Affiliated: 1st Rate Junior Association prior to 1901; WAFA/WANFL 1901-15

Home Ground: North Fremantle Oval

Colours:  Red, white and blue 1901-2; black and white from 1903

Emblem:  Magpies

Premierships: 1st Rate Junior Association -1897 (1 total); WAFA/WANFL - nil 

After serving a successful apprenticeship in what, at the time, was Western Australian football's 2nd tier competition, the 1st Rate Junior Association, North Fremantle was admitted to the elite tier, the Western Australian Football Association, in 1901.  Subiaco was also admitted the same year, bringing the total number of teams in the competition to six (see footnote 1).  'Mark', writing in 'the Sunday Times' just prior to the start of the 1901 season, observed that the admission to the competition of North Fremantle and Subiaco had "given football a decided impetus" and that, accordingly, "the prospects of the Australian game have never been so bright" (see footnote 2).  A key reason for this enthusiasm was that both of the new arrivals boasted their own grounds, meaning that the WAFA in 1901 would, for the first time, be blessed with three reliably and regularly available venues of an appropriate standard: Fremantle Oval, North Fremantle Oval, and Shenton Park (Subiaco's home ground).  A fourth venue, the Western Australian Cricket Association Ground, was only intermittently made available for football.

Some Early North Fremantle Players

With two of the three WAFA venues located in Fremantle, the port city was the undeniable the hub of football in the state, and North Fremantle, whose ranks had been bolstered by the acquisition of three key members of East Fremantle's 1900 premiership team, initially enjoyed a fair degree of success.  Indeed, although it would only be an elite level club for fifteen seasons, North Fremantle was, for all but the last two years of that time, highly competitive.  During its first five seasons in particular it was, if not exactly a powerhouse, certainly a good deal better than average, managing an overall success rate of 62.5%, which only East Fremantle (78.5%) and West Perth (68.1%) could better.

Based at the 'elongated egg' that was North Fremantle Oval, the club attracted some of the largest crowds in the competition, particularly for its games against local rival East Fremantle.  On one such occasion, in 1902, 4,000 vociferous fans - most of them North supporters - were present to witness arguably the club's finest hour, as it overturned its port rivals by 22 points to join them, temporarily at least, at the head of the WAFA premiership ladder. 

Another notable, indeed notorious, meeting between the two sides occurred the following year, again at North Fremantle Oval.  At three quarter time the visitors led comfortably 5.5 (35) to 0.9 (9), and this was still the score with just five minutes remaining.  Suddenly, the North Fremantle players found an edge in form and rattled on 4 quick goals to get within a couple of points at the death.  It had been an heroic effort, but events quickly took a bizarre twist when North officials protested that one of East Fremantle's goals should not have been allowed.  The league authorities duly opened an investigation and, to North Fremantle's delight, endorsed the protest, awarding the game to the northerners (see footnote 3).  

During its brief existence as a top level club North Fremantle was home to many superb players, including Dolph Heinrichs, Sid Gravenall, Dick Pierce, Billy Goddard, George Munro (pictured above), Billy Craig (pictured above), and Joe and Harry Bushell.  Perhaps its most famous player, however, was Phil Matson, who arrived at the club in 1911, and under whose aegis the club underwent something of a resurgence, albeit a fleeting one, after a succession of mediocre years.  Sadly, however, 1911 proved to be Matson's only year in the port city as, unable to procure local employment, he applied for a clearance to Subiaco, where he had moved at season's end after obtaining work nearby.  North Fremantle tried to block the clearance, but it was ratified by the league, precipitating a corresponding upsurge and downswing in fortunes at the two 'new boys' of 1901.  For Subiaco, the immediate future was a bright one, whereas the Magpies were headed for oblivion.

The onset of war in 1914 damaged North Fremantle irreparably.  In 1915, it struggled each week to find sufficient players to field a team, and at the end of the season it accepted the inevitable by going into a 'voluntary recession' from which it never re-emerged.  Quite simply, with the league having become more professional in infrastructure and outlook, Fremantle was no longer big enough to support three clubs.

In fifteen years of elite level football North Fremantle's overall success rate was 42.1%, and would have been considerably better were it not for a dismal final two seasons which yielded just 2 wins from 35 games.  The Magpies may not exactly have been a raging success, but neither were they an abject failure.

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Footnotes

1.  These six teams, in the order in which they finished that year, were: West Perth (won 11, lost 3); East Fremantle (10-4); South Fremantle (7-8); Perth (6-8); North Fremantle (5-9); and Subiaco (4-11).  Return to Main Text

2.  Quoted in Diehards by Ken Spillman, page 21.  Return to Main Text

3.  Such bureaucratic heavy handedness was by no means uncommon in Western Australian football during the opening years of the last century.   However, the situation was never as extreme as that which obtained in Ireland, in the Gaelic sports of hurling and football.  There, it was almost taken as read that the losing team in an important match would issue a protest over some perceived injustice, refereeing inadequacy, or misdemeanour on the part of the opposition.  However, if upheld, such protests usually resulted in the match in question being replayed, rather than awarded to the aggrieved team.  Return to Main Text