Philip "Phil" Skehan 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 with South Melbourne

Sydney Swans

The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

 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).

Skehan played as a follower and was recruited to South Melbourne from Middle Park. A butcher by profession, he was a member of the South Melbourne team which defeated Collingwood

Collingwood Football Club

The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 in the 1918 VFL Grand Final

1918 VFL Grand Final

The 1918 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the South Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 7 September 1918. It was the 21st annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to...

. His last game for South Melbourne was a semi final in 1919 and he was then sacked by the club after a dispute with the committee.

He hoped to continue playing football with Williamstown

Williamstown Football Club

The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed The Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne and are currently playing in the Victorian Football League...

 in the Victorian Football Association and on Wednesday 8 June 1921 was given a permit to transfer from South Melbourne.

The subsequent weekend, he made his debut for Williamstown in a fixture against Essendon Association

Essendon Association Football Club

Essendon Association Football Club was an Australian rules football club which played in the Victorian Football Association from 1900 until 1921. The 'Dreadnoughts', who wore black and red, played their home games at the Essendon Recreation Reserve...

 and in the first half was involved in a collision with an opponent, with both of them going for the ball. The Essendon player was able to continue the game after being treated but Skehan suffered serious concussion and had a broken right leg below the knee. He would die in hospital six days later, due to hypostatic pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 and concussion of the brain.

He is believed to be the first VFL footballer to have lost his life as a result of an on-field injury and his death came just over a month before a similar tragedy, when Carlton

Carlton 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...

 rover Lyle Downs

Lyle Downs

Lyle Downs was an Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Victorian Football League .Downs, who also played for the Carlton Cricket Club, was a rover and played finals in his first three seasons. He played a game for Carlton with his brother Johnny in 1920...

died of a heart attack in the club's training rooms.