Fred McGinis

{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2012}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Fred McGinis

| image = Fred McGinis.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| fullname = Alfred Ernest McGinis

| birth_date = 11 November 1874

| birth_place = Hobart

| death_date = {{death date and age|1953|3|30|1874|11|11|df=yes}}

| death_place = Hobart

| originalteam = City (Hobart)

| height = 175 cm

| weight = 74 kg

| position =

| statsend = 1901

| years1 = 1894–1896

| club1 = Melbourne (VFA)

| games_goals1 = 45 (41)

| years2 = 1897–1901

| club2 = Melbourne

| games_goals2 = 84 (36)

| careerhighlights = * VFL premiership player: 1900

}}

Fred McGinisHis family name was variously rendered as "McGinis", "McGinnis", "M‘Guiness", and "McGuiness". (11 November 1874 – 30 March 1953) was an Australian rules footballer. He played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), and the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Family

The son of Louis McGuiness (1841-1908),[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12687512 Deaths: McGuiness, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Monday, 7 September 1908), p.1.] and Mary Ann McGuiness (1840-1911), née Toogood,[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8819368 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.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10112059 Deaths: McGuiness, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Friday, 25 August 1911), p.1.] Alfred Ernest McGuiness was born at Hobart, on 11 November 1874.His registration on the Electoral Rolls over many years consistently has his name as "Alfred Ernest McGinniss".

Football

McGinis began his career with Melbourne at the age of nineteen, in 1894 in the VFA,Pennings (2016), passim.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139711374 The Melbourne Football Team, The Australasian, (Saturday, 22 June 1895), p.1178.][http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120278399 'Old-Timer', "Chat with Fred McGinis", The Referee, (Wednesday, 12 August 1914), p.12.] and was its leading goalkicker in 1895. In September 1895, 'Half Back' (the Age's football correspondent) declared that McGinis was "the champion of the season.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197207831 'Half Back', "The Football Season", The Age, (Monday, 23 September 1895), p. 6.]

A rover, he starred for Melbourne in its debut season in the VFL in 1897, and he was a premiership player with Melbourne in 1900.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175383302 The Melbourne Team (Premiers 1900), (Melbourne) Punch, (Thursday, 27 September 1900), p.369.]

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.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9069599 |title=Football. M'Ginis Benefit Match|newspaper=The Argus |issue=17,519 |location=Melbourne|date=5 September 1902 |access-date=6 September 2016 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Death

He died in Hobart on 30 March 1953, and was cremated at the Cornelian Bay Cemetery the next day.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27136787 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Mercury |volume=CLXXIII |issue=25,673 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=31 March 1953 |page=17}}

Hall of Fame

McGinis was regarded as one of the best players of his era,[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12661577 Tribute to a Tasmanian, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Thursday, 6 August 1908), p.8.] with some contemporaries, including Mick Grace, Jack Leith, George Cathie, and the Argus sportswriter 'Observer' naming him as the best overall.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129935009 'Old-Timer', "The Best Footballer", The Referee, (Wednesday, 23 August 1911), p.1.]Cathie, G.J., [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189125541 "Fred McGinis: Most Brilliant Player of All", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 27 July 1935), p.7.]{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|title=Old football days|date=2 May 1908|page=18|publication-place=Melbourne, VIC|author=Observer}}

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.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120277751 'Old-Timer', "Old-Time Champion Footballers", The Referee, (Wednesday, 24 June 1914), p.16.]

::In all my experience I have never seen a more accomplished player – one qualified to rank on the highest 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).Cathie, G.J., [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/181655804 "Champion Footballers", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 20 February 1943), p. 4]

McGinis is the first listed inductee in the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame, his citation describing him as "Tasmania's first true football superstar".{{cite web|url=http://www.afltashalloffame.com.au/inductees/1-fred-mcginis/|title=1. Fred McGinis|access-date=14 July 2016|publisher=AFL Tasmania}}

See also

Footnotes

{{Reflist}}

References

  • [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197540599 'Follower', "The Footballers' Alphabet", The Leader, (Saturday, 23 July 1898), p. 17.]
  • Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
  • [https://eprints.qut.edu.au/100083/18/Mark%27s%2BBook%2BVolume%2B4%2Br.pdf Pennings, Mark (2016), Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's early History: Volume 4: Tough Times: Victorian Football loses its Way, 1891 to 1896, Brunswick, Victoria: Grumpy Monks Publishing.] {{isbn|978-0-646-93604-8}}