He began umpiring in the South Suburban competition aged 16, but the next year decided that he wanted to play, so joined the Rosedale juniors at Port Melbourne.
He found the going tough by virtue of his very slight physique (155 cm and 50 kg) and in 1908 he returned to umpiring and officiated in the Metropolitan Junior Association.
Played in 1924, after a particularly unsuccessful League final series experiment, Footscray defeated Essendon and McMurray shared duties with the VFA's representative James Leheny.
In 1929, the Great Depression led McMurray to accept an offer from the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA).
[citation needed] Contemporary reports stated that his excellent decision-making, consistency and strong control did much to improve the standard of play in Tasmania.
In 1934, Bunton dominated the last game of the season; and, as he walked off the ground, he made a flippant remark to McMurray, along the lines of: "That wasn't bad today, Jack."