John Frederick Shelton (29 January 1903 – 8 March 1983) 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 for the
St Kilda Football Club
The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league.
The club ...
in the
Victorian Football League (VFL).
Football
From
Koo Wee Rup, in southeast Victoria, he played for St Kilda from 1925 to 1928.
His brother,
James Patrick Shelton (1897—1970) also played three senior games with St Kilda: two at the end of 1921, and one in round eight 1922.
A forward, he was St Kilda's leading goalkicker for three consecutive seasons in 1925, 1926 and 1927.
He also represented
Victoria four times.
Tribunal
On Saturday, 7 August 1926, as the extensive contemporary newspaper reports attest, Shelton was involved in an act of violence directed at Geelong's full-back
Arthur Rayson
Arthur William Rayson (1 December 1898 – 21 January 1970) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong in the VFL.
Family
The son of George Rayson (1873-1960), and Minnie Rayson (1876-1939), née Dawson, Arthur William Rayson ...
(who also worked as the caretaker at the Corio Oval), through which Rayson received broken ribs, amongst other injuries. The spectators' response to Rayson's injury, specifically directed at Shelton was such that Shelton required police protection from attacks with fence pickets.
In his last season (1928), he was charged with attempting to kick Essendon's
Tom Clarke in the ankle, during the eighth round match at
Windy Hill Windy Hill may refer to:
Places
* Windy Hill, Essendon, an Australian rules football ground in the Melbourne area
* Windy Hill Wind Farm, a wind power station near Ravenshoe, Queensland, Australia
* Windy Hill (Pennines), a hill on the Pennines w ...
on 4 June 1928. Given the possibility that Shelton might have been kicking at the ball, rather than either intending to kick Clarke in the ankle or mis-timing a trip, the tribunal found that the charge had not been sustained.
On 4 August 1928, during a torrid match against Carlton, at the Junction Oval, Shelton was reported for striking Carlton's
Ray Brew
John Raymond Brew (14 January 1903 – 21 August 1979) was an Australian rules footballer who played for and coached in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League.
Brew grew up in the suburb of West Melbourne where his father M ...
in the third quarter; the tribunal sustained the charge and Shelton was suspended for eight matches.
Football: Football Offence: J. Shelton Disqualified, ''The Argus'', (Friday, 10 August 1928), p.5.
/ref> He did not play senior VFL football again.
Footnotes
References
* Feldman, Jules & Holmesby, Russell, ''The Point of it All: The Story of the St Kilda Football Club'', Playwright (on behalf of the St Kilda Football Club), (Sydney), 1992.
* Main, J. & Allen, D., "Shelton, J.T. 'Jack'", pp. 335–337 in Main, J. & Allen, D., ''Fallen – The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War'', Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelton, John F.
1903 births
1983 deaths
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents
St Kilda Football Club players
People from Melton, Victoria