John Frederick Leach (6 March 1878 – 14 April 1908) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]

Fred Leach
Leach in 1901
Personal information
Full name John Frederick Leach
Date of birth 6 March 1878
Place of birth Heidelberg, Victoria
Date of death 14 April 1908(1908-04-14) (aged 30)
Place of death Surrey Hills, Victoria
Original team(s) Boroondara
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 83 kg (183 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1897–1903 Collingwood 84 (8)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1903.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

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The son of Thomas Leach (1847-1916),[2] and Emma Bunkin Leach (1847-1893), née Stuckey,[3] John Frederick Leach was born in Heidelberg, Victoria on 6 March 1878.[4]

Brothers

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His two brothers, Arthur Thomas Leach (1876–1948) and Edward Hale "Ted" Leach (1883-1965) also played for Collingwood.[5]

Football

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Leach was a centreman in the losing Grand Final side of 1901, but played at centre half-back in the 1902 premiership team.

1899 team of "champions"

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At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for The Argus, Reginald Wilmot ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition:

From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — Wilmot selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season.[6]

Death

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He died of typhoid fever at his father's residence in Surrey Hills on 14 April 1908.[7][8]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ "Fred Leach". Collingwood Forever. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. ^ Deaths: Leach, The Argus, (Friday, 6 October 1916), p.1.
  3. ^ Deaths: Leach, (Saturday 9 December 1893), p.5.
  4. ^ Births: Leach, The Argus, (Tuesday, 12 March 1876), p.1.
  5. ^ The three brothers appear in the photograph at File:Collingwood 1902 premiers.jpg of 23 Collingwood First XVIII players, taken in 1902 (the same photograph, with all individuals identified by name, is at [1]).
  6. ^ 'Old Boy', "Football: A Review of the Season", (Monday, 18 September 1899), p. 6.
  7. ^ Deaths: Leach, The Age, (Wednesday, 15 April 1908), p.1.
  8. ^ Death at Surrey Hills, The (Box Hill) Reporter, (Friday, 24 April 1908), p.4.

References

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  • Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
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