Stan Reid was a member of the first Fitzroy premiership side in 1898. He was 26. Considered one of the best defenders in the then VFL, he was a standout in a 15-point win over Essendon at Junction Oval.

In a career which had begun in the old VFA in 1894, he was described as “a strong, high mark with a long kick” and, after the establishment of a breakaway competition in 1897 that became the VFL he played in Fitzroy’s fourth game, the League’s first draw and Fitzroy’s first win.

The 1898 grand final, the first in the game’s history, was his 24^th game. And his last.

Less than three years later, still only 26 and a church minister turned solider, he was killed in the Anglo Boer War in South Africa. He is believed to have been the second VFL player to die during active service.

So, as Australia faces an Anzac Day celebration like none before during the Coronavirus pandemic, memories of Lieutenant Stanley Spencer Reid and his fallen comrades will be front of mind.

His was a special story of football, family, faith and a fantastic service to his country.

With the 2020 AFL season on hold, it is an intriguing and inspirational story the likes of which the AFL has encouraged club supporters to embrace.

The son of Reverend John Reid, who had sailed to Australia from England on the ‘Hampshire’ in 1891, Stan Reid was born in Swan Hill after his family had become the first Presbyterian minister in the area.

He joined Fitzroy in the VFA in 1894 and in bizarre circumstances the likes of which underline the remarkable nature of football history, he played in the first combined VFL side to play in Melbourne.

According to football folklore, a team known as the “Metropolitans” were to play at the MCG on 12 June 1897 against a combined team from the Ballarat League, then considered the second-best competition and labelled the “Country” team.

For some trivial reasons relating to the free admission of VFL delegates to the Members’ Reserve, the MCG refused to allow the VFL to use its pavilion facilities and the VFL transferred the match to Brunswick Street Oval.

Reid had not originally been selected in the side, which contained players from Melbourne, Essendon, South Melbourne, Fitzroy, Geelong, Carlton and StKilda, but for unexplained reasons six members of the side failed to show up.

The start of the match was delayed as organised hurried to find last minute replacements, including the Fitzroy foursome of Tom Banks, Bill Cleary, Bill McSpeerin and Reid.

Reid played eight games with Fitzroy in the first season of the VFL in 1897 and 16 including the grand final in 1898 before opting to follow his family to Western Australia.

On 20 October 1898 the Fitzroy City Press reported on a farewell presentation to the star defender by Mr T Banks, representing the club, of a pair of field glasses.

Mr Banks commented on the good the game received from gentlemen of the position of Mr Reid In playing football. The club was sorry to lose Mr Reid, and was carrying to West Australia (sic) their best wishes for his future welfare.

The story continued, telling how Mr Reid had made a very feeling speech in reply, stating that he thoroughly loved the game and although he was donning the clerical robes he would still feel an interest in the sport and would always look for Fitzroy’s welfare.

Reid later became a member of the Imperial Forces in the Anglo-Boer War, firstly as a trooper in the Second Western Australian (Mounted Infantry) Contingent (2WAMI) in 1900 after his initial offer to serve as a volunteer chaplain was rejected because there were no vacancies for this role.

He initially enlisted as a private and later as a commissioned officer in the Sixth Western Australian (Mounted Infantry) Contingent (6WAMI) in 1901.

Having left on his second overseas engagement on 10 April 1901, with younger brother Surgeon-Captain Francis Bentley Reid a medical officer in the same unit, he saw action in Eastern Transvaal and on 16 May he was badly wounded.

Treated by his brother, he recovered and rejoined hostilities but on 23 June 1901, during a reconnaissance at Renshoogte Farm, near Ermelo, Reid was again shot in the stomach and died three days later.

Reid was buried in a grave especially arranged by the men he had commanded — situated beneath a clump of Australian wattles, with a large wooden cross bearing his name at its head — with full military honours in a ceremony, attended by his commanding officer and his staff, representatives of the regiments comprising the Sixth W.A.M.I.

In 1902, Mr.Collick, a close friend and the regimental chaplain, praised Reid, stating that "though Stanley Reid went to South Africa as a soldier he lived up to the high standard of life that he would have had to live as a minister, and in every way he set a good example to his men”.

Reid is one of thousands of fallen soldiers remembered each year on Anzac Day.

While official Anzac Day matches since 1995 have focused primarily on Collingwood and Essendon the Brisbane Lions have three times played on 25 April.

In 1999 and 2000 they played Fremantle at Subiaco in Perth for a win and a loss, and in 2014 they played St Kilda in Wellington, New Zealand, winning by three points.

A Jack Redden goal 17 minutes into the final stanza eventually decided the match, won 12-10 (82) to 11-13 (79) by the Lions.

Only Dayne Zorko, Ryan Lester and second-gamer Darcy Gardiner of the current players were involved together with assistant-coach Jed Adcock, captain at the time, and Daniel Merrett, now assistant coach of the Lions women’s team.