| Frank Jeeves | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Francis William Jeeves | ||
| Date of birth | 15 February 1927 | ||
| Date of death | 11 June 2010 (aged 83) | ||
| Original team(s) | Fitzroy seconds | ||
| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1947–1954 | North Melbourne | 65 (25) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1954. | |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Francis "Frank" Jeeves (15 February 1927 – 11 June 2010) was an Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, or simply called Aussie rules, football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of eighteen players on an oval-shaped field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval-shaped ball between goal posts or between behind posts.
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or less formally the Roos, the Kangas or North, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world. It is based at the Arden Street Oval in the inner Melbourne suburb of North Melbourne, Victoria, but plays its home matches at the nearby Docklands Stadium.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body, and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League (VFL) as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing in 1897. Originally comprising only teams based in the Australian state of Victoria, the competition's name was changed to the Australian Football League for the 1990 season, after expanding to other states throughout the 1980s.
Jeeves, who came from Wonthaggi originally, arrived at North Melbourne via the Fitzroy seconds. [1]
The Fitzroy Football Club, nicknamed the Lions or the Roys, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897. The club experienced some early success in the league and was the first club to win a VFL Grand Final. It also achieved a total of eight VFL premierships between 1898 and 1944, and more recently three VAFA promotions in 2009, 2012 and 2018.
He played his best football in 1949, as a centre half-forward, polling eight Brownlow Medal votes to finish as North Melbourne's third best vote getter. [2] This was despite missing the last six rounds of the season due to an injury, which also kept him out of the finals series.
In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a centre half-back. Wayne Carey of the North Melbourne and Adelaide football clubs is often considered to be the greatest centre half-forward of all time.
Jeeves missed another 14 weeks of football in 1950 with an injured ankle but this time recovered before the finals and lined up at centre half-forward in the VFL Grand Final. [3] He had an uninterrupted season in 1951, playing all 18 games.
The 1950 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 23 September 1950. It was the 54th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1950 VFL season. The match, attended by 85,869 spectators, was won by Essendon by 38 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory.
During the 1954 season, having not played a game the previous year, Jeeves was granted a clearance to Moorabbin. [4]
Moorabbin Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, was the name of two distinct Australian rules football clubs which played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). The first club, founded in the early 20th century, joined the VFA in 1951 and played there until 1963 with great success; they played home matches at Moorabbin Oval and wore royal blue and white hooped jerseys. The second club played in the VFA from 1983 to 1987.
