Allan Rait is recognised as one of the greatest full forwards ever produced in Tasmania, scoring 847 goals during his career which spanned 11 years.
He graduated from the West Hobart football club and made his initial appearance in TFL ranks in 1927 aged 18. He had to be content with only 11 goals in his debut season playing off a half forward flank.
Rait gave outstanding service to North Hobart and the many combined State and TFL sides in which he was picked. But for a knee injury at the start of the 1934 season he may have kicked over a thousand goals in his career.
Rait was in pursuit of the TFL record for most goals kicked in one game for many years and it was not until 1936 that he achieved the milestone. It was the opening game of the season on May 2nd when he kicked 14 goals for North Hobart against Cananore. The goal haul included seven in the last quarter. This record stood for only 5 years until New Town's Alf Sampson bettered it with fifteen against Lefroy in 1941.
He won the TANFL leading goalkicker award five years running from 1928-1932 with scores of 44, 92, 112, 84 and 102 and then went on to win it a further three consecutive times in 1935 (84), 1936 (98), and 1937 (62).
He played in the 1929 Tasmanian side against New South Wales and on June 22nd scored seven goals for the TFL. In the 1930 Tasmanian carnival side in Adelaide he played alongside greats such as Roy Cazaly, Allan Leitch and Laurie Nash. He finished second on the carnival goalkicking tally to Victoria's Bill Mohr (35) kicking 27 goals.
But it was the effort he put in against a Victorian eighteen in 1932 that saw him earn the interest of several VFL sides who started making him tempting offers to transfer to the mainland. He was opposed by crack St.Kilda fullback Bill Cubbins but still managed to score ten goals in a losing side.
He crossed to Victoria the following season after being lured to Footscray. His best performance was in round 8 of the 1933 season against Carlton, a match that was later described as the battle of the full forwards. Carlton won the high scoring game 21.13.139 to 17.14.116 but the loss was not for want of Rait trying. With a quick lead and an ability to take 'corkscrew' leaps, Rait dazzled the crowd with a goalkicking display, the equal of which is rarely seen.
Helped by the the brilliance of Allan Hopkins and Norm Ware continually putting the ball in his area, Rait potted 10 goals from all angles.
At the other end Carlton's legendary full forward Harry 'Soapy' Vallence steered through nine goals to help give the Blues victory.
Allan Rait continued his tradition of winning goalkicking awards leading the clubs tally at the end of the season with 59 goals.
His name was mentioned by several critics as the possible full forward for the 1933 Victorian Carnival team to play in Sydney however an injured knee kept him out.
In 1934 he again fronted up for Footscray but an injured hand kept him out of games in the early part of the season and he returned to Hobart before the season finished. After obtaining employment in Hobart he offered his services to his old club North Hobart for the 1935 season, in the process turning down offers from both Footscray and Essendon to return to Melbourne.
He captain / coached North Hobart to the grand final narrowly losing to Roy Cazaly's New Town 18.9.117 to 15.13.103. During the season he revealed much of his former brilliance as a star forward and his 84 goals plus the 4 goals he scored in representative games scored him the goalkicking championship and the Bill Harwood Cup.
In 1930 he was at his best, kicking 152 goals for the season, 112 in club games and 40 in representative sides. His goalscoring record was not bettered until over 40 years later when Peter Hudson kicked 157 goals in a year. Hudson took that figure to 191 in 1978.
Allan Rait was always a big attraction in League football and the memory of his many thrilling tussles with the best fullbacks of the day rank as some of the most outstanding incidents associated with the game in Hobart during the between wars period.
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