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ACTON
Affiliated: FTARFL 1924-6; CANFL1926-1973
Formed: 1924
Colours: Black and white
Premierships:1924, 1927, 1953-54 (with Queanbeyan-Acton), 1956 (with Queanbeyan-Acton) (5 total)
CANFL Fairest and Best Award: Roy Seton 1935 (1 total)
Mulrooney Medallists: Roy Seton 1936; Merv Lee 1947; Roy Watterston 1953-54 (with Queanbeyan-Acton); Barry Griffiths 1959; Jim Wilson 1960; Col Monger 1961; Neil Lewthwaite 1967; Russell De Goldi 1969 (8 Medallists/9 Medals)
League Top Goalkickers: C.Murphy (56) 1929; F.Westcott (75) 1939; L.White (100) 1956 (with Queanbeyan-Acton); R.Dennehy (99) 1964 & (62) 1965 (5 total)
| MINI-BIOGRAPHIES: | Harold Maddigan Roy Watterston Lindsay White |
Acton's 1924 team, Canberra's first ever premiers.
Acton was one of four founder members when the Federal Territory Australian Rules Football League, antecedent of the AFL Canberra of today, was formed in 1924. The team, which was often referred to as 'the Jackeroos', drew most of its players from Canberra's white collar sector, and was immediately successful. In the 1924 grand final (see footnote 1) it overcame a Canberra team primarily comprised of tradesmen and builders by 25 points, 10.7 (67) to 6.6 (42).
After losing the following season's grand final to Federals, Acton was described in 'Canberra Illustrated' as "the prettiest team on the Territory to watch. Their unselfish systematic play makes them popular to watch wherever they go" (see footnote 2).
Pretty it may have been, but it was also effective. Acton appeared to be well on course for another premiership in 1926 after going through the entire minor round without losing a game. However, when the crunch came in the finals, Federals once again proved too strong.
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In 1927 Acton claimed premiership success for what proved to be the last time as an independent entity with a conclusive 12.13 (85) to 7.9 (51) grand final defeat of Eastlake. Thereafter, while the standard of football in and around Canberra improved steadily (see footnote 3), Acton fell on hard times, dropping to fourth place (out of five teams) in 1928, and earning the first of what would ultimately be a league record eleven wooden spoons the following year. The 1929 season also saw the visit to Canberra of a powerful Broken Hill combined side, and Acton, perhaps a trifle surprisingly in view of the team's apparent ineptitude, was given the ' honour' of fronting up against the visitors. Not surprisingly, the team from the Silver City experienced little difficulty in racing to a substantial win, 18.14 (122) to 3.10 (28). For Acton, the 1930s was a decade of predominant mediocrity interspersed with two legitimate, if ultimately ineffectual, stabs at glory. In 1931, the first year of the Page-McIntyre finals system, Acton lost the grand final by 19 points against Manuka, while five years later it gave unbeaten premiers Ainslie one of its hardest games for the year before succumbing by just 10 points. |
Acton's 1927 premiership-winning combination - click to enlarge. |
Another noteworthy development in 1936 was the inception of the Mulrooney Medal for the best and fairest player in the League. Acton's eighteen year old half back flanker Roy Seton was a joint winner of the inaugural award, along with Ainslie's Richard Rae.
Throughout the war years organised football continued to be played in Canberra but, owing to a shortage of players, teams sometimes felt impelled to forge temporary liaisons with each other. One such fleeting partnership, between Queanbeyan and Acton, foreshadowed a rather more formal future arrangement between the clubs which had its origins in a dispute between Acton and the league over where the club should be based. Originally from the north side of the Molonglo River, Acton by the early post war years was happily ensconced on the south, leaving just one of Canberra's four district clubs situated to the north. This was an unacceptable state of affairs to the league because the population on either side of the river was more or less the same. Conscious of Acton's origins, the league felt justified in instructing the club to 'return whence it came', but Acton demurred. Things came to a head in 1951 when Acton finally agreed to the proposal, but asked for a three year period of grace in which to make the necessary arrangements. At this point, the League lost patience: Acton was relegated to 'B' grade for season 1951, and a new, northern-based club, Turner, was admitted to the senior competition in Acton's place.
