ARTICLE: "The Divergence of Sporting Culture in Perth's Inner Eastern Suburbs", by Chris Egan

State premier league soccer @ Frank Drago Reserve, Bayswater. (Bayswater SC plays in the blue-and-black shirts which is a reference to Inter Milan and not to East Perth.) Chris Egan argues that Bayswater was historically a soccer town whereas neighbouring Maylands was an Australian Rules town and this difference is because of divergent immigration patterns in the early days.

The divergence of sporting culture in Perth’s inner eastern suburbs

The author Chris Egan

Sport in Western Australia is traditionally analysed on a state-wide perspective rather than a suburb by suburb approach. This skews our understanding on a rather complicated sporting environment which modern Perth is founded on.

Attitudes towards codes is variant depending on what ‘village’ of Perth you lived in. This article is to explore Maylands' fervent support of Australian Rules Football in juxtaposition to its minority status in neighbouring Bayswater.

While a British Association team was played out of Bayswater in the Great War and was allocated part of Bayswater Oval in 1928 (Changes They’ve Seen – The City and People of Bayswater 1827-2013), it did not enter East Maylands Primary School until 1973 (A History of East Maylands Primary School 1954-2003, by Laura Nolan).  While Australian Rules football was an entrenched part of Maylands' social fabric, it did not enter the City of Bayswater until 1948 when Bedford and Inglewood RSL clubs started one up for the children of returned servicemen (Changes They’ve Seen – The City and People of Bayswater 1827-2013).

This divergence shows how sporting culture is as divided on a town by town approach as in the north of England. That class, employment and social fabric was insular and cross cultural influences were constrained. Oral recounts are being supported by the historical archives to substantiate this.

We also see an evangelical rivalry. Australian Rules Football in Maylands was played by a Protestant majority, while the Church of England was also very influential in both junior and senior soccer circles in Perth. Victorian Protestants who had come over with the gold rush were fervent supporters of Australian Rules Football, while Western Australian/ British Protestants, particularly those in high positions within government/clergy, would have soccer as their code of choice.

Bayswater was on the outskirts with farms and bush a majority. Its history has been said to be ‘unconstrained’ by Western Australian fabric because the suburb was essentially a suburb of new migrants. It had little of the entrenched class system that existed in other parts of Perth with tennis and athletics being more popular than any of the ball sports (Changes They’ve Seen – The City and People of Bayswater 1827-2013, by Catherine May). With a large British migration into the suburb its sports choices began to reflect the pastimes of tennis and athletics – sports which were individual by nature. Soccer became a pastime later on, with Australian Rules Football a minority sport. This is a story that is played out throughout the different villages of Perth, not dissimilar to what occurs in the north of England.

So what occurs in Maylands, which in the 1890’s was called Falkirk?  (Original Crown grants and locations within the City of Stirling, Gordon and Olga Sherwood, 1988)

Mephan Ferguson is largely influential in the establishment of the suburb of Maylands, the name has been changed because of his daughter May Ferguson who became Mephan’s housekeeper after his wife passed away. (Original Crown Grants and Locations with the City of Stirling, Gordon and Olga Sherwood, 1988).

Ferguson was a renowned engineer and won the contract to build the Water Pipeline from Perth to Coolgardie. A Scotsman who came out to Australia during the Gold Rush and did his apprenticeship in Ballarat, he went on to develop a large engineering workshop in Footscray. After winning the contract to develop the water pipeline he established a workshop in Maylands. Migration and skills in a full employment city would have come from a Victorian economy entering recession. Skills that had been developed in Footscray would have been transferable to the ‘state building’ of Western Australia.

This development would have seen the sport of choice Australian Rules Football to be infiltrated within this community by the residents who came and clustered. We see the insularity of the region with it not infiltrating into the region immediately east. So this Australian Rules cluster which had been seen as a sport of religion in the Victorian colonies came head to head with it being given a ‘working class’ typecast in the Western Australian society.

While Mephan Ferguson donated two pounds to the Footscray Football Club in 1895 (Independent, 11^th May 1895), his role in Perth fitted into the class structure where he as an influential member of society was a patron of British Association Football (The Daily News, 23^rd March 1906). This social and class structure that had seen him move from an influential backer of Australian Rules Football to Association Football.

