Alexander McKenzie (footballer)

Alexander McKenzie was an Australian rules footballer for Port Adelaide.[7] He was noted to be able to kick a football 75 yards without the assistance of wind.[4]

Alexander McKenzie
Alexander McKenzie with Port Adelaide in 1893.
Personal information
Full name Alexander Malcolm McKenzie[1]
Nickname(s) Alec,[2] Alick,[3] Mac[1]
Date of birth 7 September 1870
Place of birth Sellicks Hill, South Australia
Date of death 25 September 1914(1914-09-25) (aged 44)
Place of death South Africa
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)[4]
Weight 83 kg (183 lb)[4]
Position(s) Forward
Playing career
Years Club Games (Goals)
1889, 1891–1895 Port Adelaide (SANFL) 80 (192)
1890 Adelaide (SANFL) 5 (7)
1896 Imperials (WAFL) 4 (9)
1896 Coolgardie 2 (4)
1897 Kalgoorlie City (GFL) 10 (27)
Total 102 (239)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
1892–1894 South Australia 2 (2)[5][6]
Career highlights
Source: AustralianFootball.com

Port Adelaide (1889)

In the lead up to the 1889 SAFA season a football reporter writing under the pseudonym 'Centre' for the Port Adelaide News forecasted that "A. McKenzie (as I have mentioned before) and P. Begg have indications of making really first class players. When the Association matches start I think the Port club will have a team that will stand a lot of knocking about, and also take a lot to beat".[8] McKenzie made his debut in the first game of the 1889 SAFA season in a win against Medindie (North Adelaide) on Alberton Oval with 'Goalpost' writing for the Evening Journal commenting on Alexander's likeness to his brother John stating that "McKenzie has his brothers style, both marking and kicking well".[9]

During 1889 the North Melbourne Football Club visited South Australia and played a game on the Adelaide Oval against Port Adelaide.[2] Star forward Charlie Fry was a late withdrawal for the game allowing then rookie Alex McKenzie to be named as a late inclusion for the match.[2] McKenzie kicked a goal in Port Adelaide's six goal defeat of North Melbourne.[2]

Adelaide (1890)

During the 1890 season McKenzie's older brother John, who also played as a key position forward, was keeping Alexander out of the Port Adelaide side. As a result, Alexander McKenzie moved to the Adelaide Football Club halfway though the 1890 SAFA season seeking greater opportunities to play as a key forward.[10] Alexander's best game for Adelaide was in a game against Medindie (North Adelaide) where he kicked three goals in a two-goal win on Adelaide Oval.[2] At the time Adelaide were struggling and at the beginning of the 1891 season John prematurely flagged his retirement thus enticing his brother Alex back to Port Adelaide.

Port Adelaide (1891–1895)

McKenzie's move back to his original club proved a good decision as he would go on to lead that clubs goal-kicking four times in 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895.

In 1892 McKenzie was selected in the South Australian state side for the first time.[11] During the match against Victoria on the Melbourne Cricket Ground Alexander kicked two goals.[11]

In a game against Old Adelaide on Alberton Oval during the 1893 SAFA season Alexander McKenzie kicked 13 goals.[12]

Western Australia (1896–1900)
In 1897 Alexander McKenzie (pictured wearing horizontal stripes) won a premiership with the Hannans Football Club which was later renamed as Kalgoorlie City Football Club.

In 1896 McKenzie moved to the Western Australian Goldfields likely drawn by that states gold rush. During June and July 1896 McKenzie appeared for the Imperials Football Club (a club which later disbanded with the majority of players forming the East Fremantle Football Club) in the Western Australian Football Association, kicking four goals in his first game against the Rovers on the WACA.[13]

By August 1896 Alexander McKenzie had moved to the goldfields and began playing football and cricket for Coolgardie.[14] In 1897 McKenzie won a premiership with Kalgoorlie City.[15] That year he led the Goldfields Football League goal kicking with 27 majors.[15] In 1898 McKenzie had retired as a player and helped umpire the Goldfields Football League.[16]

In 1900 McKenzie won first prize in the W.A. Tattersalls Ballarat Charles Sweep netting £1,098.[17] McKenzie used this windfall to relocate to South Africa.[1]

Move to South Africa

In 1902 Alexander McKenzie had made it to South Africa and was in Johannesburg.[18] By 1913 Alexander McKenzie was running a hotel in Johannesburg.[19][20]

Personal life

McKenzie had four brothers – Rod, Duncan, Ken and Jack; the latter two played for Port Adelaide with Alexander.[21] Alexander married Edith Jane Lloyd and fathered two girls, Maisie Jessie McKenzie and Lorna Jean McKenzie. McKenzie died on 25 September 1914 in South Africa.

References
  1. "A Departed Footballer". The Umpire. Vol. 5, no. 15. Western Australia. 14 April 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Football". Evening Journal. Vol. XXI, no. 5886. South Australia. 15 July 1889. p. 3 (Second Edition). Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Football". Kalgoorlie Miner. Vol. II, no. 559. Western Australia. 3 August 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Popular Footballers". Coolgardie Mining Review. No. 64. Western Australia. 26 December 1896. p. 24. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Intercolonial Football". South Australian Register. Vol. LVII, no. 14, 234. South Australia. 27 June 1892. p. 7. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Football". South Australian Register. Vol. LIX, no. 14, 880. South Australia. 23 July 1894. p. 6. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Australian Football - Alex McKenzie - Player Bio". australianfootball.com. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  8. "Football Notes". Port Adelaide News And Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser. Vol. XII, no. 820. South Australia. 18 April 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Football". Evening Journal. Vol. XXI, no. 5833. South Australia. 11 May 1889. p. 7. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "The Poets' Second Twenty". Port Adelaide News And Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser. Vol. XIII, no. 890. South Australia. 29 August 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 25 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Intercolonial Football – Victoria vs. South Australia". Adelaide Observer. Vol. XLIX, no. 2648. South Australia. 2 July 1892. p. 20. Retrieved 25 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "Port Adelaide v. Adelaide". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. XXX, no. 8, 903. South Australia. 24 July 1893. p. 4 (Second Edition). Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "Sporting News". The West Australian. Vol. 12, no. 3, 219. Western Australia. 15 June 1896. p. 6. Retrieved 26 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "Cricket Clubs". Coolgardie Mining Review. No. 64. Western Australia. 26 December 1896. p. 13. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Our Illustrations". Kalgoorlie Western Argus. Vol. III, no. 145. Western Australia. 2 September 1897. p. 11. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "Football". Kalgoorlie Miner. Vol. III, no. 758. Western Australia. 11 May 1898. p. 8. Retrieved 26 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Late Sport". The Evening Star. Vol. II, no. 611. Western Australia. 24 March 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "Letter From South Africa". Kalgoorlie Miner. Vol. 7, no. 18614. Western Australia. 14 November 1902. p. 6. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "Sports and Pastimes". The Journal. Vol. LVII, no. 15907. South Australia. 18 August 1922. p. 7 (5 P.M. Edition). Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "Sport". Observer. Vol. LXX, no. 5, 435. South Australia. 3 May 1913. p. 17. Retrieved 20 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "Some Great Kickers". The Sport. Vol. XVII, no. 827. South Australia. 25 June 1926. p. 14. Retrieved 15 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
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