WEST PERTH - Part One: 1885 to 1944
Affiliated:
WAFA/WANFL/WAFL/WASFL/Westar Rules 1885-presentClub Address: P.O. Box 11, Joondalup 6027, Western Australia
Home Ground: The Arena, Joondalup
Formed: 1885
Colours: Cardinal red and blue
Emblem: Falcons (formerly Cardinals)
Premierships: SENIORS - 1897, 1899, 1901, 1905, 1932, 1934-35, 1941, 1942*, 1949, 1951, 1960, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1995, 1999, 2003 (18 total) RESERVES (from 1925) 1927, 1930, 1947, 1956, 1960 (5 total) COLTS (from 1957) 1968, 1990 (2 total) OTHER PREMIERSHIPS - Western Australian State Premierships - 1905 (1 total); R.P. Rodriguez Shield: 1960, 1999, 2002 (3 total)
Sandover Medallists: H.Boyd 1922; J.Gosnell 1924; J.Craig 1927; E.J.Flemming 1930; E.O'Keefe 1940; L.Bowen 1942*; J.Loughridge 1946; F.Buttsworth 1951; B.Foley 1959; R.West 1992; N.Mildenhall 1993 (11 total)
All Australians: Ray Gabelich 1961; Alan Watling 1972 (2 total)
League Top Goalkickers: W.Duffy (15) 1894; H.Loel (N/A) 1898, (50) 1899, (45) 1901 & (35) 1902; A.Daly (30) 1900; T.McNamara (32) 1903; E.Bellion (30) 1911; E.Flemming (50) 1925; F.Hopkins (79) 1930; E.Tyson (96) 1932 & (126) 1936; E.Brunton (94) 1942*; W.Baker (91) 1945; R.Scott (141) 1951 & (83) 1955; R.Evans (97) 1963; P.Smith (84) 1973 (18 total)
West Perth's Official 'Team of the Century': Click here
Highest Score: 37.17 (239) vs. East Fremantle 9.7 (61) at Leederville in 10 1981, and vs. South Fremantle 4.5 (29) at Leederville in round 10 1987
Most Games: 371 by Mel Whinnen from 1960 to 1977
Record Home Attendance: 24,567 in round 21 1978 at Leederville: East Perth 11.19 (85); West Perth 11.10 (76)
Record Finals Attendance: 52,322 for 1975 grand final at Subiaco Oval: West Perth 23.17 (155); South Fremantle 7.9 (51)
Overall Success Rate 1885-2009: 54.4%
* indicates premiership, Sandover Medal or top goalkicker award won during the war years of 1942-44 when the WANFL operated
on an under-age basis only.
The Western Australian Football Association, precursor of today's Western Australian Football League, was formed in 1885, with three founder member clubs: Rovers, Victorians and Fremantle, which finished in that order. Of these clubs, only Victorians - known nowadays as West Perth - still exists. Formed on 2 May 1885 at the Criterion Hotel in Perth, the club which for most of its history boasted the proud and distinctive nickname of 'the Cardinals' has enjoyed an unbroken association with Western Australian's premier football competition that has yielded seventeen premierships - a total bettered only by East Fremantle - and produced countless highlights, records and noteworthy achievements. Despite the dramatic changes which football has seen in recent years, the ongoing contribution made to the game by clubs like West Perth remains significant; indeed, the health and vitality of the West Perths, Subiacos, Norwoods, South Adelaides, Morningsides and North Shores of the football world remains a crucial index of the sport's overall well being.
In 1885, football in Western Australia was waging a battle with rugby for the hearts, minds and energies of the local population. The establishment of the WAFA came at a time when rugby, which hitherto had been much the more popular code, was attracting criticism both for its growing shoddiness as a spectacle and for a marked increase in on field violence. In order to mount a viable challenge to rugby, however, football - or 'the Victorian game' as it was popularly known at the time - needed to become better organised; prior to 1885, games had tended to be played very much on an ad hoc basis, with very little - other than the odd informal wager - hinging on the actual results. The establishment of a formal controlling body was thus an extremely important step in football's bid to gain credence and acceptability.
