Career
He has the unusual distinction of having been a VFL umpire, before his VFL playing career. The son of August Henry Schunke, a butcher, Ernest grew up with three siblings, Charlie, Eddie and Rose. Schunke was a boundary umpire for 11 games in the 1904 VFL season.
lieutenant was the year that the VFL introduced boundary umpires.
Although Schunke came from Carlton Districts and had a brother Charlie that played for Carlton, it was with Richmond that he made his six appearances as a player. He played in the final six rounds of the 1909 VFL season.
He was killed in a work accident at the James Moore and Son"s timber yards in South Melbourne on 6 November 1922. A cutting knife from a shaping machine which had come loose flew through the air and struck him just above the heart.
Schunke had a wife Nellie and two childen, Joy and Ivy.
