Past Wilfred 'Chicken' Smallhorn (1930-1940)

[Grimreepah]

Hall of Fame Bio

He was never big, weighing in at just 62 kg during his career, but was very courageous. Recruited from Collingwood Technical School and East Brunswick Methodists, where he was coached by former Fitzroy player Arnold Beitzel and played as a rover. A best-on-ground performance on a wing in his debut with Fitzroy had him permanently shifted to that position. He was the first Brownlow winner to have his medal presented in front of an MCG crowd. He suffered a leg injury in 1940 and was told he would require a cast for 6 weeks. He decided to retire and went into the army, and spent 3 years in a POW camp. He said in later years that his footy attributes probably helped him survive the ordeal. He went on to become a long-time panelist on former umpire Harry Beitzel's TV show.

 

[Grimreepah]

Football's 10 most unusual names

Wilfred 'Chicken' Smallhorn (Fitzroy 1930-40, 150 games)

Little Wilfred Smallhorn was a champion footballer. He won the 1933 Brownlow Medal and was a dominant player at Fitzroy for a decade. For all his achievements Smallhorn is best remembered for his nickname. He was known as Chicken, a take on the surname Smallhorn, and given what else the nickname givers could have come up with, it’s one I'm sure old Wilfred didn’t mind.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Brisbane Lions Hall Of Fame 2023 Re-Cap

He had one of the best-known nicknames in AFL history… Wilfred “Chicken” Smallhorn… and he was one of Fitzroy’s greats through the 1930’s.

So named because his mother could never catch him when he was young, Smallhorn played 150 games from 1930-40, won the Brownlow Medal in 1933, was named on the wing in Fitzroy’s Team of the Century, and is an AFL Hall of Famer.

A seven-time Victorian representative, he was calm, clever and courageous… one of the game’s best in his prime…

He polled 100 career Brownlow votes – behind only Kevin Murray, Garry Wilson and Haydn Bunton in Fitzroy history –polling more votes even than Paul Roos, and John Murphyin barely half as many games.

Having enlisted in the Australian army in 1940, he spent three years as a prisoner of war in the horrific Changi Prison and in 1942 organized a six-team football competition in Changi that had clearances, tribunals and even the “Çhangi Brownlow”. As legend has it, the final game was Victoria against the ‘Rest of Australia’ in front of 10,000 spectators.

Later a prominent media personality and a long-time television panelist, he died in 1988 aged 77. Gone but never forgotten, and now a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame… WILFRED "CHICKEN" SMALLHORN.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Wilfred Smallhorn joins the Lions Hall of Fame

Chicken was a seven-time Victorian representative, he was calm, clever and courageous and won the Brownlow Medal in 1933. The Brisbane Lions welcome Wilfred Smallhorn to the Hall of Fame

www.lions.com.au