Len Fitzgerald (7 May 1929 â 17 April 2007) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and South Australian National Football League (SANFL). At various time he played in the positions of centre half-forward, centre half-back and ruck-rover.
Fitzgerald started his career at Collingwood at the age of 15, in 1945.
In 1951 he transferred to the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian competition, in order to gain the better paying employment proffered by Sturt. One source has suggested that the move was engineered by Collingwood powerbroker John Wren at the behest of a political ally in South Australia.
Arriving at Sturt in 1951, Fitzgerald was appointed captain after three games, and took over the coaching role mid-season. In 1952 Fitzgerald won his first Magarey Medal. He won two more in 1954 and 1959.
In 1955 Sturt got to the preliminary final. Fitzgerald transferred to the Ovens and Murray League for the next three seasons, coaching and playing for Benalla.
Fitzgerald returned to Sturt in 1959. Fitzgerald finished his playing career in 1962 after playing 127 games for Sturt, kicking 201 goals and winning the club's best and fairest award three times. He represented his adopted State of South Australia 20 times and was named an All Australian in the 1953 Adelaide Carnival.
Fitzgerald coached Glenelg for three seasons after his retirement as a player, but with little success.
He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and the SANFL Hall of Fame in 2002, as one of the inaugural inductees in each.