Round 19, 1986: South Fremantle FC 24.18 (162) d West Perth FC 16.11 (107), Fremantle Oval

South Fremantle versus West Perth, Fremantle Oval, Round 19 (9 August), 1986

I once talked to Pete C. and spent the game with him on the scoreboard bank’s concrete terracing at Fremantle Oval (at around the half-forward flank position closest to the northern-end goals) for a match against South Fremantle late in the 1986 season. The West Perth Cheer Squad’s flags had vanished and there was only the two of us left at this juncture in time. Pete C. and I hadn’t even arranged in advance to meet; it was a chance meeting. I would have to say that the cheer squad no longer existed at this point. However, Pete’s charming, quiet, and thoughtful manner had not changed.

After the game Pete C. and I walked through the Fremantle city streets together and I think Pete took a Number 106 bus or a train back to Perth while I took a different bus to Booragoon. We probably parted at Fremantle train station. I originally wrote this paragraph 26 years later, on 9 January 2013, and I still haven’t seen Pete again since that day at Fremantle Oval near to the close of the 1986 season. As we walked through the Fremantle city streets together, as the dark and the chill started drifting in from the ocean (minimum temperatures were 4.5 and 4.0 degrees Celsius on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th August 1986), we were both fairly subdued and disappointed as it looked like our team’s season was over (the team probably could not make the final-four) and all the hope of the past two years had come to nothing. I think that another reason for my anxious and melancholic mood was the realization, pushed to the back of my mind, that my life was changing and it would never be the same again. I was 17-years-old, in the first year of university, and the adult world of responsibilities, choices, careers, and consequences was fast closing in, whilst childhood was at an end. In football terms, there was also massive change at work behind the scenes as the powerbrokers were putting together and planning for the new as yet unnamed super-team which would play in the VFL in 1987. Every genuine football person in Perth knew that the WAFL would never be the same again no matter how upbeat the newspapers were. Like my childhood, the old WAFL was slipping away. The days of 14,000 plus crowds at the match-of-the-round were never coming back (source: WAFL Football Golden Era, by Kieran James, page 153, book is available on Lulu and Amazon).

Likely line-ups:

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 9 August 1986, p. 187)

South Fremantle FC

Backs: Macdonald, Carter, Maskos

Half-backs: D Wilson, Sumich, Mosconi

Centres: B Collard, Bairstow, Lynch

Half-forwards: Winmar, Hutcheson, Todd

Forwards: Bennett, M Sambrailo, D Collard

Ruck: Edwards, Worsfold, Matera

Interchange: Lockhart, Sims

West Perth FC

Backs: Munns, Mugavin, Barns

Half-backs: Binder, Mifka, Turley

Centres: D Bewick, Bell, King

Half-forwards: Menaglio, Bradmore, Lill

Forwards: Waddell, Foley, Gastev

Ruck: Nelson, Fong, C Bewick

Interchange: Collinge, Martin

In: Waddell, Collinge, Martin

Out: Laidley (ankle), Chaplin (ankle), Bennett

Match preview

By David Marsh:

“Today is D-Day – do-or-die – for West Perth, who have their last chance to stake a claim for a berth in this year’s finals.

“And they could not have a tougher assignment, as they meet giant-killers South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval.

“South have had victories over Subiaco and Perth in the past three weeks. In addition, West Perth have not won at Fremantle Oval for eight years”.

Match results – Saturday, 9 August, 1986, Fremantle Oval

South Fremantle FC 7.5 16.10 21.12 24.18 (162) d West Perth FC 3.5 6.6 10.9 16.11 (107)

Scorers: SF: Edwards 5.3, Matt Sambrailo 5.1, Winmar 4.2, Matera 4.1, D Collard, Bairstow 2.2, Hutcheson, Todd 1.0, B Collard 0.2, Worsfold, Lockhart 0.1, Forced 0.3.

WP: Gastev 3.2, Bradmore 2.1, Fong, King, D Bewick 2.0, C Bewick, Collinge 1.2, Foley, C Nelson 1.1, Menaglio, Lill 0.1. [KJ note: One WP goal seems to be missing from this list.]

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 101)

Weather: Fine, light south-westerly breeze.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 101)

Attendance: 5,872 (from WAFL Online)

Free-kicks: SF: 7, 4, 4, 3 – 18.

