> Over 200 games for Launceston, 1905-14, 1919-20
> Launceston NTFA premierships, 1909, 1913, 1920
> Coached Launceston, 1909, 1913-14, 1922-23
> Tasmanian National Carnival representative, 1908 (Melbourne), 1911 (Adelaide), 1914 (Sydney)
> Named ‘Best Full Back in Australia’ following 1911 Adelaide Carnival
> Won multiple Best and Fairest and other awards
> Nine representative matches for NTFA, 1908-14, 1919
> NTFA representative captain, 1913-14
> Life Member of Launceston Football Club
A defender of exceptional quality, Algernon ‘Algy’ Tynan was an institution at the Launceston Football Club on either side of the First World War, and one of the most accomplished carnival players Tasmania has produced. Beginning his career with Launceston in 1905, Tynan had soon sown a reputation as one of the state’s finest defenders, and was chosen in Tasmania’s squad for the inaugural National Carnival in Melbourne in 1908 under Jack Gardiner. He performed admirably, and a year later he coached Launceston’s 1909 premiership side in his first year in the role, the first flag Launceston had captured in nine years. His stature in the game reached its peak after the 1911 Adelaide Carnival, when, after leading a resolute Tasmanian defence that conceded only 32 goals in four matches, he was named as the ‘best full back in Australia’ in a pseudo ‘All-Australian’ team.
After further premiership success with Launceston in 1913 and a third and final Carnival appearance the following year, the First World War forced Tasmanian football – and Tynan’s career – to grind to a halt. Tynan enlisted and joined the 12th Australian Infantry Battalion, initially as an acting sergeant and later rising to the rank of lieutenant. Serving on the western front, Tynan was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in October 1917, and after the war would remain heavily involved with the RSL.
Tynan was discharged in 1919 and resumed his football career, continuing to be a key member of the Launceston side. He ended his playing career with a third premiership in 1920, his only flag purely as a player. Over his 16-season, 200+ game career with the Blues he received numerous awards and recognitions, was coach or captain-coach on three separate occasions – including two years in 1922-23 after his retirement from playing – and was a regular NTFA representative, playing intrastate matches for nine consecutive seasons between 1908 and 1919 (not including the war-enforced gap) and captaining the association side in 1913 and 1914.
Post-retirement, Tynan served on the committee of the Launceston Football Club and held the position of treasurer for a time, ultimately being afforded life membership of the club he had served so well for so long. He later moved to the south of the state and was involved with the Franklin Football Club in the Huon Football Association, and was serving as vice-president when the club won the 1932 Huon FA premiership. Tynan passed away in 1974 aged 85, and at the time of his death he was the last surviving member of Tasmania’s inaugural Carnival team from 1908.