Footy in the Snow
Footy in the Snow
During world war two Australian servicemen occasionally arranged scratch football matches in Hyde Park, but once the war had ended the only regular fixture in the English 'Australian Rules football calendar' was the annual 'varsity match organised by the Australian clubs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. This remained the situation until March 1955 when, in response to a challenge issued after the previous year's 'varsity match, a combined team from Oxford and Cambridge made the trip down to the Big Smoke for an "exhibition match'"against a team drawn from London's even then sizeable Australian colony.
Preparations for the match were exhaustive. The avowed aim of the day was to 'sell' the game, and to this end the London contingent in particular had been very meticulous in scouring the streets for the cream of the capital's available ex-patriot talent. The Australian High Commissioner, Sir Thomas White, known to be a staunch supporter of the game, was contacted, and enthusiastically threw his weight behind the venture. It was not merely a case of the odd word of encouragement either as Sir Thomas placed the not insubstantial resources of Australia House at the organisers' disposal thereby eliminating much of the cost of promotion, advertising, printing and so forth.
Coaching of the London team was undertaken jointly by ex Preston player Harold McDonald (a member of staff at Australia House), and Graham Cock, formerly of Collingwood. "Sek" Hume, captain of Oxford, coordinated the Universities' training programme.
When Australian airline Qantas learned of the venture they offered to fly any football gear required from Australia free of charge. Unfortunately, the organisers were unable to take advantage of this offer as the Australian National Football Council flatly refused to support the venture in any way, refusing even to sanction the loan of two sets of playing jumpers. Just on the off chance one of the organising committee then contacted English Football Association secretary Sir Stanley Rous who came to the rescue with no hesitation whatsoever, providing the committee with two complete sets of soccer jerseys in blue and white. Had the match ended up being a success in terms of generating interest amongst the local population it is ironic in the extreme to reflect that this would have been no thanks whatsoever to the sport's controlling body, which nevertheless would no doubt have been very quick indeed to associate itself with any burgeoning football infrastructure in the "home country".
Another incidental contact led to a major London department store offering the use of its sports ground at Wimbledon as the venue for the match, which was scheduled for a Saturday afternoon early in March 1955.
The organising committee took their promotional responsibilities seriously, advertising the match widely, attracting interest from the media, and producing an attractive printing programme detailing the sport's rules, scoring system and field positions.
One thing the organisers had no control over, however, was the weather, and London in March is a bit like Melbourne at any time: you get what you get. In the event, what they 'got' was a frigid, overcast afternoon, with the (soon to be realised) threat of snow in the air.
With television and newsreel crews supplementing the sparse crowd, Sir Thomas White, having earlier greeted the players on both teams, bounced the ball to start the game. The Universities, despite being without the star of the recent 'varsity match in the shape of 1953 Rhodes scholar Duncan Anderson (pictured above, left), an All Australian Amateur full forward from University Blues in the VAFA, began brightly and, with the wind in their favour, posted two early first quarter goals. Another Rhodes scholar, Alan Dowding, who by this time was undertaking postgraduate study at Cambridge, was the dominant player afield early on. Blond-haired Dowding, a wingman in South Australia's successful AAFC carnival side at Perth in 1948, burrowed tenaciously into packs, tackled ferociously, and disposed of the ball with telling accuracy. Unfortunately, few of his team mates appeared to be on the same wavelength and when, midway through the term, the threatened snow arrived the writing was on the wall as far as the Universities' prospects were concerned.
With weight and strength to the fore at the expense of pace and skill the Londoners - much bigger and brawnier than their opponents - gradually assumed control.
During the second quarter, with many of the spectators having retreated to the warmth of their cars or one of several local hostelries, the London players peppered the goals continually, albeit somewhat haphazardly at times, to set up a commanding lead. Players like Ken Ashdown (a former Western Australian carnival player from West Perth) and 102kg South Australian ruckman Doug Giles were simply too physically powerful for their rivals.
However, with the ball now greasy and the playing surface degenerating by the minute into a slushy morass, the game as a spectacle became less and less appealing (other than to those purists who see virtue in all of football's multifarious manifestations). Most casual observers departed, as did the "heretics" from Sydney and Brisbane.
With the Universities combination unable to make any inroads into the London lead during the 3rd term, despite having use of the stiffening breeze, the only question remaining at three quarter time was how much the Londoners would ultimately win by. With the pressure off during the final term the players of both sides relaxed and produced the most cohesive football of the afternoon. Sadly, any chance of making an impression among the local population had gone, as just about the only spectators remaining were friends of the players and umpires.
For the record, the scoreboard at the final siren showed London 52 points to the good, 13.13 (91) to the Universities 6.3 (39).
After the game a trio of Royal Australian Naval personnel who had travelled down from their duties at the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness issued a challenge to the Londoners on behalf of their football-loving colleagues. The abject failure of the afternoon's activities from a promotional point of view were swiftly forgotten as plans for an Australian Rules invasion of Cumbria were hatched.
As for the widespread induction of the natives into the splendour and fascination of "God's Own Game" that, sadly, would have to wait, as indeed it waits still.
Facts not Propaganda
Let's have more facts and less propaganda
In an ideal world, history would present us with a picture of the past that was accurate and verifiable, based on facts. However, as everyone knows, history is written by the winners, who all too often regard it, not as the intellectual and moral challenge it ought to be, but merely as a tool to bolster their own position. History in the hands of the empire builder almost invariably degenerates into propaganda, with the facts being magnified, distorted or ignored, depending on the circumstances.
