page_title: George Coulthard
section_title: Cricket
hierarchical_section_title: George Coulthard / Cricket
caption_attribution_description: English: Lord Harris' England XI playing against the Australian cricket team, Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1879. Published in The Illustrated Australian News, 22 January 1879, p9
context_page_description: George Coulthard was an Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer.
  Born and raised on a farm outside Melbourne, Victoria, Coulthard led the Carlton Football Club to premiership success in the fledgling Victorian Football Association, and was a key member of the Victorian side that dominated the first intercolonial matches. A fast, versatile and highly skilled footballer, Coulthard was, in the opinion of many of his contemporaries, the greatest player yet seen in the Australian game. However, his football career ended in controversy in 1882 when he received a season-long suspension—then the most severe punishment ever handed down by the VFA—for brawling and using "bad language" during play. Recognised today as the game's "first bona fide superstar", he was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
  As a professional cricketer, he played at club level for Melbourne, represented Victoria in five first-class intercolonial matches, and made one Test appearance for Australia, against England in 1882.
caption: Australia v. England at the MCG, 1879, in the third-ever Test match, umpired by Coulthard
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