Tommy Lahiff

Tommy Lahiff

Personal information
Full name	Thomas Lahiff
Date of birth	31 July 1910
Date of death	8 December 1996(1996-12-08) (aged 86)
Original team(s)	Port Melbourne (VFA)
Debut	Round 1, 1935, Essendon v. Melbourne, at MCG
Height/Weight	168 cm / 68 kg
Position(s)	Rover
Playing career¹
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1935-1937 1942 1942-1944 Total -	Essendon South Melbourne Hawthorn	49 0(67) 06 0(10) 19 0(23) 74 (100)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1944 1965 Total -	Hawthorn South Melbourne	18 (2-15-1) 01 0(0-1-0) 19 (2-16-1)
¹ Playing statistics correct to the end of 1944 season.

Thomas 'Tommy' Lahiff (31 July 1910 – 8 December 1996) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon, South Melbourne and Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), before becoming a successful coach and radio commentator.

Lahiff, a small rover who could play forward, started his career at Brighton before moving to Port Melbourne. He finished second in the Recorder Cup voting in 1931.^[1] He was recruited to Essendon in 1935 and kicked 32 goals in his debut season. In 1938 he returned to Port Melbourne and captain-coached them to the 1941 VFA premiership.

The VFA competition was suspended during the war so Lahiff had another spell in the VFL, joining South Melbourne. He had a memorable debut match for his new club when he kicked five goals, against Collingwood at Princes Park. His teammate Lindsay White, also making his debut with his second club, kicked seven. After just six games he crossed to Hawthorn mid season and in 1944 was appointed coach of the Hawks for the year but could only register two wins.

The rover finished up at Port Melbourne in 1945 and retired, having played 178 games from his VFA debut in 1930. He had won 'Best and fairests' in 1934 and 1940. In 2003 he was named as a forward pocket in Port Melbourne's official 'Team of the Century'.

He continued to coach in the 1960s, firstly at Port Melbourne in 1962 and then as caretaker coach of South Melbourne during the 1965 VFL season.

Lahiff also used to broadcast football games on radio. At 3KZ he teamed up again with Harry Beitzel to form a much–loved combination. "Are you there, Tommy?" Beitzel would ask, to which Lahiff would invariably reply from the dressing room: "Can you hear me, Harry?" First at 3KZ, then at 3AW, 3AK and finally 3WRB, their on air partnership lasted more than three decades.^[2]

References

↑ Onlooker (7 September 1931). "Association – first semi-final". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 12.
↑ http://australianfootball.com/articles/view/The%2Bgospel%2Baccording%2Bto%2BHarry/507#sthash.CJzWUU7E.dpuf

Tommy Lahiff's statistics from AFL Tables
Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

Coaches of the Hawthorn Football Club

1914: Gough 1915: P. Woods 1919: McKenzie 1920: Alley 1920–1921: Rademacher 1922–1924: Walton 1925: Hall 1926–1927: Minogue 1928: Sutton 1929: Chadwick 1930–1931: Harris 1932: Jackson 1933: Phillips 1933: Rademacher 1933–1934: Twomey 1935–1938: McAlpine 1939: Thomas 1940–1941: Mills 1942–1943: Cazaly 1944: Lahiff 1945–1946: Shea 1947–1949: Albiston 1950–1951: McCaskill 1952–1959: Hale 1957: Kennedy 1960–1963: Kennedy 1964–1965: Arthur 1966: O'Donohue 1967–1976: Kennedy 1973: Simonds 1977–1980: Parkin 1981–1987: Jeans 1988: Joyce 1989–1990: Jeans 1991–1993: Joyce 1994–1995: Knights 1996–1999: Judge 2000–2004: Schwab 2001: Connolly 2004: McDonald 2005–: Clarkson 2014: Bolton

Italics denote caretaker coach

Coaches of the South Melbourne Football Club/Sydney Swans

1909: Ricketts 1910–1911: Thomas 1912: Ricketts 1913: H. Kelly 1914–1917: Belcher 1918–1919: Elms/Howson 1920: Hiskins 1921: Wood 1922: Cazaly 1923–1928: Pannam 1929: Caldwell 1929: Fleiter 1930–1931: Scanlan 1932: Leonard 1933–1936: Bisset 1935: Diggins 1937–1938: Cazaly 1939: Matthews 1940: Baggott 1941–1944: J. Kelly 1945–1948: Adams 1948–1949: Hale 1950–1952: Lane 1953: Nash 1954–1957: Matthews 1958–1959: Clegg 1960–1961: Faul 1962–1964: McMahen 1965–1966: Skilton 1965: Lahiff 1967–1968: Miller 1969–1972: Smith 1973–1975: John 1976–1977: Stewart 1978: Tuddenham 1979–1981: Stewart 1982–1984: Quade 1984: Franklin 1984: Hammond 1985: Northey 1986–1988: Hafey 1989–1991: Kinnear 1992–1993: Buckenara 1993: Scott 1993–1995: Barassi 1996–2002: Eade 2002–2010: Roos 2011–: Longmire

Italics denote caretaker coach

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