A classic recent example of this has been the AFL’s depiction of the history of Australian football, which hinges on the deliberately concocted myth that today’s AFL and the VFL of yore are essentially the same beast. The AFL would like to be perceived as having been a truly national organisation for a good deal longer than it actually has – to be, if you like, Australia’s equivalent of Major League Baseball in America, or the elite soccer leagues of western Europe. Given that the AFL has effectively acquired control over every aspect of the football industry, the actual facts of the matter can be cheerfully ignored.
So what are those facts?
For a start, football’s present day pyramidal structure, with the AFL at its apex, is a comparatively recent development. For most of the twentieth century, each state or territory, including Victoria , had its own pyramid, topped by an elite competition. In states where football was the main winter sport, the fundamental differences between those elite competitions were quantitative rather than qualitative, although the fact that Victoria had many more footballers to draw upon than any other state obviously had potential qualitative implications as well (or, to put it another way, the more footballers you have, the more good ones there are likely to be).
This is light years away from suggesting that the elite competition in Victoria, the VFL, had a complete monopoly on the best talent in the nation. Quite simply, it didn’t, and there are hard facts to back this up. Let’s start by comparing the composition of modern AFL teams with their VFL counterparts of the past. In order to compare like with like as closely as possible, we’ll use a couple of premierships won half a century apart by Essendon. When the Bombers beat Melbourne in the 2000 grand final their team comprised eleven players who were recruited locally, four from country regions of Victoria, and seven from interstate.
For comparison, let’s look at the Bombers’ flag-winning team of 1950. Who were the equivalents of Michael Long, Darren Bewick and Sean Wellman back then? The simple answer is – nobody. The entire Essendon team of 1950 was Victorian, comprising sixteen local and four country recruits. Similarly, their opponents, North Melbourne , boasted an entirely Victorian line-up. Where then were the interstate stars? The same place they had been since football’s earliest days, and the same place they would, with a few exceptions, remain for many more years – interstate.
The fact that top level football was not restricted to Melbourne, and that the very best players could equally be found, if in smaller numbers, in SA, WA or Tasmania was something that the football public, journalists and players of yesteryear were well aware of, but which, for obvious reasons, the AFL of today would like to play down. Thus, for example, you get:
- legendary Geelong defender Reg Hickey, who was opposed during his VFL career by the likes of Bob Pratt, Gordon Coventry, Laurie Nash, Jack Titus, Harry Vallence, Bill Mohr and Ron Todd, naming Harold ‘Dribbler’ Hawke of North Adelaide as the finest centre half forward he ever faced;
- Essendon’s triple All Australian centreman Jack Clarke calling East Fremantle ’s RaySorrell “the best centreman I ever saw”;
- Jock McHale’s Collingwood giving pride of place in their clubrooms to a portrait of South Adelaide’s Jack Tredrea, as a mark of respect for an opponent that so many players at the club admired;
- South Adelaide wingman Wally Allen being acclaimed by the Melbourne press as “champion of the year” after a sensational display for South Australia against Victoria on the MCG in 1920;
- Allen’s South Adelaide teammate Dan Moriarty being widely feted as “the best footballer in the Commonwealth” after the 1921 Perth carnival;
- Richmond champion Jack Dyer describing Jack Broadstock, who spent the vast majority of his playing career in the SANFL, as “the most talented footballer I have ever seen”.
History may, indeed, always be written by the winners, but for that very reason it’s always worth questioning.
Silver City Footy
Football in the Silver City
For a city which has never in its history boasted a population in excess of 30,000,¹ Broken Hill’s contribution to the sport of Australian football has been extraordinary, and indeed arguably unrivalled. The fact that the city is situated in New South Wales makes its story even more intriguing, even if not quite unique.
The original Broken Hill settlement was founded by Charles Rasp, a boundary rider who discovered iron ore (although he originally thought it was tin) in the region in 1883. Almost forty years earlier, in 1844-5, Charles Sturt had coined the expression ‘Broken Hill’ when writing, in his diary, of the distinctive, boomerang-shaped orebody protruding from the earth right at the very heart of the region that he decided to name the Barrier Ranges. That region has proved to be far and away the world’s single richest source of silver, lead and zinc for well over a century. As for the city of Broken Hill, as intimated in the opening paragraph, this has proved to be one of, if not the, richest sources of Australian football talent anywhere in the world, on a per capita basis at any rate - of which more later.
Football first came to Broken Hill on 4th April 1885 when a scratch match between Day Dream and Silverton took place at the Day Dream mine. This was the first of many such matches, and by 1888 an informal competition involving Broken Hill, Silverton, and Silver and Blues had commenced. Two years later this competition achieved formal status with the establishment of the Barrier Ranges Football Association, precursor of today’s Broken Hill Football League.
Life in this remote corner of New South Wales was very rough and ready, but football rapidly became an important civilising influence (much needed in a region where the ratio of males to females often exceeded two to one), as well as a key element in the social fabric. One of the main reasons for this was that many of Broken Hill’s earliest inhabitants hailed from either the Victorian goldfields, which had long been, and of course remain, a hotbed of the indigenous game, or the copper mines of Moonta and Kadina in South Australia. Later on, there was much movement to and fro between the Barrier and the Kalgoorlie-Coolgardie axis in Western Australia, where gold was discovered in 1892.
Once at the Barrier people tended, as is almost always the case, to emphasise and cling to those aspects of their lifestyles and behaviour patterns that they regarded as being quintessential to their identities, as well as to socialise and mix primarily with people hailing originally from the same geographical areas as themselves. Such predilection, needless to say, was as readily observable in footy as in any other walk of life, as is clearly evidenced by the fact that the two strongest clubs during the BRFA’s formative years were known simply as ‘Victorians’ and ‘South Australians’. Indeed, between them these two clubs shared all of the fledgling Association’s first ten premierships, with the South Australians indeed annexing all bar two.² Fulfilling the role of ‘whipping boys’ at various times, and to varying degrees of ineptitude, during this era were Broken Hill, North Broken Hill, South Broken Hill and Hotham.
