{"id":312332,"date":"2023-06-29T00:43:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T00:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=312332"},"modified":"2023-06-29T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T00:58:12","slug":"brilliant-and-brave-former-afl-commissioner-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=312332","title":{"rendered":"'Brilliant and brave' former AFL commissioner dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AFL<\/a> has paid tribute to former commissioner Graeme John, who died on Monday after a long battle with illness.<\/p>\n

John played 144-games in his top-level career for East Perth and South Melbourne, and won All Australian selection at the 1966 Carnival.<\/p>\n

After his playing career, he spent three seasons as coach for South Melbourne, and then another three years as club president.<\/p>\n

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Post footy, he became managing director of Australia Post, before he was appointed AFL commissioner in 2001, a role he would hold for the next decade.<\/p>\n

"Graeme John was a high-class centre half-forward who was good enough to win state selection in both WA and Victoria, before dedicating years of service to the game off-field in honorary roles at both club and senior AFL level," AFL Commission chair Richard Goyder said.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

"His vision as part of the AFL Commission helped drive the game's growth in Queensland and New South Wales, and built a powerful legacy for the competition we have today.<\/p>\n

"Our thoughts are with Di and children Rebecca, Andrea and Gareth at this terribly sad time for them."<\/p>\n

John was also a gun cricketer, and was selected in WA's Sheffield Shield side before turning his focus to footy.<\/p>\n

He remained a passionate Bloods supporter through their relocation to Sydney.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Sydney Swans Team of the Century fullback John Heriot \u2013 who was teammates with John and a longstanding friend \u2013 described him as a "brilliant and brave" player.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/sydneyswans\/status\/1673905630334308353<\/a><\/p>\n

"He was a really good friend. And I had the privilege and pleasure of having him as a teammate during his career at the club," Heriot said.<\/p>\n

"He was a great player in the hardest position of the field. Brilliant and brave.<\/p>\n

"At the same time, he was a terrific clubman. He was not only an accomplished singer but a very funny joke-teller. He was always welcoming of new players to the club and all our younger aspiring footballers.<\/p>\n

"I was proud he was my mate."<\/p>\n

John's death came just hours after former Fitzroy champion and renowned recruiter Matthew Rendell\ufeff suffered a fatal heart attack while walking his dog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The AFL has paid tribute to former commissioner Graeme John, who died on Monday after a long battle with illness. John played 144-games in his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":312334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312335,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312332\/revisions\/312335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/312334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}