John James (18 January 1934 – 8 December 2010) was a leading

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 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). He won the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

, the highest individual honour in the sport, in 1961. Recruited from St. Patrick's College, Ballarat, James played for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

from 1953 to 1963, playing 195 games. He finished third in the 1957 Brownlow Medal count and won the award in 1961. He won the Carlton

Best and Fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

three times (in 1955, 1960 and 1961). James was named on the half-back flank in the Carlton

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

. In his debut season, James played off a half-forward flank and booted the terribly inaccurate figures of eight goals, 43

behind Behind may refer to: * ''Behind'' (album), a 1992 album by Superior * Behind (Australian rules football), a method of scoring in Australian rules football, awarding one point * "Behind" (song), a 2008 single by Flanders * Behind, a slang term fo ...

s. Throughout his career he played in a variety of positions, including the backline. After his retirement in 1963, he went to coach

Robinvale Robinvale is a town on the south bank of the Murray River in north western Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Euston on the other side of the river in New South Wales. At the , Robinvale had a population of 3,313, however a ...

. James died in

Robinvale, Victoria Robinvale is a town on the south bank of the Murray River in north western Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Euston on the other side of the river in New South Wales. At the , Robinvale had a population of 3,313, however a p ...

, on 8 December 2010, following a stroke.

References

External links

*
John James's Blueseum profile
1934 births 2010 deaths Brownlow Medal winners Carlton Football Club players John Nicholls Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) People educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub