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PERTH - Part One: 1899 to 1937
Affiliated: Perth 1st Rate Junior Association 1899; WAFA/WANFL/WAFL/WASFL/Westar Rules 1899-present
Club Address: P.O. Box 48, Victoria Park 6100, Western Australia
Home Ground: EF Tel Oval (formerly known as Lathlain Park); previously based at the WACA ground
Formed: 1899
Colours: Black and red
Emblem: Demons (formerly Red Legs/Redlegs, and also known, for a brief time during the 1930s, as the City Reds)
Premierships: SENIORS 1907, 1955, 1966-67-68, 1976-77 (7 total) RESERVES (from 1925) 1925, 1949, 1955, 1957, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973-4-5, 1988, 1996 (12 total) COLTS (from 1957) 1959-60-61, 1963-4-5, 1972, 1999 (8 total) OTHER PREMIERSHIPS - R.P. Rodriguez Shield: 1963-4, 1968, 1978 (4 total)
Sandover Medallists: C.Hoft 1921*; T.Moriarty 1943+; G.Bailey 1945; M.McIntosh 1948, 1953 & 1954; N.Beard 1961; B.Cable 1964, 1968 & 1973; P.Dalton 1970; I.Miller 1972; B.Cousins 1983*; M.Watson 1987; G.Seebeck 1999 (11 Medallists/15 Medals, including one under age)
Tassie Medallists: Merv McIntosh 1953; Barry Cable 1966 (2 total)
All Australians: Merv McIntosh 1953; Keith Harper 1956; Barry Cable 1966 & 1969; Greg Brehaut 1969; Ian Miller 1972; Robert Wiley 1986 (7 total)
League Top Goalkickers: A.Halliday (46) 1913, (38) 1914 & (38) 1916; A.Evans (64) 1921; D.Oliphant (84) 1931; A.Gook (102) 1939; R.Tucker (115) 1950; M.Couper (63) 1975; M.Rea (100) 1985 & (90) 1986; B.Cooper (90) 1994 (11 total)
Perth's Official 'Team of the Century': Click here
Highest Score: 30.18 (198) vs. South Fremantle 13.7 (85) at Lathlain Park in round 4 1977
Most Games: 253 by Terry Moriarty (including games in the under-age wartime competition); Keith Harper played a total of 233 senior games
Record Home Attendance: 19,541 in round 6 1967 at Lathlain Park: East Perth 17.15 (117); Perth 12.16 (88)
Record Finals Attendance: 46,763 for 1966 grand final at Subiaco Oval: Perth 11.25 (91); East Perth 10.15 (75)
Overall Success Rate 1899-2008: 45.8%
* indicates awarded retrospectively by Westar Rules authorities in 1997.
+ denotes awarded when the league operated an under age competition only.
Perth's premiership record may not be outstanding but it nevertheless boasts a rich tradition, as befits a club bearing the name of the Western Australian state capital (see footnote 1). Its greatest teams - those of the mid- to late 1960s and '70s - were on a par with anything the West has produced, while some of the finest exponents of the Australian code - men like Cable, Clarke, Shields, McIntosh, Brehaut, Henfry, Miller, Oliphant, Tucker, Harper, Orr, Wansbrough, Shepherd, Hoft, Zeuner, McKenzie, Moriarty, Bosustow and Wiley - have worn the famous black and red colours down the years.
