Jack McMurray Sr.

Jack McMurray Sr. (21 September 1889 – 16 July 1988) was a leading Australian rules football field umpire in the Victorian Football League (VFL) in the early twentieth century.

McMurray was born in Port Melbourne, Victoria in 1889.

His father, Arch, played for Port Melbourne Football Club and South Melbourne Football Club during the 1880s. He also represented Victoria.

Jack showed a keen interest in football. He began umpiring in the South Suburban competition aged 16, but the next year decided that he wanted to play, so joined the Rosedale juniors at Port Melbourne.

He found the going tough by virtue of his very slight physique (155 cm and 50 kg) and in 1908 he returned to umpiring and officiated in the Metropolitan Junior Association.

Three years later, his progression found him umpiring in the Victorian Junior Association and in 1913 he was appointed to the Victorian Football Association (VFA). In 1914 he handled the First Semi-Final and two weeks later the Grand Final between North Melbourne and Footscray. In 1915 he umpired through the home and away season but could not dislodge Tom Kendall who umpired all three finals matches that year.

With the VFA competition suspended during World War I, he moved to the rival Victorian Football League (VFL) (the VFL renamed Australian Football League (AFL) in 1991).

In 1917 he umpired his first match, Fitzroy versus Richmond, at the Brunswick Street Oval, on Monday 4 June 1917.

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