OPINION: On the Prison Bars: From Destiny by Dr Norman Ashton (2018), p. 153.

From Destiny by Dr Norman Ashton (2018), p. 153:

Given who the opponent was to be in 1997, a letter of 1 September 1995 from Collingwood President, Allan McAlister to Port Adelaide President, Greg Bouton (sic) contained the following surprise offer:

"We at Collingwood are most grateful for Port Adelaide accepting it should enter the AFL with a change from its black-and-white colours and Magpie name which we have held dear to our hearts at Collingwood. I will reiterate to our board that if Port Adelaide Football Club should succeed in ranking higher than the Collingwood Football Club for three consecutive years in the AFL then our objections will be waived"

Port finished higher than Collingwood in its first 5 seasons.

In saying that I'll concede that McAlister's letter most likely came from a position of arrogance, he probably never imagined that Port Adelaide would finish above Collingwood, nor should he have.

As a Port Adelaide supporter, the debate is low on the list of the things I believe the club should be focusing upon, however it will continue to come up so it would be good to find a binding agreement between both clubs and never speak of the matter again.

I'd personally be happy if Port Adelaide were able to wear the Prison Bar Guernsey in both Showdown's and in any final that we play against Adelaide which has only occurred once to date.

Someone designed the Prison Bar Guernsey replacing the white with silver, it looked amazing in my opinion, if anyone could post this design then that would be greatly appreciated.

Not every Port Adelaide fan even agrees on how often we should wear the Prison Bar design, less is best for mine as I genuinely get excited to view the team in it on the limited occasions we wear it.

OPINION: The Collingwood Versus Port Adelaide Jumper Debate from A Pies Fan’s Perspective: An In-Depth History

The Collingwood Versus Port Adelaide Jumper Debate From A Pies Fan’s Perspective: An In-Depth History

In recent seasons the jumper debate between Collingwood and Port Adelaide has been the hot topic for AFL fans and journalists. It has become tiresome to constantly hear about the topic so naturally I chose to write a heavily researched article on the matter. The community created by AFL fans at times tends to be a toxic one where topics spiral out of control and facts and logic are scarce.

Recently, Port Adelaide put forward another request to wear their Prison Bar guernsey in the 2022 Round 23 Showdown against the Adelaide Crows.

It seems the conversation has been heavily simplified to a biased argument between the two fanbases of each club, with others effectively weighing in based on which of the two teams they hate less. Admittedly, you probably couldn’t pick two worse fanbases to have this debate with, with both clubs possessing some of the most fiercely loyal fans in the sport, and for good reason.

On one hand you have Port Adelaide – easily the most successful and famous football club in SANFL history with 36 premierships and 38 second-place finishes, both of which are competition records across the team’s 143-year history. After entering the AFL in 1996, they soon rose up the ladder to be competing for grand final spots in the early 2000s before claiming their only premiership in 2004. Another grand final berth a few years later was followed by a struggling decade, but the club re-emerged as a premiership contender in 2021, making a preliminary final.

Opposingly, Collingwood are long known as one of the most famous sporting clubs in Australia and have 15 V/AFL premierships from 43 grand final appearances, the latter being a record by a considerable margin, although a painful one for fans like me. The club is a financial powerhouse of the competition and possesses one of, if not the biggest, fanbases. Pies fans epitomize and thrive off the ‘us against them’ mentality and, if anything, their loyalty cannot be questioned.

The debate centers around the AFL not allowing Port Adelaide to wear their iconic black and white prison bar jumpers in the national competition. This is because Collingwood, who were in the current competition before Port Adelaide, claim ownership of the black and white colorway and stripes within the AFL. Port Adelaide has been recognized in the SANFL for over a century wearing these colours and their nickname in the competition is the same as Collingwood’s in the AFL - the Magpies. This seems a simple argument but is far from it. In order to address the roots of the topic, some facts need to be addressed which are often forgotten by both fanbases and the media, whether to twist the narrative or simply because most people cannot be bothered to research things before voicing an opinion.

