Geoff Kingston

Category: Sporting Hall of Fame
Sport: Australian Rules football
Year Inducted: 1998

Geoff Kingston


"Elegance in motion" Jeff Pash, former Australian Rules footballer

Geoff was born inMelbourne on 23 November 1941, but moved to Wagga Wagga as a child when hisfather transferred there with the Post Master General's office.

He attended SouthWagga Primary and Wagga Wagga High schools, and played all of his club footballwith the Turvey Park Australian Rules Club.  In October 1954 Geoff was awarded the 'Mrs Butler' Cup, forthe most consistent player under 13.

Like most localboys, Geoff played all codes of footy, but ended up focussing on AustralianRules because his Tasmanian-born father wouldn't buy him new boots unless heplayed Aussie Rules!

Geoff was recruitedfrom Wagga Wagga by West Torrens in the South Australian National FootballLeague (SANFL) in 1960, and the following year, he was selected as full-forwardfor the All-Australian side.  Inhis second season (1961) he kicked 79 goals to top the league's goal kickingfor that year.  The biggestinfluence on his sporting career was former Essendon legend Dick Reynolds, whocoached at West Torrens when Geoff played there.

He represented SouthAustralia at fifteen interstate matches, playing against Victoria, WesternAustralia and Tasmania, and competed in two Australian Championships, andkicked 47 goals.

The biggestchallenge in his career came in 1963 when he played full-forward for SouthAustralia against Victoria, at the MCG in front of 80,000 fans.

Geoff won WestTorrens' Best and Fairest Award in 1965.

In 1976 The News newspaper listed Geoff as oneof their top 25 stars in any era, stating 'Geoff Kingston (West Torrens) getsthe full-forward spot because he proved himself in Brisbane in 1961, kickingfive goals against Victoria and four each against Western Australia andTasmania in hot competition.'

A serious left kneeinjury ultimately ended Geoff's football career.  In 1964 Geoff became a sports journalist for the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, and Chief FootballWriter from 1979 – 1989.  He wasalso a part-time columnist in 2000.

From the time hisplaying career ended, Geoff spent the next 25 years travelling the world andcovering major sporting events, including the Olympic and Commonwealth Games,Wimbledon, The British Open, The U.S. Open and the U.S. Masters Golf, for avariety of media outlets.  Geoffconsiders his experience of attending the U.S. Masters Golf tournament inAugusta, Georgia, as one of the highlights of his career in sportsjournalism.

Geoff was MediaManager for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006, Media Manager andSupervisor for APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Conference) in Sydney (2007) andMedia Manager and Supervisor for World Youth Day, also in Sydney (2007).

In 2008 Geoff wasinducted into the South Australian Hall of Fame, for his achievements in sportand media.

Two years later,Geoff published a bestselling biography 'Black Crow – the Andrew McLeod story',about the Adelaide Crows player who statistically, was the greatest indigenousplayer in AFL history.

The following year(2011) Geoff published his second book, another bestseller titled 'Kiss My Arse– the Bob Francis story', a warts and all look at the life of South Australianradio personality Bob Francis.

In 2015 Geoff wasselected in the Riverina 'Team of the Century', alongside fellow Sporting Hallof Fame alumni Paul Kelly, Terry Daniher, Wayne Carey, Cameron Mooney and BillMohr.

Today, in 2016, Geoff lives in Adelaide with his family.