Teddy Aldred was born in England and had played football with Leeds City. Upon migrating to Australia he settled in Brisbane and played goalkeeper for the Bulimba club. Aldred represented Queensland on their tour of New South Wales in 1913, making plenty of brilliant saves in the big games. After the tour he stayed on in Sydney and played for the Sydney district club.
Aldred enlisted at the end of the 1915 season at the relatively late age of 40. The reason he couldn’t join up earlier was that since the outbreak of war the maximum age of enlistment was 38 and it was only in June 1915 that the age limit was lifted to 45.
Aldred served on the Western Front with the 19th Battalion and returned to Australia in 1919. Though he seems to have remained in the military beyond that, eventually being discharged from the Tropical Forces in Rabaul in November 1920 for “disobeying a lawful command given by his superior officer”. In balance though, his record prior to that was “quite clean”.
When Queensland again toured New South Wales in 1921, Aldred acted as trainer to the Queensland team. Shortly after the Queensland team’s departure, Aldred turned out as goalkeeper for the Campsie Thistle club in a match against Pyrmont. After the match he said he ‘felt as fit as any fiddle and hoped to return to his usual form in a few weeks.’ But just two days after this comeback match he collapsed and died.