Time for a brief history overview. What is currently the national competition began as the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA) which was founded in 1877. The Collingwood Football Club had been the thirteenth club to join the VFA upon the club’s foundation in 1892 before it moved across to the VFL and participated in the competition’s first season was 1897. From the beginning of the club’s history in 1892 and continuing into the inception of the VFL, Collingwood wore black and white stripes which are principally identical to the current design. The home game jumpers of the club have varied in design over the course of its history but have always been based around the black and white stripes and have never introduced a third colour.

The VFL began steps toward becoming a nationwide competition during the 1980s as it oversaw both expressions of interest and formal applications of entry from clubs primarily in Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland. A team from Los Angeles in America even applied, suggesting splitting matches across both countries however this was understandably dismissed. In 1982, South Melbourne relocated to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans; the first interstate team in the competition. In 1986, the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears were granted licenses to enter the VFL which was soon renamed the AFL ahead of the 1990 season to signal the competition had truly become a nationwide one. Collingwood would go on to win the first AFL premiership in 1990.

The Port Adelaide Football Club was founded in 1870 and is the oldest football club from South Australia. They were a foundational club in the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) which was later renamed the SANFL. Now this is where the root of the argument lies: between 1870 and 1901, the club wore several different guernseys which ranged from blue and white hooped jumpers to a completely pink outfit, but these designs never included any black and white stripes or any black in general. It wasn’t until 1902 when the club adopted the Magpie emblem and their first black and white striped guernsey, which is 10 years after Collingwood was established with this identity. According to a newspaper article from ‘The Observer’ dated 26 April 1902, this change was made because of the excessive cost of dyes for their blue and magenta guernseys which kept fading. Their new black and white striped look became known as the ‘prison bar’ uniform due to the use of around half a dozen skinny stripes in comparison to between two and four wider stripes from Collingwood. Toward the middle of the century, Port Adelaide transitioned their guernsey to a look which was almost identical to the one Collingwood was using at the time and still uses today. In the late 1950s they then transitioned back into the prison bar look which has remained in the SANFL competition to this day.

One point that must be mentioned is that the South Australian representative team between 1881-1906 were the first known football club in Australia to wear black and white. Whether Collingwood ‘stole’ this design upon establishment in 1892, as former Port Adelaide chief Brian Cunningham believes, is unlikely and cannot be known. Black and white stripes are hardly a revolutionary design – almost every sporting league in the world has a team with them. However, this idea is completely separate to Port Adelaide and the SANFL and holds no weight in this conversation like some suggest.

In 1990 the Port Adelaide Football Club applied to become the first South Australian club in the AFL. Legal issues that arose meant that the Adelaide Crows would become the first club from the state in 1990. Port Adelaide would later join the competition in 1996, beginning participation in 1997. The club left the Magpies emblem to the SANFL team (which became the reserves team for the AFL side) and became the Port Adelaide Power, adding teal to the black and white colours in order to distinguish from Collingwood. When Port Adelaide entered the competition, a binding agreement was signed between the club and Collingwood conceding the black and white colours and Magpie emblem to Collingwood within the national competition.

In 2003 the AFL introduced an annual Heritage Round where teams were permitted to wear any style of guernsey from their history. For the initial season, Port Adelaide wore a black and white prison bar guernsey from 1914 which was perhaps the furthest from the Collingwood jumper than any other black and white style outfit in the history of the club. Still, it was met with contention and so in 2004 the Power donned one of the earlier mentioned magenta and blue jumpers seen in the 1800s. In 2005 the Power wore a white guernsey with blue hoops, which was their first guernsey ever worn in the SANFL in the 1870s. In 2006, the AFL Heritage Round adopted the ‘electrifying eighties’ theme which meant the Power were forced to sit out because their only guernseys in the 1980s were black and white ones too similar to Collingwood.

To ensure the successful and peaceful continuation of the heritage round – already a popular one amongst AFL fans - an agreement was signed by several parties which read: “The Port Adelaide Football Club has the option to wear a black and white stripe Heritage Guernsey for all AFL Heritage Round games allocated as Port Adelaide games only. The exception is a home game against Collingwood.” The agreement was signed by current AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan on behalf of the AFL (who at the time was the Chief Broadcasting and Commercial Officer), Eddie McGuire on behalf of the Collingwood Football Club (President at the time) as well John James (the Port Adelaide CEO at the time). The AFL Heritage Round fizzled out and its last official season was in 2008. Several teams have continued to wear throwback guernseys intermittently since then, but not in relation to any official league-wide Heritage Round.

