Charlie Sutton

Charlie Sutton (3 April 1924 – 5 June 2012) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Although he served the club for many years as coach and committee man, he is perhaps best known for captaining his team, Footscray to their only premiership, in 1954.

A tough, nuggety Bulldog player who embodied the club's fighting spirit, Sutton played as a rover and half forward, but it was as a back pocket player that he made his name.

He was captain-coach of the team from 1951 to 1955.

After his retirement as a player, Sutton coached Footscray from 1956 until 9 July 1957, when he was unceremoniously dismissed and replaced by Ted Whitten. Sutton later returned to coach Footscray in 1967 (replacing Ted Whitten) and 1968 (after which he resigned having decided that the ever-increasing demands of coaching clashed far too much with his business of running a hotel at Yarraville).

In 1978 Sutton took over the position of President of the Footscray Football Club when Dick Collinson resigned.