Fred Rutley 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 North Melbourne

North Melbourne Football Club

The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 in the Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

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

 (VFL).

Rutley played at North Melbourne in their Victorian Football Association days and was a member of their inaugural VFL squad in 1925. He kicked three goals in both his second and third league appearances, and only once in his eleven career games did he fail to kick a goal.

He is best remembered for his part in a controversial and spiteful match against Geelong at Arden Street during the 1925 season where he was reported on six charges (two of kicking, three of striking and one of melee involvement) as a result of an all-in brawl that involved players and team officials. Both Arthur Coghlan

Arthur Coghlan

Arthur 'Bull' Coghlan was an Australian rules footballer who played for and coached Geelong in the VFL.Geelong's Toora recruit was a tough and hard hitting ruckman but could also play in key positions...

 and Stan Thomas

Stan Thomas (Australian footballer)

Stan 'Dasher' Thomas was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the VFL during the late 1910s and early 1920s....

 of Geelong were suspended for the remainder of 1925 and all of 1926, but the league tribunal, headed by League President Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer

Walter Baldwin Spencer

Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer KCMG was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist.Baldwin was born in Stretford, Lancashire. His father, Reuben Spencer, who had come from Derbyshire in his youth, obtained a position with Rylands and Sons, cotton manufacturers, and rose to be chairman of its...

, found that Rutley was responsible for starting the brawl and suspended him for life. The suspension was commuted five years later and he returned to North Melbourne, having missed 89 games, the third longest suspension in VFL history.

It is the longest suspension for an on-field incident; the two men ahead of him, Doug Fraser

Doug Fraser (Australian footballer)

Doug Fraser was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League .A Yarraville premiership player, Fraser broke into a strong Carlton team in the 1910 VFL season and established a place in the side as a follower...

 and Alex Lang

Alex Lang

Alex 'Bongo' Lang was an Australian rules footballer who played with the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League...

of Carlton, were both embroiled in a bribery scandal.