Fast forward to 2020 and the AFL, with support given from Collingwood, allowed Port Adelaide to wear the prison bar guernsey during a showdown match against Adelaide on the provisor that the club was celebrating its 150th anniversary. This sparked debate whether or not the Power should be able to wear the guernsey in future showdowns and potentially other games, with Power president David Koch suggesting that part of the 2020 agreement was to continue discussions around allowing Port to wear the prison bar guernsey more frequently. Koch has gone on to suggest that the 2007 agreement be effectively invalidated due to the discontinuation of the Heritage Round, even implying that McGuire knew this would eventually happen and tricked Port Adelaide into signing the agreement. Koch elaborated to suggest this is an example of Victorian bias within the AFL.

Since then, the debate has evolved into a war between Collingwood and Port Adelaide fans as well as past and present club officials rather than who it really is between – Port Adelaide and the AFL. McGuire, Koch and outspoken former Power player Kane Cornes have spearheaded the debate in the media for their respective sides – hardly people you want representing you when rationality must be maintained. The three have aided in turning the conversation into a childish, insult-laden fight and as a result the topic has twisted into something it isn’t. A small group of Port Adelaide fans even claim they wore black and white before Collingwood did, perhaps conflating this with the aforementioned uniform of the colonial era South Australian representative team.

Earlier this year, the debate was reignited after the AFL approved the Sydney Swans’ red-V guernsey for 2022 away games in Victoria as a nod to their South Melbourne roots. It must be clarified that this is not the same situation as Port Adelaide find themselves in; primarily because the colours and jumper designs worn by Sydney have no clash with other clubs. One might say Port’s prison bar doesn’t clash with Collingwood’s, but there is of course a similarity far greater than one between Sydney and any other team. Additionally, and more specifically, South Melbourne simply relocated to Sydney and kept the team colours, unlike Port Adelaide who effectively created a new sub-franchise with a different emblem and colours in an entirely different competition.

The fact of the matter is Port Adelaide signed agreements and accepted lucrative deals in the 1990s to introduce the teal colour into their uniform and adopt the Power emblem. In doing so, they established that the Magpies and the Power were separate, split entities which were tied only by the history of the club and the fact that the SANFL team acts as the reserves team for the AFL side. Admittedly, however, the 2007 agreement was a step toward allowing Port Adelaide to recognize their origins as an organization and one that should be revisited due to the fact that the Heritage Round no longer exists.

Personally, I think it’s both plausible and a great idea for Port to wear their prison bar guernsey in Showdowns twice a year. This is what most fans want – it is logical and allows the team to honour the history of the club from which they derived. Furthermore, I also believe Port Adelaide should be allowed to wear the strip for any home games in South Australia if they wanted, barring when Collingwood visit. Some fans believe Port should be allowed to wear the guernsey anywhere they want. Whether or not you think this should be allowed, is it even necessary? The Port Adelaide Magpies have no history in any state other than South Australia and their only AFL premiership (2004) won in Victoria was whilst wearing the teal.

It's probably only a matter of time before the AFL approves the prison bar guernseys for showdowns, and this has my full support. Most logical Collingwood fans (yes, we exist) that I’ve spoken to think the same way – it has no bearing on the state of Victoria at all or any specific club bar Port Adelaide. At this point, the debate is not even about the idea of wearing the jumper at all, more so the fact that Port Adelaide must honour the agreements they’ve signed in the past. Perhaps the AFL has held back engaging talks in respect to Collingwood, meaning new Pies president Jeff Browne could hold the key to Port Adelaide’s wishes. Thus far he has stated he will not approve Port’s Prison Bar guernsey in the AFL upon any request, however, time will tell.

OPINION: "What a deplorable TV commentary yesterday for West Perth v West Coast finals' clash," by Chris Preedy, 1 September 2019.

