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Horrie Clover

Horrie Clover
Clover in 1922
Personal information
Full name	Horace Ray Clover
Date of birth	20 March 1895
Place of birth	Carisbrook, Victoria
Date of death	1 January 1984(1984-01-01) (aged 88)
Place of death	Mordialloc, Victoria
Original team(s)	Temperance, Carisbrook, Maryborough[1]
Debut	Round 2, 1920, Carlton vs. Richmond, at Punt Road Oval
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	87 kg (192 lb)
Position(s)	centre half forward
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1920–1931	Carlton	147 (396)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1922–1923, 1927	Carlton	45 (26–18–1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1931.
Career highlights
Carlton captain/coach 1922–24, 1927 Carlton leading goalkicker 1920–1923, 1926, 1928 Carlton Best & Fairest 1929 VFL Leading Goalkicker 1922 Victorian representative (9 games, 20 goals).
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Horace Ray Clover (20 March 1895 – 1 January 1984) was a leading Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League (VFL).

The son of Robert James Clover (1864-1900), and Phoebe Rubina Clover (-1901), née Smith, Horace Ray Clover was born at Carisbrook, Victoria on 20 March 1895.

He married Alberta Victoria Porter (1901-1983) on 29 January 1927.^[2][3]

At 6 ft. 1in., he had a long reach: his finger-tip to finger-tip span was 6 ft. 5in.^[4]

"There's quite a story behind Horrie Clover's entry into Carlton, showing that his connection with football was something of a freak. The bare outline of this story will be sufficient. Actually he came to Melbourne in 1919 and joined the Carlton Cricket Club, with no thought of football.
While on a cricket tour with the V.C.A. team to Mildura and Wentworth in association with the late Lyle Downs, a dyed-in-the-wool Carltonite. He and Lyle joined a group of locals having some practice kicks at Wentworth. Evidently Lyle saw enough because, as Horrie himself said, "After that he never let up on me until I put of a [Carlton] uniform". — Rod McGregor, The Sporting Globe.^[5]

Clover was a high-marking centre half-forward who starred from his first game, kicking three goals and hitting the post four times.^[6]

He was selected to play for Victoria against South Australia on the MCG on 29 May 1920, after having only played three senior VFL games;^[7] however, due to an injury he sustained in the match against Essendon on 22 May 1920, he was unable to play, and was replaced in the selected side by Paddy O'Brien.^[8]

Clover was Carlton's key player during his career, including stints as playing coach in 1922-23 and 1927 for 26 wins from 45 matches. He also served as club secretary, vice-president and president over many years.

Called "one of the finest exponents of the centre-half-forward position that the game has known",^[6] Clover was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Famein1996.

Clover played 20 games of first eleven cricket with the Carlton Cricket Club in the Melbourne District Cricket Association.^[9]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horrie Clover.

• "Horrie Clover, the famous Carlton centre half-forward, was caught by the camera making his place kick of 70 yards 1 foot 8 inches at the Melbourne Motordrome last week", The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 8 August 1928), p.1.
• Horrie Clover's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Horrie Clover at AustralianFootball.com
• Horrie Clover, at Boyles Football Photos.
• Horrie Clover, at Blueseum.
• Australian Football Hall of Fame