Jason "Goalsneak" Stratford
A Man for All Seasons. Adelaide's Jason Stratford marks against the Swans
"... I regret to announce the premature retirement of one of our truly, greatest champions - Jason Stratford. I can report now, that the rumours circulating the media over the last week of a possible High Profile Adelaide player moving to another sport are true. This morning Strat’s informed me of his heart wrenching decision to leave the Crows and pursue his new passion – International figure skating".
Those were the unforgettable and shocking words of Crows coach Malcolm Blight to a packed media conference at Football Park at the start of the 1999 footy season. As one sport lost a true champion of the game, another sport gained one.
With Jase’s recent triumph in the Winter Olympics and as his former AFL club formulate a new run at the Premiership flag it seems only fitting to take a look back at this young man’s illustrious yet diverse career.
As a young man growing up in the shadow of the Adelaide Hills, from an early age Stratford’s family knew he was destined for greatness. His Aunt Merill said recently…oh he was a feisty little youngster. He was always leaping around the place. I couldn’t keep him still. He used to love jumping up on the top of the Hills hoist and swinging around like he was flying through the air or something. Next door neighbor "Bruiser" McGavin remembers…Yeah he used to play with me young son Shane…even at a young age Jase knew how to handle a large pair of balls…sorry, I mean a large ball, ..footy, you know what I mean.
In the mad football town of Adelaide, it wasn’t long before Jase had taken up, and began to dominate Aussie Rules Football. As a sprightly 15 year old in 1986 he burst onto the scene as full forward for Norwood. Coach Neil Balme recalls…He was a freak from an early age. Loved to get into the packs and grapple with the opposition…also loved to take a speckie and ham it up to the crowds. Didn’t mind a goal either…
So much so, through season 1987 to 1990, Jase headed the SANFL goal-kicking table. His career seemingly culminating with the Magarey medal in 1990. But better things were yet to come.
With the formation of the Adelaide Crows, Jase burst onto the AFL scene by winning the Crows goalkicking award in their first season of 1991. He went onto maintain the top goalkicking award in 1991 and the local yobbo’s loved it.
Percy Johnson from Norwood recalls. I’ve followed his career ever since he was a youngster in the SANFL. Oh he was great up front that Jason. He probably could have been a star playing from the backline too, but he was just too good upfront.
This never diminished his fan base though, and few people in the crowd at Footy Park could forget his amazing contribution to football in Adelaide. Quotes- Tony Modra. I was always jealous of Jase. Sure, I may have had the flowing blonde locks, the tight muscular body and the permanent tan, but the fans still loved him...Not just the chicks but I think even a fair few of the fellas as well.
Jase was bamboozled by the high flying moves and the flexibility of the troupe. Yeah I remember that night clearly, recalls Andrew McGuiness. Jase stayed behind with the troupe for about 2 hours after training to swap moves and techniques with them. Jase used to love his high flying marks on the footy field, I guess it wasn’t much different to one of those dancers/skater , whatever they are, doing one of their big rotation moves…
It wasn't long after being introduced to these members of the International Ice Skating Organization that Stratford developed a lot of new traits on the footy field. In particular, he quickly began a pattern of always looking towards where he believed the judges to be seated and flashing a confident smile, even when the ball was nowhere near him.
The Crows coaching staff had noticed the difference but did not appreciate it. They had finally had enough when, despite a humiliating loss to Collingwood, Jason persisted in displaying a "winning" smile as he strolled from the field.
The infamous smirk that led to Jase's footy retirement.
Still, Jase’s showboating began to become a problem, and soon his stat’s began to drop as his interest in the game declined. Every game, Strat’s would go for speckie after speckie. However, the fans didn’t seem to appreciate that, what looked like awkward landings as he came down were in fact perfect triple sow cows.
The start of Jase's new career.
His teammates began to notice the difference too. Said Nigel Smart…when McLeod and I shaved our heads and asked Jase to join in, he didn’t want a bar of it. Said it would affect his chances down at the Heaven Nightclub just off Rundle Mall. I had my doubts though. That excuse just seemed like a load of crap. We knew then that Footy was no longer for him.
A decision on his career was looming. Despite 5 top 3 finish’s in the Crows B&F awards during his career, it was always the goal kicking title that inspired him onwards. It was a final shattering blow in what was to be his penultimate season in 1998, that despite the departure of Modra, Jase still finished 1 goal short on the Crows goal kicking. This time to Darren Jarman. So despite a triumphant premiership season, his final decision was made. With his heart wrenching between a new career in Figure Skating and that in Football, he chose the former.
Football’s loss was figure skating’s gain however as Jase’s flair for the sport was as intense as his early football career at Norwood. He was a phenomenon on the domestic scene. Taking out the Australian Championships in Ballarat in his first year of Competitive skating in 1999. (He later triumphed in the 2000 and 2001 championships). Only a year later he finished a competitive second in the 2000 World’s to the "Crusher from Russia" skating superstar Igor Sonovabich.
Despite numerous titles from events all over the world, his new career hit its highest peek during his amazing run at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Few Australian’s who had stayed up until 2 am will now forget that phenomenal moment where Jase pulled off the first competitive Triple Sow Cow, Quadruple axil, Triple Sow Cow combination to seal the gold. For weeks the local catch-cry of Australians and especially South Australians was "where were you when Jase did the Triple-Quaddie-Triple"…
Stratford after landing his famous Triple-Quaddie-Triple.
Long time rival, Canadian Elvis Stojko admitted… he revolutionized men’s figure skating. His decision to switch from the traditional long tights to the tight footy shorts was a hit with both the fans and the judges from the very first instance. I had no idea the meat and two vege could be packed so tightly into a pair of shorts. I have no doubt that tightness helps him get the height he needs to pull of those winning combinations. It always puts a smile on my face when I see him strutting his very public stuff on the rink…
If he wasn’t a national icon before, he is now. On his triumphant return from the Winter Olympics, immediate calls were made in his home town of Adelaide to erect a new statue in his honour. The hope was the fans from around the country who would normally have come for the Grand Prix would instead flock to the City of Chruches to pay homage to the great man’s statue.
The vote was a unanimous "yes". However, there was much debate as to how it should look. Both his old, but still very loyal footy fans had one idea, whilst his ever increasing national figure skating fans had another idea. So in true South Australian spirit, they settled for a compromise….and so, in the middle of Rundle Mall there is now a 20 foot statue of Jase decked out in his tight figure skating kit (with skates on) taking a screamer over an opponent with the footy in his hand...
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