1939 the Claremont Football Club photo of J Leonard on Claremont Oval.
JOHN JAMES LEONARD was born in Newcastle England and came to Western Australia as a young lad with his family. He commenced with Subiaco Club in 1922, when he was 19 years of age and played until 1930, playing 146 games for the club. He won the Sandover Medal in 1926 and then his second medal retrospectively for the 1929 medal after finishing second on a countback.
He was a member of the 1924 Premiership side and was their Fairest and Best winner from 1926 to 1930. Because of the Great Depression, he moved to Victoria in 1931 and coached Maryborough in the Ballarat League before taking on the role of captain and coach of the South Melbourne VFL Club in 1932. He played another 12 games in the VFL. In 1933 he returned to Perth and took over the coaching position at West Perth and won successive premierships in 1934 and 1935; and coached this club again in 1937.
He was then appointed as coach of Claremont in 1938 when he led the club to three successive premierships – 1938-1940. In 1941, he took the side into third place, but the side was defeated in the first semi-final by South Fremantle. He was appointed as coach again in 1946 after the War for one season. Unfortunately, his business interests kept him away and most the coaching was undertaken by Jack Reeves . Leonard coached Claremont for 1938 – 40 and in 1946.
During his coaching for the first 4 years, he coached for 70 games for 50 wins 1 draw and 19 losses for a success ratio of 71.4%. However, his final year as coach was unsuccessful, winning only 3 of the 19 games played – giving him a final success rate of 89 games, 53 wins 1 draw and 35 losses and 59.5%
These photos were put in album by player Jack Reeves and handed to his daughter.