OPINION: What a deplorable TV commentary of the Eagles v West Perth clash yesterday. Now I'm not a supporter of either team but for Channel 7 anchor man, Mark Readings, it was not one of your finest moments. Talk about a biased call, was there any other team other than the Eagles out there playing yesterday Mark? You must get intimidated having a former Eagle sitting next to you, that's about the only conclusion I can come up with. Some of your classics, "the Eagles are dominating the game", yet the scores are just 4 points apart and only one kick separates them, and then in the last few minutes, after the Cardies just hit the front with a great goal from that little ripper of a skinny kid, "if WP get up to win this it'll be the biggest heist in history". Bloody hell, there's only one kick in it for a huge part of the game and you just continued to dribble garbage, did you ever see the other team out there, they were wearing the blue and red guernseys? All day you raved on about how superior the Eagles were, it was just sickening. I think poor old Cometti felt embarrassed at times, he was very subdued, and he's not about to say otherwise. Don't ask him, he's a gentleman. We appreciate the TV coverage but we'd also appreciate an unbiased commentary as well (by Chris Preedy, first published as a Facebook post, 1 September 2019).

ARTICLE: "Not Black and White", by John Townsend (Swan Districts oppose changes to WAFC), 13/6/2019.

It’s good to see that Swan Districts has the courage to stand up against the VFL demigods and their WA sycophants at the WAFC. Swans want grassroots people to have a say.

Not Black And White

JOHN TOWNSEND

ARTICLE: Swan Districts oppose WA Football Commission electoral changes. Swan Districts are the only WA football stakeholders to oppose constitutional changes to the WA Football Commission that would formalise the complex election system in place for most of this century.

The two AFL clubs and eight other WAFL clubs agreed to the constitutional changes required by all WA organisations before June 30 under the new Associations Incorporation Act.

A WAFC special general meeting was held at Subiaco Oval last night to formally ratify the changes that were endorsed by the clubs this month.

But Swans opposed the changes and want the WAFC to apply the recommendations of the 2017 structural review of football to overhaul the current governance structure.

Swans' chief executive Jeff Dennis declined to comment yesterday and president Peter Hodyl could not be contacted.

Under the WAFC constitution, the nine WAFL clubs have half the votes at commission elections while the two AFL clubs have the other half.

But that is not applied in practice with the WAFC using the model designed in the 2001 Crawford report that gives 20 per cent of the votes to each of West Coast and Fremantle, 30 per cent to the combined WAFL clubs, 20 per cent to the commission itself and the final 10 per cent to community football, such as amateur and country associations.

Swans argue that the current breakdown, with the AFL clubs and commission holding a majority of votes, ensures the WAFL clubs will be invariably outvoted in any matter that conflicts between the two levels of the game.

A WAFC spokesman said a full governance review would be undertaken and was expected to be finished next year.

ARTICLE: "Mount Pleasant Junior Football Club Under-17s, and my move to Melville", by Neil Whyte, 5/6/2019.

ARTICLE: So this is what happened in a nutshell (re Mt Pleasant Under 17’s in 1984). I am not sure about 1985, I lost the 1985 junior council grand final program...I am 99% sure there was no 16’s Mt Pleasant...definitely not a 17’s).

In late 1983 there was a gathering of us (me, Dean Cole, Phil Otley, Mick Andrews, Jason Ramsay etc), and I don’t know how the conversation started...but it eventually turned to the idea of forming Mount Pleasant Under-17’s. Ian Andrews (Mick’s brother) put his hand up for the job. He was a bit young, but anyway, he was quite cluey on footy. It was the worst decision of my junior football life unfortunately. I should have stayed at Melville. I was named captain of the new Mt Pleasant 17’s. I suppose I thought it was convenient – a hop, skip and jump from where I lived on Riseley Street compared to going to Melville...would help mum and dad as they wouldn’t have to drive me to training.

So we formed it, the club went about registration, etc etc. We went about recruiting players which wasn’t easy. We even managed to get a few outside players from the area who were pretty good (like Brad Schofield who was at EF Colts as well). At that particular time, for some reason, numbers were a bit thin in the EF junior council for 16’s and 17’s. In 1983, for the first time ever, the EF  junior council decided to make it 11’s, 12’s, 13’s, 14’s, 15’s, 16’s and 17’s. I suspect that the thinning was partly due to this reason; however, the number of teams had dropped from only two or three seasons ago, when 15’s and 17’s had probably around 16-20 teams combined.

