Ernest Dack was a Brisbane grocer originally from Lincoln who enlisted in December 1915. Any soccer career in Brisbane is obscured by the fact most teams went under-reported in the era, but it appears he was an experienced player.
He played in an AIF selection match on 1 April 1916 at Bell’s Paddock and was subsequently picked for a combined AIF side alongside three Queensland representative captains, John and James Peebles and William McBride, as well as future top division stalwart Bob Craig. The AIF team was selected to play in a fundraising sports day on 8 April for a Private Nolands who had been injured at grenade school. Dack was one of several selected players who did not play the fundraiser, likely due to his departure for war four days later.
Dack initially spent over a year in England training, with postings at Brightlingsea, Larkhill and Fovant. It was likely he learned to become an electrician during this time, which explains his allocation to the 9th Field Company Engineers as a Sapper, and his post-war career. He arrived in France in October 1917, though returned to England in January due to illness. Dack returned to France but was back in England by the time of armistice. Dack married Amy Charsley in Clapham Park in November 1918.
He would remain in active service in England until 1920, when he returned to Australia and was discharged in April. He worked as an electrician and by 1921 was living with Amy in Gloucester St in modern day Highgate Hill.
After this he disappeared from Australian records, though it appears the family returned to England sometime before the 1950s. He died in Lincoln in 1971.