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.

INTERVIEW: Young voices of passion from down Fremantle way: My interview with Patrick Mirosevich from South Fremantle Football Club cheer squad, by Kieran James, 24/8/2012

The South Fremantle unofficial cheer squad (founded 2002) - respect!

Kieran James (WAFL Golden Era website): Thanks for doing this interview with me for this website and respect to SFFC cheer squad. First tell me how did you become a WAFL supporter?

Patrick Mirosevich

Patrick M (SFFC Cheer Squad): I first became a WAFL supporter I would say from a kind of an onward progression from following the AFL. I started following the AFL in 1999 and really started to become an enthusiast by 2001, so with my love for the game growing I tried to expand my involvement in the sport. This led to me to start to play junior football, go to more AFL matches and start going to WAFL matches. My father has been a big South Fremantle supporter for most of his life so the choice of choosing a club was very simple.

KJ: Tell us how the cheer squad got started and how you met the other guys?

Patrick M: When I started going to WAFL matches in 2001 South Fremantle only had one flag waver, Wayne, but in the time since then we’ve had up to 15 people at different stages be part of the group. The cheer squad really began in 2002 when my father and I joined Wayne behind the goals. For the next couple of years it was mostly us until around 2005 when Dave and some others joined. As members there’s not much of a story of how we met, usually people just see us and stand next to us and join in. As Dave has a largish friendship group this is when the cheer squad began to flourish, with his friends joining us for several years. As the years have gone we’ve become more vocal and noticeable with more signs and flags, but we are always welcoming new members with young Daniel joining us this year.

KJ: I know it takes more organization than people think to keep a group of guys together in a cheer squad and keeping good group relationships. How organized is your group? Do you meet outside of SFFC games?

Patrick M: In comparison to the AFL cheer squads we are obviously a long way behind but it is very helpful that a couple of our members are in the Fremantle Cheer Squad. Dave, Rob, and Ancell have a lot of experience on how to organise a cheer squad from the time in the Fremantle one. The main thing is to make sure we all are able to get to games on time and able to have flags to wave. We are all connected on the computer and the phone and I know some of the guys meet up quite often to do other activities.

SFFC cheer squad: Patrick second left, Wayne at right (SFFC jersey)

KJ: Our mate Chris Egan told me your group is the only real cheer squad in the WAFL. In the 1984-86 period Perth, Claremont, West Perth and Subiaco had big groups of 10-20 people each or more. Do you know of any other WAFL cheer squads nowadays?

Patrick M: Not to sound biased but our cheer squad is superior to any other WAFL club, but some other clubs do have a bit. Subiaco would be second with a couple of flag wavers and I know that East Fremantle and Swan Districts each have one flag waver each, but most of the clubs if they do have any flag wavers they don’t have the numbers and noise as us.

KJ: To change the topic slightly, what do you think of South Fremantle’s onfield prospects for next year [2013]?

Patrick M: It’s looming as a very interesting year, after the player losses going into this year we were always going to have a poor season and in that respect I think we have done OK with the wins we’ve got. For next year if we can keep most our squad and recruit well South will be more competitive and improve on this year but with such a young squad I think it would be a struggle to make finals. With Peel, Perth and Subiaco all looking like strugglers, I would be hoping for fifth or sixth and then hopefully a push into finals in 2014.

KJ: Are you an AFL supporter and if so which team?

Matthew Pavlich (FFC) with Patrick M

Patrick M: Yes, I am a big supporter of the Fremantle Football Club and follow the AFL in general.

KJ: Have you any ideas to grow the cheer squad to make it larger or are you happy with the present numbers?

Patrick M: I’m sure all the guys would agree that we’d love to have more numbers in the cheer squad, it would obviously mean more flags and banners and especially more noise. I think the main problem is to get people to want to take the effort to go to all games, getting to places such as Bassendean and Joondalup is not easy and would be a big [negative factor] for people. I’m not sure about prices but if the club could have a supporters’ bus from Fremantle Oval I believe that it would be quite beneficial. As I mentioned above we are always welcoming to new members and I would hope that people that see how passionate we are at the games may want to join us.

KJ: Have you seen our website WAFL Golden Era and if yes what are your comments? There is some South Fremantle content there.

Patrick M: Yes, I’ve had a look at it this week [and] it seems quite interesting. It’s difficult to find lots of information about WAFL history so any website with information is very helpful; it’s also good to see another perspective on the other state leagues.

KJ: Thanks very much for the interview. See you at the game!

Patrick M: Thank you very much!

[Interview answers sent by Facebook message, 24 August 2012.]

Retiring SFFC President Brian Ciccotosto

KJ note (12 October 2012): Thank you to Chris Egan for introducing me to Patrick Mirosevich and the SFFC cheer squad at the South Fremantle versus Swan Districts WAFL match at Fremantle Oval on Friday night, 17 August 2012. I also to want to add that the SFFC itself did a great job by opening up the members' area to the public after the game and putting on a band and a great feast of pizza, prawns, and lamb chops! It is this sort of community-minded, public-spirited, and warm-hearted attitude that makes the WAFL great now and potentially even greater in the future! Congratulations and respect to SFFC and best wishes for the 2013 WAFL season and beyond! We also acknowledge the magnificent contributions over so many years to the SFFC and the WAFL by the retiring President Mr Brian Ciccotosto.