George Doig
Encyclopedia
East Fremantle Football Club
The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League . The team's home ground is East Fremantle Oval...
from 1933 to 1945.
Born in Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, George Doig's football career started in the South Suburban Football Competition in and around Fremantle. In one game in 1931 he kicked the whole score of his team - 26.21 - and 127 goals for the season. This feat attracted the attention of the East Fremantle Football Club
East Fremantle Football Club
The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League . The team's home ground is East Fremantle Oval...
and he was invited to play with the second grade team in 1932. In his first season at this level he kicked 126 goals.
In 1933 he was promoted to the League team at East Fremantle
East Fremantle Football Club
The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League . The team's home ground is East Fremantle Oval...
. In his first game he kicked 9 goals. For the season he kicked 106 goals, the first person in the West Australian Football League
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
to kick more than 100 goals in a season at League level.
The following year he kicked 152 goals, which was an Australian record until 1953, when Bernie Naylor
Bernie Naylor
Bernard George "Bernie" Naylor was an Australian rules footballer who was one of the most successful full-forwards in the history of the West Australian Football League...
, from the South Fremantle Football Club
South Fremantle Football Club
The South Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Bulldogs, is an Australian rules football club, based in Fremantle, Western Australia, playing in the West Australian Football League...
kicked 167 goals (including finals matches). In the 1934 season George kicked 19 goals, 3 behinds in one match (then an Australian record) followed by 13 goals, 4 behinds in the following match.
In 1935, George kicked 113 goals, followed by
- 108 goals in 1936,
- 144 goals in 1937,
- 100 goals in 1938,
- 106 goals in 1939,
- 108 goals in 1940 and
- 146 goals in 1941.
Due to the Second World War, 1941 practically marked his retirement from football. He had represented Western Australia on 14 occasions and kicked 62 goals in State matches. In 1945, at the request of the Committee, George returned to play 6 games and help East Fremantle win the Premiership for that year.
During his career he played in 8 Grand Finals and kicked 10 or more goals on 14 occasions. He never missed scoring a goal in any match he played.
In 1938 the East Fremantle Football Club played a match in Sydney against the New South Wales State team. A newspaper report on the match referred to George Doig as "the Don Bradman of WANFL football" as he had by then achieved more than 100 goals in six consecutive seasons.
George kicked an aggregate of 1083 goals in his nine consecutive seasons from 1933 at the East Fremantle Football Club. This represents an incredible 120 goals per season and 5.46 goals per game. In 1945, after an absence from the game for three years due to the Second World War he returned to play a few more games, kicking a further 28 goals, to bring his career aggregate to 1111 goals.
Fremantle
Fremantle Football Club
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed The Dockers, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...
's 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, the Doig Medal
Doig Medal
The Doig Medal is the best and fairest award given out to the player considered best and fairest during a season for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL....
, is named for the Doig family, 17 of which have played football at senior level in Western Australia over three generations. A function room at Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval , known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia...
has been named the Doig Room in recognition of the family's influence on West Australian football. He is a member of the West Australian Football Hall of Fame
West Australian Football Hall of Fame
The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia...
and has legend status.