No better summary of Jack Logan’s contribution to Australian soccer could be found than that which appeared in Sydney’s Arrow newspaper on 10 February 1917, celebrating his enlistment at the age of 43:
Starting as a junior with Ambrose, he eventually ‘kept’ lor Caledonians, and was in the first team to win the Gardiner Challenge Cup, 1888. He represented N.S.W. against Queensland in 1890, and was manager of the1898 N.S.W. team in Queensland. In 1894 Jack Logan founded Balmain Club, and controlled its destinies during most of its successes to ’97. As a referee he was always satisfactory, and it is due to his facile pen that Soccer of those days is so splendidly recorded in The Referee files. As hon secretary N.S.W.F.A, he performed excellent work, one of his works being the N.S.W. Referees’ Association. The past decade (and more) he has been identified with the game in Queensland, where again the game profited by his association with the Brisbane Herald. One of the founders (and originators) of the Commonwealth Football Association he did valued work as chairman during 1912, 1913. and 1914, one phase of which (in conjunction with Mr. S. Lynch) was the foundation and successful maturing of the Interstate schools’ Soccer matches. “May the plucky one see all that’s going and return unharmed.”
The Arrow claimed Logan was hopeful of meeting his son (Andrew Rodger Logan) who was “somewhere in France”.
Logan had been born in Paisley in Scotland. He married Mary Anne Ogilvie in 1890 in Leichhardt, New South Wales. Daughter Margaret was born in 1891 and son Andrew two years later. Both children wrote to the Watchmen newspaper, as published on 27 September 1902, stating they went to Hurstville West Public School. The same year, a third child, Keith, was born.
Logan played as goalkeeper for Balmain throughout the 1890s, winning the Kerr and Gardiner Challenge Cups. He was still involved with the club committee in the early 1900s before moving to Queensland by 1903 where he took up the role of chairman of the Queensland British Football Association. He was also an active referee in Queensland.
The Commonwealth Football Association, which he helped found in the early 1910s, was Australia’s first attempt at a national soccer body, before its work was interrupted by the war.
Logan was a bookkeeper when he enlisted in January 1917. Mary is listed on his enlistment papers as Marion, though this could have been a nickname or a mishearing. He departed in April and a month after arrival was appointed acting-Corporal of the 15th Training Battalion. It appears this occurred because of illness in camp, where the soldiers were merely given rations and accommodation due to isolation protocols.
He spent his war at Hurdcott and Codford camps, and finally Tidworth after armistice. It appears he never reached France, and it is unknown whether he met Andrew while in Europe. Andrew survived the war and returned in March 1919. Logan would not depart England for Australia until October. Logan’s final medical stated he had defective vision, which was getting worse, causing headaches. The medical report even suggested the prescription required to replace his existing glasses.
Despite his importance to Australian soccer, Logan has no obvious connection to the sport after his return from war. Logan and Mary lived in Brisbane during the 1920s, with Keith’s engagement notice in the Queensland Figaro of 12 March 1927 stating they were living in Ascot. It appears they moved to New South Wales in the 1930s.
Mary Ann died aged 75 in 1943. Her death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 28 September suggested Logan was still alive. It is unknown when Logan died.
Jack Logan was added to the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 1999.