WAFL Football Golden Era: August 2018

Monday 20 August 2018

OPINION ARTICLE: "The way forward for the state leagues", by K. James, 20 August 2018.

The way forward for the state leagues (written 2013 with minor updates here and there)

What is the way forward for the tier-two state leagues around the country? The two obvious paths forward, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive, are the “retro” approach of the WAFL and the expansion approach of the Queensland Cup rugby-league competition. A third, out-of-left-field approach would see clubs like Port Melbourne from the VFL apply for and join a competition in another state, for example the SANFL. Obviously this option applies to exceptional cases and not to the majority of clubs in a league. A new issue to have recently emerged (not covered in detail in this book) is the fielding of Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power reserves team in the SANFL and West Coast and Fremantle reserves teams in the WAFL. In the WAFL host clubs are presently (as at December 2016) East Perth for the West Coast reserves and Peel Thunder for the Fremantle reserves.

The Queensland Cup, the former Brisbane suburban rugby-league competition, has expanded to include teams in all of the major Queensland coastal cities, not presently servicing an NRL team, including Cairns (Northern Pride); Mackay (Mackay Cutters); Rockhampton-Yeppoon (CQ Capras); and Sunshine Coast (Sunshine Coast Falcons)[1]. The competition has also expanded south-east to the Gold Coast (Burleigh Bears and Tweed Heads Seagulls), south-west to Ipswich (Ipswich Jets), and overseas to Papua New Guinea (PNG Hunters). Toowoomba Clydesdales formerly played in the competition and hopes to re-enter.

On balance, the Queensland Cup has probably been right to follow the expansion course because the Queensland regional cities are of reasonable size (50,000 to 250,000 people) and rugby-league fans in those cities do not have a local NRL team. I recall once watching Central Comets (now CQ Capras) play a Saturday night game under lights within the cosy confines of Browne Park, Rockhampton, where everyone is within 20-metres of the pitch. The club does a wonderful presentation of the whole event there and, with a crowd of around 3,000 people in a cosy ground, the atmosphere is compelling. However, entry prices remain relatively cheap and there is always a vacant seat directly behind the fence for someone arriving a few minutes before kick-off.

Channel 9 televised Queensland Cup matches from 2012 (replacing the ABC) which has provided a further boost for this second-tier league. Television cameras appeared at the grounds of the three north-coast clubs, CQ Capras (Rockhampton, formerly Central Comets), Mackay Cutters, and Northern Pride (Cairns), for the first time in 2012.

Western Australia is a different proposition in that towns in Western Australia are much smaller than those in Queensland (10,000 or 20,000 people compared to 50,000 or 150,000 people) and any expansion club in the former state would probably follow the path of mediocrity followed by Peel Thunder. On balance, I believe that the WAFL competition should not further expand although clearly the Goldfields and Geraldton regions have appeal. Australian Rules football has a long and wonderful history in the Goldfields region in particular stretching back over a century. The WAFC/WAFL hierarchy should keenly study Queensland Cup developments as well as, more obviously, developments in the SANFL and VFL.

I now turn my attention to two interesting 2011 developments involving state league clubs in Hobart and Perth. Firstly, Jason “Aker” Akermanis’ turned out for Glenorchy versus Clarence in the Tasmanian State League (TSL) competition on Saturday night 2 April 2011 in Hobart. Because of the presence of Akermanis this game attracted a record crowd of 8,480 people.[2] It is certainly wonderful to see such an accomplished and decorated player give something back to second-tier football. It is probably because Hobart had and has no regular AFL team that Aker attracted larger average crowds at Glenorchy than he would have attracted had he signed on with a WAFL club.

Secondly, Swan Districts’ players were praised by letter writers to the Brisbane-based Courier-Mail newspaper, Wendy and Darren Schultz of Sherwood, as a result of 64 Swans players arriving via charter plane in Sherwood, Brisbane to assist in clean-up operations after the floods of January 2011.[3] Of course the letter-writers could not refrain from utilizing the expected poor pun of swans taking well to water! The great attitude of the players involved (there are far fewer unmanageable egos at this level of the game) and the fact that Swan Districts could mobilize as many as 64 players quickly suggests that the smaller WAFL club operations can respond more effectively to at least some emergencies than the AFL corporate behemoths. The actions of the Swans club and its players are consistent with the club’s modern (re-)branding as a community-based club with a community ethos. The cleaning efforts got the club some coverage in the Courier-Mail newspaper whereas it would be close to impossible for it to gain newspaper coverage in Brisbane for its actual on-field footballing exploits.

