Ossy Armstrong

Recruited from local side Barwon, Ossy Armstrong was a diminutive footballer standing just 166cm who managed a brief VFL career with Geelong amidst the onset of the Great War. He made five senior appearances in the 1915 season, but his most significant contribution to the code occurred overseas after he enlisted in the AIF. Armstrong was the Geelong representative in the historic 1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game in London, playing for the Australian Training Units team in a match designed to showcase the sport to British and French allies. Although historical records often misidentified him as "Charlie" Armstrong, it was Ossy who took the field shortly before being captured and held as a prisoner of war in Germany. He survived the conflict and was cleared back to Barwon in 1919, remembered today as a key figure in one of Australian football's most unique international events.