The days of generic clubs such as South Australians were numbered, however. In 1900, in accordance with what was happening in many other competitions throughout Australia, the BRFA was reorganised along district lines, a development which perhaps emphasised Broken Hill’s transmutation from transitory mining settlement to permanent town.The first premiership of the reorganised competition was contested by the same four clubs which continue to make up the BHFL today: West Broken Hill, which became the first ‘non-colonial’ premier, North Broken Hill, Central Broken Hill and Alma (later re-named South Broken Hill). The inception of the district scheme also brought a reduction in the number of players per side from 20 to 18, three years after the same innovation had been implemented by the VFL.
As the population increased, and the number of players boasting top level experience in other parts of Australia continued to rise, so the standard of football being played in Broken Hill improved. In 1904, a combined Barrier side took on and defeated a visiting Port Adelaide side, a result that was clearly no fluke as it was promptly repeated the following year. The 1905 season also brought the first ever match between a BRFA team and one from the VFL, when a Collingwood side that was to reach that season’s Grand Final visited the ‘Silver City’³ and left with honour and pride intact but also, one imagines, with rather less skin on their knees than when they arrived⁴.
The national significance of the Barrier Ranges competition at this time is indicated by its being invited to send delegates to the first ever Australasian Football Conference, held in Melbourne in November 1905. In addition to the delegates from the BHFA there was representation from Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Kalgoorlie-Border, Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Launceston and New Zealand. The Conference, which was chaired by H.C.A. Harrison, paved the way for the inaugural Australasian football championships, held in Melbourne in 1908, as well as constituting, in effect, the establishment of the Australasian Football Council (AFC), One of the Victorians’ two wins came in 1895 when the South Australians went into temporary abeyance as a mark of respect for two of their players, ‘Scrap’ Panter and Archie Trembath, who were among those killed in an underground disaster at the South Mine.
‘Silver City’ is just one of several popular descriptions for Broken Hill coined over the years. Others include the ‘Oasis of the west’ and the ‘Capital of the Outback’.
In 1905 the BRFA spent £300 on the Jubilee Oval, which remains the League’s headquarters to this day. For many years this oval had no covering of grass, meaning that players needed a special, if not quite unique, kind of courage in order to succeed. Clearly the Collingwood players were not found wanting in this regard as they triumphed over the Barrier combination with some comfort, eventually winning by 28 points, 7.7 (49) to 2.9 (21). which would provide a national administrative underpinning of sorts for the code for much of the twentieth century, until eventually usurped as an authority by the VFL during the 1980s.
The national significance of the Barrier Ranges competition at this time is indicated by its being invited to send delegates to the first ever Australasian Football Conference, held in Melbourne in November 1905. In addition to the delegates from the BHFA there was representation from Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Kalgoorlie-Border, Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Launceston and New Zealand. The Conference, which was chaired by H.C.A. Harrison, paved the way for the inaugural Australasian football championships, held in Melbourne in 1908, as well as constituting, in effect, the establishment of the Australasian Football Council (AFC), which would provide a national administrative underpinning of sorts for the code for much of the twentieth century, until eventually usurped as an authority by the VFL during the 1980s.
The emergence of the AFC was a clear indication that football was becoming more professional in its outlook, a fact emphasised in Broken Hill in 1908 with the appointment, at Wests, of Bert Renfrey as the first paid coach in the Association’s history. Renfrey would go on to enjoy an auspicious career in the SANFL, leading South Australia to its historic carnival win of 1911, but at Wests he was less successful. Indeed, for much of the pre-world war one period it was Norths who dominated the competition, winning premierships in 1902, 1904-5, 1907 (unbeaten), 1908, 1909, 1911 and 1915. The Bulldogs’ main rivals during the early part of this period were Wests, who secured flags in 1900-1 and 1903, while Brokens (a temporary name change from Central Broken Hill) provided stiff opposition in the years leading up to the outbreak of war with premierships in 1910 and 1912-13.
Renfrey was just one of many ‘big name’ players, mainly from South Australia, to ply their trade at the Barrier during this time; most notable amongst the others perhaps were Magarey Medallists Jack Mack and Harold Oliver, both from Port Adelaide. Home grown champions also emerged, with North’s Dave Low, who went on to win the 1912 Magarey Medal with West Torrens, Jack Woollard, captain of Port Adelaide’s 1910 championship of Australia-winning team, and Algy Millhouse, who captain-coached Norwood in 1914, arguably the pick of these.
Meanwhile, the Barrier’s combined teams continued to engage in fixtures against powerful interstate clubs and representative 18s. In 1909, East Fremantle became the first West Australian club to visit Broken Hill, losing the first but winning the second of a two match series en route to Melbourne. From the East Fremantle perspective it was certainly an educational experience, with “the hard gravel ground......as strange to the team as the WACA ground in a wet July would have been to the combined Barrier team”. Moreover, “interpretations of the rules frequently nonplussed the visitors, but the home team’s handball resembled throwing to such an extent that Wilson (Old East’s captain) protested strongly”⁵.
The following year saw the Barrier take on the Ballarat Football League in another two match series, with its players kicking themselves out of contention in the first match, which was lost by 4 points, but making emphatic amends a view days later with a 16.13 (109) to 6.8 (44) triumph. Barrier and later Broken Hill representative sides took to the field wearing yellow and blue playing jumpers, a colour combination that was chosen to reflect the distinctive combination of blue skies and yellow wattle blossom that often dominated the region’s scenery.
