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Charlie Challenger

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Charlie Challenger
Personal information
Full name Charles Thomas Challenger
Date of birth (1917-12-09)9 December 1917
Place of birth Fremantle, Western Australia
Date of death 28 November 1996(1996-11-28) (aged 78)
Place of death Fairfield, Victoria
Original team(s) Brunswick
Height 174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 76 kg (168 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1938-1940 Brunswick (VFA) 39 (3)
1940 Essendon (VFL)   2 (0)
1940-1941 Brunswick (VFA) 27 (6)
1946-1947 Brunswick (VFA) 16 (4)
Total 84 (13)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1947.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Charles Thomas Challenger (9 December 1917 – 28 November 1996) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]

Family

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He married Margaret Ellen Donohue in 1960.

Football

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Brunswick (VFA)

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In April 1937, he was cleared from Plenty Rovers in the Diamond Valley Football League to the Brunswick Second XVIII.[2][3] Although not part of the regular home-and-away VFA season, Challenger played a match with the Brunswick First XVIII, in which he was declared Brunswick's "most effective player", against the Ballarat Imperial Football Club in September 1937.[4]

He played his first senior VFA home-and-away match for Brunswick, against Coburg, on 16 April 1938;[5] and, at the end of his first senior season, he was declared the club's "most improved player".[6]

He played in two VFA Grand finals:

Essendon (VFL)

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On 21 March 1940 he trained for the first time with Essendon.[11] He was cleared to Essendon in April 1940.[12][13]

He only played in two First XVIII games for Essendon, both on the half-forward flank: against Fitzroy on 18 May 1940,[14] and against Hawthorn on 25 May 1940.[15]

Brunswick (VFA)

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He was cleared back to Brunswick from Essendon in July 1940,[16] and played his first senior match in his second time at Brunswick, in the back-pocket, against Coburg on 6 July 1940.[17]

Military service

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He served in the Australian Army during World War II.[18][19]

Notes

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References

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  • World War Two Nominal Roll: Private Charles Thomas Challenger (VXZ137813), Department of Veterans' Affairs.
  • B883, VXZ137813: World War Two Service Record: Private Charles Thomas Challenger (VXZ137813), National Archives of Australia.
  • Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
  • Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
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