Swans’ act represents existential acting-out of a strategic re-branding which is really just a tinkering and a slight re-emphasis of attributes that the club has possessed throughout its life. The concept of a community-based club assisting a community on the other side of Australia is an interesting one and it suggests innovative ways and approaches for tier-two clubs to carve out niche markets and brand-names for themselves which do not involve fighting head-on the hegemonic AFL clubs. The Foxtel Cup (2011-14) also offered some hope and extra meaning for second-tier clubs around Australia as players and supporters got to test themselves out on the national stage. However, the games should have been played at the clubs’ traditional home grounds instead of as curtain-raisers to AFL matches. With the Foxtel Cup axed the only hope for forgotten traditional tier-two clubs now is a rebel competition outside the auspices and control of the AFL.

To return to the topic of ground redevelopment and rationalization, Subiaco Oval today is a fully corporatized ground, sold out to West Coast season-ticket holders for West Coast home games, and surrounded on all sides by homogeneous grandstands and the ubiquitous, horrible, plastic bucket seats. The once great traditional ground with the atmospheric, concrete terracing, so close to the play on the Roberts Road scoreboard wing, is now a hollow corporate shell and is completely distasteful for traditionalists. As the French philosopher Michel Foucault would have said, the corporate people aim to control, physically as well as psychologically, every aspect of a football supporter’s game-day environs and experiences. They cannot understand that some people like to watch games from grandstands but others prefer either grassed banks or concrete terracing.

[1] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Cup [accessed 4 November 2016]; http://www.qrl.com.au/intrust-super-cup/clubs.html [accessed 4 November 2016].

[2] Source: Anonymous (2011a), “Akermanis can still draw crowd”, The Courier-Mail [Brisbane, Australia], 4 April, p. 63.

[3] Source: Schultz, W. and D. Schultz (2011), “Swans arrived at right moment”, Talkingpoint [Letters to the Editor], The Courier-Mail [Brisbane, Australia], 26 January, p. 50.

Tuesday 7 August 2018

ARTICLE: "My tribute to East Fremantle FC of Moss Street", by K. James, 7 August 2018.

I grew up in East Fremantle territory in the 1970s and 90% of students at Mount Pleasant Primary School supported the mighty Old Easts. The East Fremantle austere culture of success and pride was in the air you breathed, you could have bottled it. They probably should have. The East Freo winning culture is now in decline and disarray. I hope it can be restored to its former greatness. I suggest a head coach who played in one or more East Freo premiership teams is what is needed; make more use of the ex-premiership players around the club. What is Murray Wrensted doing now? I'm not saying it has to be him but someone of that profile is needed. A big name from the past is needed to rejuvenate the club. Since Glasgow Rangers appointed Liverpool and England star Steven Gerrard recently the whole club and supporter base was rejuvenated before a game was even played. Robert Wiley was a great player but he played for Richmond and Perth Demons in eras when those clubs were not shining examples of excellence and stability off-the-field (read Mal Brown's book where it recounts how shocked Browny was after leaving South Fremantle to join Perth in 1985).

Here is the section of my book, written a few years back (around 2013), about East Fremantle FC:

East Fremantle Oval, where the aloof hostility and relentless force of the home team and home crowd are matched only by the winds blowing in from the Indian Ocean only a few kilometres away, has always been regarded as a remote and inhospitable place. It was (and is) the most difficult traditional WAFL ground to reach by public transport as it does not have a nearby train service. People were required to either take the low-profile local suburban bus services (numbers 146 and 154 in the 1980s) up Marmion Street from Fremantle or the high-frequency flagship 106 route along Canning Highway from either Perth or Fremantle. Taking the 106 meant walking from Canning Highway through vaguely hostile back-streets to the northern corner of the ground where one was met by barb-wire fencing and the rear of a tin shed. A trip there during the 1980s was the local WAFL equivalent of journeying to Millwall Football Club’s famous Den ground in south-east London.

