Alan 'Butch' Gale was an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er who played for Fitzroy in the VFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 during the 1950s.

Background

Gale made his league debut in 1948, at the age of just 17, after being recruited from the Police Boys' football club. His early games suggested that he was little more than an honest trier. However, as his career entered into the 1950s, Gale elevated his performances to a new, higher level. During this period, Gale finished runner-up in the clubs best and fairest

Best and Fairest

Best and Fairest is the term commonly used in Australian sport to describe the player adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition while not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season.In the...

 award a record seven times. Unfortunately, he never finished first robbing him of an opportunity to be remembered as a great player on Fitzroy's honour board.

Some of Gale's best football came while resting in defence, and he would undoubtedly have made a fine key position defender had Fitzroy been able to spare him from the ruck.

Gale captained Fitzroy from 1958 until his retirement in 1961. He also reprented Victoria in interstate football, leading them in 1959. He was named in Fitzroy's official 'Team of the Century'.

Career highlights

• On 3 May 2001, Gale was named in Fitzroy's Team of the Century
  Team of the Century
  Team of the Century and Team of the Decade are terms used in team sport to name a hypothetical best team over a given time period.For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century...
  
  , as the ruckman
  Ruckman (Australian rules football position)
  In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...
  
  .

• In 2007, The Brisbane Lions
  Brisbane Lions
  The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
  
   recognised Gale as one of the ten greatest Lions players from the era 1957 to 1966.

Playing career:

• Fitzroy 1948 – 1961 (Games 213; Goals 19; Brownlow votes 30)

Player honors:

• 12th Brownlow Medal 1957.
• Fitzroy captain: 1958 to 1961.
• Fitzroy Best & Fairest runner-up: 7 times
• Victorian representative: 12 games

See also

• Fitzroy FC honour roll
  Fitzroy FC honour roll
  This is a list of coaches and captains of the Fitzroy Football Club, along with best-and-fairest award winners and leading goalkickers, for every year of the club's participation in the Victorian Football Association and the Victorian/Australian Football League....
  
  
• Notable Fitzroy players
  Notable Fitzroy players
  This is a complete list of players to have represented the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian/Australian Football League.Players are listed by the date of their VFL/AFL debut with the club...
  
  
• Australian rules footballers with 200 games for one club
  Australian rules footballers with 200 games for one club
  This is a list of Australian rules footballers who have played at least 200 games for a single club in the Australian Football League . Footballers who are still playing with the club that they are listed under are in bold. Statistics are correct as of Round 24 of the 2011 season...