Notes On Contributors

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

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Since I began the website in January 2002 I have received an enormous amount of assistance from various sources, as well as contributions of many kinds. Some of those contributions, such as the work which appears in the Essays and Articles section, are easy to spot, but the overwhelming majority are not. This is because they tend to be tacit in nature - a statistical snippet here, a correction to a biographical detail about a player there - but that in no way lessens their importance or their value. An inaccurate player biography is quite simply a waste of effort.

Notes about just a handful of the many people who have contributed to Full Points Footy down the years appear below, and I trust it goes without saying that I am greatly indebted to each of them. If Full Points Footy were to win the flag, they would be among the guys receiving the premiership medallions.

Steve Davies Ron Fowlie James Hothersall Max Sayer Bernard Whimpress

Steve Davies lives in Perth and has been researching and keeping WAFL football records since the 1970s. He maintains and continually updates a database of fixtures, match results and scores for every WAFL game dating back to the competition's inception in 1885. He is also compiling a database of WAFL footballers which now features almost 11,000 names. Together with fellow historian and statistician Greg Wardell-Johnson, he aims to bring the player database to completion by listing every footballer to have played in the WAFL since 1885.

Both Steve and Greg have played invaluable roles, since the very early days of Full Points Footy, in keeping me on the straight and narrow as far WAFL-related statistics, of every conceivable kind, are concerned. (Needless to say, however, any mistakes which remain are mine.)

Steve, who supports East Fremantle in the WAFL and Fremantle in the AFL, is an honorary WAFL historian.

Ron Fowlie - better known as 'Chook' to all and sundry - has given tremendous service to Queanbeyan Club in many fields of administration and without doubt has justly earned the title of 'Mr. Football'. He played all his junior football with the Tigers before graduating into the senior ranks playing both senior and reserve grade football albeit only a short career due to knee injuries.

Along with Dave Imrie, he was one of the main instigators of the building of the Tigers licensed club which when came to fruition was a dream come true for the hard working young administrator. Since the opening of the licensed club – and with Chook at the helm of the day to day administration of football – the Tigers have won every premiership title and every individual award available from the ACTAFL/AFL Canberra.

Ron is the author of a comprehensive two volume history of Queanbeyan FC, Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright 1&2, as well as The History of the Tigers 100 Club and Famous Faces. He follows Sydney and Richmond in the AFL.

Ron has made, and continues to make, a priceless contribution to Full Points Footy in terms of helping ensure that all records and statistics relating to the ACT are accurate and up to date. He has also provided a wealth of information about the Queanbeyan Football Club and its players.

James Hothersall lives in Adelaide, where he works for Medicare Australia (PS), and is studying towards a Masters degree at the University of South Australia. He has a keen interest in Australia-wide footy records as well as the history of all codes of football. James, who was a significant contributor to The 2006 SA Football Media Guide, is a Woodville-West Torrens supporter. He has provided numerous statistics for Full Points Footy, including a comprehensive Facts and Feats page, and has also provided information about little known aspects of early South Australian football.

Max Sayer grew up at Appila in the mid-north of South Australia. The black and white colours of the Appila Football Club, and later the Jamestown-Appila Football Club, meant that an allegiance from an early age to Port Adelaide seemed quite natural. A keen follower of the national competition, he nevertheless feels strongly that the AFL has to do more to preserve the football history from South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. It was this belief that led him to write the Champions of Australia book, which was published by the Australian Society for Sports History (SA) in 2003, and which continues to be an invaluable resource for Full Points Footy. A land surveyor by profession, Max is married with two children and lives in Adelaide.

In addition to providing and/or corroborating a good deal of statistical and factual information, Max is a 'kindred spirit' in his outlook on the game who has been an invaluable sounding board on many occasions. His main written contribution to the website is his essay The AFL And The History Of Australian Football.

Bernard Whimpress has played mainly golf and tennis and written on mainly cricket and football. The author of ten books on cricket, his football writing began in 1975 as founding editor and co-publisher of Football Times in Adelaide , and continued as editor of the South Australian Football Budget while employed as Publications Manager of the South Australian National Football League (1979-84). During his time at the SANFL he wrote The South Australian Football Story (1983), a book he has several times attempted to republish. Interested in the 'Australian' not just the 'Victorian' history of the game he has written in recent years on the debate about the origins of football, Aboriginal football, the AFL Hall of Fame, shoddy record-keeping, the impact of the AFL on the SANFL, and a poem on football crowds, as well as publishing Max Sayer s' book, Champions of Australia. Bernard followed Norwood closely from 1970-75 and was a neutral observer during his league years. Over the last twenty years he catches a couple of AFL games a season, a few at Norwood Oval and occasional Amateur League games at the University Oval.

Bernard, who has provided me with sage critical advice on several occasions in the past, is the author of 'Endangered Species' And 'National Football' 1986-1990, and, with Ross Smith, of Who? What? Why? Classifying Australian Football Matches.