WP: 4, 5, 4, 1 – 14.

Best players:

WA Footballer of the Year Award:

5 votes Wally Matera (South Fremantle) – A brilliant 22-kick, four-goal display of roving.

4 votes Mark Bairstow (South Fremantle) – Another strong, creative performance at centre where he was under notice from the start.

3 votes Craig Edwards (South Fremantle) – A quality performance in the ruck and when resting in attack. Marked brilliantly and kicked four goals.

2 votes Warren Mosconi (South Fremantle) – A dashing and effective half-back who was outstanding in a solid South defence.

1 vote Peter Sumich (South Fremantle) – A notable performance at centre-half-back against Phil Bradmore.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 100)

Team rankings: SF: W Matera 1, M Bairstow 2, C Edwards 3, W Mosconi 4, P Sumich 5, D Collard 6.

WP: J Gastev 1, C Nelson 2, C Binder 3, L Fong 4, C Turley 5, C Bewick 6.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 100)

	Rd. 19
	P	W	L	D	%	Pts
SUBI*	19	15	4	-	134.56	60
E FREM**	19	14	5	-	132.29	56
PERTH	19	12	6	1	105.06	50
CLARE	19	10	9	-	119.01	40
W Perth	19	8	10	1	89.54	34
S Frem	19	6	13	-	72.80	24
S Dist	19	5	14	-	86.09	20
E Perth	19	5	14	-	82.24	20

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 101)

*eventual 1986 WAFL premiers

**eventual 1986 WAFL runners-up

Leading goal-kickers after Round 19 (Top 9 players):

80 – Mick Rea (P)

71 – John Scott (C)

55 – Warren Dean (S), Stephen Sells (S), Colin Waterson (EF)

53 – Brian Peake (EF)

48 – Wayne Ryder (P), Craig Edwards (SF)

41 – Tony Buhagiar (EF)

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 101)

Complete match report (full-text):

By the late GEOFF CHRISTIAN:

“South Fremantle are at the start of a bright [new] era in league football based on an excellent mix of raw talent and enthusiasm, blended with the right amount of experience.

“That formula was the basis of South’s scintillating 55-point win over West Perth at Fremantle Oval on Saturday, a victory full of merit and one that should help guarantee that the season ends a lot happier than it started for the Bulldogs.

“An indication of the amount of ability available at Fremantle Oval these days can be gauged by the fact that gifted veterans Benny Vigona and Willie Roe were in action in the reserves on Saturday.

“The absence of these brilliant attacking players obviously did not hamper South who kicked their season’s highest score [of] 24.18 and almost kicked the Falcons out of business.

“West Perth arrived at Fremantle Oval on Saturday knowing that victory was a stepping stone into the final four. It was not an easy task on an oval where the ground surface is obviously a big advantage for the home team.

“The Falcons left four hours later without even touching that stepping stone and failed miserably to measure up to the challenge laid down by South.

“The victory was built around superb performances by No. 1 rover Wally Matera (their smallest player), ruckman Craig Edwards (their biggest player) and centreman Mark Bairstow, who fitted neatly in the middle.

“[Wally] Matera has not given a better display of his roving skills. His work at the fall of the ball was classical in style and he made few, if any, handling errors.

“Edwards’ marking and general ruck play was superb and the same could be said of Bairstow whose powerful work in the middle was of the quality West Perth wished they had available to them.

“South had plenty of other individual stars but it was more the spirit and the team co-operation revealed by this young Bulldogs’ line-up that West Perth found impossible to match for all but the opening 12 minutes.

“Everywhere West Perth turned on Saturday they found trouble. On a day dedicated to national dental health week, West Perth simply bit off more than they could chew.

They lacked the bite of the Bulldogs; there was [sic] too many gaps in their play and too many weak spots that obviously were tender to the probe.

“It was not a day when centre-half-forward Phil Bradmore could lead the Falcons out of trouble. He was well held by Peter Sumich, a first year player who started the season in attack but looked admirably suited at centre-half-back.

“There was plenty of defensive support for Sumich, mainly from Warren Mosconi, Gavin Carter and Arthur Maskos.

“Things were no better in defence for West Perth.

