The 1920s had a number of footy card sets produced by a range of different companies. Four of these sets came from tobacconist JJ Schuh, who also produced cards pertaining to cinema stars, horse racing and war, promoting their Magpie Cigarettes brand.

The football cards have proved very popular in recent years, but there has been inconsistencies across the 4 sets in terms of the year they were each produced.

The 4 sets are known loosely as:

  • Rays (commonly listed as 1921 or 1925)
  • Action (commonly listed as 1922 or 1920)
  • Portraits (commonly listed as 1923 or 1925)
  • Ovals (commonly listed as 1925 or 1922)

We have been performing a lot of research around the various players, looking at who was listed in which set when, and cross-referencing against their player history, to provide a bit more clarity around the release dates.

JJ Schuh Rays

Looking at the first 2 players in the set gives strong insights into when this release came out. Barney Carr (card #1 in the set) played for St Kilda from 1921-1929. As he has a Rays card, this release cannot be earlier than that.

Robert Curtayne (card #2) also played for the Saints, between 1920-21, then retired. He has a Rays card, confirming that this release must be 1921. (He also has an Action card, which we will discuss below).

JJ Schuh Action

Horrie Clover debuted in round 2, 1920 for Carlton. Rupert Hiskins and Maurice Beasy also debuted in 1920. Yet they all have cards in the set. Carlton only had 7 players in the set. Would JJ Schuh have included 3 players who have just debuted? If so, then it is also highly likely the cards were printed once the season was underway. If not, then this set can’t be before 1921.

Charlie Canet played for Carlton from 1916-21 yet he has a card in this set. So, unless he was going to play in 1922 then didn’t, and JJ Schuh had already printed these cards, then the Action set is no later than 1921. Based on the Beasy/Clover inclusion, it’s likely the cards weren’t printed until later, so Canet would NOT be included in a 1922 release, hence meaning the set is no later than 1921.

Percy Ogden retired from Essendon in 1921 and played Northcote in 1922. Yet he has an Action card for the Bombers, reconfirming this set is 1921 at the latest.

Robert Curtayne has an Action card and as mentioned above, played for St Kilda in 1920-21. So his Action card must be from one of these years.

Billy Schmidt has an Action card, for St Kilda. However he finished with the Saints in 1920 and played with Richmond in 1921, his last ever season. He only played 4 games with Richmond then transferred to Warracknabeal. Was that a last minute thing and JJ Schuh had already made his Saints card for 1921? Or are these cards from 1920. The latter is more likely.

Norm Becton debuted for Essendon in 1921 which would imply his Action card can’t be earlier than that. However, he DID play for Essendon in the association for the couple of years prior. And based on other findings, VFA and SA players were included across other JJ Schuh sets, so it’s highly likely the Becton card is of his Association team.

JJ Schuh Portraits

Les Kew Ming played for North Melbourne in the VFA in 1922 and 1923, breaking his collarbone in the latter season and ending his Kangaroos career. He has a portraits card, meaning this release is from 1922 and 1923 (ruling out 1925). This also reaffirms that JJ Schuh included VFA players in their releases.

kew ming jj schuh portraits

Dave McNamara (St Kilda) and Percy Parratt (Fitzroy) both have a Portraits card and both finished their careers in 1923, meaning this is the latest year the set was released.

George Bolt played for Carlton in 1922-23 and has a Portraits card, further verifying the release is from one of those years.

Another clue that this set might have been from 1922 is that the cards look very similar the “War” set and Cinema Stars set from JJ Schuh, which were released in 1922.

James (Jim Tarbotton) has a Portraits card and debuted for Fitzroy in 1923. So does this rule out the set being from 1922, or could he have played VFA in 1922 for the Lions? We have found an article in the historical archives from 18th August, 1922 showing that Sydneysiders were upset that their star player Tarbotton was being recruited to Fitzroy for the following season. Which means Tarbotton was in the NSW league in 1922 and thus his Fitzroy Portraits card MUST be 1923.

Jim Tarbotton’s card is one of the keys to confirming the year JJ Schuh released their Portraits set.

C Hall (who we had identified as Clarrie Hall) initial threw another spanner in the works for us. Clarrie played for Richmond between 1912-22 and 3 more games in 1924. So we thought this ruled 1923 out as he has a Portrait card as he didn’t play that year. Then it turns out C Hall in the Portraits set played for North Melbourne, and wasn’t Clarrie after all. And we have confirmed this C Hall was in fact captain of the Kangaroos in 1923, making this year still the most feasible. Although we still don’t know his first name!

JJ Schuh Oval

Ernie McAlpine played for Carlton in 1924-25. He has an Oval card, meaning this release is from one of those years.

Eric Cock played for Collingwood between 1922 and 1924. Meaning the Oval card is almost definitely 1924.

Stan Molan played for Fitzroy between 1918 and 1924. He has an Oval card, reaffirming 1924 is the latest this release could be.

Others have stipulated that this release must be 1925 because of the presence of Footscray, North Melbourne and Hawthorn. But we have discovered that players from those teams featured actually played VFA in 1924, and that JJ Schuh has definitely included VFA players in their releases. Con McCarthy played for Footscray VFL in 1925 and 1926, and has an Ovals card. Yet he also played VFA for Footscray in 1923 and 1924, leading them to back to back premierships. So McCarthy’s Oval card is incredibly likely at his time in the VFA. Which means 1924 is the logical conclusion based on the other data we uncovered above.

Based on our findings it is highly likely the JJ Schuh sets were released as follows:

Action: 1920 (85% certainty)
The only other option is 1921, but this would mean JJ Schuh produced 2 sets in 1921, which is unlikely.

Rays: 1921 (99% certainty)

Portraits: 1923 (99% certainty)

Oval: 1924 (95% certainty)
The only other option is 1925 but that would rely on JJ Schuh producing cards of players who had retired the previous season, which is unlikely.

As these sets are now 100 years old, getting a definitive answer is tough.

Is it possible JJ Schuh produced cards for players who didn’t end up playing that particular year? Possibly. But based on the likely inclusion of Carlton debutants in 1920, the cards were probably produced once the season was underway.

Is it possible the data of some players careers isn’t entirely accurate? Possibly. But again, we have to take it all at face value and go with the information we are presented.

What implications do our findings have?

The biggest implication is that the Action cards almost definitely pre-date the Rays cards, and we are updating our database to reflect this. Footy legend Roy Cazaly has a card in both sets, and prior to this research, it was thought his Rays card was his rookie card. Now it seems his Action card is his rookie card. As a players’ first card can fetch a premium value, this will have an impact on these.

Similarly, if the Ovals cards are actually 1924 and not 1925, which is now highly likely, players who had a “rookie card” in 1924 PALs Periodicals set will also see their Ovals card included as a rookie card. One such player is goal kicking champion Jack Moriarty.

Got any feedback or additional insights on JJ Schuh footy cards? We’d love to hear from you.