Graham Ion (born 12 October 1940) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with Footscray in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). Ion made his league debut at just 17 years of age, against

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Western Oval Whitten Oval (also known as Victoria University Whitten Oval under a naming rights agreement) is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administra ...

in 1958.AFL Tables: Graham Ion
/ref> It was his only game of the season, but he was a regular member of the team from 1959. A key forward despite his small stature, he kicked 27 goals in 1961 to finish third in Footscray's goal-kicking. He played all 21 games that year, including the

1961 VFL Grand Final The 1961 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Footscray Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 23 September 1961. It was the 64th annual Grand Final ...

loss, where he played at

centre half-forward In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a centre half-back. Royce Hart of the Richmond Football Club and Wayne Carey of the North Melbour ...

. When

Ted Whitten Edward James Whitten Sr. OAM (27 July 1933 – 17 August 1995) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Born and raised into a working-class family in Footscray, Whit ...

was away playing interstate football, Ion captained Footscray in their round 13 fixture against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

- he was only 20 years old at the time. His brother,

Barry Ion Barry Vincent Ion (born 9 October 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer and radio personality. He played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL), Yarraville in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), and Woodville in th ...

, was also in the Footscray side that day. In 1962 he again played every game for Footscray, and also kicked three goals in an appearance for the VFL representative team which defeated Western Australia. He played 14 games in 1963, but just nine the following season as he was out of action for eight weeks due to an appendix operation. His final season, in 1965, was interrupted by a four-week suspension for striking Geelong's Ian Scott, but they were the only games he missed that year. After leaving Footscray he captain-coached

Deniliquin Football Club The Deniliquin Football & Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Rams'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Deniliquin located in the Riverina district of New South Wales. The club's teams currently compete in the Mu ...

to the 1966

Murray Football League The Murray Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League. The league covers a large area of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the ...

premiership and won the 1967

O’Dwyer Medal. Ion coached

South West Football League (New South Wales) The South West District Football League was a major Australian rules football competition which ran from 1910 until 1981 in the Riverina region of New South Wales. History The first recorded Australian Rules Football match in the Riverina area wa ...

club,

Turvey Park Football Club Turvey may refer to: As a surname Sport * Anna Turvey (born 1980), Irish cyclist * Joanne Turvey (born 1969), British rower * Cedric Turvey (1917–1991), Australian rugby league footballer * Nathan Turvey (born 1977), Australian rules football ...

from 1969 to 1972. Turvey Park were runners up in the 1970 grand final. Ion then coached Mangoplah Cookardinia FC from 1973 to 1975. Mangoplah were runners up in 1974 in the

Farrer Football League The Farrer Football Netball League (FFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules footba ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ion, Graham 1940 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Western Bulldogs players Deniliquin Football Club players Living people