In 1912 the BRFA’s representative team ventured interstate for the first time when it engaged in a return fixture against the Ballarat Football League, losing a hard fought match by 3 straight goals.
Mining activity in and around Broken Hill reached a peak in the years between the two world wars, and coincidentally the quality of the football being produced also “reached a previously unequalled standard”⁶. This was no thanks to the SA(N)FL and its clubs for whom the Barrier competition provided as rich and consistent a vein of readily plunderable talent as did the surrounding hills for the smelting works at Whyalla, Port Kembla and Port Pirie.
Among the many top ranking players to make a highly successful transition from the outback to the city were Dick Osborne, an eventual South Australian state representative initially rejected by Sturt but who soon afterwards found success with West Torrens, Alan Beck, a premiership player with Port Adelaide, livewire, intelligent rover Matt Kinnear (North Adelaide), Len Sly (South Adelaide), ‘Singer’ Barnes (West Adelaide), ‘Tiger’ Potts and Roy Bent (both Norwood). Even better perhaps than these noteworthy players were a handful of bona fide champions in the shape of 1922 Magarey Medallist Bobby Barnes, brother of ‘Singer’, his team mate at West Adelaide, Bruce McGregor, who went one better with consecutive Medals in 1926-7, and one of the deadliest goalsneaks the game has seen in Jack Owens, who topped the SA(N)FL’s goal kicking ladder on three occasions (once jointly) and his club, Glenelg’s, on no fewer than ten in amassing what, until the emergence of Ken Farmer a decade later, was a South Australian record 817 career goals.
The Barrier Ranges Football Association became the Broken Hill Football League in 1927, a name it has retained ever since. The competition during the 1920s tended to be closely contested, with Wests proving the most successful club with four senior flags, one clear of Souths, and two more than Norths. The remaining premiership, that of the 1925 season, was not won by Centrals as you might imagine, but was actually withheld by the Association after Centrals refused to take the field after half time in the Grand Final against Wests because they maintained that the central umpire was not giving their players ‘a fair go’.
This debacle led to the establishment of a much more accountable controlling body, in relation to which the name change can be seen as being virtually tantamount to a statement of intent; nevertheless, compared to the streamlined and highly competent administrative underpinning enjoyed by competitions like the VFL the BHFL remained, in certain senses, something of a backwater, a state of affairs which may not have been devoid of charm, but which nevertheless prevented the game in Broken Hill from developing in ways that hindsight tells us may have been feasible, such as by entering a team in the SANFL at some point, for instance.
During the height of the economic depression of the 1930s mining centres such as Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Broken Hill enjoyed, if not quite prosperity, then certainly an average standard of living measurably superior to that which was readily attainable elsewhere. This meant that, for a time at least, the escalating drain of players away from Broken Hill to clubs in the capital cities (mainly Adelaide) was arrested, and the standard of play, as intimated above, remained as high, if not higher, than ever before (or indeed since). Among the numerous matches engaged in by Broken Hill representative sides during the inter-war period was a long-running series of contests against South Australian ‘second best’ 18s. The Broken Hill combinations were never remotely disgraced in these contests, and indeed were victorious on quite a number of occasions, including a hefty 40 point success at home in 1938.
The match between South Australia’s second 18 and the BHFL at the Adelaide Oval on 29 July 1939 was a near classic which, although eventually won narrowly by the home side, emphasised in no uncertain terms that the football being played at the Barrier at the time was of comparable standard to that being played almost anywhere in Australia. The South Australian team was by no means the ramshackle collection of ‘has beens’ and ‘not quites’ that might be supposed. It was captained by Sturt’s Parker ‘Bo’ Morton, one of the finest full forwards of his day, and included the likes of George ‘Bluey’ Johnston of Glenelg, a young Jack Broadstock (West Adelaide), plus Magarey Medallists Bill McCallum (Norwood) and Jack Cockburn (South Adelaide). Despite this, and the unfamiliarity of the cold, wet conditions, the visitors dominated the early exchanges to lead 5.6 to 1.1 at the first interval. South Australia played its best football of the match in the second term to seize back both the initiative and the lead (by 7 points) at the main break, but thereafter it was only poor kicking for goal by the Broken Hill combination that prevented what might nowadays, in hindsight, be regarded as something of an upset. Almost certainly this would not have been the case at the time, however: Barrier football was widely, and rightly, respected, and had there been any kind of national competition in existence during the 1930s it might have been reasonable to expect to see the name ‘Broken Hill’ appearing more than once on any roll of honour. The final scores in this particular match were South Australia 19.14 (128) to Broken Hill 16.17 (113) with the Barrier’s forwards in particular proving that they were the equal, if not better, than anything South Australia had to offer.⁷
Other noteworthy matches engaged in by the BHFL during the inter-war period included an 18.14 (122) to 3.10 (28) annihilation of CANFL club Acton in Canberra in 1929, a 26 point defeat of a CANFL combined side, again in Canberra, in 1935, and wins against East Fremantle and Claremont (both at home) in 1938 and 1939 respectively.
Since world war two the profile and standing of competitions like the BHFL has steadily diminished, but the key word here is ‘steadily’ as it was certainly not an overnight occurrence. Indeed, as late as the 1970s the BHFL’s representative side was still enjoying a fair amount of success, recording wins over the likes of Woodville (by 24 points in 1970), Coburg (by 25 points the same year), and West Adelaide (by 7 points, 1972). By the early 1980s, however, the developing professionalisation of the code was beginning to have a distinctly detrimental effect on the competitiveness of ‘non-league’ combinations such as the BHFL; when the league took on perennial SANFL wooden spooner Woodville in 1982, for instance, it was unequivocally beaten.⁸
The talent conduit between BHFL and other, ostensibly superior competitions, notably the SANFL, was still in full swing, however. Neil Davies, for example, was a star with Glenelg, Richmond and St Marys, Colin Casey played 251 league games in thirteen seasons with Sturt, while Andy Bennett enjoyed a successful career as a player and coach in three states, and these are just a few of examples.
