He arrived in town with a reputation for playing spectacular football and a name that sets him apart as well.
Football's first Zephaniah is the inspiration behind this week's list of unusually-named footballers.
Football's 10 most unusual names
Hercules Vollugi (Essendon 1901-06, 70 games)
You would have thought with a name like Hercules, the Dons' star of the early 20th century might have had a handlebar moustache and moonlighted as a strongman with a travelling circus. Not so. Hec, as he was known, was a lightweight wingman and was part of the Essendon 1901 premiership side.
Harry H. Horsenail (St. Kilda 1914-18, six games)
St Kilda seems to have always been a magnet for the interestingly-named. Enrico Misso, Trojan Daveniza, Mordy Bromberg, Bismarck Kulpa and Otto Opelt all played for the Saints, but in the end a little known six-gamer by the name of Harry H. Horsenail, with a name straight out of a Marx Brothers movie, wins the race for the most bizarrely-named Saints footballer by a short half head.
Willie Dick (Essendon 1992, seven games)
Yes, I know it's childish, but how can you leave out poor old Willie Dick? The wingman came from WA club Perth and played seven games for Essendon in 1992, but his career is less interesting than finding out whether he has a brother called Richard or Peter.
Tom Re (Fitzroy 1936-37, three games)
Tom Re was all about brevity. The man with the shortest name in the history of football had a career to match. He played three games for Fitzroy in 1936 and 1937 before moving on to VFA club Coburg. For those who wonder, the derivation of the name 'Re', pronounced Ray, is Italian, from the Latin word rex, meaning king.
Zeno Tzatzaris (Footscray 1984-90, 34 games)
Long before Zephaniah Skinner become the 'Zed' man at Whitten Oval, the Bulldogs had a player who had more Zeds than a Zorro movie. Zeno Tzatzaris was a defender who played 34 games in the mid to late '80s and gained a cult following for having a name that had more to do with a big score in Scrabble than hard running from the back half.
Rochford Devenish-Meares (Hawthorn 1968, eight games)
Under John Kennedy, Hawthorn had a reputation for recruiting private schoolboys, although in the case of Rochford Devenish-Meares you might be forgiven for thinking they had gone after the headmaster. The imposingly-named key position player was in fact recruited from Launceston Grammar and while he never made his mark in Victoria he did enjoy success in the west, winning a WAFL premiership with Subiaco in 1973.
Setanta O’hAilpin (Carlton 2005-present, 72 games)
Setanta O’hAilpin or Santa's Little Helper, as he is known to Carlton fans fond of The Simpsons, has a name that is hardly likely to be the John Smith of this millennium. The O’hAilpin family wouldn’t have had much luck looking for personalised mugs and key-rings either, seeing that Setanta’s three brothers are Aisake, Sean Og and Teu. Carlton’s Irish recruit has much to live up to given that in Celtic mythology Setanta was the son of a warrior hero and apparently no slouch himself when it came to conquering whole armies.
Wilfred 'Chicken' Smallhorn (Fitzroy 1930-40, 150 games)
Little Wilfred Smallhorn was a champion footballer. He won the 1933 Brownlow Medal and was a dominant player at Fitzroy for a decade. For all his achievements Smallhorn is best remembered for his nickname. He was known as Chicken, a take on the surname Smallhorn, and given what else the nickname givers could have come up with, it’s one I'm sure old Wilfred didn’t mind.
Don Bradman Earl (South Melbourne 1952-55, 15 games)
Don Bradman Earl was born in the first month of 1933, the summer of the infamous Bodyline cricket series. Emotions were high and Australians showed their support by turning on the English, or in the case of the Earls, naming their son after Don Bradman. Although he would never reach the sporting heights of his cricketing namesake, the other Don was a pretty handy footballer, playing 15 games for South Melbourne in the early to mid '50s. The footballer did have one thing over The Don though; he outranked him. After all, Sir Don Bradman only became a knight, while footy's Don Bradman was an Earl all his life.
Bohdan Jaworskyj (Hawthorn 1973-1975, 67 games)
The South Australian made a big impression in his three years at Glenferrie, barely missing a game and playing typically tough Hawthorn football. His name was a nightmare for both commentators and print journalists alike. They were either mispronouncing or misspelling the name throughout his VFL career, and often just referred to him by his nickname 'Bugs'. There was always a great deal of speculation regarding his nationality, with most incorrectly suggesting he was Polish. In fact, Bohdan was born in Germany, but his family name was Ukrainian in origin.
Mark Fine presents the evening show in SEN 1116 and is the author of The Book of Footy Lists, to be published later this year by the Slattery Media Group.
The Book of Footy Lists is on Twitter. You can follow it at twitter.com/footylists
