Raymond Clarence "Slug" Jordon (17 February 1937 – 13 August 2012) was an Australian

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who represented Victoria in the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

and toured with the Australian national cricket team. He was also a successful

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

coach and acted as both reserves and under-19s coach at various clubs in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Universally known as "Slug", his nickname arose as a result of an incident during his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

Puckapunyal Puckapunyal (more formally the Puckapunyal Military Area, but also known as the Puckapunyal Camp or Puckapunyal Army Base, and colloquially as "Pucka") is an Australian Army training facility and base 10 km west of Seymour, Victoria, Seym ...

.Never a punch pulled
/ref>

Family

His father, Clarence Charles Lewis "Clarrie" Jordon (1909-1965) played VFL football with Richmond, and VFA football with Prahran.

Career

Jordon took a total of 230 dismissals in the Sheffield Shield and 283 for all first-class matches. His tally at both Shield and first-class level remained a Victorian record until surpassed by his replacement Richie Robinson, who himself was later bettered by Darren Berry. In 1970/71 he managed a career best ten dismissals in a match against South Australia at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

. His only first-class hundred was an innings of 134, also against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, in the 1963/64 Sheffield Shield. The South Australian bowling attack was led by Gary Sobers and while he ran through Victoria's batting lineup with six second innings wickets, Jordon resisted with a century before falling LBW to Neil Hawke. The wicket-keeper captained Victoria in five Sheffield Shield matches during his career, three of them in the 1968/69 season. Jordon came close to playing

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

, touring both

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1969/70 as a standby for

Brian Taber Hedley Brian Taber (29 April 1940 – 21 July 2023) was an Australian cricketer who played in 16 Test matches as a wicket-keeper from 1966 to 1970. He represented New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States ...

. Although he appeared in four of Australia's first-class warm up matches in India and six in South Africa, Jordon was not required for any of the Tests. According to

Ashley Mallett Ashley Alexander Mallett (13 July 1945 – 29 October 2021) was an Australian cricketer who played in 38 Tests and 9 One Day Internationals between 1968 and 1980. Until Nathan Lyon, he was Australia's most successful off spin bowler since Worl ...

's biography of

Ian Chappell Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. Known as "Chappelli", he is considered as one of the greatest captains the game has seen.

, ''Chappelli Speaks Out'',

Bill Lawry William Morris Lawry (born 11 February 1937) is an Australian former cricketer and commentator who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Test matches, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia ...

was considering selecting Jordon to play in the fourth test instead of Taber because of the former's superior batting. Chappell said he would not play in the side if Jordon was picked because the wicketkeeper was a cheat. This was based on an incident during a game on the recent Indian tour when Australia was playing South Zone. E. A. S. Prasanna was facing Alan Connolly with Jordon standing up to the stumps – he appeared to miss the ball and his off stump was knocked forward. Jordon appealed and Prasanna eventually walked but Chappell believed the ball had missed Prasanna's stumps and rebounded off Jordon's pads to break the wicket – and that Jordon knew this. Jordon played his district cricket for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

(one season), Carlton (ten seasons) and Fitzroy (five seasons). He also was captain/coach of the Dandenong Cricket Club in the VSDCA in the early 1970s.

Football

During his early sporting years, Jordon was also an Australian rules football player, and he appeared in 96 matches for the Coburg Football Club in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

, also serving as captain at the club for a time. He was a highly regarded player, and several

clubs were interested in recruiting him, but he retired from playing in 1962 to concentrate on cricket. He was later a higher successful minor grade coach. Jordon led clubs at under-19 and reserve level, spending time at , , , , as well as

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

club Central/Prahran Dragons. Known for his colourful language and direct approach, Jordon had particular success with Melbourne's and Richmond's under-19s. He was credited with thirteen premierships from sixteen grand final appearances during his minor grade coaching career. While he was in charge of the reserves at

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

he was called up to coach the seniors for a

game in 1976 because

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi (27 February 1936 – 16 September 2023) was an Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the greatest and most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player ...

was unavailable.Barassi, Jordan Team Up Again, ''The Canberra Times'', (Tuesday, 28 October 1980), p.16.
/ref> A parody of Jordon, named Jay "Grub" Gordon, appears in the Specky Magee series of novels written by former Melbourne player Garry Lyon and author Felice Arena.

References

External links

*
All The Stats: Ray JordanDemon Wiki profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordon, Ray 1937 births 2012 deaths Australian cricketers Victoria cricketers North Melbourne Football Club coaches Coburg Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Cricketers from Melbourne Wicket-keepers Australian rules football coaches Richmond cricketers Fitzroy cricketers 20th-century Australian sportsmen