Gary Dempsey
Encyclopedia
- For the IrishRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
football (soccer)Football (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player, see Gary Dempsey (footballer)Gary Dempsey (footballer)Gary Dempsey is an Irish footballer who plays for Bray Wanderers of the League of Ireland.-Career:...
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Gary Dempsey (born 22 November 1948) is a former 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 Footscray
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
and 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...
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Dempsey made his debut for Footscray
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
in 1967. In 1969, he spent six weeks in hospital after being burnt by a bushfire near his home in Truganina
Truganina, Victoria
Truganina is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 km west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Wyndham and Shire of Melton....
and was told he would never play football again. Despite this, he defied the odds to return to the playing field and then win his first club best-and-fairest
Charles Sutton Medal
The Charles Sutton Medal is awarded to the player adjudged Best and Fairest for the Western Bulldogs. Scott West holds the record at the club, winning seven medals, followed by Gary Dempsey, with six...
award in 1970. Dempsey would win the club best-and-fairest award five more times, underlining his importance to the underachieving Bulldogs.
Although he had won a number of individual awards, Dempsey yearned for team success and signed with 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 1979, winning the club best-and-fairest in his first year there. He played out his career at the Kangaroos, playing 122 games for them, and retired in 1984. Dempsey was named an emergency in the Kangaroos 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...
.http://www.kangaroos.com.au/Kangas/TheClub/History/TeamoftheCentury/tabid/4990/Default.aspx
Dempsey finished in the top 10 in the Brownlow Medal 13 times and to date has polled more Brownlow votes then any player in history. He was named an All-Australian Team
All-Australian Team
The All-Australian Team is an all star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including interchange players and a coach, of the best performed during the season....
member at the 1972 Perth carnival.
In 1996 Dempsey was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame
The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...
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He was named as first ruckman in the Footscray's Team of the Century.
Player honors:
- Brownlow Medal 1975
- Runner-up Brownlow Medal 1970
- Most ever Brownlow votes
- Footscray best and fairest 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977
- North Melbourne best and fairest 1979
- Footscray captain 1971-1972, 1977–1978
- Footscray/Western Bulldogs Team of the Century
- North Melbourne/Kangaroos Team of the Century
- All-Australian 1972
- Victorian representative (22 games, 8 goals)
- Represented AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in "The Galahs" Australian Football World TourInternational rules footballInternational rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
1968.
Post playing career
Dempsey was appointed Specialist Ruck Coach of the Carlton Football ClubCarlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
at the end of the 2005 season.