“Matt Sambrailo, who started the year for South on a wing, showed natural flair at full-forward when he kicked 5.1 and Barry Hutcheson has the look of a man who knows how to play at centre-half-forward.

“And to add to the woes of the West Perth defence, Neil Winmar [later “Nicky” Winmar] decided to show how well he can play at centre with a 17-kick, four-goal effort”.

(Source: Geoff Christian (1986), “Bulldogs find a formula for success”, The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 100)

Night-time match pictures are from an equally freezing cold Fremantle Oval (WAFL) game. This time the match was on Friday night, 17 August 2012 versus Swan Districts. Pictures show South Fremantle Cheer Squad (formed 2002), featuring Wayne (red cap and white SFFC sleeveless jersey) and Patrick (white cap and red jacket) among others.

ARTICLE: "Looking back at the glory days of Fremantle Oval", by John Townsend, 13/9/2017

ARTICLE: It remains the most remarkable individual performance in WA football history.

Bernie Naylor, the outstanding South Fremantle full-forward famous for his arrow-straight torpedo punt kicks, launched 29 shots at goal against Subiaco one fine August day in 1953.

All but six hit their target, but after kicking 23 goals to smash the WA record and equal the best for anyone around the country, Naylor refused to accept any more passes and spent some of the game leaning on a goalpost.

He had done enough, as he confirmed with the modesty of his comments after the slaughter.

“This is a great day for me but without the assistance of my teammates, I could not have broken the record,” Naylor said.

“They had to get the ball and give it to me. All I had to do was kick it.”

Naylor already shared the WA goal-kicking record in a match with East Fremantle’s George Doig and Claremont’s George Moloney after kicking 19 at Fremantle Oval the previous year and warmed up with 18 goals against the hapless Subiaco three months earlier.

Naylor’s momentous match was the highlight of a career that is likely to receive belated recognition next year with his induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

There was another momentous event at the ground that season, with East Fremantle leaving their half-century home to forge their future at East Fremantle Oval 2km to the east.

And South Fremantle overcame strenuous objections from the usual suspects — police, neighbouring hotels and the Temperance League — to get a liquor licence, an achieve-ment of considerable foresight given the celebrations later that year when the club won the middle leg of its eventual premiership hat-trick.

Fremantle Oval started as Barrack Green, the recreation ground for the Pensioner Guards who supervised WA’s convicts, and soon hosted its first match only two months after the formation of the WA Football Association, the precursor to the WAFL.

It would eventually host four clubs and showcase a century of champions such as Albert “The Great” Thurgood, bitter rivals and great mates Steve Marsh and Jack Sheedy, and modern-day star Stephen Michael.

It was the training base for the Fremantle Dockers for their first 20 years.

The original Fremantle team, which lasted only two years before folding, drew with Rovers in their initial outing despite scoring 11 behinds to their opponent’s five. Under the rules of the game’s first decade, only goals counted towards the result.

Unions replaced the original Fremantle before soon adopting the same name, but they were to last little more than one tumultuous decade before they folded and current teams South Fremantle and East Fremantle came into being.

[This article was first published by John Townsend for The West Australian at the following link: https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/naylor-king-of-goal-feasts-ng-b88597924z]

South Fremantle versus Swan Districts, 1968

Bernie Naylor (South Fremantle)

Kieran James @ Fremantle Oval main gates for Friday night match, South Fremantle versus Swan Districts, 17 August 2012, one of the coldest nights I can remember in Perth. The minimum temperature at Jandakot for the night of 17th-18th August 2012 was recorded officially at 3.2 degrees. Swan Districts won 17.18 (120) to South 13.7 (85) and the official attendance was 2,047. South was in the contest up until the late 3rd quarter or early 4th quarter and the South Fremantle Cheer Squad (behind the hospital-end goals) was excited and then later on very disappointed. 

Chris Egan at South Fremantle versus Swan Districts on a very cold Friday night, 17 August 2012.

South Fremantle Cheer Squad (formed 2002). Wayne is the character in sleeveless South jersey and red cap at the far left of this picture. Patrick Mirosevich is second from left on the front row along the fence (red jumper and white cap). He can be seen more clearly in the other pictures. All match pictures were taken at South Fremantle versus Swan Districts, Friday night, 17 August 2012. Daytime pictures of Fremantle Oval were taken on the afternoon of 17 August 2012.