Friday, 9 September 2011 6:05 PM
South Melbourne FC is saddened to learn that Hall of Fame member and multiple championship player Ernie Ackerley was recently hospitalised with a kidney failure. It is expected that Mr Ackerley will have to spend this month in hospital as he fights to get better.
Mr Ackerley joined South in 1964 and was part of a star-studded team that won three Victorian State League championships in a row from 1964-66. As a forward, he scored 57 State League goals for the Club and is seventh on the Club’s all-time leading goal scorers in League competition. Apart from his three Championships, two more memorable moments for him when representing the Club was when he scored 16 State League goals in 1965 before scoring four goals in a State League match against Melbourne Hungaria on Sunday 15 May 1966 at Olympic Park. Mr Ackerley’s achievements rightly earned him a position in South’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
South Melbourne FC President Leo Athanasakis expressed his best wishes for Mr Ackerley, saying “we are saddened to hear that Mr Ackerley is not in the best of health. We are proud to have had such a wonderful player represent South Melbourne FC and make such a significant impact in the history of our great Club. On behalf of everybody at South Melbourne FC, I would like to wish Mr Ackerley all the best in his health fight.”