Sampson Hosking (4 January 1888 – 20 October 1974) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian Football League (SAFL). He was twice a recipient of the Magarey Medal, an individual award given in recognition of being the best and fairest player in the SAFL. After his playing career Hosking was also an accomplished football coach successfully leading Port Adelaide and the West Torrens Football Club to a combined six premierships. In 1929 he was described in the Register as "one of the most prominent figures in the game during the past 20 years. Combining exceptional pace with a football brain of rare fertility".
Early life
Hosking was born on 4 January 1888 in Glanville, South Australia. He was the son of Cornish immigrant James Hosking and Port Adelaide local Jane Hampton McKenzie. Hosking grew up near the Port River, living in Exmouth Street, Glanville.
For his education Hosking went to the Le Fevre Peninsula School. Around the age of twelve Hosking started working at the Glanville Pipe Works, alongside other family members, where he remained employed for 52 years.
When Hosking was very young he dislocated his left elbow, leading his father James, out of an abundance of caution, to rule that his son should never play football. To circumvent his father's ruling and ire, when Hosking played junior football with the Marist Brothers, and later the Semaphore Centrals, he did so under a false name. The pseudonym that Hosking used during these early years was H. Sampson. During his time at Semaphore Centrals his teammates often joked "who is this H. Sampson anyway?" and that "he is picked but never turns up!". Hosking was part of the Semaphore Centrals team that lost the Adelaide and Suburban Football Association Grand Final to the Norwood Seconds in 1906. Whilst at Semaphore Centrals Hosking purchased a short-brimmed hat, similar to that worn by an Adelaide comedian at the time known as Harry Shine, and was subsequently given the nickname "Shine" by his friends.
Around this time Hosking was working alongside Tom Leahy who was already a league footballer and was trying to convince his younger co-worker to join him at his then club, West Adelaide. Hosking did not tell his father about his football exploits until he was formally invited to play with Port Adelaide in 1907. His father's caution was not unfounded as Hosking suffered shoulder injuries throughout his entire football career. Whenever he played football Hosking preferred to wear a long-sleeved guernsey to hide his permanently taped left shoulder from opponents.
Playing career
Hosking made his senior debut for Port Adelaide in a win over Sturt on Unley Oval on 4 May 1907. A couple weeks later during a game Lewis Corston, Port Adelaide's captain, physically kicked Hosking telling him to work harder and threatened him with being dropped from the side if he did not "get into the game a bit more". This confrontation proved a lasting one in the memory of Hosking, who years later, recalled it as formative. In his first season of league football Hosking played in the 1907 SAFL Grand Final against Port Adelaide's traditional rival Norwood. That match was attended by a then-record crowd for football in South Australia with 25,000 spectators present at Adelaide Oval to witness Norwood win by 28 points. Hosking was given a gold medal by Port Adelaide in recognition of being the "most improved junior" for his club in 1907.
Hosking was named as one of Port Adelaide's best players in a 1908 post-season game against Essendon on Adelaide Oval of which the visitors won by one goal.
The third game of Port Adelaide's 1909 SAFL season against Norwood was severely effected by rain and wind with only one goal scored, by Hosking, for the whole match, a goal which Roy Hill described as a "fluke". On 19 July 1909 whilst at work Hosking was badly injured when a ladle of hot metal spilled on his legs and feet. He was severely burned. The injury prevented Hosking joining Port Adelaide's mid-season trip to Melbourne. Hosking had recovered enough by the time the club returned from Victoria to take his place back in the side when they faced Sturt on 21 August. Port Adelaide qualified for the 1909 SAFL Grand Final and by this stage Hosking had largely recovered from his work injury and was playing relatively well, kicking a goal during the match, but it was not enough, with West Adelaide winning the premiership decider by 18 points.
As a result of Lewis Corston retiring at the end of 1909, Hosking was given his role as Port Adelaide's centre for the 1910 SAFA season. It was during this season that Hosking won his first Magarey Medal, and his first South Australian league premiership as a player when Port Adelaide defeated Sturt (who were playing in their first championship match) by 19 points in the 1910 SAFL Grand Final. Hosking took part in an eventful post season with Port Adelaide in 1910 during which his club defeated Collingwood for the 1910 Championship of Australia title, and Western Australian Football League (WAFL) premiers East Fremantle in an exhibition match. Hosking and Port Adelaide also defeated a combination of some of the WAFL's best players in another match that year.
In 1911 Hosking was selected to represent South Australia for the first time. This coincided with the national championship carnival being held in Adelaide that year. The 1911 South Australian team proved to be the strongest the state had ever fielded to that point. In the carnival South Australia won all four of its matches against New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria.
In June 1912 Hosking was elected captain of the club by his teammates at Port Adelaide after Clifford Cocks stepped down from the role. Port Adelaide went undefeated during the minor round that year, but stumbled at the final hurdle losing the 1912 SAFL Grand Final to West Adelaide by 14 points.