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The first of Perth's two triple Sandover Medallists, Merv McIntosh. (Click to enlarge.) |
Perth's accession to senior ranks came midway through the 1899 season at the expense of Western Australian Football Association founder members Rovers. Two years earlier, the WAFA, following the lead of its South Australian counterpart, announced the inception of district, or 'electorate' football, whereby players would be expected to play for the club in whose electoral district they resided. Initially, the system was optional, but the intention was that it should be fully phased in by 1899, meaning that Rovers, as the competition's only non-district club, would be in a very precarious position indeed. Initially, the club tried to struggle on, and managed to fulfill the first eight of its 1899 fixtures, but when it failed to show up at Fremantle Oval for a match against East Fremantle on 8 July it effectively announced its withdrawal from the competition. A few days later, the Association confirmed that Rovers had, as had been widely assumed, disbanded, and Perth, which was one of the leading junior clubs at the time, was invited to take Rovers' place, with a large number of Rovers players immediately transferring to the newcomers. The WAFA at this time consisted of four clubs: West Perth, which was the competition's only surviving founder member, East Fremantle, Fremantle, and now Perth. |
In order that Perth would not be disadvantaged, the WAFA announced that positions on the premiership ladder would be determined on the basis of 'win percentage', rather than merely number of wins, but this proved of purely academic interest as Perth, not surprisingly, struggled to make the necessary adjustment in standard, and managed just 1 win (against Fremantle) from 9 matches.
Over the next few years, improvement was gradual but consistent: Perth managed 2 wins in 1900 when South Fremantle replaced Fremantle in the competition, and 6 in 1901 when the league expanded to six teams with the admission of two of Perth's former 1st rate junior association rivals, North Fremantle and Subiaco.
| Slowly but surely, Perth developed into a genuine force,
with the 1904 season - when, for the first time, the destiny of the premiership
would be determined on the basis of a post-season series of finals matches
involving the top four clubs - seeing it concoct its first realistic challenge for the
flag. Western Australian football itself was on something of a 'high' at
this time, with the state team taking to the field for the first ever time in
matches against Victoria in Melbourne (lost, but with credit), and South
Australia in Adelaide (won). Somewhat surprisingly, given that it was
enjoying such a fine season, Perth's only representative on the tour was wingman Sam Jeffery.
As far as the WAFA competition was concerned there was scarcely anything to separate East Fremantle, Perth and North Fremantle, all of which won 11 of 15 minor round matches; West Perth (8-7) made up the four. In the semi finals, Perth disposed of West Perth, while Old Easts defeated North. The final was played at Fremantle Oval on a perfect day for football, with East Fremantle seeking its third consecutive flag, after which it would be granted permanent possession of the Farley Cup. Not that a win for Old Easts was regarded as inevitable, with one leading critic remarking "To venture a 'tip' on the probable outcome of the match is rather hazardous" (see footnote 2) - caution that, until half time of the game at any rate, seemed eminently justified. Indeed, if anything, Perth enjoyed slightly the better of the early exchanges, but after the long break East Fremantle's greater experience told to compelling effect, and the Red Legs finished a demoralising 58 points in arrears. |
Perth's second triple Sandover winner, Barry Cable, pictured shortly after receiving the 1973 Medal. (Click to enlarge.) |
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Early Perth champion, Alex Clarke (normally spelt with the 'e'). |
After six consecutive seasons of consistent improvement,
Perth suffered a catastrophic decline in 1905 when it managed just 2 wins from
12 games for the year to finish above only newcomers Midland
Junction, and Subiaco. The following season brought steady
improvement, however, and when the Red Legs downed East Fremantle by 7 points in
a
tense, hard fought mid-season tussle at the supposedly impregnable fortress of
Fremantle Oval, hopes were high that 1906 might be the club's year. Once
again, though, the side was unable to rise to the occasion in the finals, and
ultimately finished 4th.