As late as the 1970s Broken Hill could realistically lay claim to still being one of the genuine hotbeds of the game, but one is forced to wonder whether that is still the case. For example, a glance at The ‘AFL Record’ Guide To Season 2005 reveals that only two players then on AFL club lists (Essendon’s Dean Solomon, and Brent Staker of West Coast) actually hailed originally from the city which could arguably, at one time, lay claim to being the per capita capital of Australia’s only indigenous sport.
Of course, it may simply be that football is undergoing a temporary slump, and that all will be well once more in a few years time, but somehow this is hard to accept. Football today, for both participants and observers, is increasingly perceived as providing just one among many potential ways of utilising the leisure dollar, and in country Australia, once the heart and soul of the game, it is all too easy nowadays to choose alternative spending outlets. This state of affairs is likely to be here to stay, one senses, forever leaving the history of Australian football in Broken Hill as perhaps the code’s quintessential tale of romance, sparkling ambition, excitement, allure, and against-the-odds achievement - but, ultimately, one is constrained to admit, of unfulfilled potential, missed opportunity, and acutely exasperating failure.
Footnotes
- The official population of Broken Hill at the 2001 census was 20,096, but there have been a number of occasions during the settlement’s history when this figure has been exceeded. Indeed, within ten years of Broken Hill’s founding as a discrete settlement the population was estimated as being in the region of 27,000, while during the 1960s this figure reached approximately 30,000.
- One of the Victorians’ two wins came in 1895 when the South Australians went into temporary abeyance as a mark of respect for two of their players, ‘Scrap’ Panter and Archie Trembath, who were among those killed in an underground disaster at the South Mine.
- ‘Silver City’ is just one of several popular descriptions for Broken Hill coined over the years. Others include the ‘Oasis of the west’ and the ‘Capital of the Outback’.
- In 1905 the BRFA spent £300 on the Jubilee Oval, which remains the League’s headquarters to this day. For many years this oval had no covering of grass, meaning that players needed a special, if not quite unique, kind of courage in order to succeed. Clearly the Collingwood players were not found wanting in this regard as they triumphed over the Barrier combination with some comfort, eventually winning by 28 points, 7.7 (49) to 2.9 (21).
- Celebrating 100 Years Of Tradition by Jack Lee, page 60. East Fremantle was one of the most regular interstate visitors to the Barrier. Between 1909 and 1965 Western Australia's most successful club engaged in a total of 5 matches against Broken Hill combinations, winning 3 and losing 2.
- From an article by Ian Stewart entitled 'High Standard At Broken Hill' in 'The SA Football Budget', 29/7/39, page 11.
- Morton booted 6 of South Australia's 19 goals in this game, with ruckman Reg Mullins (West Torrens) chipping in with 4 while resting up forward; for Broken Hill, however, key forwards Smith (7 goals) and Brenton (5) did even better.
- The following match report, which was originally printed in The Broken Hill Football League Year Book 1966, provides some insight into the importance of these games to the public of Broken Hill, as well as to the game's administrators and players:
We Were Powerless Against W.A. Giant
He was 6ft. 5in. (196cm).
He had represented two states.
He had played in 10 league Grand Finals.
Bob Johnson, the ex-Melbourne star, gave a magnificent exhibition of 'power' football to rip the Broken Hill Combined team's defences to shreds in the match against East Fremantle at the Jubilee Oval on July 3, 1965.
How lucky for the locals that 'Big Bob' couldn't kick the goals as easily as he could get the ball. He kicked seven from countless shots.
Broken hill gave a good account of themselves, but as seems always the case in matches such as these, they fell down in attack again.
Dick Dally (BH) won the Craven 'A' Trophy for the best man afield. Ray Egan (BH) and Mike Regan (EF) trophies for outstanding play for their respective teams, and Jarvis Petit (BH) and John Martinson (EF) for the best placed men.
Johnson captained the visitors and Dave Schmidt the BHFL team.
The local team comprised:
BACKS: J.Johns (West) M.Hurley (Central) T.Rimmer (South)
HALF-BACKS: N.Fillery (South) J.Petit (North) R.Preston (Central)
CENTRES: P.Squire (Central) W.Hardy (North) V.Gauci (West)
HALF FORWARDS: M.Andrich (South) J.Richards (North) G.Lakes (West)
FORWARDS: J.Eddy (North) D.Dally (North) R.Parkes (Central)
RUCKS: D.Schmidt (North) G.Bennetts (West)
ROVER: R.Egan (North)
RESERVES: B.Goldring (North) G.Milne (West)
COACH: G.Hill (Central)
SCOREBOARD
East Fremantle: 4.1 11.5 16.6 16.10 106
Broken Hill: 2.1 5.5 9.6 12.10 83
GOALS
East Fremantle: Johnson 7; Schnell 4; Regan 2; Nylander, Prowse, Shorthill
BHFL: Egan 3; Dally, Parkes, Rimmer 2; Eddy, Gauci, Richards
BEST
East Fremantle: Regan, Martinson, Johnson, Watson, Schnell, Holt
BHFL: Dally, Egan, Petit, Lakes, Squire, Andrich
Attendance: 5,000 (approx.)
Note: An indication of East Fremantle's strength is that they defeated Swan Districts in that season's WANFL Grand Final.
