John Flintoff was a well-known referee in Sydney football. He lived at Watson’s Bay, just inside the entrance to Sydney Harbour where he worked for some years on the harbour pilot’s boat Captain Cook. He had previously worked on a number of lighthouses on the South Coast of New South Wales.
Flintoff enlisted in 1914 and served with the 4th Battalion. He was killed in action on 1 May 1915, just a few days after landing at Gallipoli.