Geoff Tunbridge

{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Geoff Tunbridge

| image = Geoff Tunbridge.jpg

| image_size = 175px

| caption = Tunbridge in 1958

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1932|04|07}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2015|03|23|1932|04|07}}

| death_place =

| originalteam = University Blues

| height = 178 cm

| weight = 72 kg

| position =

| statsend = 1962

| years1 = 1957–1962

| club1 = Melbourne

| games_goals1 = 117 (129)

| careerhighlights =

}}

Geoff R. Tunbridge (7 April 1932 – 23 March 2015) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). At the age of 25, Tunbridge was recruited to Melbourne from Ballarat, where he was an Old Boy (from 1949) and teacher at Ballarat Church of England Boys Grammar School. His jumper was number 23 and he was a red-headed, spearing left-foot flanker.

He originally commenced his footy career for University Blues in the Victorian Amateur Football Association. He began studies in Science at Melbourne University in 1952, and in 1953 entered residence at Trinity College (University of Melbourne), where he also played cricket and tennis."Salvete", [http://www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/Media/docs/fleur-de-lys-1953-a59b0539-760d-42ff-9540-2eb207e0d39a-0.pdf The Fleur-de-Lys], Nov. 1953, p. 11.

Tunbridge refused on ideological grounds to accept payment from Melbourne Football Club, as he believed that players should play for the love of the game. The only money he did accept was compensation for the cost of petrol, given the long drive between Ballarat and Melbourne (eight pence/year in his Volkswagen). He also often ate a meat pie half an hour before the game.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/25/1053585754068.html|title=In times of treble|work=The Age|date=25 May 2003}}

Tunbridge earned a nomination on the forward flank for the Melbourne Team of the Century, but this position was ultimately awarded to Garry Lyon. He played in three premierships for Melbourne in the late 1950s.

His formal association with Ballarat Grammar spanned 40 years. He first came to the school as student in 1949 and retired from teaching at Ballarat Grammar School in 1989.{{cite news|url=http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/2964989/city-loses-footy-champ-geoff-tunbridge/|title=City loses footy champ Geoff Tunbridge |first=Matthew |last=Dixon |date=24 March 2015}} Thereafter, Tunbridge taught at Leibler Yavneh College for a number of years. {{citation needed|date=March 2015}}