Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

Jones was at the centre of a football controversy when he attempted to represent a third SAFA club the following year. Port Adelaide played the North captain in its first two games of 1901 against West Torrens and West Adelaide without North’s permission. Port won both games but by fielding an unauthorised player ran the risk of forfeiting the wins and Jones being disqualified for the season. The affair dragged over several meetings of the SAFA, which first penalised Port’s wins, then reversed that decision in favour of a fine, before Jones received his permit. The season ended well, if not perfectly, for the player when he represented his new club in a losing grand final against Norwood. It is hard to piece together exactly what sort of player Jones was, but it is fair to say that he was a versatile key position player in either attack or defence, a brilliant high mark, with a powerful kick and explosive body power. He was also an enforcer which meant that he could be rough and tough in the most spirited of games, and a player that opponents would be wary of tackling. As far as his senior career is concerned, it is difficult to determine exactly how many games he played, because teams for SAFA games were not always listed. However, it appears that Jones played between 70 and 80 association matches for his three clubs over eight seasons, with another six games against Victorian clubs, and four matches for South Australia in 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1900. Jones never played football again at senior association level, although in 1904 he revived his football career with the Mines Rovers in the Goldfields Football League in Western Australia. There he impressed with his 70 yard kicks from full back, although at the age of thirty-four he had lost the dash that had earlier marked his ability further down field. Two years later he began the season with First Rates before switching to Railways in the same league. The Footballer: 1892-1907 75