Craig Campbell was the 15’s coach, but I wish he had been the 17’s coach...and he probably wishes he had been as well come to think of it. I feel the team would have survived if Craig had been coach. Ian’s resources were limited and he was too young.

We were only averaging 8 people to training...this was my first major concern. We just couldn’t get everyone there.

By the time the first game came around, we were against East Fremantle JFC, and I knew quite a few of the guys in that team (Gavin Miller, Ron Adams, Mat Mudie (capt.)), and I was not sure how it was going to unfold. Well, we had 16 turn up (at least there was more than at training, ha ha)...but it was typical – games are always more fun than training!  I must admit I felt a bit embarrassed and a bit lost emotionally at the time. We got flogged, I think 25 goals to 7. Then they were 25-minute quarters. I wasn’t really looking forward to the next match, and again we had 16, I think, maybe even 15. Rossmoyne fielded the same number as us to make it fair. We got flogged 30 goals to 5.

Mount Pleasant (suburb), looking north.

Then there was an Easter bye coming up, then we were going to play Melville, my old team, and Melville were the best team, strong. I pulled the plug and said "I won’t be coming back, sorry". When that match came around, I went down to Strickland and watched from the distance on my bike; a handful of Mt Pleasant guys turned up and the Melville Team...I saw Ted Richardson, the coach, and Ian Andrews. Ian told him that they didn’t have the numbers and they abandoned the match which I knew was going to happen. I felt quite disappointed.

As soon as the Attadale coach (the late great Charlie Pratt of Pratt Plumbing) heard, he pounded like a cat on a hot tin roof, ringing my home, and wanting me to come to Attadale, who seemed to also be struggling a bit. I knew of a few of the good players, and asked him is Olif Sjerp playing? Colin Walker?..he said yes. I said I would think about it.

Mount Pleasant Primary School, September 2018.

I made a decision then to make an embarrassing journey back to Melville to meet Ted Richardson...whom I don’t think was really impressed with me leaving the club...then now wanting to return. Somehow, he let me come back into the team...I tried to fit back in, but something never really made me feel 100% comfortable. Ironically Attadale folded as well...two teams folded in the first few weeks, which left only 4 in the competition.

Ironically, I picked up 3 umpire votes in a best-on-ground in one of the Mt Pleasant games, then got enough for Melville, for me to win the EF 17’s best and fairest...I couldn’t believe it. The voting included my votes from that match combined with Melville. When I rocked up to the voting count at the end of the season, there were the 6 votes on the board including the votes from the Mt Pleasant games. They count half the votes prior to the main count. I knew I had quite a few votes. Then I picked up only a few more in the second part of the count to win by 2 over Mark Amaranti, my teammate. Mark was probably the best junior footballer in the EF council to have never won a EF fairest and best, ha ha. He had been runner up at least a couple of times, third, etc.

Even though I preferred Craig, he was already committed to the Under-15s position. I just made mention that I wish it was Craig. I didn’t think it was “wrong” at the time, but I did think he was a bit too young at 19. I do think that this was part of the problem though as to why the team was struggling. I certainly did my part to round up some players like Kim Brotherson, Kim Dastlik (both ruckmen as we needed ruckmen of course), and others. I don’t think others were doing their part to assist in the recruitment area.

When the team dissolved, a few went to Rossmoyne 17s and a few went to Karoonda Under-16s. I was the only one who went to Melville 17s which has been regarded as one of the strongest junior 17s teams ever in the history of EF junior council. Stephen Edgar and Cameron Knapton bypassed Under-17s and were already playing EF Colts. Eggs (Stephen’s nickname) was eventually best-and-fairest at EF, and then went to Carlton. Four other players in the team went on to play league football for EF (Mark Amaranti, Scott Annandale) and SF (Ashley Clementi and Todd Grierson) and there was David Hewitt and me who played Colts EF as well. The other junior clubs also had players go on in their career to EF; from Rossmoyne, most notably Chris Waterman (West Coast Eagles premiership player in 1992 and 1994), Dean Cole, Cadell Buss, Brad Read, Michael Little, and Craig Roberts. From EF Junior FC, there was Gavin Miller, Graham Dart, Matt Mudie, and Ron Adams.

