Tom Crane 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...

 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...

 (VFL).

Crane, a defender, was never a regular fixture in the South Melbourne team, playing just seven games in four seasons at the club. He crossed to North Melbourne during the 1945 VFL season

1945 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1945.-Premiership season:In 1945, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th man...

, where his brother Jack

Jack Crane

John Edward "Jack" Crane was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon, Richmond and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League ....

 played. Another brother, Len

Len Crane

Len Crane was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne and Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League .Crane made his VFL debut in 1947 with South Melbourne and played as a half back flanker...

, was a South Melbourne and Hawthorn

Hawthorn Football Club

The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...

 footballer.

He joined Northcote

Northcote Football Club

Northcote Football Club, nicknamed The Dragons, was an Australian rules football club which played in the VFA from 1908 until 1987. The club's colours were green and yellow and it was based in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote...

in 1946.