Henry John "Harry" Beitzel was an Australian football umpire, print, radio and television sports broadcaster and media personality best known for his contribution to Australian rules football.
20 Facts About Harry Beitzel
1.
2.
Harry Beitzel played football with Fitzroy seconds in 1944 and he was part of the premiership team.
3.
Harry Beitzel became interested in umpiring so he joined the VFL umpires' class in 1946 and billeted out to regional Victoria, the NSW Riverina and games in Tasmania for three years.
4.
Harry Beitzel umpired his first senior game of VFL in the Collingwood -St Kilda match at the end of 1948 VFL season which made him the youngest senior umpire at the time.
5.
Harry Beitzel officiated in 182 senior games from 1948 to 1960.
6.
Harry Beitzel joined radio station 3KZ as a replacement for Jack Mueller.
7.
Harry Beitzel later joined 3AK and the ABC radio stations, as well as writing for the Herald Sun, The Truth, The Sunday Telegraph and The Australian.
8.
Harry Beitzel worked on television for the ABC and the Nine Network.
9.
Harry Beitzel's innovations included the introduction of statistics during broadcasts of matches, as well as comprehensive previews and reviews of games.
10.
In 2005, Harry Beitzel rejoined 3AW as a semi-regular contributor to Rex Hunt's pre-match show.
11.
For some years, Harry Beitzel has filed his Footy Week section each week with the Melbourne Observer newspaper.
12.
Harry Beitzel is credited with pioneering the development of the composite rules sport International rules football.
13.
Harry Beitzel followed this the next year with The Australian Football World Tour, a six-match series with games played against Irish teams in Ireland, the UK and the United States.
14.
In 2000, Harry Beitzel was inducted into the Melbourne Cricket Ground's Media Hall of Fame.
15.
Harry Beitzel became the face for "English soccer pools" in Australia.
16.
In October 1994, Harry Beitzel was sentenced to 18 months jail, with a minimum of eight months to be served, after pleading guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception over matters related to his work for a lottery organisation.
17.
Harry Beitzel's downfall was that he introduced lottery winners to a fraudulent financial advisor who took all their money.
18.
Harry Beitzel served his sentence initially at Pentridge Prison and then at the open, minimum-security Morwell River Prison Farm.
19.
Harry Beitzel strenuously denied that he had ever intentionally committed a crime.
20.
Harry Beitzel had been ill since 2014, after losing sight in one eye and suffering a fall, he had heart problems.