Jack Worrall - Journalism and Other Achievements

Journalism and Other Achievements

Worrall was a driving force behind the creation of the Australian Football Council (AFC) in 1905. Formed as the peak body of Australian football, the organisation initially took control of the rules of the game and organised the first interstate carnival between the Australian states and New Zealand in 1908. Worrall was elected as one of the Victorian delegates. In 1909, the Victorian Cricket Association (VCA) made Worrall coach of the state's colts team, which played at district level and was designed to develop young talent.

Beginning his journalism career with the Sydney Referee after his retirement from playing cricket, Worrall expanded his involvement in the press during Essendon's hiatus from the VFL in 1916. He joined the Australasian, and wrote on both sports. John Ritchie, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, described his writing thus:

For over twenty years his columns were characterized by poised sentences and rich vocabulary; for all its partisanship, his direct prose was spiced with comparison, reminiscence and prediction, and conveyed a sense of drama.

In the 1930s, he was the senior man in the press box, and many attribute the coining of the phrase "bodyline" (describing the English bowling tactics on their 1932–1933 Australian tour) to Worrall. He died in the Melbourne suburb of Fairfield, early in the 1937–1938 cricket season, survived by his wife; the couple had one child, a daughter, Doris Lilian. The flags at the MCG, the scene of so many of his sporting triumphs, flew at half mast during a Sheffield shield match in honour of Worrall. His funeral at Heidelberg attracted a massive crowd of former footballers, cricketers, journalists and administrators.

In 1996 Worrall's outstanding contributions to the game of Australian rules football were recognised when he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame as a player.