Frank Maher (footballer)

Frank Maher
Frank Maher
Personal information
Date of birth	22 September 1895
Place of birth	Ballarat, Victoria
Date of death	7 November 1976 (aged 81)
Original team(s)	Lilydale
Debut	11 June 1921, Essendon vs. Carlton, at East Melbourne Cricket Ground
Height / weight	167.5cm (5'6") 70 kg
Career highlights
	Essendon Premiership: 1923, 1924; Essendon Captain: 1925-1928 (77 games); Essendon Vice-Captain: 1924; Essendon Best and Fairest: 1927; Victoria captain: 1927, 1928.;
	Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Frank H. Maher (22 September 1895 – 7 November 1976)^[1] was an Australian footballer, and coach in the Victorian Football League.

Career

Maher served in the army in World War I from 1916 to 1919, and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry for his actions in France on 19 May 1918.^[2] He only began playing football when serving overseas with the AIF. On his return to Australia, he started playing football with two clubs, Shepparton and Lilydale.

Recruited from Lilydale Football Club, he played his first game for Essendon in 1921 at the advanced age of 25, playing against Carlton at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground on 11 June 1921. He went on to play 137 games with Essendon Football Club from 1921 to 1928; and 118 of those games were played consecutively. He was part of the Premiership Team in 1923 (first rover, kicking 2 goals), 1924 (forward flank, kicking four goals in the three matches)

He represented Victoria on nine occasions in 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927 (captain), and 1928 (captain). He was nominated for the Brownlow Medal in 1925, coming in third place with four votes.^[3]

Maher was captain-coach of Essendon in 1927; whilst his application to coach Essendon in 1928 was rejected, he captained Essendon in that year. After leaving Essendon, he went on to coach at Oakleigh in the VFA. He also coached the Fitzroy Football Club and the Carlton Football Club. From 1958 and 1968 he was president of Essendon's past players and officials association.

Notes

^ "Frank Maher - Player Bio". Australian Football. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
^ [1]
^ In those days, there was only a single vote available in any one game. The 1925 winner, St Kilda's Colin Watson won the medal with 9 votes (i.e., best on the ground on nine occasions) having played in only 15 matches.

References

Fiddian, Marc: Devils at Play. A History of the Oakleigh Football Club, Pakenham Gazette, Pakenham 1982

External links

Frank Maher's playing statistics from AFL Tables
Frank Maher at AustralianFootball.com
Blueseum Biography: Frank Maher, coach and war hero
Champions of Essendon Profile: Frank Maher

[1] "Frank Maher - Player Bio". Australian Football. Retrieved 13 November 2014.

[2] [1]

[3] In those days, there was only a single vote available in any one game. The 1925 winner, St Kilda's Colin Watson won the medal with 9 votes (i.e., best on the ground on nine occasions) having played in only 15 matches.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Essendon Football Club 1923/24 VFL premiers
1923: Essendon 8.15 (63) defeated Fitzroy 6.10 (46), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground 1924: Essendon won the finals series with 2 wins, 1 loss, and a percentage of 142.74
1. Barker (c) 2. Donaldson 3. Beckton 5. Baring 6. Fitzmaurice 6. Rawle 10. Watt 14. May 15. Laing 16. McCarthy 21. Jenkins 24. Maher 25. Stockdale 28. Garden 30. Shorten 33. Hardy
Coach: Barker

v t e Coaches of the Essendon Football Club
VFL/AFL	1908–1909: Smith 1910: Belcher 1911–1915; 1918–1920: Worrall 1920–1921: Ogden 1922: Gravenall 1922–1924: Barker 1925–1927: Maher 1928–1930: Hardy 1931–1933: Campbell 1934–1935: May 1936–1939: Baggott 1939: Reynolds/Hunter 1939–1960: Reynolds 1961–1967: Coleman 1968–1970: Clarke 1971: Birt 1972–1975: Tuddenham 1976–1977: Stephen 1978–1980: Davis 1981–2007: Sheedy 2006: O'Donnell 2008–2010: Knights 2011–2013: Hird 2013: Goodwin 2014: Thompson 2015: Hird 2015: Egan 2016–2020: Worsfold 2021–2022: Rutten 2022: Caracella 2023–: Scott
AFL Women's	2022 (S7)–: Wood
Essendon did not participate in the VFL from 1916–1917 due to World War I Italics* denote caretaker coach

v t e Coaches of the Carlton Football Club
VFL/AFL	1902–1909: Worrall 1909–1911: Elliott 1912: Clark 1913: Wells 1914–1918: Clark 1919: Valentine 1920–1922: Clark 1922–1923: Clover 1924: Parratt 1925: O'Brien 1925: Caldwell 1926: Brew 1927: Clover 1928: Brew 1929–1934: Minogue 1935–1936: Maher 1937: Rowe 1938–1940: Diggins 1941–1955: Bentley 1956–1958: Francis 1959–1964: Hands 1965–1971: Barassi 1972–1975: Nicholls 1976–1977: Thorogood 1978: Stewart 1978: Silvagni 1978–1979: Jesaulenko 1980: Jones 1981–1985: Parkin 1986–1989: Walls 1989–1990: Jesaulenko 1991–2000: Parkin 2001–2002: Brittain 2003–2007: Pagan 2007–2012: Ratten 2013–2015: Malthouse 2015: Barker 2016–2019: Bolton 2019–2021: Teague 2022–: Voss
AFL Women's	2017–2018: Keeping 2019–2022 (S7): Harford 2023–: Buck
Italics denote caretaker coach

v t e Essendon Football Club · Team of the Century 1896–1997
Full-back	Gavin Wanganeen Fred Baring Tom Fitzmaurice
Half-back	Barry Davis Wally Buttsworth Harold Lambert
Centre	Reg Burgess Jack Clarke Michael Long
Half-forward	James Hird Ken Fraser Terry Daniher
Full-forward	Bill Hutchison John Coleman Albert Thurgood
Ruck	Simon Madden Tim Watson Dick Reynolds (c)
Interchange	Mark Thompson Keith Forbes Frank Maher Billy Griffith
Coach	Kevin Sheedy