Given East Fremantle’s great success, as the club with the most premierships won in the WAFL[1] (West Perth is second[2]), a trip to East Fremantle Oval usually meant a resounding defeat at the hands of the home team. East Fremantle had and has an amazing culture of success, whereby anything less than a grand-final appearance is viewed as a disappointment and a bottom-four finish is simply beyond the pale, the end of the world, and totally unacceptable. As an example, East Fremantle’s history book comments about the 1975 season as follows: “What went wrong?” The author Jack Lee cites the club’s magazine Scoreboard which stated: “All sorts of excuses will be put forward for our failures in 1975, but the simple truth lies in the simple statement that we just weren’t good enough”. However, this “failure” was actually a season when the club won 10 games, lost 11, and finished fifth out of eight clubs. Such a result would not have been considered a major failure at some other WAFL clubs including perhaps West Perth which often finished fifth or sixth during its premiership “drought era”. Full Points Footy’s John Devaney comments indirectly on the East Fremantle winning culture in the following passage:

“As far as on-field performances go, the twenty-first century has, to date, been far from auspicious, with the club failing to qualify for the finals every season between 2003 and 2009, and even succumbing to the rare, if not quite unique, indignity of wooden spoons in 2004 and 2006. Restoring the club to what many would argue is its rightful place at the forefront of the West Australian game is going to be far from easy, but the [East Fremantle] Sharks have faced stiffer challenges over the years, and triumphed, and it would surprise no one to see them challenging seriously for premierships again within the next two or three seasons”.

However, Brian Atkinson correctly points out that:

“[T]o balance East Fremantle’s great successes in the 20^th century, perhaps reference should be made to their disastrous start to the 21^st century. In the first 11 seasons of the 21^st century from 2001 to 2011, East Fremantle have only made the finals twice, 4^th in 2002, and 3^rd in 2010. They have finished 9^th (last) twice, 8^th once, and 7^th three times”.[3]

The only other Australian Rules club in Australia with a similar long-term winning culture to East Fremantle is the club John Devaney has supported since childhood, Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL. How the East Fremantle winning culture gets retained and transmitted from one generation to the next, especially in these days of the WAFL as a feeder-league with a high regular turnover of players, is itself amazing. Nearly all football followers in Perth, including me, have total respect for East Fremantle, its successes, its culture, its sheer force and (long term, historical) dominance, and its complete professionalism. For Fat Pam’s West Perth cheer squad to take such a large and organized group with flags and floggers to East Fremantle Oval in August 1981 is also worthy of tremendous respect. This is especially so given that this match was between fifth (WPFC) and seventh (EFFC) on the ladder and West Perth was four premiership points outside the top-four before the game. As it was West Perth only one won more game for the season and finished in sixth position with 8 wins and 13 losses (percentage 77.3%).

[1] As at 26 December 2016.

[2] As at 26 December 2016.

[3] Brian Atkinson, personal e-mail communication to the author dated 19 November 2011.

Facebook comment by Neil Gardner: Remember going with mates to games and meeting Hank Cox with his flag as a teenager. He came to every game home & away for years regardless of weather. Everyone knew Hank. His health has declined sadly and he can't get to games now, but my heroes were blokes who wore that jumper and you could go and see them for an autograph after game.

I got the privilege at 20 years old to run water for some of the blokes I worshipped. Now I'm older but still timekeeping and we recently celebrated the 20 year reunion of 1998 premiership teams with 17 of 21 league blokes who played that day attending. Also our Colts and Amateur Colts teams attended as well. Incredible to share that moment. Next year is 40 years since the biggest attended crowd in WAFL history saw Old Easts beat arch rivals South by 33 points in a memorable game. WA celebrated 150 years and Old Easts won that, then celebrated the WAFL centenary in 1985 with another flag beating Subi by 5 points - unfortunately we were away on a family holiday and got home a week after.

The first flag I saw in person was 1992 when the Sharks stormed home in another derby GF to win by 4 goals against the odds.

