Alf Wood (Australian footballer)

Alfred Mathew Wood (15 February 1875 – 16 November 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Football
On many occasions the press (mistakenly) identified him as "Woods", rather than "Wood".

Melbourne (VFL)
His first game for Melbourne was on the half-back flank, against South Melbourne, at the Lake Oval, on 8 May 1897, the first round of the first year of the new VFL competition.

VFL representative
Wood played in the VFL team against Ballarat Football League in 1898.

1899 team of "champions"
At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for The Argus, Reginald Wilmot ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition:
 * Backs: Maurie Collins (Essendon), Bill Proudfoot (Collingwood), Peter Burns (Geelong);
 * Halfbacks: Pat Hickey (Fitzroy), George Davidson (South Melbourne), Alf Wood (Melbourne);
 * Centres: Fred Leach (Collingwood), Firth McCallum (Geelong), Harry Wright (Essendon);
 * Wings: Charlie Pannam (Collingwood), Eddie Drohan (Fitzroy), Herb Howson (South Melbourne);
 * Forwards: Bill Jackson (Essendon), Eddy James (Geelong), Charlie Colgan (South Melbourne);
 * Ruck: Mick Pleass (South Melbourne), Frank Hailwood (Collingwood), Joe McShane (Geelong);
 * Rovers: Dick Condon (Collingwood), Bill McSpeerin (Fitzroy), Teddy Rankin (Geelong).

From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — Wilmot selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season.

Death
He died at a private hospital in East Melbourne, Victoria on 16 November 1945.