At the start of the 1913 SAFL season Hosking vacated the Port Adelaide captaincy. During July Port Adelaide played a combination of players from the WAFL with Hosking's side winning by 39 points. During the match Hosking went head-to-head with William "Nipper" Truscott with the Fremantle Herald observing that "Shine Hosking's work in the centre quite eclipsed our own Nipper". The season proved to be more successful for Port Adelaide beginning with an undefeated run halfway through the minor round all the way to the end of the 1913 SAFL Grand Final where the club beat North Adelaide by 14 points to claim the club's 7th premiership. In the post season Port Adelaide successfully challenged 1913 VFL premiers Fitzroy for the title of Champions of Australia.
Port Adelaide repeated its successes of 1913 and improved on them. Hosking played his 100th SAFL game in the 1914 SAFL Grand Final where Port Adelaide held North Adelaide to a single goal. Again, Port Adelaide successfully challenged the VFL premiers, this time Carlton, for the title of 1914 Champions of Australia. Additionally, in conjunction with Eight Hours Day a match between Port Adelaide and South Australia was held on Jubilee Oval with Hosking's team toppling a start side featuring some of the state's best players such as Dave Lowe, Bill Mayman, Tom Leahy, Jack Tredrea, Frank Golding and Frank Barry.
At the end of the 1915 SAFL season, Hosking tied with Frank Barry and Charlie Perry for the Magarey Medal. At the time a count back was used to determine a single winner with the award being presented to Frank Barry at the time. However, in 1998 the SANFL issued retrospective Magarey Medals in the 10 instances where there was a tie. As a result, Hosking is one of only three players to win multiple Magarey Medals for Port Adelaide with the others being Bob Quinn and Russell Ebert.
During World War I the SAFL ceased scheduling football matches which led to some club officials, particularly those at Port Adelaide, to form the South Australian Patriotic Football League (SAPFL) which ran an independent competition in 1916, 1917 and 1918. Hosking played a majority of games in all three of the SAPFL seasons. After playing a dominant game in Port Adelaide's 1916 SAPFL Grand Final victory, the South Australian Register noted that Hosking was "entitled to be recognised as the best player of the season in the association". These games were never recognised by the SAFL.
Despite having retired from playing after 1921, he played two matches in 1927, and in 1936 he became the oldest SANFL player when, at the age of 48 years and 154 days whilst Port Adelaide coach, he named himself on the bench in his side against West Torrens.Atkinson, p. 61.
Playing style
Hosking was a fast aggressive centreman. During his career he also played as a rover, wingman and forward. Hosking often elected to knock on the ball when he found himself in congestion. In regards to when he trained Hosking said that "I always put my whole heart and soul into my work. Running up to the ball I would run my hardest, and when I picked it up there would always be an imaginary opponent in front of me. They used to say at the Port:—'Look at that lunatic out there, dodging and twisting past nothing!".
He was noted for being the fastest player in Port Adelaide's team and one of the fastest in the SAFL. When he was unavailable to play the lack of pace in the Port Adelaide side was said to be noticeable. In 1908 at a Semaphore Athletics Carnival that was held to celebrate King Edward's birthday Hosking won three events, those being , and . In 1910 and 1912 Hosking won races at the Adelaide St Patrick's Day running events. Just a few days before he turned 37 he entered a 400m event at the Patawalonga winning his heats and coming second in the final.
Hosking was also considered to possess remarkable judgement as a footballer. When describing Hosking in writing for the Register, Steve McKee stated that "Shine Hosking stands out as one of the most prominent figures in the game during the past 20 years. Combining exceptional pace with a football brain of rare fertility...he was successively a star winger and centre". Bob McLean described Hosking in his book 100 Years with the Magpies as possessing "brilliance as a ball handler, his lightening speed and all-round skill...A centreline player, he played mainly in the centre or on the wing. He held his own against all-comers, not only in South Australia, but in the many Interstate and Carnival matches in which he participated."
Hosking relished being booed by fans of opposition clubs interpreting the verbals "as a compliment. It reminded me of the villain in the play". Despite winning two Magarey Medals, of which a criterion of eligibility is fairness, Hosking described himself as having a "reputation of being one of the dirtiest players who ever stripped."
Coaching career
In 1921 Hosking became Port Adelaide's captain in charge of training during his final full season as a player. Hosking was originally elected as captain of Port Adelaide on 9 March 1921 at the club's annual general meeting. However, on 7 May 1921 the captaincy was given to Harold Oliver, with Hosking being given the vice captaincy. This was after Oliver committed to travel to and from his farm in Berri for matches for the whole 1921 SAFL season. On 13 May 1921 a Daily Herald article described Hosking as "a most useful coach to his team, always giving juniors and new players encouragement". That year Port Adelaide beat Norwood by 8 points in the 1921 SAFL Grand Final. In the 1921 Port Adelaide Football Club Annual Report, Hosking is listed as one of only three players to attend all 44 of the club's training sessions that season (the other two being Clem Maywald and Kenneth Slade).