John (Jack) Greenbank was born in Kendall, Westmoreland, and had emigrated to Perth, WA, before joining the AIF in January 1915. He gave his age as 21 and his occupation as “labourer”. His next of kin was his mother who lived in Nelson, Lancs. He served with the Light Horse at Gallipoli and in the Middle East, but his time at the front seems to have been limited by bouts of severe illness, including VD and a lung infection. He took his discharge in Adelaide in 1919.
Jack Greenbank doesn’t seem to have played soccer in Australia. He may have played in his youth in north-western England. He became involved with the South Adelaide soccer club in 1933, and became a South Australian Soccer Football Association committee member in 1934. He was chairman by 1939, and held that role until 1945, setting up a special Board of Control to administer the game during the Second World War when the SASFA constitution was suspended. He instituted the practice of players standing around the centre circle before every match holding a minute’s silence for fallen players – a familiar sight today.
After the war he ended his involvement with the game and moved to Victor Harbor, where he became health inspector, and eventually Town Clerk. He was secretary of the local RSL branch and tourist promotion board. Jack Greenbank died in the Myrtle Bank War Veterans’ Home in 1977 at the age of 81.