Tommy Downs

Who is Tommy Downs?

Tommy Downs was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League.

Downs was a Recorder Cup winner at Northcote in 1925, having previously played with Preston.

One of shortest ever footballers at Carlton, Downs had a poor record at the VFL tribunal. He was suspended for 12 games in 1928 and 19 games the following season, both for striking. The former came in a Semi Final loss to Richmond when he kicked a career best four goals and the latter was in a Preliminary Final. Most famously however he received a 29 game suspension in 1931 when he was reported for kicking Richmond's captain Maurie Hunter. In a postscript to this incident, in 1954 fellow team mate Frank O'Rourke admitted in a newspaper interview that he kicked Hunter.