View source for Jim Atkinson

{{short description|Australian rules footballer and cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jim Atkinson
| image = 
| birth_name = James Archibald Atkinson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1896|4|4|df=y }}
| birth_place = [[Fitzroy North, Victoria]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1956|6|11|1896|4|4|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Beaconsfield, Tasmania]]
| nationality   = Australian
|module={{Infobox AFL biography
| embed = yes
| height = 175&nbsp;cm
| weight = 72&nbsp;kg
| position = 
| statsend = 1925
| years1 = 1917–1925
| club1 = [[Fitzroy Football Club|Fitzroy]]
| games_goals1 = 112 (0)
| years2 = 1926–1930
| club2 = [[Lefroy Football Club|Lefroy]] (TFL)
| games_goals2 =
| careerhighlights = *[[Australian Football League|VFL]] premiership: [[1922 VFL Grand Final|1922]]
*[[Mitchell Medal|Fitzroy Club Champion]]: 1922
}}
|module2=
{{Infobox cricketer
| embed = yes
|               image = Tasmania v South Africans 1931-32.jpg
|             caption = The Tasmanian cricket team in 1932.<br>Atkinson is seated third from left.
|                role = Batsman, occasional [[wicket-keeper]]
|             batting = Right-handed
|             bowling = Right-arm off-break
|       international = 
|               club1 = [[Victorian Bushrangers|Victoria]]
|               year1 = 1921-22 – 1925-26
|               club2 = [[Tasmanian Tigers|Tasmania]]
|               year2 = 1926-27 – 1933-34
|             columns = 1
|             column1 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
|            matches1 = 26
|               runs1 = 1408
|            bat avg1 = 32.74
|           100s/50s1 = 2/8
|          top score1 = 144*
|         deliveries1 = 428
|            wickets1 = 4
|           bowl avg1 = 74.50
|            fivefor1 = 0
|             tenfor1 = 0
|       best bowling1 = 2/35
|  catches/stumpings1 = 33/2
|                date = 1 December
|                year = 2008
|              source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/3994.html <br />cricinfo.com
}}
}}
'''James Archibald "Snowy" Atkinson''' (4 April 1896 – 11 June 1956) was an [[Australian rules]] footballer and [[First class cricket|first class]] [[cricket]]er.

==Family==
The son of Michael James Atkinson, and Margaret Atkinson, née Markland, James Archibald Atkinson was born in [[Fitzroy North, Victoria]] on 4 April 1896. He married Mary Agnes McLoughlin in 1919.

==Football==
[[Image:Jim Atkinson, 1922.png|125px|thumb|left|Atkinson in 1922.]]
Atkinson played his football with [[Fitzroy Football Club|Fitzroy]] in the [[Australian Football League|VFL]] from 1917 to 1925. He was a defender, and in 1922 was a member of Fitzroy's premiership side as well as winning their Club Champion award. Atkinson was club captain in 1924 and 1925.

He moved to [[Tasmania]] in 1926 and finished his footballing career with [[Lefroy Football Club|Lefroy]]. He represented Tasmania at the interstate football carnival in Melbourne in 1927. He broke "virtually every bone in his body" during his career, and his injuries finally forced him out of the game in 1930.<ref>{{AustralianFootball | jim+atkinson/3492 }}</ref>

==Cricket==
In cricket, Atkinson played 26 first-class games for [[Victoria cricket team|Victoria]] and [[Tasmania cricket team|Tasmania]] between 1921–22 and 1933–34. "Probably Tasmania's greatest cricket captain"<ref>''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' 1957, p. 942.</ref> in the years before it entered the [[Sheffield Shield]], he led the team in 19 first-class matches from 1928–29 to 1932–33.

An opening batsman, in 1927-28 he [[Carry the bat|carried his bat]] for 144 not out against Victoria,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/12/12559.html Tasmania v Victoria 1927-28]</ref> and in 1929-30 he did it again, with 104 not out.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/13/13334.html Tasmania v Victoria 1929-30]</ref> Nevertheless, Tasmania lost each time.

In the two matches against the touring [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] in 1928-29 he scored 17, 47,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/12/12953.html Tasmania v MCC, Launceston 1928-29]</ref> 20 and 30,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/12/12956.html Tasmania v MCC, Hobart 1928-29]</ref> the last three innings of which were Tasmania's top scores. Against the South Africans in 1931-32 he scored 90, 1,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/14/14146.html Tasmania v South Africans, Launceston 1931-32]</ref> 48 and 55,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/14/14148.html Tasmania v South Africans, Hobart 1931-32]</ref> again top-scoring three times.

''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'' described him as an "uncompromising opening batsman, capable of thunderous hooks and drives, as well as delicate late cuts, and a fine close-to-the-wicket fieldsman".<ref>''Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford UP, Melbourne, 1996, p. 36.</ref> In Tasmania's victory over Victoria in Melbourne in 1928-29 he took seven catches – five in the first innings and two in the second – as well as scoring 54, the second-highest score in the match.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/12/12965.html Victoria v Tasmania 1928-29]</ref>

===Tasmanian Cricket Association record===
Playing with the [[South Hobart/Sandy Bay Cricket Club|South Hobart Cricket Club]] in the [[Cricket Tasmania|Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA)]] competition he scored 1,000 runs in four seasons out of five, including 1,000 runs in three successive seasons.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article182146479 Atkinson's Feat: Third Successive Thousand,''The Sporting Globe'', (Wednesday, 13 April 1932), p. 9.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189115898 Sportsmen in the Public Eye: "Snowy's" New Venture, ''The Sporting Globe'', (Wednesday, 28 September 1932), p. 7.]</ref>

==Publican==
After he retired from senior club cricket in 1935 he became a publican in Launceston.<ref>''Wisden'' 1957, p. 942.</ref>

==Death==
He died at [[Beaconsfield, Tasmania]] on 11 June 1956.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EFURAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ppUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7103%2C3830619 Legal Notices, ''The Age'', (Monday, 27 May 1957), p. 9.]</ref>

==See also==
* [[1927 Melbourne Carnival]]
* [[List of Victoria first-class cricketers]]
* [[List of Tasmanian representative cricketers]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page20736428 O'Neill, Pat, "When 'Snowy' Atkinson Got Even With Douglas Jardine", ''The Sporting Globe'', (Saturday, 20 May 1939), p. 6.]

==External links==
* {{AFL Tables | J/Jim_Atkinson }}
* {{AustralianFootball | jim+atkinson/3492 }}
* [http://www.boylesfootballphotos.net.au/Jim+Atkinson Jim Atkinson, at ''Boyles Football Photos''.]
* [http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/3994.html Jim Atkinson page on Cricinfo]
* [https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2380/2380.html Jim Atkinson at Cricket Archive]

{{1922 Fitzroy premiership players}}
{{Fitzroy Football Club captains}}
{{Mitchell Medal}}
{{VFL/AFL club best and fairest winners in premiership years}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Jim}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:Fitzroy Football Club players]]
[[Category:Fitzroy Football Club premiership players]]
[[Category:Mitchell Medal winners]]
[[Category:Lefroy Football Club players]]
[[Category:Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:People from Fitzroy, Victoria]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Melbourne]]
[[Category:Australian cricketers]]
[[Category:Victoria cricketers]]
[[Category:Tasmania cricketers]]
[[Category:Australian rules footballers from Melbourne]]
[[Category:VFL/AFL premiership players]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen]]