View source for Charlie Sutton

{{short description|Australian rules footballer, born 1924}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox AFL biography
| name = Charlie Sutton
| image = 
| fullname = Charles Alfred George Sutton
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1924|4|3}}
| birth_place = [[Rushworth, Victoria]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2012|6|5|1924|4|3}}
| death_place = [[Footscray, Victoria]]
| originalteam = Spotswood Citizens
| height = 169 cm
| weight = 87 kg
| position = 
| statsend = 1956
| coachstatsend = 1968
| years1 = 1942–1956
| club1 = {{AFL Foo}}
| games_goals1 = 173 (65)
| sooteam1 = [[Victoria Australian rules football team|Victoria]]
| soogames_goals1 = 18 (12)
| coachyears1 = 1951–1957
| coachclub1 = {{AFL Foo}}
| coachgames_wins1 = 123 (72–50–2)
| coachyears2 = 1967–1968
| coachclub2 = {{AFL Foo}}
| coachgames_wins2 = {{0}}38 {{0}}(9–29–0)
| coachgames_winstotal = 162 (81–79–2)
| careerhighlights = *{{AFL Foo}} premiership captain-coach [[1954 VFL Grand Final|1954]]
*{{AFL Foo}} Team of the Century
*[[Charles Sutton Medal|Con Curtain trophy]] 1950
*[[List of Western Bulldogs leading goalkickers|Footscray leading goalicker]] 1951
*[[List of Western Bulldogs captains|Footscray captain]] 1951–1956
}}

'''Charlie Sutton''' (3 April 1924&nbsp;– 5 June 2012) was an [[Australian rules football]]er who represented {{AFL Foo}} in the [[Victorian Football League (1897–1989)|Victorian Football League]] (VFL). He captained the Bulldogs to their first VFL premiership in [[1954 VFL Grand Final|1954]].

Recruited from [[Spotswood, Victoria|Spotswood]], Sutton was a tough, nuggety footballer who embodied the club's fighting spirit. He played as a rover and half forward, but it was as a [[back pocket]] player that he made his name. In 1950, he finished equal third in the [[Brownlow Medal]] count and won the Con Weickhardt Trophy (as it was then known) as the Bulldogs' best and fairest player that season.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205375296 |title=Charlie Sutton Footscray's Best |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=29,757 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 September 1950 |access-date=23 January 2017 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Charlie Sutton Coaching.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Sutton (on extreme right) address the Footscray team at training in August 1951]] -->
He was captain-coach of the team from [[1951 VFL season|1951]] to [[1955 VFL season|1955]].

After his retirement as a player, Sutton coached Footscray from [[1956 VFL season|1956]] until 9 July [[1957 VFL season|1957]], when he was dismissed and replaced by [[Ted Whitten]]. Sutton later returned to coach Footscray in [[1967 VFL season|1967]] (replacing Ted Whitten) and [[1968 VFL season|1968]] (after which he resigned having decided that the ever-increasing demands of coaching clashed far too much with his business of running a hotel at [[Yarraville]]).

In [[1978 VFL season|1978]] Sutton took over the position of President of the Footscray Football Club when [[Dick Collinson]] resigned.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TI0oAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VZIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4190,6360330&dq=charlie+sutton&hl=en | title=Collinson quits Dogs | work=[[The Age]] | date=30 August 1978 | access-date=5 June 2012 | author=Sheahan, Michael |author-link=Michael Sheahan| page=30}}</ref>

He has the [[Western Bulldogs]] [[best and fairest]] award, the [[Charles Sutton Medal]], named in his honour.

In [[1996 AFL season|1996]] Sutton was inducted into the [[Australian Football Hall of Fame]]. Sutton died in 2012 at the age of 88.<ref name="death">{{cite news | first = Martin | last = Blake | title = Bulldogs legend Charlie Sutton dies | url = http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/bulldogs-legend-charlie-sutton-dies-20120605-1ztuw.html | publisher = The Age | date = 5 June 2012 | access-date = 5 June 2012 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. {{ISBN|0-670-86814-0}}
* Ross, J. (ed), ''The Australian Football Hall of Fame'', HarperCollinsPublishers, (Pymble), 1999. {{ISBN|0-7322-6426-X}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.afl.com.au/aflhq/awards/halloffame/players/tabid/856/default.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20091002140400/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/89003/20091003-0004/www.afl.com.au/aflhq/awards/halloffame/players/tabid/856/default.html|title=AFL: Hall of Fame|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 October 2009}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* {{AFL Tables|ref=C/Charlie_Sutton.html}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/sn-sz.htm#Charlie%20Sutton%20(Footscray) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514095728/http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/sn-sz.htm|title=Full Points Footy Biography: Charlie Sutton|url-status=usurped |archive-date=14 May 2011}}

{{1954 Footscray premiership players}}
{{Western Bulldogs captains}}
{{Western Bulldogs coaches}}
{{Western Bulldogs Team of The Century}}
{{Charles Sutton Medal}}
{{Western Bulldogs leading goalkickers}}
{{Jock McHale Medal}}
{{1948 'Sporting Life' Team of the Year}}
{{1949 'Sporting Life' Team of the Year}}
{{1950 'Sporting Life' Team of the Year}}
{{1951 'Sporting Life' Team of the Year}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Charlie}}
[[Category:Western Bulldogs players]]
[[Category:Western Bulldogs premiership players]]
[[Category:Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Western Bulldogs coaches]]
[[Category:Western Bulldogs premiership coaches]]
[[Category:Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Charles Sutton Medal winners]]
[[Category:Spotswood Football Club players]]
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:VFL/AFL premiership players]]
[[Category:VFL/AFL premiership coaches]]


{{AFL-bio-1920s-stub}}