To buy the book MORE GARLIC WITH THE CHIPS PLEASE: West Perth Football Hooligans 1984-86 by K. James (U.S. letter size, 21.59cm x 27.94cm, £9: http://www.lulu.com/shop/kieran-james/more-garlic-with-the-chips-please-west-perth-football-hooligans-1984-86/paperback/product-23740655.html

To buy the book MORE GARLIC WITH THE CHIPS PLEASE: West Perth Football Hooligans 1984-86 by K. James in U.S. Trade size, £6: http://www.lulu.com/shop/kieran-james/more-garlic-with-the-chips-please-west-perth-football-hooligans-1984-86/paperback/product-23740637.html

OPINION ARTICLE: "The simple pleasures of lower-tier football", by K. James, 6 August 2018.

The simple pleasures of lower-tier football (written 2013 with minor updates here and there, FC United of Manchester still plays in the National League North)

The WAFL is now similar to non-league English soccer (and lower-tier Scottish leagues), far down what in the UK is termed “the pyramid”, where games are run professionally; the clubs have traditions; and the crowds are small but dedicated. The WAFL has lost, for the most part, its army of “fair-weather fans” that used to attach themselves especially to clubs like East Perth and South Fremantle back in the day. The club diehards have remained, by and large, with the clubs except perhaps for some previously staunch West Perth fans disillusioned by the move to Arena Joondalup. The VFL/AFL era has been a real existential test of people’s loyalties. In the WAFL’s Golden Era, people would declare and pretend that they were hardcore fans of this or that WAFL club but in those days the competition was glorious and people’s loyalties were not really tested. Existentially speaking, those 800-1,000 committed supporters of each WAFL club that continue to attend WAFL games weekly have proven themselves to be the most committed WAFL club supporters by their actions. The great, traditional, ex-NSL, ethnic soccer clubs, such as Adelaide City, Marconi Stallions, Melbourne Knights, Preston Lions, South Melbourne, and Sydney United, are now relegated to the Victorian Premier League (VPL) or the equivalent competitions in the other states, and are in exactly the same position as the WAFL clubs.

Montrose 2 Elgin City 0, lower-tier Scottish soccer.

WAFL football is now still very enjoyable, but in a different way, as these days you can spread yourself out, there are empty seats often to your right and left, and the queues for the toilets, food, and beer are small and manageable. The WAFL is now like the Western Australian premier league soccer, rugby, and rugby-league competitions have always been in that the atmospheres can be wonderful partly because you can assume that all of your fellow spectators are dedicated and knowledgeable insiders! If you do not allow your mind to wander into that place of comparing the new to the old WAFL you will find that attending WAFL games today is quite enjoyable.

Interestingly, disillusioned Manchester United fans set up in June 2005 a community-based club, FC United of Manchester, which plays to small but dedicated crowds in cosy, compact stadiums in a minor league (National League North) below and outside the Football League (sixth-tier of the pyramid, five tiers below the English Premier League)[1]. Each club financial member owns one share and gets one vote regardless of her / his financial contribution(s). With an average crowd of 1,969 for the 2008-09 season, up to and including 9 November[2], FC United was then drawing around five times as many people, on average, as the typical club in its division. After moving from Gigg Lane to Broadhurst Park in May 2015, the club averaged a gate of 3,394 in 2015-16, a season-on-season increase of over 57% and the fourth highest attendance in non-League football. The club’s record home crowd is 6,731 people at Gigg Lane, Bury versus Brighton & Hove Albion, FA Cup Second Round, on 8 December 2010[3] beating the previous record of 6,023 people versus Great Harwood Town on 22 April 2006[4].

United FC is an organic and authentic community-based response to the increasing corporatization of soccer and the alienation that now exists between fans and players and between fans and administrators at English Premier League (EPL) level. The grassroots WAFL clubs are the equivalent of FC United of Manchester whereas the West Coast Eagles are the equivalent of Manchester United.

[1] Source: Fuell, T. (2009), “Fans doing it for themselves”, Non League [United Kingdom], December, p. 104; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_League_North [accessed 4 November 2016]; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.C._United_of_Manchester [accessed 4 November 2016].

[2] Source: Non League magazine, December 2009 issue, p. 102.

[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.C._United_of_Manchester [accessed 4 November 2016].

[4] Fuell, “Fans doing it for themselves”, p. 104.