Merv McIntosh

Mervyn Frederick "Merv" McIntosh (25 November 1922 – 3 May 2010) was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) West Australian National Football League (WANFL). A brilliant ruckman, he was awarded the Sandover Medal as the fairest and best player in the league three times while playing with the Perth Football Club.

Merv McIntosh
Personal information
Full name Mervyn Frederick McIntosh
Date of birth (1922-11-25)25 November 1922
Place of birth Subiaco, Western Australia
Date of death 3 May 2010(2010-05-03) (aged 87)
Place of death Salter Point, Western Australia
Position(s) Ruckman
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1939–41, 1946–55 Perth 217 (79)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
1947–1955 Western Australia 24 (8)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1955.
Career highlights
Source: AustralianFootball.com

Playing career

Merv McIntosh played 217 games for Perth (severely curtailed by the World War II years), plus 20 state games for Western Australia in the period 1939 to 1955. In a richly rewarded career he won three Sandover Medals, three Simpson Medals and a Tassie Medal (as the best player at the 1953 Adelaide National Football Carnival). He was named in the 1953 All-Australian Team.

His Simpson Medal winning performance in his last game, propelling Perth to a two-point victory in the 1955 grand final (Perth's first for 48 years), is legendary. At half-time, East Fremantle had a 34-point lead, but in the third quarter McIntosh led his side to get within two points at the last change. In the final quarter, kicking into the wind, Perth got in front and hold East Fremantle at bay to win 11.11 (77) to 11.9 (75). McIntosh's strategy was to stay in the dead pocket and repeatedly knock the ball out-of-bounds.[1]

He won seven best and fairest awards for his club. He is depicted in a Western Australian state guernsey in Jamie Cooper's painting The Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.[2]

Honours

The Merv McIntosh Entrance to the Subiaco Oval is named in his honour.[3]

In 1996, Merv McIntosh was in inaugural inductee in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

In 2004, he was inducted into Legend Status in the West Australian Football Hall of Fame.[4]

War service

McIntosh enlisted with the Australian Army in 1941 and was discharged in 1946.[5]

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References
  • Ross, John (1999). The Australian Football Hall of Fame. Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers. p. 93. ISBN 0-7322-6426-X.
  • AFL Hall of Fame
  • Merv McIntosh at AustralianFootball.com

Footnotes
  1. "Merv McIntosh - WA Football Legend". ABC Western Australia. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 22 March 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  2. "The Game That Made Australia painting". 150years.com.au. Australian Football League. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  3. "McIntosh will be remembered as a true legend". West Australian Football Commission. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  4. "WEST AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME Playing Record of all Members @ March 2012". West Australian Football Commission. March 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  5. "MCINTOSH, MERVYN FREDERICK". World War Two Nominal Roll. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
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