Full name Edwin Rankin Height/Weight 178 cm / 74 kg Date of birth 11 March 1872 Name Teddy Rankin | Place of death Geelong, Victoria Died July 31, 1944 Original team(s) Riversdale | |
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Date of death 31 July 1944(1944-07-31) (aged 72) Role Australian Rules Footballer | ||
Teddy Rankin, Geelong v Essendon 1899
Edwin Walter "Teddy" Rankin (11 March 1872 – 31 July 1944) was an Australian rules footballer, originally with Riversdale, who began playing with Geelong in 1891, six years before it joined the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Rankin went on to become a member of the inaugural Geelong VFL side in 1897. He was described as a skilful rover, who ran with a stoop and was noted for his football nous, accurate kicking and stamina. He did not play in 1898 due to typhoid, but returned to the side in the next year and appeared in every season until his retirement in 1910, but by then, in the backline.
Rankin’s career spanned 20 seasons of football for Geelong. During the VFL part of it (1897, 1899-1910), he captained Geelong in 15 matches, played 180 games and kicked 35 goals.
All up, he played 268 games for Geelong, a record which stood until 1979, when Sam Newman broke it; for many years, it was incorrectly believed to have beaten in 1939 by Reg Hickey. He represented Victoria three times. In 1903 he won the Geelong Best and Fairest award. During this season he also became the first Geelong player to reach 100 VFL games. Rankin is also credited as being the first player in the league to touch the ball on the ground, rather than bouncing it. This happened during a wet game in the 1890s.
During his prime, Rankin declined offers to transfer to a number of other clubs. He was an advocate of amateurism, arguing against the emerging practice of player payments.
Rankin married Louisa Johns in 1892, which lasted until her death in 1906. He married Adelaide Hyde in 1909. Amongst the sons from his first marriage were two other captains of the Geelong Football Club; namely, Cliff and Bert. A son from his second marriage, Doug, also had a brief but successful career with the club. Two of his brothers also played for Geelong.
After football, Rankin was employed as curator of Geelong College oval for 40 years, where memorial gates were erected in his honour, and at Corio Oval for about eight years.