FORMER Essendon and Richmond midfielder Paul Sproule was elevated to icon status at the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame gala dinner in Hobart on Friday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 2007 Hall of Fame inductee is the 19th state great to receive the accolade and joins household names such as Verdun Howell, Roy Cazaly, Ian Stewart, Royce Hart, Horrie Gorringe, Darrel Baldock and Peter Hudson.
Sproule played a combined 146 games and kicked 153 goals for the Bombers and Tigers between 1967 and 1975 – a career that was polished with Richmond’s 1973 and 1974 premiership victories.
The three-time Tasmanian representative won several flags with Hobart and Sandy Bay and coached Richmond in 1985.
Sproule’s first senior appearance with Hobart came under Mal Pascoe’s tutelage at age 17 in 1962 – the same year fated triple-Brownlow Medallist Ian Stewart joined the club.
Five years later he joined Essendon but injuries hampered his time at Windy Hill and switched to Punt Road in 1972 for just a $2000 signing fee. A club he was made a life member of in 2013.
Off-field, Sproule was part of late Premier Jim Bacon’s 1998 AFL Task Force and served as the state government’s representative for the York Park and Inveresk Precinct as Events Tasmania director.
He was influential in York Park’s redevelopment into a top-class AFL venue and in brokering the deal with Hawthorn to play in Launceston.
Ex-North Launceston, Fitzroy and North Melbourne midfielder Mathew Armstrong joined 1990 Brownlow Medal runner-up, Collingwood premiership wingman and Hawks list manager Graham Wright on the legends list.
Armstrong has more than 30 years football service to his name and was Northern Bombers captain-coach in 1998 when the club went through the TFL season undefeated to clinch the flag.
He later coached the Devils for five seasons and has tutored the state’s best young talent since.
Meanwhile, former Footscray ruckman Robert Groenewegen, Carlton coach Brendon Bolton, three-time Hawthorn premiership player Grant Birchall, late The Examiner journalist Terry Morris and Scottsdale great Ken Lette were among 10 individual names scribed on Hall of Fame honours board.
Three-time state premiership winner Trevor Best, Sandy Bay and Melbourne ruck-rover Michael Seddon, dual North Hobart flag winner David Noble, football journeyman Nick Probert and Clarence small-forward Ian Callinan were also honoured. The Scottsdale Football Club was made a great club, Clarence’s 1970 outfit become a legendary team and the 1975 state final between Glenorchy and North Launceston was be marked a memorable match.
2016 inductees
- Icon: Paul Sproule.
- Legends: Mathew Armstrong and Graham Wright.
- Memorable Game: Glenorchy v North Launceston 1975.
- Legendary Team: Clarence Team of 1933.
- Great Club: Scottsdale Football Club .
- Inductees: Trevor Best, Ken Lette, Terry Morris, Michael Seddon, David Noble, Robert Groenewegen, Nick Probert, Brendon Bolton, Ian Callinan, Grant Birchall.