This was very definitely a Perth team on the rise, however, and 14 wins from 17 matches in 1907 represented the best return yet. Unlike previous seasons, the Red Legs adopted a vigorously direct, long kicking style of play that was quite similar to that which had been used to such telling effect by Old Easts since the turn of the century. Equally importantly, the club was blessed with easily its most accomplished collection of players up to that point, including rover Billy Orr, ruckmen Eddie Thompson and Alex Clarke, former Fitzroy and Essendon player Jack Leckie, who would later coach Western Australia to its famous success at the 1921 Perth carnival, as well as coaching four different WAFL clubs, including Perth, former Subiaco player H.Southee, ex-Fitzroy and Essendon full forward Austin Gilligan, and future WANFL president, Alf Moffatt. Some clue as to the strength of the Perth's 1907 combination is afforded by the ease with which reigning premiers Old Easts were demolished late in the season at the Perth Showgrounds. The Red Legs not only won, they kept East Fremantle, which was at full strength and could therefore have no excuses, goalless. Final scores were Perth 6.4 (40) to Old Easts 0.12 (12) - arguably the most humiliating defeat suffered by the easterners up to that point. |
After finishing the home and away matches in impressive fashion with a 5 goal defeat of highly fancied fellow finalist West Perth, the Red Legs began to attract some serious backing for the flag, particularly given that East Fremantle had just 'fallen in' that same afternoon against a weak East Perth side. South Fremantle in a semi final provided little in the way of opposition, and a 34 point win, 8.11 (59) to 3.7 (25), booked a premiership deciding clash against the supposedly creaking giant, East Fremantle.
| The final took place at the Perth Showgrounds in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators, and was fiercely contested all day. After several weeks of undistinguished form, Old Easts finally rediscovered their sparkle, while the Red Legs, too, played superbly. When the final bell sounded, the scoreboard showed East Fremantle as narrow, 5 point winners, 6.11 (47) to 6.6 (42) - but unprecedented drama was to follow. Seconds before the half time bell, Old East half forward Charlie Doig had marked within goal kicking range, and had duly converted. However, according to Perth officials, the bell had actually sounded while the ball was in transit towards Doig, meaning that a mark should not have been awarded, and no kick for goal allowed. Umpire Crapp disagreed, contending that the bell had sounded after Doig had marked, and the kick was therefore legal, as was the resultant goal. Normally, the umpire's decision in such matters was final, but on this occasion the WAFA decided to convene an Appeals Board which, having heard the evidence from both sides, decided to award the match, and the 1907 premiership, to Perth. While it is completely impossible almost a century on to assess the rights and wrongs of this affair, it is worth noting that, at least according to some sources, Perth officials offered to replay the match, but their East Fremantle counterparts declined. Needless to say, the upshot of it all was the generation of considerable ill will between the two clubs concerned, although club officials doubtless did their best to present appropriately decorous public faces. |
Jack Leckie |
Goldfields Football League premier Boulder City visited the coast at the conclusion of the 1907 season hoping to arrange a state premiership clash with Perth, but when this proved impossible they engaged in a series of games against Combined Fremantle, Combined Coast (comprising players from Perth, West Perth, Subiaco and East Perth), and WAFA runner-up East Fremantle. Boulder won all three matches convincingly, which suggests that the Red Legs might well have had their work cut out to secure a state flag in what would turn out to be their only opportunity so to do.
As chance would have it, Perth was drawn to face East Fremantle in the opening round of a 1908 season which saw the Western Australian Football Association alter its name to the Western Australian Football League (WAFL). The match was played at Fremantle Oval, with Ivo Crapp again in charge. It must have been very tempting indeed for players from both sides to use the occasion as a stage on which to afford physical expression to the ill feeling which doubtless still simmered. However, the game was actually a superb contest, played in fine spirit, won in the end by Old Easts, but with the Red Legs giving a more than creditable account of themselves, particularly in the first half. Another fine season followed, with Perth managing 13 wins from 17 minor round matches, before downing West Perth in a semi final.
