Johnny Leonard

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Johnny Leonard
A tall, fair-skinned man looking at the camera with dark, slicked-back hair, leaning to one side. He is wearing a sleeveless, collared shirt with a red top half and blue bottom half, with “FC” in capital letters emblazoned across the front. He is wearing white shorts, knee-high socks and boots, standing against an out-of-focus background with trees and other players visible. The photograph is sepia-toned.
Johnny Leonard training, c. 1926
Personal information
Full name John Leonard
Nickname(s) Johnny
Date of birth (1903-06-08)June 8, 1903
Date of death Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Height/Weight 173 cm / 68 kg
Position(s) Rover
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1922–30
1932		 Subiaco
South Melbourne
Total		 146 (??)
12 (17)
158 (17+)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1931
1932
1934-35, 1937
1938-41, 1946		 Maryborough
South Melbourne
West Perth
Claremont		 ?? (??)
19 (13–6–0)
66 (43–22–1)
109 (65–43–1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1932 season.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1946.
Career highlights

John “Johnny” Leonard (8 June 1903 – 3 May 1995) was a player and coach of Australian rules football in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and the Victorian Football League (later renamed to Australian Football League) in the period 1922 to 1946.

He was born in England.

Playing career

A slightly built (173 cm, 68 kg) and very quick rover with brilliant skills, Leonard played in Subiaco Football Club’s 1924 premiership side. He was Subiaco’s Best and Fairest player five times. He played 158 senior club games and represented his State 25 times.

He won the Sandover Medal in 1926 (the first English-born player to do so) and was awarded a retrospective medal for the 1929 season after finishing second on a countback. Prior to 1930 only one vote per game was given by the umpire, and a countback was not possible; the WAFL president would cast a deciding vote to decide the winner. Both Leonard and William (Billy) Thomas of East Perth Football Club polled the umpire’s vote in five matches.

With the Great Depression limiting employment options, Leonard moved to Victoria in 1931, coaching Maryborough in the Ballarat Football League, then in 1932 being appointed as Captain-Coach of South Melbourne.

Playing career highlights:

  • 158 games (146 Subiaco, 12 South Melbourne)
  • Subiaco captain 1930
  • Subiaco fairest and best 1926 to 1930
  • Subiaco premiership player 1924
  • Sandover medal 1926 and 1929 (retrospective)
  • 25 state games for Western Australia

Coaching career

Leonard coached over only nine seasons but with a great deal of success, securing five WANFL premierships. He coached South Melbourne for the 1932 season, taking it to its first finals campaign in almost a decade. He is credited with laying the groundwork for the “foreign legion” team which won the 1933 VFL premiership, recruiting leading WANFL players such as his Subiaco team mates Brighton Diggins and Bill Faul.

Returning to Perth in 1933 for employment, he embarked on a further successful coaching period. He steered West Perth Football Club to successive premierships in 1934 and 1935. Leonard was asked to return to South Melbourne at the end of 1936,[1] but business prevented him moving to Victoria. Staying in Perth, Leonard coached West Perth for another season, and then moved to coach a highly talented Claremont team to three consecutive premierships. After World War II, Leonard was again appointed as Claremont coach for the 1946 season after no one else could be found, but business commitments meant he had to leave most of the work to deputy Jack Reeves and the Tigers won only three matches.[2] Seven years later, Leonard was asked at the age of fifty to re-take the coaching reins at South Melbourne, but his business in a football-making factory took up all of his time and he could not accept.[3]

Leonard was inducted to the Australian Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1996 – one year after his death.

References

  1. ↑ Main, Jim; The Encyclopedia of AFL Coaches: Every AFL/VFL Coach Since 1904; p. 133 ISBN 9781921496271
  2. ↑ Casey, Kevin; The Tigers’ Tale: the origins and history of the Claremont Football Club; p. 58 ISBN 0646264982
  3. ↑ Main; The Encyclopedia of AFL Coaches, p. 157
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External links

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