Ferguson’s workers however would have seen their sport of choice Australian Rules Football ingrained by their social class. Joe Barbaro said even with post-war migration, Italians within Maylands adapted to this entrenched Australian Rules culture in the early 70’s.  

“We used to play football and it was probably the only reason I came to school. We used to have a division between Perth supporters and East Perth supporters. We’d get into a few fights with kids calling us ‘dings’ in particular…but it wasn’t a regular thing. I did take on a lot of the Anglo-saxon type things. Like I didn’t play soccer, I played footy…basically we assimilated pretty well because I think we had to” (A history of East Maylands Primary School, 1954-2003, Laura Nolan).

So how does this relate to today? Well with council amalgamations being a hot topic, we see why there is such great opposition within metropolitan Perth. In 1997 Maylands residents did not want to be part of the greater City of Bayswater and wanted to maintain its links to the old Perth Roads Board – City of Stirling. In the documentation of the meeting held to discuss the proposal to amalgamate Maylands to Bayswater, a 700 strong petition was delivered stating that historical links with Stirling were stronger than they were with Bayswater.

We see the great difference in culture between the regions, Maylands established within class and economic developments linked into Perth’s culture and Bayswater developed with British and more general interstate migration, not simply working class tradesmen building the great engineering feat of the water pipeline.

Frank Drago Reserve (Bayswater City SC)

In Bayswater, the council allows soccer a part of ‘the rec’  in 1928. It becomes the headquarters for soccer in Perth in 1953. Catherine May touches on the underlying tension between amateur and professional sport within the town and that the council’s desire to bring soccer to the region was a ‘welcome move to commercialisation of sport’ (Changes They’ve Seen – The City and People of Bayswater 1827-2013, Catherine May).

This had been a driver of sport in both Perth and Fremantle. Councils such as Bayswater which had a past not defined by any of the traditional Western Australian social structures would give the round ball game its first home. Bayswater Oval was first a facility for athletics, tennis, lawn bowls and more gentle sport.

The Landscape Archaeology of suburban grounds from Fremantle to Bayswater are often around commercial hubs. This is no accident, sport defined how the city moved and breathed. Merchants would see increased trade on days where sporting events were hosted. While today we see state governments seeing the benefits of hosting events, in regions throughout Perth, businesses wanted sporting events to get the visitors to stimulate their economies.

Bayswater’s move in the 1950s was a movement to stimulate commercial activity in their town centre which was not far away from Bayswater Oval. Sporting grounds in Perth are close to town nodes and commercial activity because of the economic trends that delivered gain to the business community on game days.

In this essay I’ve elicited the juxtaposition between two suburbs that although are geographically close have a cultural and economic divide that shapes their sporting culture. While post-war migrants found it socially acceptable to play the world game in Bayswater, which had this as its football code of hegemony, Italians were forced to assimilate to Australian Rules Football in a suburb [Maylands] which lived and breathed the ‘Australian’ game.

By Chris Egan

@perthforever 

[This article is published here with the kind written permission of Chris Egan.]

Joe Barbaro is quoted here as saying that East Maylands Primary School in the early-1970s was divided into gangs of Perth and East Perth supporters without soccer being a visible presence at the school. This is despite the Italian-based Baywater City (formerly Bayswater Inter) playing in neighbouring Bayswater. Now of course the East Perth WAFL club has moved to Leederville Oval (see above picture).

The author Chris Egan (left) and friend Reuben enjoying watching state premier league soccer at Dorrien Gardens, home of Perth Soccer Club (formerly Perth Italia), August 2012.

