John Ernest Arthur Mueller (9 September 1915 – 14 June 2001) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club 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).

Family

The son of Francis Carl Mueller (1880-1945), and Eliza Mary "Cissie" Mueller (1887-1960), née O'Brien, John Ernest Arthur Mueller was born on 9 September 1915. He married Margaret Rose "Greta" Toohey on 14 April 1942.

Football

Mueller was famous for having only eight fingers, after losing two when he caught his hand in a machine at work. He was an inspirational player who contributed significantly to the success of the Melbourne sides in which he played during the 1930s, '40s and '50s. He was notable as the primary instigator of Melbourne's 1948 flag victory after being recalled from retirement (with the reserves) for that year's Preliminary Final in which he kicked eight of his team's 25 goals against Collingwood. He followed this up with six out of 10 in the drawn Grand Final with Essendon and another six out of 13 the following week when Melbourne won the replay.

War Service

After initially being rejected in 1941 due to his missing fingers, Mueller served in the Australian Army from 1943 to 1945, playing very few games for Melbourne in these three seasons.

Post Football Career

In the late 1940s and 1950s, Mueller was a football commentator on

3KZ Gold 104.3 (call sign: 3KKZ) is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Australia. Gold 104.3 is part of the Pure Gold Network (which itself is a part of the Australian Radio Network) and broadcasts on the 104.3 MHz frequency. History 3K ...

, working first with Norman Banks and later Philip Gibbs. Mueller also worked with Gibbs on the program '' Football Inquest'', which was later

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

on 3KZ and

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

Death

Jack Mueller died on 14 June 2001Obituary, ''The Riverine Herald'', (Friday, 29 June 2001), p.13.
/ref> and is buried at Springvale Botanical Cemetery.

Footnotes

References

*
Minchin, James, "Echuca's Greatest", ''The Riverine Herald'', (Friday, 30 June 2000), p.28.
*
AFL site: Australian Football Hall of Fame

External links

* *
Jack Mueller, at ''Boyles Football photos''.
1915 births 2001 deaths People from Echuca Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Melbourne Football Club players Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winners Echuca Football Club players Australian amputees Melbourne Football Club Premiership players Four-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Burials in Victoria (Australia) Australian Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Victoria (Australia) {{AFL-bio-1915-stub