Full name Ernest Winfred Schunke Height/Weight 169 cm Name Ernie Schunke | Original team(s) Carlton Districts Years Club | |
Date of birth (1882-10-26)26 October 1882 Date of death 6 November 1922(1922-11-06) (aged 40) |
Ernest Winfred 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.
Biography
The son of August Henry Schunke, a butcher, Ernest grew up with three siblings, Charlie, Eddie and Rose.
Schunke was a boundary umpire for 11 games in the 1904 VFL season. It was the year that the VFL introduced boundary umpires.
Although Schunke came from Carlton Districts and had a brother Charlie that played for Carlton, it was with Richmond that he made his six appearances as a player. He played in the final six rounds of the 1909 VFL season.
He was killed in a work accident at the James Moore and Son's timber yards in South Melbourne on 6 November 1922. A cutting knife from a shaping machine which had come loose flew through the air and struck him just above the heart.
Schunke had a wife Nellie and two childen, Joy and Ivy.