PICTURE GALLERY: Eagles Puppets Football Club banner displayed at East Fremantle Oval

The picture shows East Fremantle supporters on the scoreboard bank at East Fremantle Oval protesting the alignment of East Perth with West Coast Eagles prior to East Perth's visit to their ground for a WAFL match in May 2014. This scoreboard bank is a familiar sight to all WAFL fans and even those who do not love the club are forced to respect it. Although only AFL clubs get the lion's share of media coverage today historically the two most successful league-standard clubs in Australia are East Fremantle and Port Adelaide Magpies. We should respect these great clubs for what they have given to our game. You can almost smell and bottle that culture of respect and success once you walk inside the gates at East Fremantle Oval, a truly hallowed ground for WAFL fans. The way that winning culture is passed on through the generations is truly remarkable. This is a ground feared and respected by all opposition fans. For a West Perth fan the chilly ocean winds, the transport difficulties (no train station), and the bleak grey tin sheds at each end were the physical backdrops to regular depressing defeats at the hands of the home team. I like what David Edmondson has posted on Facebook: "East Fremantle, no-one's bitch since 1898". I remember standing on this screboard bank with my late grandfather Herbert Acott to watch Fremantle Dockers play Essendon in a practice match prior to the 1995 season [by Kieran James]. [These pictures were first posted by Ian Ross on the "Say No to AFL clubs in the WAFL" Facebook page on 4 May 2014 and are used here with Ian's kind permission.]

ARTICLE: "The Forgotten Story of Cottesloe Beach Oval", by Chris Egan

Mann Oval today viewed from Lochee Street, Mosman Park

The forgotten story of Cottesloe Beach Oval

Posted by cegan on January 21, 2014

Davis Oval today, adjoining Mann Oval on the eastern side

When I was first trawling Trove and came across Cottesloe Beach Oval, I instantly thought it would be a venue in what is presently known as Cottesloe. I then assumed it would be Cottesloe Oval, and beach had just been dropped off the end over time as the name was too long.

Then when researching I saw that in the 1920s there were two venues that sport was played at: Cottesloe Oval and Cottesloe Beach Oval. The historical record in publications such as Soccer Anzacs said Caledonians played at Mann Oval, there was no note of it being called Cottesloe Beach Oval. I needed more evidence to find out what and where Cottesloe Beach Oval was located.

It wasn’t until a photo on trove titled Cottesloe Beach (now Mosman Park) that I looked further afield and didn’t look for evidence of a soccer pitch on the world famous Cottesloe Promenade. 

In a long forgotten story the town of Mosman Park was called The District of Cottesloe Beach, much to the disdain of the government at the time. It was named after Cottesloe Beach Railway Station, which is now called Mosman Park Station on the Fremantle Line. Mosman Park was called Cottesloe Beach for 21 years from 1909-1930 before eventually being renamed along with the ground.

I used spatial archaeology to confirm that Mann Oval, named after the President of Cottesloe Beach Council, was in fact Cottesloe Beach Oval, a name long forgotten by supporters and historians alike. The field is more square shaped than oval and is quite compact compared to ovals such as Fremantle Oval.

The archaeological spatial boundaries show a ground that held rectangular codes and Australian Rules in the 1920s as Cottesloe Beach Oval did. Williamson noted community acceptance of both codes in the 1930s at the ground. However, the major football code of the region was Association Football.  Australian Rules Football was not hated, but it knew its place, that it was not as popular as the world game in many parts of the western suburbs.

Davis Oval, looking east to Hope St

Caledonians' success in the 1920s relates to the community and local decision makers' passion for the game which carries on for much of the early 20^th century.

On the 31^st March 1933 the council had allocated a Caledonians home game ahead of a WAFA fixture which had to be rescheduled to the following weekend. The opposite occurred in other parts of Perth such as Leederville and Subiaco where soccer would often be kicked out of or denied entrance to sporting fields showing the pre-eminent position held by the code in this part of Perth.

Today Mosman Park’s major football code is Australian Rules Football not soccer.

Preliminary research on how this occurred leads back to the entrance into the WAFL of Claremont Tigers in 1925. Due to the strength of soccer the Tigers were very weak at the same time Caledonians were at their peak.

In John Williamson’s Soccer Anzacs, Williamson argues that local councils defined how Perth interacted with sport. A particular election would change the attitudes, rates and access to a particular ground depending on which councillors had been elected.

