Glen Middlemiss

Glen Russell Middlemiss was an Australian rules footballer who played 50 Victorian Football League games for Geelong and St Kilda between 1979 and 1984, and later kicked the winning goal in Southport's 1985 Queensland premiership. Born on 8 June 1956, he was the son of Russell Middlemiss, a Geelong premiership player in 1951 and 1952, and he grew up inside that Cats tradition.

He began with St Mary's before moving to Geelong West in the Victorian Football Association. In 1977, playing for Geelong West against Williamstown, he was knocked unconscious in an accidental collision and was clinically dead for about two and a half minutes. The match stopped for roughly 20 minutes while trainers and a doctor gave mouth to mouth resuscitation, cardiac massage and oxygen, and part of a fence was removed so an ambulance could reach the ground. Against medical advice he returned to football, a recovery that teammates and later club tributes treated as a mark of his determination.

Geelong recruited him into the VFL in 1979. Across three seasons he played 34 games and kicked 29 goals for the Cats, mostly as a versatile utility who could work in defence or up forward. In 1980 he played 19 matches, including two finals, and still is remembered for kicking seven goals against St Kilda at Kardinia Park in round eight. Midway through 1981 he transferred to St Kilda, where he added 16 games and 10 goals through 1984. His final senior season was disrupted by repeated tribunal suspensions, after which he continued for a time in the reserves.

In 1985 he moved to Queensland and joined Southport in the QAFL. In that year's grand final against Mayne, with Southport ahead by the narrowest of margins, he kicked the winning goal with 68 seconds remaining as Southport won by three points. Local papers celebrated the finish as Middy's magic. Geelong's club tribute after his death also recalled the work ethic and pride his son Luke described, and the courage that defined both his VFA scare and his league career.

Middlemiss died on 17 September 2026, aged 70. The Geelong Football Club published a vale naming the dates 8 June 1956 to 17 September 2026 and offering condolences to his family and friends. No cause of death was stated in the club notice or in his English Wikipedia biography.