Ossy Armstrong

Oswald Robert Armstrong (30 May 1892 – 1 March 1958) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[1]

Ossy Armstrong
Personal information
Full name	Oswald Robert Armstrong
Date of birth	(1892-05-30)30 May 1892
Place of birth	Geelong, Victoria
Date of death	1 March 1958(1958-03-01) (aged 65)
Place of death	Breamlea, Victoria
Original team(s)	Barwon
Height	166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1915	Geelong	5 (0)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1915.
Career highlights
AIF Pioneer Exhibition Game, London, 28 October 1916
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of Thomas Armstrong (1855-1910),^[2][3] and Elizabeth Jane Armstrong (1859-1946), née Spinks, Oswald Robert Armstrong was born at Geelong on 30 May 1892.

He married Mary Veronica Betts (1893-1964) in 1911.

Football

 

The Australian Training Units Team: 28 October 1916.^[4] Ossy Armstrong is the player at extreme right of back row.

Geelong (VFL)

Recruited from the Barwon Football Club,^[5] he played his first match for Geelong against St Kilda at the Junction Oval, on 3 July 1915.^[6][7] Overall, he played in five First XVIII games for Geelong, with his last game being that against Fitzroy, at the Brunswick Street Oval, on 21 August 1915, when Geelong was thrashed by Fitzroy, 18.13 (121) to 4.7 (31).^[8]

Training Units team (AIF)

He played for the (losing) Australian Training Units team in the famous "Pioneer Exhibition Game" of Australian Rules football, held in London, in October 1916. A news film was taken at the match.^[9][10]

Barwon Football Club

On his return from active overseas service with the First AIF, Geelong cleared Armstrong back to Barwon.^[11]

Military service

He served overseas with the First AIF. He was captured by the Germans on 11 April 1917, and was a prisoner of war.^[12][13]

Death

He died at Breamlea, Victoria on 1 March 1958.^[14]

See also

• 1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game

Notes

1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
2. Deaths: Armstrong, The Geelong Advertiser, (Wednesday, 14 December 1910), p.1.
3. Mr. Thomas Armstrong, The Geelong Advertiser, (Friday, 16 December 1910), p.5.
4. Detail of Organised by Australian Olympic swimmer Lieutenant Frank Beaurepaire, etc., in the collection of the Australian War Memorial (Accession number: H16688).
5. Gartland (2020).
6. St. Kilda's Third Quarter: Geelong Outplayed, The Argus, (Monday, 5 July 1915), p.5.
7. St. Kilda (12.17) Beat Geelong (8.7), The Age, (Monday, 5 July 1915), p.6.
8. Fitzroy v. Geelong, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Saturday, 21 August 1915), p.3.
9. The original newsreel: Australian Football (Pathé Newsreel, 1916) on YouTube
10. The 2019 remastered and colourised version of the original newsreel: Australian Football (Pathé Newsreel, 1916), remastered and colourised version (2019) on YouTube
11. Sporting: Football, The Geelong Advertiser, (Thursday, 29 May 1919), p.6.
12. See: Service Record, and Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files.
13. Australian Casualties: List No.302: Missing: Victoria, The Argus, (Thursday, 24 May 1917), p.5, and Australian Casualties: 326th List: Prisoners of War, The Bendigo Independent, (Tuesday, 24 July 1917), p.7.
14. Oswald Robert Armstrong, at Find a Grave.

References

• Gartland, Bob. "Almanac Footy History: Ossie not Charlie – in search of a player". Footy Almanac. Footy Almanac. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
• Pioneer Exhibition Game Australian Football: in aid of British and French Red Cross Societies: 3rd Australian Division v. Australian Training Units at Queen's Club, West Kensington, on Saturday, October 28th, 1916, at 3pm, Wightman & Co., (London), 1919.
• First World War Embarkation Roll: Private Oswald Robert Armstrong (5972), collection of the Australian War Museum.
• First World War Nominal Record: Oswald Robert Armstrong (5972), collection of the Australian War Museum.
• Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files, 1914-18 War: 1DRL/0428: 5972 Private Oswald Robert Armstrong: 14th Battalion, collection of the Australian War Museum.
• First World War Service Record: Oswald Robert Armstrong (5972), National Archives of Australia.

External links

• Ossy Armstrong's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Ossy Armstrong at AustralianFootball.com