The terms 'organisation' and 'formal' should nevertheless be seen as entirely relative; by today's standards, football in the latter part of the 19th century was run in a manner which would be hard to describe in any other way than haphazard. Forfeits were common, and matches which did take place were often between teams with different number of players. Even the interpretation of the rules could vary, with special allowances sometimes being made for local conditions or whims. It was only gradually, as money found its way into the sport, that a need for standardisation and formalised control mechanisms emerged. In Western Australia, this began to happen during the 1890s, when large numbers of wealthy businessmen, many of whom had tapped into the rich pickings available to the shrewd or fortunate on the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie goldfields, saw in football an opportunity for raising their own personal profiles. As a direct consequence of the patronage of such individuals, Western Australian football was home, for a brief time, to many of the finest footballers in Australia. But more on that later.
The WAFA's inaugural season in 1885 saw Victorians successful in 2 out of 6 matches played, with another being drawn, enabling them to finish in 2nd place, 3 points behind premiers Rovers (see footnote 1). Further 2nd place finishes followed in 1886 and 1887 before a drop to 3rd in 1888. In 1889 the club changed its name to Metropolitans but suffered a dip in form, finishing last, a result repeated in 1890. In 1891, the WAFA began its gradual evolution towards being a district-based competition, with East Perth (see footnote 2) and Centrals entering the fray, and Metropolitans changing their name to West Perth.
| With 8 wins and a draw from 12 matches,
West Perth got closer to a premiership than ever before in 1891, finishing just
2 points behind premiers Rovers. The side went even closer the following
year, a drawn match with Rovers effectively robbing it of the chance to play off
for the premiership against Fremantle. Football itself was suffering at
this time, however, as a mixture of economic hardship and negative media
coverage produced alarming declines in both attendances and participation.
In 1893 and 1894 only three clubs contested WAFA premiership: Fremantle, West Perth
and Rovers, with Rovers only really being there to make up the numbers.
A combination of factors led to a marked recovery in football's fortunes during the mid- to late 1890s. Chief among these was the migration west, ostensibly in pursuit of gold, of large numbers of top quality eastern states footballers. West Perth's emergence as a genuine force reflected this development: in 1895 the side finished last of 4, with just 2 wins from 14 games; the following year brought modest improvement - 3rd place on the ladder, with a 5-11 record; and in 1897, when "good contemporary judges believed the teams from West Perth and Fremantle........to have been superior to those fielded by leading clubs in Melbourne" (see footnote 3), the side went through the entire season unbeaten (7 wins and 5 draws) to achieve its first ever premiership. The 1897 season saw the WAFA follow the Victorians' lead and introduce a system of 4 points for a win and 2 for a draw. |
West Perth's inaugural premiership team of 1897. (Click on the image to view an enlarged version.) |
An important legacy of the Western Australian gold rush as far as football in the colony was concerned was that it spawned a large number of wealthy benefactors, whose largesse enabled clubs to afford player payments in excess of those being offered to players in the east. However, once these patrons realised that there was little financial mileage to be gained from propping up the game they promptly withdrew their support, and most of the better Victorian and South Australian players either returned home, or re-located to the Western Australian goldfields. For a time though, football supporters in Perth and Fremantle were treated to the weekly spectacle of contests involving the likes of Fred Rolfe, Joe Marmo and Dave Decoit (all West Perth), Albert 'the Great' Thurgood, Harry Duggan and Dug Irvine (all Fremantle), and Tom Wilson and Dave 'Dolly' Christy (both Imperials).
In 1898, a year later than in Victoria and South Australia, the present day scoring system whereby goals are worth 6 points, and behinds 1, was implemented in the WAFA. It was also around this time that the Western Australian press began more commonly to refer to the game as 'Australian' rather than 'Victorian' football, a change which inevitably rendered it more attractive to the local populace. West Perth, however, suffered a temporary, if marginal decline, finishing runners-up to Fremantle, after several of its key players returned home to the east.
