Henry Elms
Personal information
Full name Henry Elms
Date of birth c. 1861
Date of death 14 September 1928(1928-09-14) (aged 66–67)
Playing career
Years Club Games (Goals)
1882–1895 South Melbourne (VFA) 215 (4)
Coaching career
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1918–1919 South Melbourne 33 (27–6–0)
Career highlights
  • VFA premiership player 1885, 1888–1890
  • South Melbourne captain 1885–1894
  • South Melbourne premiership coach 1918
Source: AustralianFootball.com

Henry "Sonny" Elms (c. 1861 – 14 September 1928[1]) was an Australian rules football coach with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

He had previously played 215 games for the club in the VFA between 1882 and 1895, being part of their premiership teams in 1885 and 1888–1890. Elms was the first player in Victorian elite football to play 200 games, which he achieved in round 20 of 1893, while his career total of 215 games remained a South Melbourne club record until it was broken by teammate Bill Windley in Round 5 of the 1902 VFL season.[2] [3]

He was also South Melbourne captain between 1885, when the club won their second premiership, and 1894.[4] Elms led South Melbourne to four premierships (including a hat-trick in 1888-1890), which as of 2022 remains the Victorian elite football record for most premierships as club captain: this has been equalled in the VFL/AFL by Syd Coventry (in 1930), Dick Reynolds (in 1950), and Michael Tuck (in 1991).

He was made coach in 1918, sharing the duties with former player and longtime teammate Herb Howson. After the club defeated Collingwood by five points in the Grand Final, they became the first (and so far only) pair to coach a premiership team; they remained coaches for the 1919 season, and finished with a coaching record of 27 wins from 33 games.

References

  1. ↑ "Death of "Sonny" Elms". Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946). 22 September 1928. p. 36.
  2. ↑ For many years, due to incomplete records, it was believed that Elms had played 195 games, and that another teammate, Dinny McKay, had broken Elms' record in Round 11 of 1897, but Australian rules football historian and writer Mark Pennings discovered in 2015 that McKay had played 168 games for South Melbourne: a previously published total of 199 had included 31 matches for Richmond.
  3. ↑ Windley would retire after Round 16 of 1905 with an overall career total of 265 games (136 in the VFA and 129 in the VFL), and this remained the club record until it was broken by Michael O'Loughlin in Round 19 of the 2007 AFL season, 26 years after the club had relocated to Sydney.
  4. ↑ "SENIOR FOOTBALL CAPTAINS". Leader. No. 2001. Victoria, Australia. 19 May 1894. p. 30. Retrieved 7 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.