The decision by the neighbouring Claremont Council in 1925 to spend 5000 pounds on Claremont Oval and evict Claremont Soccer Club from the ground is evidence of a council decision that changed a community's sporting interest.

So why did the Claremont Tigers get established in a region that was an island of British Soccer hegemony?  

Much like the establishment of Greater Western Sydney Giants, Claremont Tigers came into the WAFL based on being an untapped population, despite other sides based on talent and interest being more applicable to join the top league. It was an Australian Rules Football administration decision to be represented in every district and thus Claremont was the only district which was not represented in the top competition.

This administration decision changed the region from Association Football to Australian Rules Football and thus a ground that used to hold three football codes, with soccer being given priority has only the Australian game being played on it today. The name of Cottesloe Beach Oval, when soccer was at its peak, is long gone.

But grounds such as Cottesloe Beach Oval have stories to tell; its spatial shape shows the legacy and prominence of the rectangular codes in the region.

As in my other articles on my blog, spatial archaeology can be used in sports history to interpret stories not written down in the historical record.

Mosman Park looking westward

The WACA Ground went from an oval suited to Australian Rules Football, to squared off boundaries in its last redevelopment because it wanted to be home to Perth Glory after its contract with the AFL had finished. The growth of soccer in the late 1990s is reflected in the spatial archaeology of the WACA.

Field spaces are simply an expression of a community and sports will adapt venues according to the social demands of the time. Grounds and stadia are often the creation of a surrounding community, whether at a regional or a more city bound level.

  

The lost name of Cottesloe Beach Oval, from both memories and historical interpretations in the region, reflects a community that no longer sees Association Football as its most popular football code. However the archaeological footprint remains to elicit the fact that in this region, in the early part of the 20^th century, the world game reigned supreme. 

By Chris Egan

@perthforever

[This article was first published by Chris Egan at: http://cegan.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/the-forgotten-story-of-cottesloe-beach-oval/. The article is reproduced here with the kind permission of Chris Egan. Jack Frost did some additional minor editing. If you would like to submit an article to this website please send to Jack Frost on Facebook (busukwebzine@y7mail.com)]

Kieran James (left) and Chris Egan, Mandurah, Western Australia, August 2012

Chris Egan and friend Rueben at Dorrien Gardens (Perth Soccer Club), West Perth, August 2012

Chris Egan at Rushton Park, Mandurah (Peel Thunder Football Club), August 2012

Chris Egan at Rushton Park, Mandurah (Peel Thunder Football Club), August 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Review of "FITZROY", by Dyson Hore-Lacy (2000)

Fitzroy farewells fans, 1996

I could introduce this review by saying this is the book the AFL does not want you to read. However, at the end of the day, the AFL is now far too powerful as a Stalinist authoritarian regime in the Australian sporting landscape to care about websites such as mine or books such as this one. This book is absolutely depressing from the viewpoint of a traditional football supporter and from the viewpoint of a person who admires fair-play and decency on the football fields and in the corporate boardrooms. It discusses the last few years of Fitzroy FC as an AFL club and then discusses in detail the demise of Fitzroy and the enforced merger with Brisbane Bears. It is written by Fitzroy's then President, Dyson Hore-Lacy, four years after the events in question. It chronicles the proposed merger with North Melbourne to form the North-Fitzroy Kangaroos which was thwarted by the AFL at the last minute because it preferred the Brisbane merger for "strategic reasons". We see here the AFL coming to power as an authoritarian body with new corporatist-managerial type leaders who had taken full power over from the club presidents based on recommendations contained in the Crawford Report. At the end Hore-Lacy and his board were rendered even more powerless because creditor Nauru Insurance Corporation put the club in receivership and called in Michael Brennan as administrator (not the West Coast footballer). Brennan apparently was bullied by the AFL and he broke his fiduciary and legal duty by not accepting the North Melbourne merger even though North had offered to match Brisbane's offer in all respects and the North merger was the one accepted by the Fitzroy directors and preferred by most Fitzroy supporters. Initially it was to be called North Melbourne-Fitzroy Kangaroos with a mixed jersey. Then North supporters objected and finally the compromise North-Fitzroy Kangaroos name was accepted by both parties with the word "Melbourne" removed. This is an interesting name as it is open to multiple interpretations. Fitzroy FC people could have interpreted it as referring to North Fitzroy the actual suburb while North Melbourne people of course could have interpreted it to refer to the old North Melbourne club.