|
Joe Marmo, one of several prominent eastern states footballers to play for West Perth during the 1890s. |
The 1899 season brought a reduction in the number of players per team from twenty to eighteen, a change which West Perth clearly found to their liking as, with 14 wins from 16 matches, the club secured its 2nd flag. The last game of the season, against East Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on 16 September, was tantamount to a grand final, with whichever side won being confirmed as premiers. The match was played in perfect weather, and yielded an extravagant gate for the time of £40. With scores level at three quarter time spectators were treated to an exhilarating roller-coaster ride during the final term, with first one side, and then the other, gaining the ascendancy. With moments remaining West Perth led by 5 points, as Old Easts mounted one last desperate attacking thrust which culminated in a mark to Kenny just 30 metres from goal. Under normal circumstances this would have been well within Kenny’s kicking distance, but it transpired that the ball had sustained a puncture, and Kenny’s kick fell short before being scrambled over the line for a point. Consequently, when the game ended shortly afterwards the scoreboard showed West Perth victorious by 4 points, 7.10 (52) to 7.6 (48). East Fremantle would long bemoan 'the puncture which cost us a premiership', but on their performances over the course of the entire season there is little doubt that the Cardinals were worthy premiers. |
After dropping to 3rd in 1900, West Perth celebrated the dawn of a new century in style the following year with 11 wins from 14 matches and a 3rd flag. Just as in 1899, the last game of the season between the Cardinals and Old Easts proved decisive in determining the destination of the premiership. Again, just as two years earlier, the match took place in ideal weather conditions in front of a large crowd at Fremantle Oval, but unlike the 1899 encounter this one proved to be one-sided, with West Perth, for whom key forward 'Bundy' McNamara booted 5 goals, leading at every change in compiling a 32 point victory, 13.16 (94) to 9.8 (62). Six teams competed in the WAFA for the first time this year following the admission of North Fremantle and Subiaco.
West Perth's next premiership in 1905 came after the WAFA had introduced a finals system whereby the top four clubs at the end of the home and away matches played two semi finals and a final, with the team that had finished the season at the head of the ladder (the 'minor premier') having the right of challenge if beaten. West Perth, as minor premier in 1905, needed to call on this right of challenge against East Fremantle, which had won the final having earlier comprehensively beaten the Cardinals, 5.5 (35) to 0.4 (4), in a semi final played at the WACA. The challenge final took place at Fremantle Oval in front of a then record crowd of roughly 6,000 in the decisive match, with West Perth losing – or so it appeared – by a solitary point. However, ten minutes after the game had finished, following a conference between the goal umpires and scorers, an additional behind was conferred on West Perth, making the result a draw. West Perth won a torrid, tempestuous replay at North Fremantle Oval by 4 points, leaving Old Easts supporters once again to lament their 'ill fortune'.
| The Cardinals dropped to
3rd place in 1906 in what that year became, following the admission of East
Perth and Midland Junction, an eight team competition. West Perth teams over
the course of the next few seasons were competitive, but lacked the all round
strength of East Fremantle and, later, East Perth. In 1911, however, the
side made a credible stab at the premiership. Bill Kessell, who played for
the Cardinals between 1910 and 1915, recalls that, as the team was "making
headway towards the premiership", the unprecedented step was taken of
appointing a coach in the unlikely person of umpiring great Ivo Crapp.
However, endorsing the fact that it was a somewhat "free and easy"
existence for footballers in those days, this proved to be "only a
temporary measure" that would not be repeated for some time (see
footnote 4). In any case, it was unsuccessful: West Perth was
humiliated in the premiership deciding match against East Fremantle to the tune
of 51 points.
For most of the ensuing decade, West Perth struggled: between 1912 and 1920 the side contested the finals only once, in 1916, when it was immediately vanquished by South Fremantle; it finished last in 1918 and 1919, and overall its success rate for the period was a paltry 26.3%. Arguably the highlight of the decade from the Cardinals' perspective was the opening in 1915 of their new home ground at Leederville; however, even the celebrations which attended that event were muted, as West Perth lost their inaugural match on the ground to Subiaco. |
West Perth's 'class of 1911', with umpire-coach Ivo Crapp standing at the far left. Bill Kessell is seated on the front row, second from right. (Click the image to view an enlarged version.) |
The new look, trimmed down WAFL (see footnote 5) emerged from World War One as a seven team competition, minus the involvement of Midland Junction and North Fremantle, but although West Perth gradually improved, contesting six out of ten finals series during the 1920s, the decade really belonged chiefly to East Perth and East Fremantle, which won 5 and 4 flags respectively. The Cardinals' main successes during this period were individual ones, as three of the club's players - Harold Boyd in 1922, Jim Gosnell two years later, and Jim Craig in 1927 - won Sandover Medals, with Gosnell also finishing as runner up on two occasions. Together, these three players constituted arguably the greatest half back line in Western Australian football history, but even they were unable to provide the necessary impetus to break West Perth's premiership drought.
