Lindsay Jones - the man behind the name

No doubt that one of the most prestigious trophies awarded by the club each year is the best clubman award first presented in 1994 and named after former player Lindsay Jones.

To the vast majority of players both current and past the name Lindsay Jones would not mean a great deal, only 22 games over 3-4 seasons, with 78 runs@ 5.6 , 2 wickets @35 and hands of stone in the field Lindsay was a scrubber in every sense of the word but that didn’t deter or worry him one little bit, he was always happy to fill in if one of the lower sides were short and would bring his kit every week while scoring for the First XI just in case, he would be one of the first at training and believe me back in those days not many got to training early as mats had to be laid and nets erected but Jonesy loved it, he would be field for hours not caring if he got a bat or a bowl. Brought to the club by great mate Ray Storey, Lindsay was never one to hog the limelight, in fact most would have had no idea of the things he did around the club, the little things that just seemed to get done , he was very quiet but once you to know him he would open right up and freely hang shit on you if you’d failed with either bat or ball or dropped a catch and would make sure the returning teams knew as soon as they walked in the door. His 2 great loves were the Essendon footy club and showing his Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs, sadly he passed away a week before the Bombers won the ‘85 flag at the young age of 37, Lindsay wouldn’t be comfortable with the fact that an award has been named after him, I reckon he would tell you he was doing nothing special and it certainly wasn’t a chore, he was an important part of the fabric of the club back in the early 80’s.
*Thanks to Gary Irons for this background on Lindsay Jones, and to Warwick Nolan for the picture, taken out side the old rooms looking toward Ormond Road. The house in the background was occupied by the park groundskeeper, where the soccer club building now sits.