Harold Ball
Encyclopedia
Harold C. Ball was an Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 player for the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....

 in the Victorian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (VFL).

Ball was one of five Melbourne VFL players to serve and be killed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 (the others were Ron Barassi, Sr.
Ron Barassi, Sr.
Ronald James Barassi was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the VFL. His grandfather came from Italy and Ron was the father of Hall of Famer Ron Barassi, Jr. who was signed to the club under the Father-Son rule.Originally from Castlemaine, Barassi was a rover and made his...

, Keith Truscott
Keith Truscott
Keith William "Bluey" Truscott DFC & Bar was a World War II ace fighter pilot and Australian rules footballer with the Melbourne Football Club...

, Syd Anderson
Syd Anderson
Sydney Louis Anderson was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League.A wingman, Anderson was a premiership player in every one of his three VFL seasons....

 and John Atkins
Jack Atkins
Jack Atkins was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League . His father, Ernie, played VFL football for University. He was an able seaman on HMAS Perth during World War II when it was hit by a Japanese torpedo.-Sources:*Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim ....

).

Debuting for Melbourne in 1939 and wearing the number 11 jumper, the young ruckman
Ruckman (Australian rules football position)
In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...

 won the award for best first year player at the Demons, an award which was subsequently named in his honour – the Harold Ball Memorial Trophy. He played 20 games, kicking a total of 30 goals and receiving 3 Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...

 votes that year. He played in a VFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...

 and was part of Melbourne's winning premiership team.

Ball played a further 13 games in 1940, including another premiership, before he enlisted in the Army. He served in the 2/9 Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps. He was killed in active service during the Battle of Singapore
Battle of Singapore
The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of the Second World War when the Empire of Japan invaded the Allied stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in Southeast Asia and nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the East"...

 on 9 February 1942.

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