Action from the West Perth-Subiaco Foundation Day holiday clash in 1921.
A potentially important and arguably long overdue development in the history of the game in Western Australia occurred in 1925 when, after many years of prevarication, half measures and debate, district football was at last introduced, "but clubs soon found ways and means of exploiting every available loophole and the new system had little apparent effect on the strength of the respective clubs" (see footnote 6).
The 1930 season saw the Cardinals plummet to the indignity of a wooden spoon, albeit with 6 wins and a draw from 18 matches in what was an extraordinarily competitive season. Key position forward Ted Flemming, who had topped the WANFL goal kicking list in 1925 with 50 majors, became the club's fourth Sandover Medallist.
In 1932, with a number of promising youngsters emerging, the West Perth committee took the drastic step of appointing a Victorian, Jack Cashman from Fitzroy, as captain-coach of the senior side. According to Harold Boyd, Cashman was "a big, tall ruckman" who was "very forceful on the ground" and represented "a decided asset" to the club, as much for his playing ability as his inspirational qualities and football know-how (see footnote 7). Under Cashman, efforts to secure that elusive premiership redoubled and, playing a tough, resilient brand of football, the side put in its best home and away performance for a decade in qualifying for the finals in 2nd place with 12 wins and a draw from 18 games. Among the key players who contributed to the Cardinals’ eventual premiership success in 1932 were Wally Buttsworth, the McDiarmid brothers, Jack and Norm, 1930 Sandover Medallist Ted Flemming, Don Marinko, Bill Rainoldi, ‘Checker’ O’Keefe (who would win the Sandover Medal in 1940) and legendary spearhead Ted Tyson, who bagged a total of 1,203 goals in his 227 game career. The 2nd semi final brought a morale-boosting 18 point victory over minor premiers East Fremantle, as the Cardinals overturned a 19 point lemon time deficit with a barn-storming last quarter performance. In the grand final, West Perth struggled for three quarters to see off the challenge of surprise opponents East Perth, which had upset Old Easts by 8 points the previous week. At three quarter time the margin in West Perth's favour was just 5 points, but an imperious last term performance saw the Cardinals add 6.2 to no score to win with deceptive comfort by 44 points, 18.9 (117) to 11.8 (74). In addition to being one-sided - at least in the end - the grand final was extremely rough, with many players on both sides sustaining injuries.
| West Perth again qualified for the 2nd
semi final in 1933, only to bow out of premiership contention in straight sets
against East Fremantle (by 21 points) and Subiaco (by 25 points).
Johnny Leonard stepped into Cashman's shoes as (non-playing) coach in 1934, with Don Marinko as captain, and the pair enjoyed immediate success. After being thrashed by 54 points by East Fremantle in the 2nd semi final, the team recovered well to defeat Victoria Park (by which name Perth, in a bid to improve its fortunes, was known in 1934 and ’35) 9.14 (68) to 4.9 (33) in the preliminary final, and Old Easts 11.7 (73) to 5.9 (39) before a crowd of 10,464 in the premiership decider at Perth Oval. Evidence of West Perth's substantial overall dominance in 1934 is afforded by the side's feat in scoring an average of 101 points per game, which by some measure constituted a new league record. |
The Cardinals' 1934 premiership-winning side. (Click on the image to view an enlarged version.) |
That dominance continued in 1935 when, for the first and, to date, only time in history, the club was successful in procuring consecutive flags. The triumph was not achieved without a hiccup: in the 2nd semi final, Subiaco scored a 16 point win, despite having 4 fewer scoring shots. "We are disappointed, but we are not squealers," conceded Cardinals president Alec Breckler after the game. "Our hope is that we will meet you in a fortnight." (See footnote 8)
|
Goalkicker extraordinaire, Ted Tyson. (Click to enlarge.) |
Breckler's wish was duly granted, although
West Perth again kicked inaccurately (27 scoring shots to 15), making needlessly
hard work of seeing off arch rivals East Perth by 7 points in the preliminary
final. Whether Johnny Leonard had his charges concentrating on goal
kicking practice in the week leading up to the grand final is unknown but,
whatever the reason, West Perth displayed almost unerring accuracy when it
counted most in convincingly overturning the 2nd semi final result against the
Maroons and winning by 23 points, 11.8 (74) to 7.9 (51).
