John Alfred Ford (17 February 1906 – 20 February 1985) was a
rugby union player who represented
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Ford, a
number eight, was born in
Sheffield, Tasmania and claimed a total of 11 international rugby caps for Australia. His brother
Eric was also an
Australian rugby union representative player.
Family and early life
One of three children, his publican father died when Jack was aged four and the family moved from Tasmania to Sydney. Together with his brothers
Eric and Percy, Jack Ford became a boarder at
St Joseph's College[Howell pp226] where he learned his rugby under the guidance of the legendary Brother Henry. He was a good student and won a College bursary which allowed him to attend College for a total of eight years. He was an outstanding cricketer and boxer while at school and matured to an ideal physique for all these sports.
Rugby career
After leaving school, he joined the Glebe-Balmain Club with his brothers. At 20 he made his debut for NSW against New Zealand and made an immediate impression with his explosive running, which led to his selection in the
. On that tour, among a veritable firmament of rugby stars, Ford stood out for his great vision, which identified opposition weaknesses. When the Waratahs were within striking distance, canny captain Johnnie Wallace, Ford's team-mate at Glebe-Balmain, invariably pulled Jack Ford out of the pack to play at second five-eighth. With his flashing speed, immense strength and sheer size (he was by far the biggest man in the Waratah team), he was virtually unstoppable and scored twelve tries from this tactic in twenty-four matches on tour as well as setting up many more for others to score after he had made the break.
Jack Ford's career continued in 1929 when he played for the first Australian team to win all internationals against
New Zealand. In a great Australian pack, his was the stroke of genius and he scored tries in each of the final two Tests with his pace, strength and uncanny ability to read the game.
He retired in 1930, a winner in eight of his last nine Tests after Australia's win over the 1930 British Lions. He had played in addition to all his representative games, a total of 65 games for Glebe-Balmain and Drummoyne. The Welsh Rugby Union sent him a set of scarlet red jumpers to mark the change in the Club name from Glebe-Balmain to
Drummoyne
Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative center for the local government area of the City of ...
and the Club still plays in those scarlet colours to this day.
Recognition
In 1999, for the 125th Anniversary Celebration of the foundation of the New South Wales Rugby Union in the Southern Hemisphere, a panel of experts was asked to select the best XV that had ever appeared for New South Wales and Australia. Without exception, Jack Ford's name came up as the greatest ever number eight.
He was inducted into the
Australian Rugby
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
Hall of Fame in 2016.
[
]
References
Published sources
* Howell, Max (2006) ''Born to Lead — Wallaby Test Captains (2005)'' Celebrity Books, New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Jack
Australian rugby union players
Australia international rugby union players
1906 births
1985 deaths
People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
Rugby union players from Tasmania
Rugby union number eights