[Neil Whyte trained with the East Fremantle (WAFL) senior team in the 1991-92 pre-season before moving to play with Applecross in the Sunday Football League. He played some East Fremantle Colts games in 1984 and did pre-season training with the Colts team in 1984-85. He has an active interest in sports medicine and treatment, sports history, sports psychology, sports sociology, and local history.]

NEW INTERVIEW: Neil Whyte (EFFC / Applecross) talks about East Fremantle FC's modern-day problems.

Jack Frost1 (WAFL Golden Era website): What do you think explains East Freo's lack of premiership success since 1998?

Neil Whyte1: Many used to say that it was the number of players lost to the draft into the AFL, but this is no longer an excuse as it has been going on for way too long. There was a great crop of talent when I was designing the EF Football Academy conditioning program which started in 2005. My theory is that, if there is significant talent in the pool, then surely there is a spillover that can be utilized naturally at League level. Then it is up to coaching staff to unify the group with a common goal, to set standards etc. What I noticed was the club was not functioning as a team. Staff were disconnected from one another. i.e. I didn't know what the Physio was doing or saying to players and vice versa...he wouldn't know what I was doing either. I was gobsmacked on my first day at the club seeing colts guys doing weight training in the gym before skills training on the oval. Now, in my world as a pro trainer, this is a cardinal sin just asking for trouble. It's a bit like somebody is running a study to see how many injuries could be sustained...how many hamstrings they could tear etc ha ha. The senior coach at the time did not see eye to eye with my approach...especially when I extracted the colts players out of the weights room who had terrible form...and they were being overseen by a strength and conditioning coach!!! David wanted the boys in the gym to put on muscle, but I had to explain to him it's not that simple...and there is a process...and requires an individual plan. Anyway, I don't know how the club has been functioning since I left...but I would say it is still struggling for cohesion based on the results. Overall though...I really don't understand how the club has struggled for many years now. I can appreciate how the facilities are a bit run down...but this has nothing to do with football ability and training...it does have something to do with a certain percentage of players maybe not wanting to play for EF if the facilities are not up to scratch or if people start talking. So I think it is important for the club to either upgrade the facilities or agree to co-lease Fremantle Oval which appears to be an option at the moment.

I would like to add that Australian Rules football training methods can often be 'old school', particularly at WAFL level. The methods I tried to introduce to EF were much more cutting edge, but they were not ready for it. AFL are much more responsive to change and growth. So I also think that, when clubs are not prepared for progressive change, they can be stuck in the same old same old. This is what I sensed at EFFC in terms of its conditioning for its players.

JF2: What was your experience doing the 1991-92 pre-season at EFFC under head coach Ken Judge?

NW2: I was attempting to make a comeback into football after missing five seasons of football. I was 23 years of age. I kept myself quite healthy and reasonably fit, so that was a help. I got into playing drums and music as a teen which tended to get in the way of my sport. I suppose I was gifted with good motor skill coordination that was developing a lot during my teens...I spent a lot of time playing sport (cricket and football) and athletics. I still knew a lot of guys and some of the staff knew me, i.e. Rod Lester Smith, who knew my older brother Greg, who looked destined for league when he copped some injuries. Greg was fairest and best in first year at Colts and was more than competitive against Brian Peake in intra-club scratch matches...in fact he beat him convincingly on at least one occasion. Anyway...so pre-season was going well until I badly sprained my ankle..it was nearly a break...took me a month till I could walk on it again. Ken couldn't understand how long it was taking. Pre-season was your typical Aussie rules 'old school' pre-season training. I couldn't believe that once we were made to do exercises on the concrete in a car park at Wireless Hill, including 'crunches'. I saw players' backs for the next week with red marks down their spines, ha ha. To cut a long story short, I nearly got in the squad after the intra-club scratch matches, but he advised me to play for Applecross Sunday League as they were based at EF Oval. He was going to watch games and, if I was performing, he said he would be prepared to pull me out of Sunday League. However, I never got my Mojo...I think missing five seasons made a significant difference to my feel and spatial awareness. I still had some skill..but it wasn't quite the same along with my fitness level. And I just couldn't get going at Sunday League and get any momentum. This was very disappointing seeing as I had been a strong Junior - I won the 17's competition best player and was runner up in 16's. I was frustrated because I saw players at the club that I used to play with and against in juniors...some had progressed significantly, others not so much.

