Jon Ballantyne (born 29 July 1969) 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 in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). He was recruited from

Bairnsdale, Victoria Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at J ...

and started his AFL career with Footscray.

Footscray

Ballantyne debuted with the Bulldogs in 1990. He was used mostly as a spearhead, at a time when Danny Del-Re was considered the club's first choice

full forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League seaso ...

. Consequently, he managed only 20 games in four full seasons, although his return of 46 goals suggests that he was able to get amongst the goals when he was included in the team. As a Footscray player, Ballantyne headed the Reserves goal-kicking table in 1990 (64 goals) and 1992 (79 goals).

Collingwood

Collingwood offered a life line to Ballantyne's football career in 1994. He was tried in defence, mainly at full back, with reasonable success. A serious knee injury ended his football career prematurely, after a further nine games with Collingwood in two seasons.

NFL Europe

After his Australian rules football career ended, Ballantyne played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

for the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

. A punter, Ballantyne was signed by

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) team, the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, but never played a match for them. Ballantyne played amateur gridiron in Australia in the Victoria Gridiron Association.

References

1969 births Living people Collingwood Football Club players Western Bulldogs players People from Bairnsdale Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Scottish Claymores players Bairnsdale Football Club players Australian players of American football {{AFL-bio-1960s-stub