John Bonney (21 May 1946 – 20 February 2022) was an

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 St Kilda. A wingman recruited from the small Tasmanian club

Cooee Cooee! () is a shout originated in Australia to attract attention, find missing people, or indicate one's own location. When done correctly—loudly and shrilly—a call of "cooee" can carry over a considerable distance. The distance one's cooe ...

, Bonney played in the St Kilda grand final team of

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

. As an aspiring young player, he rang Collingwood hoping for a game, but was turned away. Wanting to play with a strong team, he then called St Kilda (which played in the

1966 VFL Grand Final The 1966 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and St Kilda Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1966. It was the 69th annual grand final ...

), was accepted and played from the bench in the first game. In a career that was riddled with injuries, his nose was broken nine times, and he had a near fatal injury in which his spleen was punctured by a kick to the stomach. He missed the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

VFL seasons due to family reasons and the

1972 VFL season The 1972 VFL season was the 76th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 1 April until 7 October, and comprised a 22-g ...

due to a knee injury. Bonney died in

Cobden, Victoria Cobden is a town located 200 kilometres southwest of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia named in honour of Richard Cobden. At the 2006 census, Cobden had a population of 1,813. At the 2001 census, Cobden had a population of 1,419. History The Co ...

, on 20 February 2022 at the age of 75.

References

External links

* 1946 births 2022 deaths Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Cooee Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub