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Bruce Doull
Personal information
Full name Alexander Bruce Doull
Nickname(s) The Flying Doormat
Date of birth (1950-09-11) 11 September 1950 (age 74)
Place of birth Geelong, Victoria
Original team(s) Jacana
Debut 3 May 1969, Carlton vs. South Melbourne, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 85 kg (187 lb)
Position(s) Defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1969–1986 Carlton 356 (22)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1986.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Alexander Bruce Doull (born 11 September 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Wearing guernsey number 11, he was nicknamed the "Flying Doormat" due to the matted appearance of the constantly disarranged long portions of his extreme "combover" hairstyle. He was recruited from Jacana at the age of 19 as a half-back flanker. Doull was a safe mark, a dependable kick, and a footballer who rarely made a mistake[citation needed].

Doull, shy and extremely reserved, did not give interviews; instead, he always preferred to stay in the background.[1] He won Carlton's Best & Fairest in 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1984; played in four Carlton premiership sides: 1972, 1979, 1981, and 1982; won the Norm Smith Medal in 1981; and also played in the losing Grand Finals of 1973 and 1986. Doull was also a regular State of Origin representative. In 2009, The Australian nominated Doull as one of the 25 greatest footballers never to win a Brownlow Medal.[2]

He is often remembered as being harassed by Carlton scarf–wearing streaker Helen D'Amico in the 1982 Grand Final between Carlton and Richmond. This incident was the focus of an instalment of the Toyota Memorable Moments advertisement (with D'Amico appearing at the end), and is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting The Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.[3] Doull and D'Amico posed for a photo together 25 years later, making it clear they had long since settled their disagreements.[4]

Doull's trademark was his greying beard and the navy blue and white headband which kept his thinning long hair in place. Never reported by the umpires for foul play, he was noted for his determination to play the ball rather than the man, which was rare in an era of occasionally brutal clashes. Brent Crosswell wrote: "Doull's game has a moral purity about it, and that is why opponents have always found it extremely difficult to be unfair to him. It would have shamed them."

Only once did he lose his temper. In a match against Hawthorn, he was tackled around the neck by Kevin Ablett. Bruce chased after Ablett, with the commentator saying "Bruce Doull has gone berserk".[5] Contrary to stories told, he did not have his headband stolen in that incident. The game where his headband was removed was against Essendon in 1983, late in his career. A frustrated Cameron Clayton snatched off his ancient, faded headband and his team-mate Tony Buhagiar ended up with it and threw it into the crowd at VFL Park.[6] Contrary to stories told, he did not go berserk in this incident. These two incidents were in effect combined and recreated in his Toyota Memorable Moments advertisement, except that he remained his usual docile self when he was supposed to lose his temper.

By the end of his career, he had played 356 games – then a club record – and since surpassed only by Craig Bradley. Doull holds the current club record for most consecutive games played, with 162 matches played between 1971 and 1978; he actually missed two club games due to representing Victoria in interstate matches during this streak, but the AFL has formally included such games within a player's consecutive games streak following an amendment to its interpretation in December 2012.[7] Doull kicked just 22 goals over his 18-year career.

Statistics

[edit]
[8]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
  #  
 Played in that season's 
premiership team
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1969 Carlton 4 6 2 0 42 24 66 14 — 0.3 0.0 7.0 4.0 11.0 2.3 — 0
1970 Carlton 4 9 0 1 94 29 123 12 — 0.0 0.1 10.4 3.2 13.7 1.3 — 0
1971 Carlton 4 12 0 0 107 32 139 29 — 0.0 0.0 8.9 2.7 11.6 2.4 — 0
1972# Carlton 11 26 1 0 315 94 409 69 — 0.0 0.0 12.1 3.6 15.7 2.7 — 5
1973 Carlton 11 25 1 0 258 136 394 74 — 0.0 0.0 10.3 5.4 15.8 3.0 — 0
1974 Carlton 11 22 0 1 233 105 338 76 — 0.0 0.0 10.6 4.8 15.4 3.5 — 1
1975 Carlton 11 24 1 2 252 92 344 63 — 0.0 0.1 11.0 4.0 15.0 2.7 — 2
1976 Carlton 11 23 0 1 235 97 332 64 — 0.0 0.0 10.2 4.2 14.4 2.8 — 18
1977 Carlton 11 21 1 0 233 106 339 93 — 0.0 0.0 11.1 5.0 16.1 4.4 — 34
1978 Carlton 11 21 6 3 181 169 350 73 — 0.3 0.1 8.6 8.0 16.7 3.5 — 8
1979# Carlton 11 21 3 4 174 202 376 69 — 0.1 0.2 8.3 9.6 17.9 3.3 — 5
1980 Carlton 11 22 2 3 182 217 399 68 — 0.1 0.1 8.3 9.9 18.1 3.1 — 5
1981# Carlton 11 24 3 3 225 168 393 70 — 0.1 0.1 9.4 7.0 16.4 2.9 — 9
1982# Carlton 11 26 2 5 208 195 403 86 — 0.1 0.2 8.0 7.5 15.5 3.3 — 5
1983 Carlton 11 22 0 1 180 140 320 56 — 0.0 0.0 8.2 6.4 14.5 2.5 — 2
1984 Carlton 11 24 0 0 188 93 281 65 — 0.0 0.0 7.8 3.9 11.7 2.7 — 7
1985 Carlton 11 3 0 0 23 9 32 4 — 0.0 0.0 7.7 3.0 10.7 1.3 — 3
1986 Carlton 11 25 0 0 174 86 260 49 — 0.0 0.0 7.0 3.4 10.4 2.0 — 4
Career 356 22 24 3304 1994 5298 1034 — 0.1 0.1 9.3 5.6 14.9 2.9 — 108

Honours and achievements

[edit]

Team

Individual

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Wood, Owen (31 October 1980). "Bruce speaks out!". The Sun News-Pictorial (Final ed.). -place=Melbourne, VIC. p. 71.
  2. ^ The Australian Archived 27 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 22 September 2009, retrieved 2009-09-22
  3. ^ Australian Football League, The Game That Made Australia Archived 13 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 19 September 2010
  4. ^ "Blueseum - History of the Carlton Football Club | Bruce & Helen d'Amico (Streaker) 25 years later".
  5. ^ "Bruce Doull goes berserk versus Hawthorn". YouTube. 18 January 2007. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021.
  6. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Cameron Clayton steals Bruce Doull's headband". YouTube. 28 February 2007.
  7. ^ de Bolfo, Tony (7 December 2012). "Bruce still the boss". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 10 December 2012.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Bruce Doull". AFL Tables. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
[edit]
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