John 'Snoozer' Elford

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
John Thomas Elford
Nickname(s)
Snoozer
Born
Sunday, 30th March, 1947
Died
Sunday, 4th February, 2024 (Aged 76 years and 311 days)
Place Of Birth
Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia

Known Family Links

Cousin
Terry Elford

Biography

Casino product, and a beach sprint champion, came to Wests as a winger in 1966 but shifted to the forwards with great success. John Elford's promising career was constantly interrupted by a spate of broken arm injuries. A great defender and confident ball-player, Elford played for NSW in 1972 before giving a mature display in Australia's Test series win against the Kiwis. After scoring two tries in the 31-7 Second Test thrashing of NZ in Brisbane he was a member of Australia's World Cup squad at the end of that year but broke his arm in a qualifying match in France. Elford missed the entire 1973 season and further injuries eventually resulted in his retirement in 1978.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Additional Notes

John's birthday is wrongly reported as 1 March 1947 it has been verified as 30 March 1947.

John grew up in Frederickton just North of Kempsey in NSW and played for Smithtown in the NSW Group 2 competition where he played as captain/coach following his retirement from Wests in the NSWRL.

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions
Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 116 14 -   - 42 56 56 4 48.28% List
Craven Mild Cup 22 2 -   - 6 7 12 3 31.82% List
Tour Matches Western Suburbs Magpies 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Endeavour Cup 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Interstate Matches 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches Australia 4 2 -   - 6 3 1 0 75.00% List
Test Series 2 2 -   - 6 2 0 0 100.00% List
World Cup 2 - -   - - 1 1 0 50.00% List
NRL Finals 3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
National Panasonic Cup 1 1 -   - 3 1 0 0 100.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1972 4 2 -   - 6 3 1 0 75.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1972 2 - -   - - 1 1 0 50.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW City Seconds 1968, 1972 2 1 -   - 3 2 0 0 100.00% List
NSW Firsts 1972 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1968-1972 3 1 0   0 3 3 0 0 100.00% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1966 13 1 -   - 3 9 4 0 69.23% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1967 6 2 -   - 6 4 2 0 66.67% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1968 19 5 -   - 15 12 7 0 63.16% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1970 15 2 -   - 6 4 10 1 26.67% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1971 11 - -   - - 1 10 0 9.09% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1972 20 3 -   - 9 8 11 1 40.00% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1974 24 1 -   - 3 13 10 1 54.17% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1975 3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1976 5 - -   - - 3 1 1 60.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Western Suburbs 1966-68, 1970-72, 1974-76 116 14 -   - 42 56 56 4 48.28% List

Your Say

  • Gary Osullivan
    15/05/2017

    One of the greatest and toughest players. A gentlemen off the field and a legend on it.

  • Ed
    14/03/2020

    Played for Smithtown after leaving Wests.

  • Ed
    08/09/2021

    Played for Smithtown after leaving West’s.

  • Ed
    25/01/2024

    His last game for Wests was in round one of the 1976 Amco Cup against Inter Monaro. He scored a try but broke his arm again.
    Is also related to Terry Elford who played for Newtown in 1977.

  • Anonymous
    05/02/2024

    Passed away 4 February 2024

    • Want to have your say about this player? Add a comment.

Contributions: Paul Carter, Greg Fiveash, Max Turner, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, AJ Lucantonio