27 Facts About Gordon Coventry

Gordon Richard James Coventry was a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League.

Gordon Coventry played his early football for Diamond Creek Football Club in the new Heidelberg District Football League, a competition which began after World War I, and had quickly established himself as a champion centre half-forward.

Gordon Coventry played his first senior game for Collingwood at the age of 18 against St Kilda in round 15,1920.

Gordon Coventry reprised his role at centre half-forward in the team that lost to Richmond 7.10 to 5.5 in the 1920 grand final, kicking 3 goals in the defeat.

In 1921, his second VFL season, Gordon Coventry was selected in a representative VFL side to play against a combined Bendigo team on 6 August 1921, but did not play due to influenza.

Gordon Coventry was unable to play in the last home-and-away rounds of the 1921 season due to his illness, although he was able to resume training.

Gordon Coventry played at centre half-forward in the team that lost to Carlton 9.11 to 7.10 in the 1921 semi-final.

Gordon Coventry played the entire 1922 season on one half-forward flank, scoring 42 goals, with his brother, Syd, playing on the other.

In 1923, with Lee having retired at the end of the 1922 season, Gordon Coventry moved to full-forward and was the club's leading goal-kicker that season with 36 goals.

Gordon Coventry soon became one of the league's most prolific and consistent goal-kickers.

Gordon Coventry was Collingwood's leading goal-kicker for 16 consecutive years, and the league's leading goal-kicker on six occasions.

Gordon Coventry kicked Collingwood's only two goals in the lowest-scores-ever grand final of 1927, with Collingwood, in atrocious conditions, defeating Richmond 2.13 to 1.7.

Gordon Coventry was the first player to kick 100 goals in a VFL season, kicked a total of 1299 goals in VFL football, and 100 goals in VFL representative teams.

Gordon Coventry was made a life member of the Collingwood Football Club in 1932, and was Collingwood's best and fairest player in 1933.

Gordon Coventry missed Collingwood's 1936 VFL grand final victory due to disqualification.

Gordon Coventry was found guilty of striking Richmond defender Joe Murdoch in the torrid match against Richmond in round 13,1936.

Gordon Coventry had a crop of painful boils on his neck, and when Murdoch repeatedly struck his neck, Gordon Coventry retaliated.

Gordon Coventry was suspended for eight matches, and Murdoch for four.

At the time, Gordon Coventry announced that he was retiring from VFL football.

Gordon Coventry later relented, and, having served the eighth and last match of his suspension in the first week of the 1937 season, he played in 19 matches and kicked 72 goals in 1937, his final VFL season.

Gordon Coventry represented Victoria on 25 occasions for a total of 100 goals.

Gordon Coventry played in 31 finals matches in his 18-year career, including the drawn Semi-Final match against Melbourne on 15 September 1928, and 10 grand finals, five of which were won by Collingwood.

Gordon Coventry was the first player to kick 100 goals in a VFL season, and he kicked a total of 1299 goals in VFL football: a record that stood for more than six decades until it was broken by Sydney Swans player Tony Lockett in the match against Coventry's former club, Collingwood, on 6 June 1999.

Gordon Coventry went on play in 227 VFL games for Collingwood and 27 representative games for the VFL, captain Collingwood for 144 games, win the Brownlow Medal in 1927, and serve for three years as the non-playing coach of Footscray before returning to Collingwood as an administrator, serving as its vice-president for 11 years, its president for 13 years, and its patron from 1963 until his death in 1976.

Gordon Coventry died of heart disease on 7 November 1968 at his property in Diamond Creek, survived by his wife and four children.

In 1996, Gordon Coventry was an inaugural inductee of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and was elevated to "Legend" status two years later.

The Gordon Coventry Trophy is awarded to Collingwood's leading goalkicker each year.