Arthur William Rayson (1 December 1901 – 21 January 1970) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong in the VFL.

Family

VIctorian Football League Interstate Team-(1928).jpeg, Albert "Leeter" Collier, Hugh Dunbar, Gordon "Nuts" Coventry, Bob Johnson, Jack Baggott. Second Row: Jack Vosti, Charlie Stanbridge, Arthur Stevens, Alex Duncan, Dick Taylor, Ted Baker. Front Row: Basil McCormack, Arthur Rayson, Alan Geddes (vice-captain), Syd Coventry (captain), Barney Carr, Arthur "Bull" Coghlan, Herbert White.]] The son of George Rayson (1873-1960), and Minnie Rayson (1876-1939), née Dawson, Arthur William Rayson was born at Dunolly, Victoria on 1 December 1898. He married May Perrett (1900-1984) in 1922. They had three children: a daughter, Dorothy, and two sons, Alan Arthur Rayson (1924–1982), and Coleman Medalist Noel Douglas Rayson (1933–2003), both of whom played for Geelong.

Football

Recruited to Geelong from the Cobden Football Club, Rayson was a rover who liked to use the stab kick. He played at half-forward flank in Geelong's 1925 premiership team.

Geelong (Seconds)

He kicked 4 goals, and was one of Geelong's best players in the team that won the VFL's 1923 "Junior League" premiership, against Richmond, 9.12 (66) to 5.10 (40), despite having to play the entire second half with only 17 men.

Geelong (Firsts)

7 August 1926

It is important to note that Main and Allen, (2002, p. 336) have, along with Feldman and Holmesby (1992), become confused between John Thomas "Jack" Shelton and the other St Kilda Shelton (John Frederick "Jack" Shelton). John Thomas "Jack" Shelton was not in the St Kilda team that played against Geelong at the Corio Oval on 7 August 1926, but John Frederick "Jack" Shelton did play for St Kilda on that day. Therefore, the "Shelton" mentioned in the account of the thuggery directed, particularly, at Rayson (who also worked as the caretaker at the Corio Oval), by members of the St Kilda team, and the account of the spectators' response to Rayson's injury (which included broken ribs), specifically directed at Shelton, refers exclusively to John Frederick "Jack" Shelton, and not John Thomas "Jack" Shelton (as Feldman and Holmesby, and Main and Allen have mistakenly supposed).

Death

He died at Geelong West, Victoria on 21 January 1970.

Footnotes