Full Name: RAY HALL
Date of Birth: 27/10/1980
Height: 196 cm
Weight: 96 kg
Guernsey: 20/37
Debut: 27/08/1999, Round 22, Carlton
Last Game: 26/08/2006, Round 21, Essendon
RICHMOND SENIORS
Seasons: 1999, 2001-2006
Total Games: 99
Total Goals: 28
BIOGRAPHY
Ray Hall grew up in New South Wales and played football for Balmain Tigers before moving to Woy Woy where he was selected in the NSW- ACT U/18 Representative team . Ray was drafted by Richmond with pick 79 in the 1998 AFL National Draft . Ray played his first senior game with Richmond in Round 22 on 27th August 1999 against Carlton. It was an interesting debut for Ray apart from his own game , and one he will never forget. Firstly it was Jeff Geischen’s last game as Senior Coach and the Tiger change rooms had been taken over pre-game by over 200 chanting Tiger Cheer squad members who all wanted to say goodbye to ‘ The Geisch ‘ , the Cheer squad having often raised the chant ‘ release the Geisch ‘. Also in the rooms were Leon Daphne the Richmond Football
Club President who was in fact presiding over his last game and with him guests Wayne Jackson the CEO of the AFL and an international Ford Motor Co Human Resources executive who was Leon Daphne‘s guest at the request of Geoff Polites , Ford Motor Co Australia President , Geoff also umpired 30 senior games of then VFL football in the early 1970’s ,and was a life member and passionate supporter of the Sydney Swans and was sometimes involved in match day duties. The enthusiasm of the
cheer squad members created a noisy and emotional atmosphere , the players had to be escorted away from the change rooms for the Coach’s final words and when they went to leave the rooms to go onto the ground the had to push through the chanting and cheering cheer squad members.
The start of the game will be remembered with players of both teams having made their way onto the ground and were warming up when the electronic scoreboard at the city end of the ground caught on fire ( later confirmed as an electrical fault) . Firstly it was a small blaze then developed quickly into a fire burning the height of the scoreboard. The situation was initially chaotic, but security and police quickly evacuated the Ponsford stand and people were moved onto the ground to avoid the actual fire and the sparks and smoke it was creating. The Fire Brigade arrived and connecting a hose to a water outlet near the scoreboard ,
quickly extinguished the fire and the smoke started to disperse. In the meantime the players of both teams returned to the change rooms , in the Tigers case without the cheer squad. Leon Daphne with Wayne Jackson were returning to their seats when they were alerted to the fire and Wayne hurried to see what he could do to assist those managing the situation .
The people evacuated from the Ponsford stand were given seats in the MCC members and AFL members . The players returned to the field and the game started at 8:05 pm.
Ray found himself part of a victorious Tiger team who scored an 11 point win over the more fancied Carlton team , placing Carlton’s finals spot in jeopardy . Carlton were to make the finals beating the great Essendon team by a kick in the Preliminary final but losing to North Melbourne in the Grand Final.
After his first senior game at the end of 1999 Ray did not play another senior game until Round 1 2001. Ray became a regular player in the senior team in 2001 playing 17 games including the Richmond finals campaign which finished with a preliminary Final loss to Brisbane Lions. Ray continued to play consistently for the senior team playing a total of 99 games . Ray missed the whole of the 2007 season with a crippling hip injury which led to his retirement from AFL football After football Ray started an interesting career , firstly going to Papua New Guinea as a sponsored volunteer in the Australian Youth Ambassadors of Development ( AYAD ) assisting in sports development in PNG , coaching PNG’s U/18 AFL football team , the Kupundas. Ray
returned to Australia in 2010 , joining the Department of Treasury . In 2012 he joined the Department of Foreign Affairs . He received postings to Afghanistan , Jordon where he played for the Amman Saracens at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby Sevens in 2014 and 2015. Ray was posted to the Solomon Islands in 2018.
PRE RICHMOND
Balmain ; Woy Woy ; NSW/ACT U/18. Joined Richmond with Richmond's draft selection pick78 overall in 1998 National Draft.
POST RICHMOND
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