Bulldogs Bite Back
Bulldogs Bite Back
Stumbling Towards Tradition: Central District's Early Years
Since the turn of the present century, the Central District Football Club has enjoyed unequalled success in the SANFL, but this position was not arrived at easily. Over the years, the club and its supporters suffered many disappointments and false dawns, eliciting considerable derision and disdain in the process. Indeed, something that very few people today probably recall or realise is that, four decades ago, the club actually went within a hairsbreadth of being stillborn.
In 1959 the SANFL made the momentous and highly controversial decision to expand its competition from eight clubs to ten via the admission of Central District, representing Adelaide's rapidly growing northern suburbs, and Woodville. The two cinderella clubs would initially be required to serve an indeterminate probationary period in the seconds competition, beginning in 1960, but by 1962 it was clear that many of the key figures in the SANFL hierarchy were beginning to doubt the wisdom of the proposed expansion. Consequently, in a bid to clear the air and focus minds, the League set up a special three man committee, chaired by its vice-chairman, Don Brebner, to examine the issue in detail, and to make formal recommendations to the clubs as to how the competition ought to be structured from 1964 onwards. In brief, the committee's recommendations were:
- That the senior League competition should continue to comprise just eight clubs
- That the projected future population of the northern suburbs clearly warranted a League presence, and therefore South Adelaide should be required to re-locate to Elizabeth
- That no more teams representing areas west of Adelaide should be admitted to the competition
- That preparatory work should be undertaken to facilitate the expansion of the League competition to ten clubs in about 1975 by means of the admission of teams based in Noarlunga and Tea Tree Gully
When these proposals were submitted to the eight club delegates for approval, voting was split 4-4, with Port Adelaide, Sturt, West Adelaide and West Torrens voting 'yay', and the other four club delegates 'nay'. The decision as to whether or not Central District and Woodville should be admitted to the League competition, or even continue to exist, was therefore placed squarely in the hands of of League chairman, Tony Kenny, who had the casting vote. Seldom can such power over the entire future of the game in South Australia have been conferred on one individual, but thankfully for future fans of the Bulldogs he made what history has shown to be a wise decision.[1]
Not that Centrals' problems were over - far from it. When the club was finally admitted to the senior SANFL competition in 1964 it was the equivalent of a lamb among wolves, and if adversity can be regarded as one of the essential building blocks of maturity and tradition, there was plenty of it to come during the side's early seasons, much of it ruthlessly dispensed by men wearing the black and white jumpers of South Australia's most famous club. In 1964, the Bulldogs met Port Adelaide twice, losing by 124 points at Alberton and 137 points at Elizabeth, and managing an aggregate score over the two games of just 6 goals 9. For inaugural Centrals captain-coach Ken Eustice, the Port Adelaide system represented something to which the fledgling club could do much worse than aspire.
Despite being a West Adelaide product, Eustice's own style of play bore many of the characteristics espoused by Port Adelaide mentor Fos Williams, himself an avowed and ardent Eustice admirer, and it was largely because of Eustice's influence that Central District, in its early years, developed a style of play in which the old fashioned virtues of passion, aggression and determination often helped compensate for a basic lack of talent. That said, it would be wrong to suggest that Eustice saw football as a game for mindless thugs. In a coaching manual published in 1967 his key advice to young, aspiring footballers was, "Always keep your cool. Play with your head as well as your body. Try to play intelligently - but always play with determination".[2]
Unfortunately for Eustice, most of his charges at Centrals lacked the talent necessary to implement his philosophy, which meant that, to the objective onlooker, there was little apparent system to the Bulldogs' play, which seemingly revolved around the simple expedient of getting the ball and kicking it as far as possible in a goalwards direction in the often forlorn hope that a team mate down field would be successful in doing the same. My father, a Sturt supporter, frequently amused himself by referring to the Centrals style of play as "bush football", and indeed when it was compared to the scientific, skill-oriented Double Blues approach of the day, he undoubtedly had a point.
A Trip To Elizabeth
My best friend Charlie was a West Torrens supporter, which is the main reason that Saturday 15th July 1967 found me, an ardent Port Adelaide fan, at Elizabeth Oval for the meeting of home side Central District and the Eagles. Accompanying us was Charlie's granddad - 'Pops' - a jocular and, to my youthful perception, extraordinarily wizened man, with brown teeth and firm, unwavering opinions. Some of these opinions related to footy, and were characteristically expressed with adamantine terseness, almost as if by rote.
"How do you think Centrals will go against Torrens at the weekend, Pops?"
"Ah, no hope Centrals, no hope." (Uttered machine gun style, almost as a single word, and rounded off with a half embarrassed, mirthless chuckle.)
"What about Sturt against South?"
"Ah, no worries Sturt, no worries." (The same knee-jerk, staccato certainty; the same mirthless laugh.)
Regardless of the opposition, Pops's answers never varied. Centrals was always "no hope", Sturt "no worries".
Mind you, in 1967 you did not have to be a football genius to make these kinds of assessments. The premiership ladder printed inside the 'SA Football Budget' for 15th July made the contemporary balance of power clear. After twelve rounds Sturt and North Adelaide were comfortably clear with 11 and 10 wins respectively; then came Port Adelaide (8 wins), Norwood (7), Glenelg (6), South Adelaide, West Adelaide and West Torrens (5 each), with Centrals (2) and Woodville (1) far and away the poorest performed sides.