| The final, almost inevitably, pitted Perth against East Fremantle, but there was to be no controversy this time. After keeping their opponents scoreless during the opening term, the Red Legs managed just 5 behinds themselves for the remainder of the game, and lost with a meekness that was totally at odds with their form for most of the year, but might at least in part be explained by the absence from the side of three key players in the shape of Orr, Edwards and Thompson. These three had been Perth's representatives in the Western Australian team that had contested the inaugural interstate championship series in Melbourne, but for reason which are unclear they had so far failed to return. The fact that the match was played at Fremantle Oval undoubtedly helped Old Easts, but could not in any way explain the extent of their superiority, which on balance of play over the course of the season had been minimal; if only Orr, Edwards and Thompson - who effectively comprised the Perth team's 'engine room' - had been available, the margin would undoubtedly have been a good deal smaller. |
Billy Orr |
Perth and East Fremantle continued their domination of the competition in 1909, a year which saw the league implement the challenge system of playing finals which had been used for several seasons in both South Australia and Victoria. After finishing 1st and 2nd respectively on the ladder, Old Easts and Perth then beat East Perth and South Fremantle to set up their third successive meeting in the final. This time though East Fremantle, as minor premier, would have a second chance if it lost, and given that the match was scheduled for Perth's home venue of the WACA ground there were many observers who regarded this as a distinct possibility.
Unlike a year earlier, Perth was at full strength, with rover Orr, ruckman Thompson and half back flanker Edwards all suitably ensconced in their usual positions. The last time the two teams had met, also at the WACA, the Red Legs had triumphed with some conviction, 6.4 (40) to 3.7 (25), so there was certainly good reason for optimism. However, playing with the aid of a strong breeze in the 1st term East Fremantle opened out what proved to be a match-winning 23 point break. Thereafter, although the Red Legs battled desperately, and played some good football, they were unable to mount a sustained challenge against the team which some astute judges have described as one of the finest in Western Australian football history.
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Too quick..... |
So - three consecutive tilts at the flag, for one success, and the inception of what would become a recurring pattern in the history of the Perth Football Club: the emergence of a good team at precisely the same time as the emergence of a genuinely great opposition side. As Perth's president at the time, Ross Hutchinson, later observed, albeit with perhaps a touch of hyperbole: "Year after year we'd meet East Fremantle in the final with a side we thought wouldn't be beaten, but it was always the same story - our rucks were not quite good enough" (see footnote 3). Perth missed the finals in 1910 and 1911, and in 1912, after the loss of several key players, including most notably Billy Orr to Subiaco, the side plummeted to its first wooden spoon in twelve years. Ironically, just as the Red Legs began to re-emerge from the doldrums and make a legitimate bid for premiership honours in 1913, it was Subiaco, the finest side in Western Australian football since the East Fremantle team of 1908-10, which stood in their way. Among the 11 home and away wins in 1913 which clinched 3rd spot on the ladder for Perth going into the finals was an unprecedented 'clean sweep' - three from three - against arch rivals East Fremantle. Among the reasons for the Red Legs' re-emergence as a force was their potent attack, which was centered around the formidable talent of Alf Halliday, who was the WAFL's leading goal kicker on three occasions. |
One of the alleged deficiencies of the challenge system of playing finals was that the minor premier, with half an eye on the potential financial windfall which would accrue from playing an extra match in front of a big crowd, was often disinclined to take the preceding finals matches seriously. In the view of many observers, this explained why Perth was able to secure such an effortless 15 point win over minor premier Subiaco in the teams' semi final meeting of 1913. According to a writer in 'the Western Suburban News', for example, the result was much less a matter of football ability than the whiff in the Maroons players' nostrils of what he derisively termed 'extra boodle' (see footnote 4).
In a classic case of role reversal, Perth mercilessly dumped previous nemesis East Fremantle out of the premiership race in the final to set up a re-match with the presumably rejuvenated Maroons (see footnote 5). If the semi final meeting between the two sides had been a tepid, sparkless affair, this encounter, played at the WACA ground in front of approximately 14,000 spectators, was everything a finals game should be: unremittingly vibrant, tough, tense and often spectacular. With the aid of a strong breeze, Subiaco opened brightly, and had a goal on the board within two minutes. Thereafter, it was a sustained case of 'backs to the wall' for Perth's defence, which despite playing with trademark determination and commitment, was breeched three more times before the 1st change. A goal 'against the head' just before the bell, however, had lifted Red Legs spirits, and during the 2nd term Perth utilised the breeze with even greater conviction and assurance than the Maroons had managed earlier, so that by half time the scoreboard showed Perth with a 1 point advantage, 4.4 (28) to 4.3 (27). With the breeze again a telling factor in the 3rd term, Subiaco recaptured the lead soon after the resumption, but stern defence from the Red Legs kept the margin at the final change down to just 12 points, 6.5 (41) to 4.5 (29).
