Reg H. Richards 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).

Richards was recruited from Clifton Hill CYMS but came from the country town of Blackwood

Blackwood, Victoria

Blackwood is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Lerderderg River, 89 kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne. Blackwood is in the Shire of Moorabool Local Government Area and had a population of 235 at the 2006 census....

. He started his career at South Melbourne as an 18 year old in 1936 but didn't command regular selection until 1940.

He was a rover for South Melbourne in the 1945 VFL Grand Final

1945 VFL Grand Final

The 1945 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the South Melbourne Football Club and Carlton Football Club, held at Princes Park in Melbourne on 29 September 1945. It was the 49th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers...

, which they lost to 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...

. After playing all 20 home and away games, he had missed the semi-final with influenza but recovered in time to be selected for the grand final, taking the place of Max Blumfield

Max Blumfield

Max Blumfield was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League during the 1940s....

.

In 1947, his final season, he missed eight games through suspension, following a fight with Fitzroy's

Fitzroy Football Club

The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...

 Noel Price

Noel Price

Garry Noel Price is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman.Price started his National Hockey League career with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1958. He would also play for the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Atlanta Flames. He...

 during their round six encounter. Price, who was also suspended for eight weeks, left Richards with a broken nose.

Once his VFL career ended he moved to the country and became playing coach of the Ballarat Football Club

Ballarat Football Club

The Ballarat Football Club competes in the Ballarat Football League in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia. The club, nicknamed the Swans, has a history dating back to 1860. Ballarat once competed in the Victorian Football Association....

as playing coach.