{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Firth McCallum | image = Firth McCallum.png | alt = | caption = McCallum in 1899 | fullname = Firth William McCallum | birth_date = {{birth date|1872|12|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Birregurra, Victoria | death_date = {{death date and age|1910|07|11|1872|12|27|df=y}} | death_place = Birregurra, Victoria | originalteam = Birregurra | height = | weight = | position = Centre / Half-forward | statsend = 1905 | years1 = 1893-1896 | club1 = {{AFL Gee}} (VFA) | games_goals1 = 57 (0) | years2 = 1897–1903, 1905 | club2 = {{AFL Gee}} (VFL) | games_goals2 = 74 (25) | games_goalstotal = 131 (25) | careerhighlights = }} '''Firth William McCallum''' (27 December 1872 – 11 July 1910) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in both the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and the Victorian Football League (VFL).<ref>Holmesby & Main (2014), p. 565.</ref>
==Family== The son of James McCallum (1844-1888),<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90350608 Death: M'Callum, ''The Colac Herald'', (Tuesday, 5 June 1888), p. 2.]</ref> and Ann Whitely McCallum (1843–1928), née Leake, later, Mrs. Richard West Beach,<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87657120 Marriage: Beach—M'Callum, ''The Colac Herald'', (Friday, 21 April 1893), p. 2.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3960047 Deaths: Beach, ''The Argus'', (Monday, 1 October 1928), p. 1.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223819877 Human Interest: Wills and Estates''The Weekly Times'', (Saturday, 12 January 1929), p. 9.]</ref> Firth William McCallum was born at Birregurra, Victoria on 27 December 1872.<ref>''Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria'' Births Registration no.822/1873.</ref>
He married Jeanetta Gilmore "Nettie" Douglas (1877–1949), at Geelong, on 22 April 1903;<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9814982 Marriages: McCallum—Douglas, ''The Argus'', (Saturday, 20 June 1903), p. 9.]</ref> they had three children.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22733730 Deaths: McCallum, ''The Argus'', (Wednesday, 8 June 1949), p. 13.]</ref>
==Football== ===Geelong (VFA)=== Recruited by the VFA club, Geelong, from the Birregurra Football Club,<ref>Pennings (2016), p. 68.</ref> he played in 12 matches for the team in 1893,<ref>Pennings (2016), p. 320.</ref> 13 matches in 1894,<ref>Pennings (2016), p. 394.</ref> 17 matches in 1895,<ref>Pennings (2016), p. 460.</ref> and 15 matches in 1896.<ref>Pennings (2016), p. 525.</ref> ====Inter-colonial representative team==== On 21 July 1894 he and his Geelong team-mate, Joe Marmo,<ref>[https://australianfootball.com/players/player/joe+marmo/17448 "Joe Marmo", at ''AustralianFootball.com''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519233006/https://australianfootball.com/players/player/joe+marmo/17448 |date=19 May 2024 }}</ref><ref>In 1893, the previous season, the VFA played in three inter-colonial matches in June 1893, two against Southern Tasmania, and one against South Australia. No Geelong players were selected to play in any of the three matches (Pennings, 2016, pp. 340-342).</ref> played on the wing for the VFA in an inter-colonial match, against South Australia, on the MCG.<ref>Pennings (2016), pp. 428-430.</ref>
===Geelong (VFL)=== He played for Geelong in its first-ever match in the new VFL competition, against Essendon, at the Corio Oval, on 8 May 1897.
===1899 team of "champions"=== At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for ''The Argus'', Reginald Wilmot ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition: * Backs: Maurie Collins (Essendon), Bill Proudfoot (Collingwood), Peter Burns (Geelong). * Halfbacks: Pat Hickey (Fitzroy), George Davidson (South Melbourne), Alf Wood (Melbourne). * Centres: Fred Leach (Collingwood), '''Firth McCallum''' (Geelong), Harry Wright (Essendon). * Wings: Charlie Pannam (Collingwood), Eddie Drohan (Fitzroy), Herb Howson (South Melbourne). * Forwards: Bill Jackson (Essendon), Eddy James (Geelong), Charlie Colgan (South Melbourne). * Ruck: Mick Pleass (South Melbourne), Frank Hailwood (Collingwood), Joe McShane (Geelong). * Rovers: Dick Condon (Collingwood), Bill McSpeerin (Fitzroy), Teddy Rankin (Geelong). From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — Wilmot selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9030781 'Old Boy', "Football: A Review of the Season", (Monday, 18 September 1899), p. 6.]</ref>
==Death== McCallum, who had been suffering from consumption, died at Birregurra, Victoria on 11 July 1910,<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150671061 Western District News: Birregurra, ''The Geelong Advertiser'', (Tuesday, 7 December 1909), p. 4.]</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10443984 |title=Deaths: McCallum |newspaper=The Argus |issue=19,961 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 July 1910 |page=1}}</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149158886 Death of Mr. Firth M'Callum, ''The Geelong Advertiser'', (Wednesday, 13 July 1910), p. 3.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10068764 Personal, ''The (Hobart) Mercury'', (Friday, 15 July 1910), p. 5.]</ref> and was buried at the Warncoort Cemetery on 13 July 1910.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149159038 Personal, ''The Geelong Advertiser'', (Thursday, 14 July 1910), p. 3.]</ref>
== Notes == {{reflist}}
==References== * {{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 |last=Holmesby|first=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim |year=2014 |edition=10th |isbn=978-1-921496-32-5 |publisher=BAS Publishing |location=Seaford, Victoria}} * [https://eprints.qut.edu.au/100083/18/Mark%27s%2BBook%2BVolume%2B4%2Br.pdf Pennings, Mark (2016), ''Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's early History: Volume 4: Tough Times: Victorian Football loses its Way, 1891 to 1896'', Brunswick, Victoria: Grumpy Monks Publishing.] {{isbn|978-0-646-93604-8}} == External links == {{Commons category}} *{{AFL Tables|ref=F/Firth_McCallum.html}} *{{AustralianFootball|ref=firth%2Bmccallum/996}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCallum, Firth}} Category:1872 births Category:1910 deaths Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Australia Category:Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Category:Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Category:Geelong Football Club (VFA) players Category:Geelong Football Club players