A very happy 87th birthday to Allan Greenshields. Allan is a great supporter of the Spirit of Carlton and attends many of our functions.
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From the Blueseum:
Playing Career : 1947 – 1949
Debut : Round 1, 1947 vs Melbourne, aged 21 years 86 days
Carlton Player No. 614
Games : 16
Goals : 2
Last Game : Round 6, 1949 vs Geelong, aged 23 years 119 days
Guernsey Nos. 29 (1947-48) and 19 (1949)
Height : 178 cm (5 ft. 10 in.)
Weight : 74 kgs (11 stone, 9 lbs.)
DOB : January 22, 1926
Premiership Player : 1947
A capable utility who was a reserve in Carlton’s 1947 Premiership team, Allan Greenshields spent three seasons at Princes Park without managing to establish himself in a strong Carlton line-up. He earned the wry nickname of ‘Splinters’ in his debut year, by being named on the bench in ten of his thirteen senior games.
Two of those matches were memorable finals victories over Essendon; the 1947 second Semi Final, and two weeks later, the famous last-minute triumph over the Bombers in the Grand Final. Yet despite that promising start to his career, Greenshields played only three more times for the Blues over the next two seasons, and in 1949 decided that perhaps there were more opportunities elsewhere. He played his last match in navy blue against Melbourne at Princes Park in round 6, 1949, and went out on a high note when he slotted both of his Carlton career goals in a solid 39-point win over the Demons.
Later that same year, he turned out for St Kilda, in the first of 57 appearances he would make as a defender for the Saints in a six-year stay at the Junction Oval.
Greenshields played at various clubs, that included; Rainbow, Pascoe Vale and Coburg.