[10] His last game for the Carlton Football Club was in the round 18 Reserves match against Geelong on 29 August 1954, in which he kicked 5 goals (he was not selected in the Carlton Reserves Second Semi-Final team that thrashed Geelong, 19.22 (136) to 9.8 (62) on 11 September 1954).
[11] On Tuesday, 21 September 1954, Carlton First XVIII half-back flanker Stafford, a spectator at the match, was convicted at Carlton Court of jumping the fence and assaulting both of the boundary umpires (John Joseph McNiff, and Desmond Nicholas Fitzgerald) who had officiated at the VFL Third XVIII Grand Final between Carlton and Footscray at Princes Park, on 4 September 1954.
[16][17][18][19][20][21] On Wednesday, 10 November 1954, a VFL Investigation Committee, after considering the evidence, found Stafford guilty of striking both boundary umpires, and suspended him for the first four games of the 1955 season.
Once his VFL suspension had been served, he started playing for the VFA club, Brighton, where he had been training whilst suspended.
[24][25] His clearance from Carlton was approved on 18 May 1955,[26] and he played his first match for Brighton in round 6 of the 1955 season, on Saturday, 20 May 1955.