Thomas Alexander Hugh McFarlane (2 May 1887 – 1 November 1952) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Port Adelaide.[3]
Football
McFarlane debuted for Port Adelaide during the 1909 SAFL season. He would captain the club in the South Australian Football League seasons immediately before and after World War I.
Personal life
McFarlane was the 15th child of Alexander Macfarlane, an immigrant from Scotland, and Mary Ann Tyzack who was born in Port Adelaide.[4]
His uncle, Samuel Tyzack, was a foundation player for Port Adelaide in 1870.[5]
Alex was the uncle of Bill McFarlane who played over 100 games for Port Adelaide during the 1940s.[6]
He married Olive May Hobbs on 18 December 1911 at St. Aiden’s Church, Marden South Australia.
Olive and Alex had seven children. Alexander Steer McFarlane 1913; Daphne May McFarlane (1914-1917); Ronald George McFarlane 1916; Olive Valerie McFarlane 1917; Harold McFarlane (1919-1921); Kenneth Malcom 1924; and Joan Louise McFarlane 1925.
Death
Alex McFarlane died in Alice Springs on 1 November 1952.
Reputation
Tom Leahy described him as being "Tremendously strong, played very fairly, but very hard. I was against him many times, and he was a tough man to beat."[7]
^"Former Port star dies". The News. Vol. 59, no. 9, 123. South Australia. 4 November 1952. p. 19. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Former Port star dies". The News. Vol. 59, no. 9, 123. South Australia. 4 November 1952. p. 19. Retrieved 14 October 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Former Port star dies". The News. Vol. 59, no. 9, 123. South Australia. 4 November 1952. p. 19. Retrieved 14 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
Port Adelaide joined the AFL as a separate entity to the SANFL side. The two clubs merged in 2014, and the SANFL side now functions as Port Adelaide's AFL reserves team.
South Australia 12.16 (88) d Western Australia 12.11 (83), at Sydney Cricket Ground, 5 August 1914 South Australia 32.18 (210) d Queensland 2.9 (21), at Sydney Cricket Ground, 7 August 1914 South Australia 16.20 (106) d New South Wales 10.3 (63), at Sydney Cricket Ground, 10 August 1914 South Australia 18.23 (131) d Tasmania 5.7 (37), at Sydney Cricket Ground, 12 August 1914 Victoria 11.11 (77) defeated South Australia 5.10 (44), at Sydney Cricket Ground, 15 August 1914, crowd: 12,000