Eric Gardner

{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}}

{{distinguish|text=Eric Garner, who died in 2014 after a New York police officer put him in a grappling hold}}

{{Use Australian English|date=January 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Eric Gardner

| image = Eric Gardner 1903.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| fullname = Eric Arthur Gardner

| birth_date = {{birth date|1881|6|27|df=y}}

| birth_place = Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|1905|5|24|1881|6|27|df=yes}}

| death_place = Västerås, Sweden

| originalteam = Melbourne Grammar

| height =

| weight =

| position =

| statsend = 1903

| years1 = 1900–1903

| club1 = {{AFL Mel}}

| games_goals1 = 39 (13)

| careerhighlights =

}}

Eric Arthur Gardner (27 June 1881 – 24 May 1905){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139806682 |title=OBITUARY. |newspaper=The Australasian |location=Melbourne |date=27 May 1905 |accessdate=21 September 2014 |page=38 |via=National Library of Australia}} was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The younger brother of Corrie Gardner, Eric was a long kicking forward. He played as a wingman and missed out on playing in Melbourne's 1900 premiership side, in his debut season, through injury.Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

He entered Trinity College (University of Melbourne) in 1900, where he was a member of the football team that won the 1902 intercollegiate premiership,"Football", Argus, 2 July 1902, p. 8. and also participated in athletics, winning the 120-yard hurdles and coming third in the long jump and at the University sports day in 1902."Melbourne University Sports", Argus, 3 June 1902, p. 8.

Gardner died young in 1905 while in Sweden.