However, what the ladder does not reveal is the recent trend of disastrous form that had seen West Torrens sustain five consecutive losses to tumble from third from top after seven rounds, to third from bottom prior to this match. Indeed, so poor had Torrens' recent displays been, that the Budget writer felt justified in suggesting that "All Centrals need is a return to top form from Tom Grljusich, to be reasonably confident of their third win for the season".[3]
Originally from South Fremantle, where he would return at the end of the season, Bulldogs vice-captain Grljusich was a strong marking, quick thinking, powerful key position player who, along with Ken Eustice, formed the backbone of Centrals' woefully under-resourced and extremely inexperienced side.[4] Other key players for the Bulldogs included Sonny Morey, an original member of the club's League team whose career would finally blossom after Eustice's replacement as Centrals coach, Dennis Jones, transformed him from a live-wire but erratic wingman into the best rebounding back pocket in the state; former East Fremantle rover Keith Shorthill; promising ruckman Gary Smith; and long kicking full back Terry Phillips, who later in the year would beat off the challenges of players from Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania to win the inaugural 'Craven Filter Champion Kick of Australia' contest.
On paper, West Torrens had a much stronger line-up than Centrals, even allowing for the absence through injury of two key players in the shape of centre half forward Geoff Kingston and ruckman Chris Butler. In Lindsay Head, the Eagles had one of the most skilful players in the League, indeed in Australia, while centre half back Glen Pill, utility Fred Bills, rover David Lee, half forward Peter Phillipou, and full back Tracy Braidwood were all players of the top rank. Also appearing for the Eagles in this match was a man by the name of Wayne Jackson, who would later enjoy much greater notoriety as a football administrator. In the view of Pat Hall, "there is no doubt that Torrens have the ability to extend any side in the competition, if they decide to put their best foot forward".[5] This ability had been amply demonstrated during the first meeting between Torrens and Centrals in 1967 when, in round 4 at Thebarton, the Eagles had enjoyed an effortless 59 point success, but since then the players' confidence had declined appreciably. At season's end, second year coach Ron Ashby would become the inevitable scapegoat for the team's decline, making way for former Essendon and Victorian rover Johnny Birt.
In contrast to the old world charm of Thebarton, the verdant splendour of Adelaide, the almost palpable air of tradition at Alberton, or the ramshackle claustrophobia of Norwood, Elizabeth Oval in 1967 was a threadbare and uninviting place. Despite the fact that you were only some twenty-four kilometres from the heart of Adelaide, you almost got the feeling that you had 'gone bush' with, as suggested above, some of the football played by the home side only serving to reinforce the impression.
During the interval between the seconds game (won surprisingly by ninth placed Centrals against second placed Torrens by 60 points), a brief ceremony took place out on the ground in which the General Manager of John Martins donated a perpetual best and fairest trophy to the Central District Football Club. At the time, such an event was a comparative novelty, with business and football enjoying at best a platonic friendship rather than the full-blown love affair that would all too rapidly develop.
After the two teams had engaged in a couple of warm up laps, and had their sprigs and fingernails inspected, Torrens captain Fred Bills won the toss and elected to kick to the southern end of the ground, which was favoured by a fairly stiff, four or five goal breeze.
1st Quarter
The Eagles were straight into attack from the opening bounce and, with the exception of a brief spell during the middle of the term, that was where they remained. The Bulldogs, however, defended with commendable determination, repeatedly forcing the play onto the eastern side of the ground from which, given that the wind was blowing from the north west, kicking for goal was more problematical. That, at least, was certainly the Eagles: experience: as time-on commenced, they led by 7 points, 1.8 to 1.1, having squandered numerous scoring opportunities either by poor kicking or over elaboration. On at least two occasions, players marked within easy goal kicking range, but elected to play on, placing team mates under intense pressure with poor handballs, as a result of which the Centrals defenders were able to clear the danger.
Deep into time-on, the Bulldogs back line finally cracked, not once, but twice, allowing a somewhat relieved group of West Torrens players to head for the quarter time huddle 19 points to the good. Even so, on balance of play it ought to have been much more.
Up in the grandstand, where the three of us were sitting as a concession to Pop's advancing years, I munched cheerfully on the pie I had bought in preference to a Budget, and asked Charlie what letter Port was on the progress scoreboard. "D," he informed me, from which intelligence I was able to ascertain that the Magpies, like Torrens, had seemingly squandered scoring opportunities in the opening term against North at Prospect, as despite having managed 7 scoring shots to 3, they trailed by a point. Ah well, early days.
"What letters are South and Sturt?" I asked. "G and H," proffered Charlie, and then added. "Hey, Pops - Sturt's leading South by 4 points."
The old guy chuckled sagely, or was it wistfully? "Ah, no worries Sturt, no worries."
Quarter Time: West Torrens 3.8 (26); Central District 1.1 (7)
2nd Quarter
Central District's lack of experience and poor team discipline were glaringly exemplified for most of the second term. Despite enjoying the not inconsiderable wind advantage, Centrals failed to dominate to anything like the same extent that Torrens had in the opening quarter. Kicking long and hopefully only succeeds as a tactic if you have superior numbers at the fall of the ball, or else players who are capable of winning more than their share of one on one contests. With Braidwood, Jackson and Graham in superb touch on the Torrens back line, the Bulldogs were unable to concoct more than a handful of scoring opportunities, and although by the long break they had managed to reduce the margin to 11 points, there was nothing to suggest they were capable of overhauling their more poised and efficient opponents. Half Time: West Torrens 4.9 (33); Central District 3.4 (22)
3rd Quarter
The third term was a virtual carbon copy of the first, with Torrens enjoying almost total territorial domination, but Centrals defending with considerable grit and effectiveness. A prolonged break in the play when Torrens forward John Staker was taken from the ground on a stretcher after sustaining a badly gashed leg threatened to undermine the Eagles' momentum, but with David Lee, Freddie Bills, John Graham and Lindsay Head in the thick of the action they maintained their ascendancy virtually all over the ground except in front of the big white sticks.