At the end of the 1951 season a group of Queanbeyan officials approached Acton with a proposal that the two clubs merge for the 1952 season. The move was prompted by Queanbeyan's post war demise as a force, coupled with its impending loss of its home ground, Queanbeyan Park. For Acton, the proposal represented a route back to senior grade, and was swiftly accepted. The CANFL was then consulted and duly conferred its blessing, whereupon the two clubs drew up a joint constitution which stipulated that:
There be a Board of Management comprising three members of each Club and an independent Chairman who shall be a Vice-President of the CANFL.
The Selection Committee shall be two members appointed by each Club and the Coach.
The colours of the jerseys worn by the team shall be a combination of both Club colours.
Both clubs shall revert to their separate identities at the end of the season. (See footnote 4)
Given the unavailability of Queanbeyan Park, the team would be based at Acton, a situation which would eventually prove a major bone of contention. However, initially at least the relationship proceeded smoothly, and when 'the Combine' as it became known made the 1952 grand final (losing by 14 points against Ainslie) it was rapidly agreed to extend the partnership arrangement.
Combine captain-coach Roy Watterson (originally an Acton player) receives the 1954 premiership trophy from the prime minister, Robert Menzies.
In the end, the Queanbeyan-Acton combination endured for six highly successful years, reaching the grand final every season for three flags, and adding a new vibrancy and colour to the competition. Many new supporters were won to the code during the Combine's period of ascendancy. Canberra football followers with long memories recall the teams in black and white striped jumpers with yellow sashes as some of the finest to grace the Territory's ovals. The 1956 combination, coached by former Geelong player Lindsay White, was especially strong, with its 12.20 (92) to 5.11 (41) grand final defeat of Manuka providing the ideal climax to an unbeaten season.
The Queanbeyan-Acton partnership finally dissolved shortly after the 1956 premiership triumph. Queanbeyan officials had become increasingly frustrated at the fact that Acton, despite providing much the smaller proportion of players to the team, was able to glean a significantly greater proportion of the club's income, owing to the fact that home matches took place on its oval.
'Flying solo' proved inordinately problematical for Acton, which would never again taste premiership glory, or even contest a grand final. Nevertheless, the club continued to provide a home to some accomplished players, including Mulrooney Medallists Barry Griffiths, Jim Wilson, Col Monger, Neil Lewthwaite and Russell De Goldi, and talented full forward Bob Dennehy. During the club's entire existence no Acton player managed to register 100 goals in a season, but Dennehy, who bagged 99 in 1964, came closer than anyone.
Col Monger's story was especially inspirational. As a youngster in Brookton, Western Australia he spent three years crippled by Perthe's disease, but recovered to enjoy a productive and highly successful football career. In addition to his Mulrooney Medal, he was vice-captain of the ACT side which lost to Queensland in Brisbane in section 2 of the 1965 Australian championships.
Acton's remaining seasons of league competition were inauspicious, although the side did contest the finals in 1973, its last year. From 1974, Acton was replaced in the ACTAFL by West Canberra, which not only adopted Acton's black and white colours, but also recruited the vast majority of its players.
Although it may not have been the most successful club in the history of ACT football, Acton's contribution to the code was nevertheless significant. Of the competition's four founder members, it was the only one to endure more than a few years, and the fact that it was the winner of the Territory's very first official premiership affords it a special place in football history that can never be either dismissed or emulated.
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Footnotes
1. For convenience, the term 'grand final' is used to describe any premiership-deciding match, even though, prior to the implementation of the Page-McIntyre finals system in 1931, there was, strictly speaking, no such thing as a 'grand final'. The usual system was for the competition's top 4 sides to play a straight elimination series of 2 semi finals and a final, with the proviso that, if the minor premier was defeated at any stage during the finals, it could challenge the eventual winner of the final to a decisive, premiership deciding play off. Thus, matches conveniently described as 'grand finals' prior to 1931 would, in actuality, either be 'finals' or 'challenge finals'. Return to Main Text
2. Quoted in The National Game in the National Capital: 60 Years of Achievement by Barbara Marshall, page 8. Return to Main Text
3. With the exception of a brief period during the early Depression years of the 1930s when many of the better players left the locality following the closure of the Federal Capital Commission. Return to Main Text
4. From Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright: Queanbeyan Australian Football Club History 1925-1988, page 41. Return to Main Text