John Joseph "Dookie" McKenzie (10 November 1881 – 21 March 1946) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). He gained the nickname "Dookie" from his favourite player as a youth, Alex "Dookie" McKenzie, a Carlton and Melbourne player of the 1880s, and 1890s.

Family

The son of John McKenzie, and Johanna McKenzie, née Scott, John Joseph McKenzie was born in

Fitzroy North, Victoria Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek and City of Yarra, Yarra Local government areas of Victo ...

on 10 November 1881. He married twice. His first wife, Mary Ellen McCann (1886-1918) died in July 1918. Their son, John James McKenzie (1908-), played for Essendon in 1929. McKenzie fell on hard times in 1918 when his wife died, leaving him without work and with six children to look after. A fund was set up by the VFL to give him financial support, with many clubs donating money. He married his second wife, Winifred Zipporah Griffiths (1884-1969), née Simmons, in 1922.

Football

McKenzie played for Fitroy Juniors for half a season before going to Brunswick in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFA). He joined Essendon in 1901, winning a premiership in his first season. He played for Essendon in 1901 and 1902. He then moved to Western Australia and spent a year playing in the Western Australian Goldfields Football Association with the White Feather Football Club. In 1904 he returned to Essendon and by 1906 he was the captain. For his efforts during the 1906 season he was Essendon's

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 in his last season for the Bombers. He finished his career with Essendon having played 81 games and kicking 90 goals playing as a ruckman. In 1907 season he became captain-coach of Essendon Association in the VFA before taking on the same role at his original club Brunswick from 1908 to 1914. He led the Brunswick to a premiership in his second season, 1909. During the last month or so of that season, '' The Argus'' newspaper conducted a public vote on which players were considered a champion in both the VFL and the VFA. McKenzie won the Association poll with a tally of near 18,000 votes, a figure which outstripped that of the League winner Bill Busbridge. As captain, McKenzie was offered £150 to

throw Throwing is a physical action that consists of mechanically accelerating a projectile and then releasing it into a ballistic trajectory, usually with the aim of impacting a distant target. ''Throwing'' typically refers to hand-throwing by a ...

the 1911 Grand Final against Essendon Association; McKenzie refused and immediately reported the offer to the Association. He returned to the VFL for just one season in 1915, playing this time with Melbourne. As captain-coach he helped them reach the finals for the first time in fifteen years, becoming one of a select few players to captain two different clubs in finals.

Hawthorn (VFA)

Hawthorn returned to the VFA in 1919 — having not played in 1916, 1917, and 1918 due to World War I — and McKenzie was appointed as coach for the 1919 season.

Death

He died on 21 March 1946.Jack McKenzie Fine Sportsman, ''The Sporting Globe'', (Saturday, 23 March 1946), p.3Death of "Dookie" McKenzie, ''The Herald'', (Friday, 22 March 1946), p.16Football: Mr. J.J. McKenzie's Death, ''The Age'', (Saturday, 23 March 1946), p.4.
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Footnotes

References

* Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. * Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. * Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.

External links

* *
Jack McKenzie, ''Demonwiki''.

Jack "Dookie" McKenzie, ''The VFA Project''

Jack McKenzie, ''Boyles Football Photos''.

Past Player Profile: Jack J. McKenzie, "essendonfc.com.au".
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Jack 1881 births 1946 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club premiership players Melbourne Football Club players Melbourne Football Club coaches Crichton Medal winners Brunswick Football Club players Brunswick Football Club coaches Essendon Association Football Club players White Feather Football Club players Melbourne Football Club captains Hawthorn Football Club (VFA) coaches 20th-century Australian sportsmen VFL/AFL premiership players People from Fitzroy, Victoria