George Cornelius (footballer)

George Cornelius (12 August 1874 – 7 July 1966) was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne and Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[1]

George Cornelius
Cornelius in 1895
Personal information
Full name	George Cornelius
Date of birth	(1874-08-12)12 August 1874
Place of birth	South Melbourne, Victoria
Date of death	7 July 1966(1966-07-07) (aged 91)
Place of death	Cheltenham, Victoria
Original team(s)	Port Melbourne
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1898	South Melbourne	16 (2)
1901	Carlton	1 (0)
Total		17 (2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1901.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

He was Port Melbourne Football Club's youngest ever captain at age 20. However shocked the VFA when he left for Durban South Africa in 1896 to start organising and captaining matches there and became one of the founders of Australian rules football in South Africa.^[2]

However after a few years in Durban he would return to Australia to compete in the newly formed VFL with Souths.

Notes

1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2009). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (8th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-921496-00-4.
2. de Moore et al. 2021, p. 226.

1. de Moore, Greg; Hess, Rob; Nicholson, Matthew; Stewart, Bob (2021). Australia's Game: The History of Australian Football. Hardie Grant Books. ISBN 9781-74379-657-3.

External links

• George Cornelius's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• George Cornelius's profile at Blueseum