During the lemon time interval, Charlie and I jumped the fence and headed out onto the ground. While Charlie trotted over to the Eagles camp to listen to Ron Ashby's words of wisdom, I elected, for some obscure, unknowable reason, to eavesdrop on Eustice. It was a providential decision, giving rise to an experience that I can still recall quite vividly almost 40 years later, an experience rendered almost seminal in my recollection - no doubt disproportionately so - by the subsequent events of the final quarter.
By no means the most formidable of physical specimens, Eustice nevertheless commanded rapt attention from every one of his players, not to mention the thirty or forty or so interested onlookers. It wasn't so much the substance of what Eustice was saying - indeed, other than assimilating a handful of expressions that my father later painfully convinced me ought never to form part of a well-behaved 11 year old's vocabulary, I remember little of what was actually said - it was more the expression on his face, and the sheer animal ferocity with which the words were uttered. Quite why I should find such bald, unfettered emotion so inspiring is unclear, but the fact that I did so is undeniable. Indeed, had Eustice asked me to don a Centrals jumper and line up on Eagles champion Lindsay Head for the final term I have little doubt that I would have succeeded in comprehensively blanketing him, to the extent that he would probably have been dragged, leaving me to run riot during the closing minutes of the match with 3 or 4 match-winning goals.
OK, I exaggerate.... but seldom can so much invective, and so much saliva, have been so fervently and advantageously expended. Footy may well be the world's most majestic and spectacular sport, but underpinning and informing it is a primal energy that the conventions of civilised society for the most part emasculate or divert. Footy too, which inevitably reflects society to some extent, is not above such emasculation, but thankfully to date the essence of the game has remained untouched, although recent needless experimental tinkering with the scoring system, as essential an element in the fabric of the game as the shape of the ball or the concept of the handpass or the mark, perhaps prefigures a worrying stage in the sport's development. The more regimented and subject to measurement and control a sport becomes, the less capable it is of tapping into those elemental reaches of the human soul in which philosophy, science and theology alike inform us, fulfilment and self-realisation lie. Three Quarter Time: West Torrens 6.14 (50); Central District 3.4 (22)
4th Quarter
But back to Elizabeth Oval in 1967, and the to me incredible sight of a hitherto inept and uncoordinated Central District outfit raising both the tempo and the tenor of its performance to such an extent that, for the entirety of the last quarter, Torrens scarcely managed to get the ball ahead of centre, let alone trouble the scorers. It is a dreadful cliché, but no less true for that, that the Bulldog players played like men possessed, always seeming to have more bodies at the fall of the ball than their opponents, and slowly but surely reducing the margin with what, at the time, seemed like predetermined certainty. With a couple of minutes to go, and scores deadlocked, Julian Swinstead, having marked within easy goal kicking range, kicked truly, and Centrals had finally captured the lead, so that Eustice's passionately fiery, if scarcely comprehensible, diatribe had born fruit. Indeed, during that tumultuous final term, no one took the sentiments uttered in the 'lemon time' huddle to heart more thoroughly and unquestioningly than the coach himself, whose 12 final quarter kicks gave him a match total of 35, and automatic selection - later endorsed by the umpires at Magarey Medal time - as best afield.
The Bulldogs' eventual 6 point win was one of only five achieved by the team all year, and like all the others (Woodville by 4 and 7 points, West Adelaide by 4 points and Norwood by 4 points) it was achieved both against the odds and against the grain, a victory not so much for talent as for passion and strength of will, two of the most essential contributors to success, not just in football, but in virtually any field you care to name.
"Port's lost," said Pops, with rather too much relish for my liking. He pointed at the scoreboard, where the attendant had just affixed the fateful numbers 'C 12.7 D 8.12'. I determinedly adopted a poker face, belying my inner angst. '19 points!' I quickly calculated. 'That's almost a massacre!'
Then came a moment I couldn't help but enjoy. 'G 8.25' the scoreboard informed us. Dreadful kicking, but....... Yes! There it was: 'H 9.8' - a win to South by 11 points. "Hey Pops, Sturt's lost," I helpfully announced, carefully if somewhat exaggeratedly adopting my most cherubic facial expression. His response, like so much else, is lost in the mists of time.
Final Score: Central District 8.8 (56); West Torrens 6.14 (50)
Match Summary
BEST - Centrals: Eustice, Shorthill, Hage, Stutley, Bentley West Torrens: Braidwood, Graham, Jackson, Bills, Head, Lee
SCORERS - Centrals: Hage, Swinstead 2.0; Webber 1.2; Foley, Grljusich 1.1; Shorthill 1.0; Eustice 0.2; Bentley, Smith 0.1 West Torrens: Lee 2.2; Tucker 2.1; Staker 1.3; Shepherd 1.0; Head 0.3; Phillipou 0.2; Bills, Caldow 0.1; rushed 0.1
ATTENDANCE: 4,098 at Elizabeth Oval
FOOTNOTES
1. The South Australian Football Yearbook 1963, pages 7-8.
2. Quoted in The South Australian Football Record Yearbook 1968, page 87.
3. 'SA Football Budget', 15/7/67, page 8.
4. This is evidenced by the fact that, in the 1967 Magarey Medal count, the Bulldogs polled an aggregate of 42 votes, with Eustice (15) and Grljusich (11) netting more than half of that total between them. Grljusich, who grew up in Perth idolising all time great Graham 'Polly' Farmer, shared to some extent his hero's uncanny ability to open up the play with prodigious, perfectly directed hand passes to unmarked team mates.
5. 'Footy World', 19/7/67, page 3.