Neil Whyte (aka Whitey).

JF3: Has East Freo lost that culture of success and how can it be brought back?

NW3: The club has certainly lost the culture of success, and yes, of course, they can get it back. The club has a magnificent history. Going back in history they had a low point in the 1960's for only about six seasons, probably their lowest results ever up until that point, before they bounced back at the beginning of the 1970's. It is a reminder of how successful and consistent the club has been since it started in 1898. In the 70's, 80's and 90's they were a solid consistent club. But it has been an absolutely woeful and humiliating period for best part of the last 20 years (since late 90's). I suppose I see this as a new era and nothing lasts forever mentality. The world is changing and evolving rapidly and I think EFFC is fully immersed within all of this change. I think Subiaco in recent years have developed a winning culture...and hopefully EFFC can develop a similar version in their own style and way in the future.

JF4: Is East Freo's zone good enough now given aging of the population in the traditional heartland suburbs plus multiculturalism?

NW4: It is hard to keep up with zoning because they keep changing it, ha ha. For sure, my area that I grew up in of Ardross, Applecross, Brentwood, Mt Pleasant...was beginning to struggle for numbers even when I was playing back in the 1980's. I couldn't believe that in 1978 Brentwood had an under 18's side, which my brother played for and won the competition fairest and best with. By 1982, Brentwood struggled for numbers and combined with Ardross to form Karoonda, which then eventually changed to what is now known as Booragoon. On another note, I never could work out or find out who was behind changing the quarter lengths from 25 min in 16's and 17's to 20 min which in recent years applies to 14's, 15's, 16's and 17's. It still makes no sense to me...surely 16's and 17's should have longer quarters??? Anyway, I feel the club has plenty of potential talent coming through...it is what you do with the talent that counts. We also have to remember the country regions as well, so numbers aren't the problem. I think every WAFL club will be going through similar circumstances. Of course there are more options for kids now. When I was a kid and teen, there was a strong tradition of Aussie Rules football in winter and cricket in the summer. And athletics was in between. Nowadays it is more diverse including soccer (Perth Glory inspired), basketball (Wildcats inspired), Rugby (Western force inspired), Baseball (Perth Heat inspired), extreme sports (X games inspired) etc. Multiculturalism has certainly played a part in this new movement in recent years with other sports. This has made it much tougher now for funding, volunteers and sponsorships across the board in all of these sports. We don't have a big enough population to allow all of these sports to thrive, and this has been proven to be true. However, there is one massive incentive for parents to send their kids to AFL...their pay is potentially much grander than other sports, and 40 players are listed on a senior list at AFL level. Other sports have much smaller numbers such as Cricket, Basketball, soccer, baseball etc. This is why the AFL have paid attention to attempting to make the game 'cleaner' and less violent to parents to encourage them to play Aussie rules. So the entire issue is quite complex now and extends much further and beyond simply 'aging suburbs'...however, yes, multiculturalism has played a significant role in a changing landscape.

[Note: Neil Whyte started the EF Football Academy in 2005; was the colts fitness coach; and was the fitness coach for development squads. He developed a time-line of development for 14-18-year-olds predominantly. After a stellar junior career (not a Stella career - that would be me!), he played a few colts games in 1984 whilst also playing 17's juniors at Melville. Then he completed pre-season 1984-85 when Graham Melrose was coaching the colts team. At the age of 23, he returned to EFFC and completed the 1991-92 pre-season with the senior team under coach Ken Judge before drifting across to Applecross in the then Sunday Football League.]

ARTICLE: "Did the Spirit of Football die when Roy George moved from Applecross JFC to Karoonda?"

Applecross JFC stalwarts Roy "The Spoon" George (centre) and Doug "Dougie" Stirling (right), 23 years on.

Did the spirit of football die when Roy George moved from Applecross JFC to Karoonda?

Karoonda Reserve, Booragoon.

