VALE: JAMES ‘JIMMY’ SPOTSWOOD: SEP 1923 – JUNE 2023
Our oldest living former Shark official, the much-loved James ‘Jimmy’ Spotswood, has passed away at the ripe old age of 99 years & 9 months. His aim had been to get to the Century mark in September but he ‘did a Bradman’ and left the game with an average score of 99.9.
Jim was one of those many family-orientated Returned Servicemen from the Beauy RSL who was there in the early days to support his only son ‘Jimmy Junior’ in the early days of the Beauy Football Club. Below is a photo of Jim standing second from right as Team Manager of the first-ever U/17 Premiership team in 1972.
Jim was also well regarded as a Returned Serviceman who had joined the Navy when he turned 18 in 1941 and saw action in the following years. Like many other Returned Service Personnel, he bought his block of land at the October 1951 Land Auction conducted after the Sandringham Council had vetoed the plans of the American owned company, Dunlop Rubber & Sporting Goods P/L, to turn the 450 acres of prime land they owned throughout Beaumaris into an Industrial Park containing factories and workers cottages. This land was required to ease the post-war demand for residential land and Jimmy secured his block in Balcombe Road and built a home there in which he lived for more than sixty years.
Below is Jimmy (front seat) nd two of his RSL mates (Jack Farrington & John Douglas) waiting to be driven to the 2019 Anzac Day March as a sprightly 95-year-old in 2019. All three veterans have now passed on.
