, 7 November 1947), p.1.
  11. ^ Gaunson, Stephen (2009), "B for Bad, B for Bogus and B for Bold: Rupert Kathner, The Glenrowan Affair and Ned Kelly", Colloquy, No.18, (December 2009), pp.193-207.

References

External links

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