Doug Gillespie

Doug Gillespie
Personal information
Full name	Doug Gillespie
Date of birth	13 December 1887
Place of birth	Parkville
Date of death
Original team(s)	Carlton colts
Height/Weight	177 cm / 83 kg
Position(s)	Full-back
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1906–10, 1912	Carlton	90 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1912 season.

Doug Gillespie (13 December 1887 – 6 January 1946) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Gillespie was discovered by Jack Worrall when the Carlton coach saw him kicking the ball with some friends at Princes Park. He was used at full-back by Carlton and played in premiership teams in 1906 and 1907, his first two seasons. Gillespie missed out on being part of Carlton's third successive premiership in 1908 due to injury.

He was embroiled in controversy during the 1910 VFL season when he was implicated in a bribery scandal at Carlton. Along with Alex Lang and Doug Fraser, Gillespie was dropped for the Semi Final against South Melbourne while the club and league investigated the allegations that they had been paid to play poorly. However, unlike his two teammates, Gillespie was exonerated and picked for the Grand Final. For the second year in a row he finished the premiership decider on the losing team.

The full-back spent the 1911 football season with Brunswick in the VFA before returning to Carlton the following year where he made his tenth finals appearance before retiring. Out of Gillespie's 90 VFL matches at Carlton, he finished in the winning side 75 times.

His twin brother Dave also played at Carlton but was killed in the war.

References

• Doug Gillespie's statistics from AFL Tables
• Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.