Ernest Wilfred Schunke (26 October 1882 – 6 November 1922) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He has the unusual distinction of having been a VFL umpire, before his VFL playing career.
Family The son of August Henry Schunke (1850–1928),Deaths: Schunke, The Argus, (Saturday, 3 March 1928), p.17; The Human Interest: Wills and Estates, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 2 June 1928), p.9. a butcher,Judicial and Law Notices (Christiana Dorathea Schunke), The Argus, (Tuesday, 2 April 1895), p.3. and Elizabeth Schunke, née Coleman, Ernest grew up with three siblings, Charles Henry Schunke (1879–1924) who played for Carlton, Edwin James (1887–1974), and Rose Elizabeth Langstreth (1885–1940), née Schunke.
He married Helena Francesca "Nellie" Spackman in 1913. They had two children: Joy and Ivy.
Football Umpire Schunke was a boundary umpire for 11 games in the 1904 VFL season. It was the year that the VFL introduced boundary umpires.
Richmond Recruited by Richmond from Carlton Districts, he played in the final six rounds of the 1909 VFL season.
Death He was killed almost instantaneously in a work accident at the James Moore and Son's timber yards in South Melbourne on 6 November 1922,Deaths: Schunke, The Argus, (Tuesday, 7 November 1922), p.1. when a cutting knife from a shaping machine, which had come loose, flew through the air and struck him just above the heart.A Machine Fatality: Steel Fragment Pierces Workman's Chest, The Age, (Tuesday, 7 November 1922), p.8; Latest News, The Horsham Times, (Tuesday, 7 November 1922), p.5.Struck to the Heart: Timber Worker Killed by Cutter, The Herald, (Thursday, 23 November 1922), p.4; Timber Mill Fatality: Question of Machine Guards, The Argus, (Friday, 24 November 1922), p.7; Fatality at Timber Works: Steel Cutter Penetrates Man's Body, The Age, (Friday, 24 November 1922), p.11.
Footnotes
References Hogan P: The Tigers Of Old, Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996.
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