Australian Football

Although nowhere near as immensely gifted as the likes of Lindsay Head or John Halbert, Jeff "Buckets" Bray was a highly talented footballer whose value to his club was immense. Barrel-chested and resolute, he seldom lowered his colours in individual contests, and was renowned for his talkative on field presence which helped make him the consummate team player¹. Strong overhead, and always hard at the ball, he enjoyed a particularly stellar year in 1963 when he participated in South Australia's historic win over the VFL at the MCG, and, in addition to landing his second Westies club best and fairest award, picked up both the ADS7 Footballer of the Year Award and the Advertiser Trophy to boot. Two years earlier, Bray had been at centre half back as West Adelaide defeated Norwood to win its first SANFL premiership in fourteen years.

Between 1964 and 1966 Jeff Bray played for South Melbourne, but persistent injuries restricted him to just 34 VFL games, and when he returned home to West Adelaide in 1967 he was nothing like the same player. He finally retired from SANFL football in 1970 after an overall total of 204 games, having commenced in 1956 as a seventeen year old. Bray sadly died of a heart condition in 2006, aged 68.

Author - John Devaney