Jack Beveridge, who earlier in the season had been the cause of 4 lost match points for the Cardinals after taking the field for them against Subiaco before his eligibility vis-à-vis residence requirements had been confirmed, was in supreme form for the victors, perhaps fuelled by a sense of vengeance. In a prototype ruck-roving role, he complemented Don Marinko’s ruck supremacy, "always opening up the play and using handball with admirable effectiveness" (see footnote 9). The Cardinals dominated affairs from the start, and led at every change by 10, 18 and 16 points. In addition to their dominant ruck division, they possessed formidable key position forwards in Norm McDiarmid and Ted Tyson, and redoubtable half backs such as Ted 'Checker' O'Keefe and Max Tetley; as a consequence, they controlled matters virtually all over the ground, and most of the 19,154 spectators present at the ground would probably have anticipated a sustained period of red and blue success. Sadly, however, as so often during their history, the Cardinals failed to build on their dominance. With Jack Cashman back at the coaching helm in 1936 the side managed just 9 wins from 20 games to miss the finals altogether, and indeed the remainder of the 1930s would prove to be a dire time for the club, with another 5th place finish (under Leonard) in 1937 being followed by consecutive wooden spoons in 1938 and 1939 (with Max Tetley as captain-coach), the latter involving just 1 win for the season. |
With Tetley still in charge, albeit now in only an off field capacity, in 1940 the Cardinals improved significantly, winning 11 out of 20 matches to narrowly miss the four. 'Checker' O'Keefe's Sandover win was a highlight of the year.
In 1941, former East Fremantle captain-coach Ross Hutchinson took over West Perth's coaching reins, but as East Fremantle refused to clear him he was forced to undertake his duties in a purely non-playing capacity. Nevertheless, he inspired his new team to immediate success as, in the finals, the Cardinals overcame his old side 11.7 (73) to 5.18 (48) in the 2nd semi final, and 14.14 (98) to 10.17 (77) in what would prove to be the last authentic senior grand final for 4 years. Stan ‘Pops’ Heal, "totally efficient in a non-glamorous way, but a top class performer always" (see footnote 10) achieved the remarkable feat of playing in premiership teams in two different states (Melbourne in the VFL as well as West Perth) in the same season (see footnote 11).
Between 1942 and 1944, an under age competition replaced the seniors, but premierships and Sandover Medals won during those years are nevertheless accorded official status. West Perth contested the finals in all three under age seasons, winning the premiership in 1942 with a 51 point grand final defeat of Claremont, and bowing out at the first hurdle in both 1943 and 1944.
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Footnotes
1. At this point in time, winning teams in the WAFA received 2 points, with 1 point being awarded for a draw. Return to Main Text
2. This was a different club to the Royals of today, and only lasted 2 seasons. See the entry on East Perth for further details. Return to Main Text
3. The Footballers by Geoff Christian, page 2. Return to Main Text
4. From an interview with Kessell on the West Perth centenary history video 'It's a Grand Old Flag'. Return to Main Text
5. The Western Australian Football Association changed its name to the Western Australian Football League in 1908. Return to Main Text
6. Christian, op cit., page 28. Return to Main Text
7. From an interview recorded on 'It's a Grand Old Flag'. Return to Main Text
8. Diehards 1896-1945 by Ken Spillman, page 141. Return to Main Text
9. Ibid., page 138. Return to Main Text
10. Christian, op cit., page 36. Return to Main Text
11. During World War Two, interstate clearance regulations were relaxed in order to enable footballers in the armed services to play for clubs in the localities to which they were posted. Return to Main Text