Australian Football

Four time Queanbeyan best and fairest award winner (in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1980) Jim Black played a total of 191 games during what was probably his club's least auspicious era. However, it is doubtful if there have been many ACT players to match his motivational energy and skill. A genuinely two-sided player at a time when this was by no means the norm, Black was still in the middle of an illustrious junior career when he made his senior debut for Queanbeyan aged just fifteen. A livewire rover, his ability near the goal front made him ideal as a forward pocket 'change' player. Popularly known as 'Blackie', he represented the ACT on 18 occasions, including the famous win over the VFL at Manuka Oval in 1980, the same year that saw his appointment as Tigers captain. In 1981, he also took on the coaching mantle whilst continuing as a player, but after struggling through the season with persistent knee injuries, did not resume in either role in 1982.

In 1999, Jim Black was selected in the right forward pocket in the official 'ACT Legends' team which commemorated seventy-five years of football in Canberra.

Author - John Devaney