| Hedley Tomkins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Hedley Whiteway Tomkins | ||
| Date of birth | 11 June 1885 | ||
| Place of birth | Northcote, Victoria | ||
| Date of death | 6 February 1965(1965-02-06) (aged 79) | ||
| Place of death | Heidelberg, Victoria | ||
| Original team(s) | Leopold (MJFA)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Rover | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1904 | Fitzroy | 4(0) | |
| 1906, 1910–1913 | Melbourne | 71 (25) | |
| Total | 75 (25) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1913. | |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Hedley Whiteway Tomkins (11 June 1885 – 6 February 1965)[2] was anAustralian rules footballer who played withFitzroy andMelbourne in theVictorian Football League (VFL).
Tomkins played his early football withMetropolitan Junior Football Association side Leopold, from where he made his way to Fitzroy in 1904. After making just four appearances, the rover was rejected by Fitzroy, deemed to be too small.[2] He would, however, prove a good player for his new club, Melbourne.
His first stint with Melbourne was in the1906 VFL season and he kicked three goals in his debut, the first of five games he played that year.[3] Over the next three years he played forPreston in theVictorian Football Association. He then returned to Melbourne and was a regular fixture in the side for four seasons, missing only six games during this time.[3] His roving was good enough to earn him a spot in the VFL representative team which competed against South Australia in 1913.[2]
Tomkins, who worked as a travelling salesman, transferredEast Perth in 1913.[4] He played 30 games for the club and in 1914 represented Western Australia five times at the1914 Sydney Carnival,[2] where he won a medal for the "Best stab passing".[5]
InWorld War I, Tomkins joined the 28th Battalion in theAustralian Imperial Forces and fought on theWestern Front, where he was badly injured in an artillery barrage during theBattle of the Somme. Hit by atrench mortar, he received 13 wounds in the explosion, to his right leg, abdomen, right arm and left wrist.[6] The most serious of his injuries was to his right leg and he had to have itamputated, below the knee.[2]
In May 1919, an unidentified former Melbourne footballer, wrote to the football correspondent ofThe Argus as follows:
