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Fred Rutley (born July 10, 1902) was an Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Rutley played at North Melbourne in their VFA days and was a member of their inaugural VFL squad in 1925. He kicked three goals in both his second and third league appearances and only once in his eleven career games did he fail to kick a goal.

He is best remembered for his part in a controversial encounter against Geelong during the 1925 season where he was reported for kicking. Both Arthur Coghlan and Stan Thomas of Geelong were suspended until the season's end but Rutley received the worst punishment. A special tribunal, which was headed by the league's President, Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer, handed down a life suspension for Rutley. It was later lifted and he returned to North Melbourne in 1930, having missed 89 games, the third longest suspension in VFL history. It is the longest known suspension for an on-field incident as the two men ahead of him, Doug Fraser and Alex Lang, were both embroiled in a bribery scandal.

References

• Fred Rutley's statistics from AFL Tables
• Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.