Jack Foster hoax

Jack Foster was an Australian rules football hoax that affected the Preston Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1938.

Overview On 17 May 1938, Preston Football Club vice-president Alan McCasker received a telegram from a person in Ballarat, who only signed their name as "Roberts", stating that a "crack full-forward" known as Jack Foster would be arriving from Adelaide at Spencer Street railway station, seeking employment.

Two days later, The Age wrote about Preston's recruiting "coup", describing Foster as a "strict amateur and crack goalkicker", although he had not played football during the previous season. Foster said he was born in November 1914 (making him 23 years old in May 1938) and first played football in 1936, when he supposedly kicked 114 goals to finish second in the SANFL goalkicking count. Officials from the Yarraville Football Club also said they signed Foster for the VFA season, reporting that Foster had claimed he played for the West Torrens Football Club in the SANFL as a half-forward and worked as a plasterer.

On 22 May, The Age was contacted by Jack Forster (spelt with an "R"), who had played with West Adelaide in 1936 and travelled to Melbourne to train with in the VFL, saying he "want[ed] it known that I am not the player who communicated with Preston" and "I do not know anyone by the name of Roberts". Foster said officials from both Preston and had approached him at Spencer Street and he had gone to Preston Park, but he never formally signed with the club, while he was "600 miles from Melbourne" when it had been reported he was visiting Yarraville. He also claimed he played for Sturt twice against West Adelaide during the 1937 SANFL season, countering his previous claim that he last played football in 1936. Despite this letter, Preston maintained the incident was a hoax and stated in 2008 that Foster "perhaps never really even existed".