55 Facts About Bob Pratt

Harold Robert "Bob" Pratt was an Australian rules footballer who played for the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League and the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association.

Bob Pratt kicked ten or more goals in a game eight times, including 15 goals in a single game.

Bob Pratt grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Mitcham, and was known as "Bob" to avoid confusion with his father.

Bob Pratt was one of the best on the ground in a team that won 15.16 to 4.9, scoring four goals.

Bob Pratt played in the forward pocket for the seconds in the 1929 first semi-final against Essendon, and was one of the best players for South Melbourne.

Bob Pratt was replaced in the team for the preliminary final match against Geelong by Jack Richardson, most likely because Richardson had played 10 senior matches that year, rather than due to any disappointment in Pratt's performance ; Geelong won the match.

Still playing at centre half-forward, Bob Pratt played 15 games and kicked 23 goals, becoming the equal third highest goalkicker for South.

Selleck was not a success, and he was moved to the forward flank for the second match, while Bob Pratt was moved to full-forward for the first time.

Bob Pratt topped South Melbourne's goalkicking for the first time in 1932 with 71 goals, 50 of them coming by round nine.

Bob Pratt's tally broke the previous record for goals scored in a season by a South Melbourne player, held by Ted Johnson, who kicked 60 goals in each of the 1924,1925 and 1928 seasons.

On 2 July 1932, in the round nine match against Fitzroy, playing at full-forward, Bob Pratt kicked seven goals in a more accurate South Melbourne's 12.10 win over Fitzroy 10.15.

The Argus noted that "Bob Pratt was keen and accurate [up] forward", whilst The Age remarked on Bob Pratt's "extraordinary marking and kicking".

At the VFL tribunal hearing on Thursday, 7 July 1932, the charge against Bob Pratt was not sustained, as Curcio said that he had no recollection of having been struck.

Bob Pratt had a disrupted pre-season, barely training and playing only one practice match, yet he kicked eight goals in the first round against Collingwood.

At the age of just 20, Bob Pratt had already become a fan favourite at South Melbourne.

The fruits of victory would not taste so sweet if Bob Pratt failed to reap a bag of half a dozen majors.

Bob Pratt kicked 12 goals against Footscray and 11 against Carlton and Essendon.

Bob Pratt reached 100 goals for the season in the third quarter of the round 13 match against Carlton, the fewest games ever required to reach 100 goals in a season.

However, in the grand final, South were outplayed by Richmond, losing by 39 points, with Bob Pratt kicking two goals to take his season tally to 150 goals.

Bob Pratt was again a star performer in 1935, kicking 103 goals for the year and, for the third year in a row, finished atop the VFL's goalkicking list after finals.

However, Bob Pratt missed the 1935 VFL grand final through bizarre circumstances.

Bob Pratt injured an ankle and lacerated both legs due to the accident and was unable to play.

The initial attack on the inhabitants of Adowa by Benito Mussolini's invading army upon Emperor Haile Selassie, is no greater shock than that received by SMFC officials when they learned on Thursday afternoon, through the press, that Bob Pratt had been involved in a collision with a motor truck.

Pratt's son Bob junior was born on 24 March 1936, and Pratt suddenly found himself unemployed when the newspaper he worked for, The Star, unexpectedly folded.

Annoyed at what he considered unfair treatment by club management towards him compared to interstate recruits, Bob Pratt first sought to leave South Melbourne for another club in June 1936, stating that he was unemployed and believed another club could find him employment.

Bob Pratt relented when local politician Robert Williams MLC found him a job in a brewery.

The South Melbourne players, including Bob Pratt, had suffered a large number of injuries over the season, and 39 different men played at least one senior game that season, an astounding figure for the day.

The Age described that "of [that 39] Bob Pratt is the only one who has played in every engagement, and on occasions he has had to nurse injuries certain to have kept most other players out of the game".

Bob Pratt kicked five goals and five behinds for the match; his first goal for the day came from an "amazing mark" which he took "almost on the goal line".

Bob Pratt walked out on South Melbourne after round eight, 1937, believing club officials considered him part of the furniture and did not see it necessary to offer him the same benefits as his interstate teammates like Laurie Nash.

Carlton attempted to recruit Bob Pratt, offering to pay him to stand out of football while waiting for a transfer from South Melbourne.

Bob Pratt amply repays the team for the assistance it gives him.

Bob Pratt inspires the players with great confidence in all their play, because they know that their efforts in other parts of the field will not be wasted, and the value of confidence is incalculable.

Bob Pratt abandoned plans to join Carlton but continual injury problems delayed the start of his year.

Mullaly explained that Bob Pratt had sustained an ankle injury three years earlier during the exhibition match South Melbourne had played against Collingwood, in Sydney, on 3 August 1935, and that his injury in that match was so severe that he was unable to return to the field after the half-time break.

Bob Pratt continued to play for the rest of the season.

Bob Pratt received immediate medical attention, including intensive massage treatment, and was later taken, by South Melbourne, to a leading surgeon.

Bob Pratt was appointed vice-captain to Herbie Matthews two weeks before the season began.

Mullaly thought that it was "absurd" for Bob Pratt to contemplate gaining a clearance to another club if, in fact, he was not fit to play for South Melbourne.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, on 28 June 1938, Bob Pratt appeared at South Melbourne's Tuesday night training session and, despite the medical advice that had been given to him, he declared that, despite his chronic arthritis, he wanted to play again with South Melbourne, and that he would train in earnest, and was hoping to be selected in the next few weeks.

Bob Pratt reported that he had previously found that "he was not inconvenienced while on the field", although he did experience great discomfort for some time after each game.

Bob Pratt was confident that, although he had a chronic injury, playing VFL football would not do his injury any further harm.

Bob Pratt went on to play seven matches in 1938, kicking 32 goals, including nine goals against Geelong in the final round.

In 1939, Bob Pratt played 16 games with South Melbourne, scoring 72 goals for the season.

In 1940, Bob Pratt sought a clearance to fellow VFL side Carlton.

On 26 February 1942, Bob Pratt enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force, serving as a corporal in the 7th Medical Receiving Station, defending airfields in the Pacific and in Borneo.

Bob Pratt then caused a sensation when he attempted a comeback with South Melbourne in 1946 aged 33; he was reported to be marking and kicking at full-forward "in something like his old style" during the pre-season practice matches.

Freely granted a clearance from the VFA back to South Melbourne, and looking exceedingly well and seeming keen to play at his best, Bob Pratt kicked two early goals in his return match against Carlton in the first round of the 1946 season.

Bob Pratt married Olive Sundstrom on 24 August 1935 at All Saints Church of England in St Kilda, after playing against Geelong earlier that day.

Bob Pratt worked at various times for the Melbourne Star newspaper, as an inspector of news agencies and as a sales representative for soft drink companies, as well as writing a football column for The Argus newspaper.

Bob Pratt was averse to weights training, believing that it took away from the athleticism required to play football.

Bob Pratt's contemporaries were full of praise for his exploits:.

In 1996, Bob Pratt was named as an inaugural member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and, along with 11 other greats of the game, was immediately elevated to "Legend" status, the highest honour in Australian football.

At the time of his death in 2001, Bob Pratt was the last living member of the Swans 1933 grand final team.

In 2003, Bob Pratt was named beside Tony Lockett in the forward pocket in their official Team of the Century.