Ivor Warne-Smith

Ivor Warne-Smith (29 October 1897 – 4 March 1960) was an Australian footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League and for the Latrobe Football Club in the North-Western Football Union in Tasmania. During his time with Melbourne he won two Brownlow Medals, played in their 1926 premiership side, was captain-coach of the club and represented his state of Victoria on numerous occasions. Warne-Smith remained involved with the club for the rest of his life and was named in the Melbourne Football Club Team of the Century. He was also named in the Tasmanian Team of the Century. Warne-Smith fought in both World War I and World War II.

Early life Warne-Smith was born in Sydney and moved to Melbourne with his family when he was a child. His mother Naomi Scharrer was Jewish. He was educated at Wesley College, where he was noted as a footballer and cricketer. In 1914 he received "triple honour colours" at Wesley, for showing "exceptional commitment to the team and an outstanding level of skill in the specific sport" in three separate sports. As a teenager he played for Collegians in the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association.

WWI Warne-Smith enlisted in World War I on 14 May 1915.

In June 2000 Warne-Smith was named to the position of centre half-forward in the Melbourne Football Club's Team of the Century, in a ceremony attended by his four grandsons. In 2004 he was named in the official Tasmanian Team of the Century. He was also made a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

"Ivor Warne-Smith, quiet and unassuming, was nonetheless energetic and enthusiastic in his endeavours to keep the Team up to the mark. The Club is fortunate indeed in having such a brilliant and versatile player as Coach and leader. Old and new Players alike treat his advice and instructions with the utmost respect."

"For solid, effective brilliance, Ivor Warne-Smith will always rank as one of the best players the game has known. He can play anywhere. The ruck, defence, attack, or centre positions all come alike to this brainy, sterling footballer." , quoted by Sporting Globe Football Book, 1930.