The one and only... Jim Stanworth
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Many of the V/AFL one-gamers would have gone into their solitary match hoping it would be the start of a long, successful career at footy's top level. For Jim Stanworth, his single game for South Melbourne was more like a footnote to a career that had seen him play the game in New South Wales, metropolitan Melbourne, country Victoria, Tasmania, and even South Africa.
Stanworth played his early football for Austral in Broken Hill before moving to Melbourne, where he took to the field for North Melbourne in 1892, his senior debut against Fitzroy in July of that year, His roving came under notice soon after and he became a Shinboner regular over the next couple of years.
In 1895, Stanworth joined South Bendigo in the Bendigo league, described on his arrival by Follower in the Bendigo Advertiser as "a rattling good man from North Melbourne".¹ He proved to be an effective rover, but missed the start of the following season because he was "employed somewhere on the coast".² He returned mid-season and displayed his "usual brilliance".³
After moving to Carlsruhe in 1897, Stanworth's journey took him next to Queenstown, at the foot of Mount Lyell in Tasmania's north-west, Stanworth played for Flux, one of the many teams spawned by the Mt Lyell copper mine. Among the other team names in that competition, based at the infamous Queenstown gravel oval, were Smelters, Miners, Mechanics and Railways.
Stanworth's football career, and indeed his life, almost ended in 1898. Playing for Flux in a Wednesday match against Smelters, he collided with another player and was knocked out. He did not recover consciousness until the following morning, and remained in a critical state for some time after.⁴
He recovered fully and was captain of the Flux side in 1899, although he sensationally resigned from that post and the club after being accused of playing "stiff" in a mid-season match. Declaring his innocence, Stanworth's letter of resignation read, in part:
Although I am sorry to do so, I could not for a moment think of playing for your club again, after being accused of playing a "stiff" game of football, a thing which I have never been guilty of in my life.⁵
However, the club responded with an overwhelming vote of confidence in Stanworth's integrity, and a special meeting of the Mount Lyell Football Association agreed there was no evidence against Stanworth, fully accepting his explanation that he was simply down on form on the day.
A year later, Stanworth found himself in Matabeleland (in what is now Zimbabwe) with the First Tasmanian Bushmen, on a tour of duty in the Boer War. While there, Lance-Corporal Stanworth captained a Tasmanian team of soldiers that took on a team made up of South Australians. Stanworth's Tasmanians caused an upset win.⁶
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After returning to Tasmania in mid 1901, Stanworth moved to Melbourne soon after, and played in several practice matches for South Melbourne prior to the 1902 season. In Round 5 of that year, South were missing several players through injury. This paved the way for Stanworth — by now 30 years old — to make his VFL debut. He was named in a back pocket for the Bloods in their match against Geelong at Corio Oval but did not make the list of the Bloods' best players in any of the major papers. Unsurprisingly, he did not hold his place in the team, although he may have been injured in the match, as he was listed as "wounded" in the Herald the following Friday.⁷
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Whatever the case, Stanworth did not play another senior match for South, and he was granted a clearance to Essendon Town in the VFA prior to the start of the 1903 season. Stanworth's name featured in the list of best players regularly over the next two seasons.
Living up to a journeyman's reputation, Stanworth sailed back to Tasmania in 1906, taking up a role as a prominent boxing trainer in Zeehan. In 1908, he was back on the football field, this time as Zeehan's captain-coach. In his two years in that role, he led Zeehan to consecutive premierships.
Stanworth closed out his time in football as captain coach of North Launceston in 1910. He later returned to boxing as a manager and referee in Adelaide.
Jim Stanworth's story, and those of many other one-game players, will be featured in the forthcoming book, The One And Only — Stories of V/AFL players whose first game was their last, by Andrew Gigacz and Mic Rees.
Footnotes
1. Title: Football Notes; Author: Old Boy; Publication: Bendigo Advertiser; Date: Sat 27 April 1895
Link:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88952663
2. Title: Football Notes; Author: Old Boy; Publication: Bendigo Advertiser; Date: Sat 25 Apr 1896
Link:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88895921
3. Title: Football Notes; Author: Old Boy; Publication: Bendigo Advertiser; Date: Sat 26 Sep 1896
Link:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88991512
4. Title: Queenstown; Author: "Our Special Reporter"; Publication: Zeehan and Dundas Herald; Date: Fri 23 Sep 1898
Link:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/84630307
5. Title: Flux Football Meeting; Publication: The Mount Lyell Standard and Strahan Gazette; Date: Fri 30 Jun 1899
Link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232638021
6. Title: The Tasmanian Bushmen in Matabeleland; Publication: Daily Telegraph (Launceston); Date: Wed 18 Jul 1900, Page 8
Link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/153759373
7. Title: World of Sport; Publication: The Herald, Melbourne; Date: Fri 6 Jun 1902, Page 2
Link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241885851
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