Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

Chapter Six The Footballer: 1892-1907 Ernie Jones achieved international cricket fame, but he was also a brilliant exponent of another sport, Australian Rules football. Because of cricket commitments Jones’ football career was fractured. He began with South Adelaide, a South Australian Football Association (SAFA) club, in 1892 and enjoyed four solid seasons before skipping 1896 to undertake his first cricket tour of England. As has been noted, that tour did not return until mid-December and Jones continued his cricket at home into May, 1897 with a promotional tour of Western Australia following his first-class and club commitments. Perhaps then he was wise to give his body a rest because he appeared only once for South in 1897 and four times in 1898, but there could have been other reasons. In 1899 he missed another entire season owing to his second cricket tour of England but returned to football with a new club, North Adelaide, in 1900. In 1901 he transferred his allegiance to a third club, Port Adelaide, and played a single season for them, before missing the 1902 season for his final English cricket tour. Jones was originally recruited by South as a forward player in what proved to be an eventful season. South had a fine leader in Jack Reedman, with whom Jones would share many dressing rooms, and an energetic and resourceful secretary in Joe Maddern. The blue and whites had finished second the previous year but had broken down in attack. However, an excellent group of players had now been organised and it was said that, if a new man were to be found, Maddern would find him. In his first game against Adelaide on 7 May, 1892, a most one-sided encounter in which South kicked 21 goals 18 behinds to their opponents nil, Jones was the player appreciated by spectators. While his marking was brilliant, his goal-kicking was erratic so that it was not surprising that within a month he had been switched to defence. At the end of May Jones was a prominent member of South’s team which toured Victoria and played three games in five days or four 70