John Douglas (sportsman)

John Raymond Douglas (born 24 October 1951) is a former Australian sportsman who played Australian rules football in the Victorian Football League (VFL) with North Melbourne during the 1970s and first-class cricket for Victoria.

From the Coburg Amateurs originally, Douglas made his VFL debut in the opening round of the 1972 season against St Kilda, whose Brownlow Medal rover Ross Smith was celebrating his 200th game.

He played six further games that year and did not appear again until 1975, when North Melbourne won their inaugural premiership with Douglas taking the field three times during the home and away season.

A right-arm fast-medium pace bowler, Douglas claimed 30 wickets at 26.53 from his nine first-class matches.

The first lot of matches came during the summer of 1975/76, while he was still a North Melbourne player, beginning with a Sheffield Shield encounter against New South Wales.