John Bonney is a former Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda. A wingman recruited from the small Tasmanian club Cooee, Bonney played in the St Kilda grand final team of 1971. As an aspiring young player, he rang Collingwood hoping for a game, but was turned away. Wanting to play with a strong team, he then called St Kilda (Who played in the 1966 Grand Final), and surprisingly was accepted and played from the bench in the first game. In a career that was riddled with injuries, his nose was broken a total of 9 times, and he had a near fatal injury in which his spleen was punctured by a kick to the stomach. He missed the 1970 and 1974 seasons due to family reasons, and turned down offers from other clubs to stick with St Kilda.

Source

Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.