Horace Charles Gorringe (4 July 1895 – 17 July 1994) was an Australian rules football player in Tasmania, who is considered to have been one of the greatest rovers in the game's history.

Family

The son of Lowther Gorringe (1864–1927), and Evelyn Sophia Gorringe (1868–1954), née Watson, Horace Charles Gorringe was born on 4 July 1895 at Sandford, Tasmania. He married Myra Muriel Newnham (1899–1992) on 7 February 1929.

Football

Brighton Rovers

In 1912 and 1913 he was playing along with his brother, Eric Lowther John Gorringe (1893–1970), for the Brighton Rovers.

Cananore (TFL)

Gorringe played for the Cananore club in the Tasmanian Football League between the years 1914 and 1930. He was Club Champion in 1928, winning the Most Consistent award. He played numerous matches at representative level for both the league and the state—in a war interrupted career (no TFL competition in 1916, 1917, and 1918), he played in 157 club games for Cananore, and in 35 combined games, and represented Tasmania in the 1924 and 1927 carnivals —including the match in Adelaide, when the TFL representative team beat South Australia, in Adelaide, on 21 July 1923.

Death

He died on 17 July 1994, aged 99.

Recognition

Horrie Gorringe Medal

The "Horrie Gorringe Medal" was between 2002 and 2005 a brief replacement of the William Leitch Medal for the best and fairest footballer in Tasmania.

Tasmanian Football Team of the Century

In 2004, he was selected as forward-pocket/rover in the Tasmanian Football Team of the Century.

Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame

In 2005, he was inducted, as one of the three inaugural "icons", into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame.

Australian Football Hall of Fame

Gorringe was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2011. He was the first and (as of 2014) only player who played his entire career in Tasmania to have been so inducted.

Footnotes