[7] In his first season with Carlton, in the last few seconds of the 1947 VFL Grand Final against Essendon, the ever-alert and well-trained Stafford, normally a right foot kick, received the ball from a boundary throw-in, and under the most severe time pressure, kicked a goal with his left foot (as the image at right displays),[8] giving Carlton a one-point victory.

[9] He soon became one of Carlton's top players, and led the club's best and fairest count in mid-1948 before missing the end of the season with a wrist injury.

[14] Fred was a member of the combined Mornington District team that took part in the first-ever Victorian Country Football League championship, held at Ballarat, in July 1954.

[15] Stafford also played basketball, and was a regular in the Victorian state team[10] until the Victorian Basketball Association forbade professional players to ensure it remained eligible for the Olympic games.

Stafford later played in a Victorian Footballers team which lost a 1954 exhibition match against the Harlem Globetrotters at Kooyong Stadium.