Home @ Brunswick Street Oval

We read of the AFL's desire to destroy Fitzroy as a club and force merger. Then we read of the AFL forcing the Brisbane merger rather than the North Melbourne merger for "strategic reasons" (as then AFL Commissioner John Kennedy Sr. said). Firstly the AFL introduced a rule giving Brisbane and Sydney access through the draft to uncontracted players which decimated Fitzroy's playing stock. Secondly, the AFL, completely unreasonably, forbid Fitzroy to play some AFL matches in Canberra, although it later permitted North Melbourne to play games in Canberra, Sydney, and Gold Coast, and allowed Hawthorn to play games in Tasmania. We read of Ross Oakley's rude comment (p. 132) that it would not allow "their worst product" (Fitzroy) to be sent up to Canberra, an offensive statement made against a foundation VFL/AFL club with eight premierships and which had made the final-five several times in the 1980s. It shows how the AFL was viewing clubs and players merely as "products for sale" in the 1990s, and it wanted to determine which products were sold in which markets. We read of the AFL's authoritarianism by continually demanding Fitzroy directors provide proof of solvency, a very difficult thing to offer positive proof of. The wishes of all the Fitzroy directors and most of its supporters to merge with North or stand-alone were completely disregarded by the AFL. The AFL cares about nobody but only about revenue dollars, marketing, vision, and the strategic plan. I urge football people not to contribute more of their hard-earned money to the AFL but to support second-tier football instead (SANFL, VFL, WAFL, etc.).

The Fitzroy Football Club still legally exists to this day. The Fitzroy Reds play at the old Brunswick Street ground in the amateur league and play in the 1950s-70s Fitzroy jersey. It is a pity that the club could not be represented at the higher VFL level and this may happen in the future. Ironically one of the terms of a possible Collingwood merger had been that Fitzroy play as Fitzroy in the reserves which now means the VFL competition. Perhaps this offer should have been accepted? While the AFL is the clear Darth Vader here, Hore-Lacy's board appeared to be genuine in its actions but was just outbullied and outsmarted by the AFL working in conjunction with the club receiver Mr Brennan and Brisbane Bears (and with the anti-Fitzroy Melbourne media in the background always ready to pounce). The club could only have held on for a few more years with yet another white knight.

Fitzroy Reds @ Brunswick St (amateurs)

However, the structural problems of moving to a higher stage of brutal capitalism within the AFL industry were always going to exist. When West Coast and Adelaide entered the competition with lots of money, supporters, members, and sponsors it was clear that the smaller Melbourne clubs would suffer the most by comparison. Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and perhaps Richmond could compete with the bigger interstate clubs but the smaller clubs in Melbourne could not. Smaller Melbourne-based clubs today are being funded by the AFL to a significant extent. It appears that AFL policy has changed and it is no longer coercing or even encouraging mergers. However the AFL's arrogance and authoritarianism continue on unabated. Only the tactics on the ground change. The AFL's reason to see Fitzroy merge was so that Port Adelaide could enter the competition in 1997. One of the funniest parts of a depressing book is the proposed merger of Port Power and Fitzroy as the (wait for it) Port Power Lions or, as Hore-Lacy says, the "power lines".

I like the front cover cartoon picture of a lion hanging on a cross in Christlike fashion with a black-suited person with a football for a head (the AFL) shooting arrows at the lion's chest. Although I think it is usually unwise to apply religious analogies to secular contexts, I support the use of the cross here as the picture perfectly sums up the situation of the Fitzroy Football Club. The AFL should apologize to Fitzroy FC and its supporters, the vast majority of whom now no longer follow AFL but have gone across to support Melbourne Victory and / or Melbourne Storm and / or other teams in other codes. The AFL does not deserve their support or their dollars. Its behaviour was completely reprehensible. Might does not make right [by Jack Frost, 2 January 2014].