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Scenting victory, Perth opened the final quarter confidently, but with Subiaco stacking the backlines goals proved frustratingly unattainable. Indeed, neither team managed a goal in the last term, which ended with the Maroons still 12 points to the good, 6.7 (43) to 4.7 (31). For Subiaco, the 1913 season had yielded not only a second successive premiership, but also a new found respect for the Perth Football Club, while from the Red Legs' perspective there must have been a combination of frustration over having come so close, mingled with pride at having improved so much over the dismal showing in 1912. That improvement stalled somewhat in 1914, as Perth was eliminated from the flag race at the semi final stage by South Fremantle, but it resumed in earnest the following year as the club again came close to that elusive 'Holy Grail' of a premiership pennant. Just as in 1913, Perth's chief rival was Subiaco, which again ended the home and away season as minor premier. Wins for Subi over South Fremantle, and Perth over East Perth, then set up a final at Perth Oval, in which the Red Legs won virtually everywhere except on the scoreboard. With barely a minute to go, they led even there, 2.7 (19) to the Maroons' 2.3 (15), but Subiaco full forward Herbert Limb managed to snare a goal at the death to leave his team victors, and premiers, by 2 points. |
Too good..... |
The demands of war were having an inevitable undermining effect on both the standard of football and the amount of public interest in it, but Perth managed to remain strong. In 1916-17-18 the side finished 3rd, but when what might be termed 'full scale' competition resumed in 1919 the Red Legs found the going tough. Actually, with East Perth emerging as one of the most auspicious and proficient combinations ever seen in Australian football at this point, all other WAFL clubs, in varying measure, found the going tough. In Perth's case, however, not only premierships, but even participation in the finals, was to prove elusive for a considerable time to come. The Red Legs' only finals campaign of the 1920s came in 1920 but was over almost before it started, East Perth winning a semi final at Fremantle Oval by 4 points. According to Western Australian football historian Geoff Christian, Perth during the 1920s "were competitive but lacked the range of talent possessed by other clubs" (see footnote 6).
That there was talent at Perth is undeniable. In 1921, wingman Cyril Hoft lost the inaugural Sandover Medal to Subiaco's Tom Outridge, who had actually begun his league career with Perth in 1915 (see footnote 7), only on the casting vote of the League president; he was later awarded a Medal retrospectively. That same year, diminutive full forward Alan Evans topped the league's goal kicking list with 64 majors. He would prove to be Perth's leading goal kicker on six occasions during the 1920s. Other noteworthy players for the Red Legs during the 1920s included powerful key position defender Alan Shepherd, who finished in the top four places in the Sandover Medal three times, defender Albert Watts and forward Leo McComish, both regular interstate representatives, full forward Allan Johnston, half forward Alex Hewby, utility Eric Eriksson, talented centreman Henry 'Harry' Grigg
Perth opened the 1930s in fairly promising fashion by qualifying for the 1930 finals, but eventual premiers Old Easts were too good in a semi final. Thereafter, for the most part, it proved to be another decade of under-achievement, disappointment and frustration. In 1934, in a bid to improve fortunes, the Perth hierarchy decided on a name change, and for two seasons the team was known as Victoria Park, which was - and is - the part of Perth in which the club was actually situated. Initially at least, the change of name appeared to invest the team with new life, and after reaching the finals for the first time in four years it scored a memorable 4 goal 1st semi final victory over East Perth. This was the Redlegs' first major round win in almost twenty years but, alas, it also proved to be the last until 1947 (not including the wartime under-age competition, in which Perth secured a finals victory in 1944).
By 1935, the beneficial effects of the name change had well and truly expired, and Victoria Park finished dead set last with just 4 wins from 18 matches. The following year the Perth name was re-assumed, but although there would be no further wooden spoons for a while, neither would there be any finals participation (the under-age competition aside) until after World War Two.
