William Roy James (10 May 1900 – 27 December 1966) 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 one game with the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

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 ...

—the

1920 VFL Grand Final The 1920 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Richmond Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 2 October 1920. It was the 23rd annual Grand Final of ...

. James came from

Kyabram Kyabram is a town in north central Victoria, Australia. Kyabram is located in the centre of a rich irrigation district in the Goulburn River Valley, north of Melbourne. It is the second-largest town in the Shire of Campaspe, situated between t ...

, and his only game landed him a VFL premiership medallion. He helped Richmond earn the Tigers their inaugural VFL premiership, with his only goal late in the last quarter sealing the victory. James was retrospectively awarded a life membership for his contribution. According to legend, James was accidentally shot in the foot whilst out

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

prior to the commencement of the 1921 season, an injury which supposedly ended his football career. However, in 2018, new historical research proved this false, as the injury occurred in 1925, a full four years after his last VFL match.

References

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996

External links

* 1900 births 1966 deaths VFL/AFL Players who played their first game in a Grand Final Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Kyabram Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Place of birth missing Place of death missing One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players {{AFL-bio-1900-stub