Raymond John Schofield (7 August 1925 – 23 December 2017) 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 West Perth in the

Western Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WANFL). Schofield began his career as a full-forward in the wartime under-19 competition (which is excluded in some sources), and headed the WANFL goalkicking in 1943 with 93 goals. He did not play in 1944 or

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

due to service with the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Schofield would make his senior WANFL debut late in 1946, where he played as a forward in the Cardinals’ losing Grand Final team. In 1947, coach Stan “Pops” Heal moved Schofield to full-back after former spearhead Bill Baker was unsuccessful there,Atkinson, Brian; ''It’s a Grand Old Flag: a History and Comprehensive Statistical Analysis of the West Perth Football Club 1885-2007'', p. 104 and he developed into a champion defender over the next decade. At full-back, Ray Schofield was a five time

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 ...

winner at West Perth, in 1948, 1950, and 1953 to 1955. He played in West Perth’s 1949 and 1951 premiership teams, taking several critical marks to help win the latter encounter. In the twilight of his career, Schofield returned to attack, heading West Perth’s goalkicking again in 1957. In his final season in 1958, Schofield played his 248th career game in Round 10 to break William "Digger" Thomas' long-standing West Australian elite football career games record, and two weeks later became the first West Australian elite football player to play 250 career games. Schofield also played 22 interstate football matches for Western Australia, including matches at the 1950 Brisbane and 1953 Adelaide Carnivals. He was selected as the full-back in West Perth’s official "Team of the Century", and in 2004 was one of the inaugural inductees in the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...

References

1925 births 2017 deaths Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees West Perth Football Club players Military personnel from Western Australia {{AFL-bio-1920s-stub