Perth's chief problem during the 1930s, as indeed it had been during the preceding decade, was not so much a lack of talent, as a lack of sufficient talent. Good and even great players continued to represent the club, but there were never enough of them at any one time to enable the Redlegs to mount a serious premiership challenge. There was also a lack of stability at the top, with the club having no fewer than seven different coaches and seven different captains during the decade.
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Austin Robertson senior - click to enlarge. |
Among the more prominent players to represent the club in the 1930s were dual club fairest and best recipient Doug Oliphant, Marcel 'Nugget' Hilsz, Paddy Fitzgerald, Harry Davey, Austin Robertson senior, Fred Puddy, and arguably the club's greatest ever full forward, Bert Gook, who twice, in 1937 and 1939, 'topped the ton'. In addition, post-war Sandover Medallists Merv McIntosh (1948-53-54) and George Bailey (1945) commenced their illustrious WAFL careers with Perth during the 1930s, while stars of the '20s, 'Harry' Grigg and Alan Shepherd, continued to serve the club with distinction until well into the ensuing decade. Austin Robertson senior was a star footballer with South Melbourne who was enticed west in 1937 by West Perth supremo Alec Breckler, who was desperate to give his team the vital push it needed in order to make that year's finals. The arrangement was that Robertson would play the last four home and away matches of the year with the Cardinals, plus the finals if they made them, in return for some substantial nest feathering. He would then be free to return home to Melbourne. |
Unfortunately for West Perth, the plan broke down when Robertson dislocated his elbow in the penultimate match of the year against East Fremantle, a game which the Cardinals ultimately lost to wreck their hopes of making the finals. However, West Perth's loss was to be the Perth Football Club's gain, because while Robertson was recuperating in hospital after surgery to his elbow, he received a visit from Redlegs secretary Jack Sheedy, who made him, in Robertson's own words, "an offer I was not going to be able to refuse" (see footnote 8). Perth wanted Robertson as its coach, and was prepared to pay handsomely to procure his services. Clearly, the Perth committee was far from complacent about its lack of success, and was prepared to take fairly drastic action to turn things around. Although Robertson would not be, on paper at any rate, a success, his appointment as Redlegs coach was arguably a seminal event in the emergence of what might be termed the 'new Perth', the club which would, in post-war years, gradually transform itself from perennial chopping block into the most professionally run and, for a short time at least, the most successful force in West Australian football.
Where now?
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Footnotes
1. Uniquely among those states with AFL representation, Western Australia does not have a competing club bearing the name of its state capital, although talk of West Coast usurping the Perth label continues to surface from time to time. Return to Main Text
2. Celebrating 100 Years of Tradition by Jack Lee, page 28. Return to Main Text
3. Ibid., page 57. Perth and East Fremantle only actually met in 3 finals during this period, with the score 2-1 in the latter's favour. In 1913, when the sides again contested the final, Perth would even the ledger, only to lose the challenge final to Subiaco The comment about the rucks is perhaps unduly modest, as the Red Legs had arguably the best rover in the state (Billy Orr), and two of the most highly regarded ruckmen (Alec Clarke and Eddie Thompson) playing for them at the time. Return to Main Text
4. Quoted in Diehards: 1896-1945 by Ken Spillman, page 65. Return to Main Text
5. Some confusion seems to surround the actual score of this match, with Lee, op cit., page 78 and the official WAFL website both giving it as 6.8 (44) to 2.6 (18), while according to The Footballers by Geoff Christian, page 21, it was 5.6 (36) to 2.6 (18). Return to Main Text
6. Christian, op cit., page 26. Return to Main Text
7. Outridge actually played 40 League games for Perth, without ever giving an indication that he would develop into the champion he subsequently became with the Maroons. Return to Main Text
8. Ocker: the Fastest Man Alive by Austin Robertson, page 53. Return to Main Text