Back in the 1970s, Perth was still a traditional and very much mono-cultural city. Each primary-school had a local junior football club which was independent of the school but, in most cases, used the primary-school oval for training. It was almost compulsory for boys to play Aussie Rules football in the winter and cricket in the summer (as well as possibly Little Athletics). However, even then, times were beginning to change and a few junior football clubs, namely the smallest ones attached to the smallest primary-schools, were beginning to struggle for numbers. As a result, in East Fremantle Football Club heartland, just to the west of the Canning River, Ardross JFC (with its red-and-white South Fremantle guernseys) merged with Brentwood (with its red, blue, and white guernseys similar to the Footscray guernseys of the early-1970s with one red and one white horizontal stripe against a royal blue background). This merger created an early junior mega- or super-club which lacked the same connection to district as the other junior clubs and the two original merged clubs had. This merged entity was called Karoonda JFC, and it kept the red, blue, and white of the two merged clubs in a new and trendy guernsey design. It was called Karoonda JFC because its home ground was Karoonda Reserve, located on Karoonda Road, Booragoon. Although its players and officials might deny this, it became something of an upper middle-class club because that part of Booragoon had opened up for housing only a few years before and was home to upwardly mobile upper middle-class families. The section of Booragoon on the western side of Riseley Street was even newer, having mostly opened up in the early-1980s. By 1983-84, Karoonda had begun to attract the more serious footballers who were aiming at a professional career, including, most notably, Mike Broadbridge (although it was also his local junior club).

I played for Mount Pleasant JFC (the Mounties) Under-14s in 1982 under the legendary coach Craig “Craigo” Campbell, who was a charismatic and flamboyant Malcolm Brown type personality. He would do unheard-of things, at junior level, like host rowdy and fun players’ teas at his home in Mount Pleasant, a few blocks from the river. I think he needed that male-bonding environment especially because he had two daughters and no sons. However, by Year 10 of high-school (1983), Mount Pleasant could no longer field a team. They may have had an Under-16s in 1983, I can’t recall.

Applecross JFC was going to field an Under-15s team, so I joined up, perhaps recruited by my high-school friend, Roy “The Spoon” George. Applecross JFC, with its red, black, and white St. Kilda guernseys, was also a small club catering only to the small suburb of Applecross which, even then, boasted an aging population and was showing the first signs of gentrification. Under-15s was different from primary-school football, which was relatively even and egalitarian with most players not being too dissimilar to one another in playing skill and fitness; most young people then lived active outdoor lives at least while in primary-school. At primary-school level, all clubs were roughly equal in strength (just as in sprints racing) and any club could pretty much beat any other club on any given day.

By contrast, by Under-15s, a big gap had emerged between those footballers who were fit and saw football as a possible career path and those who were regular smokers and casual drinkers and who were just in it for mate-ship and enjoyment. Players of the first type tended to be attracted to Karoonda while players of the second type were recruited that year to play for Applecross. As a result, there was a massive gap between the quality and ability of these two teams although Applecross had five or six reasonable footballers and everyone who pulled on that underdog St. Kilda guernsey (a poor-performing VFL/AFL club at the time) tried their very hardest every single minute of action. There was one game, Applecross versus Karoonda, at our home ground of Gairloch Reserve (named after an obscure Scottish lake), when the home ground advantage counted for nothing, and Karoonda beat us by about 40 goals to one point (say 40.25 to 0.1 or similar). The great Mike Broadbridge played on the half-back flank and still kicked ten goals against me that day. Years later, I was surprised Mike never made it to the VFL/AFL; I guess a VFL/AFL player would have scored more goals against me! We had just enough players to field a team each week, but we struggled for numbers and so we had to accept even the very weakest of players (and I include myself in that category). We might have gone one or two men short for certain games.

Gairloch Reserve, looking south to Macrae Road.

We had Scott “The Fish” Herring as first ruck-man, and I knew him well from primary-school days at Mount Pleasant; in those days he lived in Davenport Road, Booragoon, and I lived nearby in Hewitt Way, and we would sometimes play cricket and football at the local Layman Park at the foot of my street. In high-school, Fish was one of the tough guys, and a heavy smoker, but he always maintained a good heart and he did not forget primary-school friendships. He had charisma but he also had a good set of values. He was short for a ruck-man at Unde-15s level and I remember him struggling manfully against taller, fitter, and faster opponents all season. Scott grew up in Booragoon and attended Mount Pleasant Primary School so he was one of the very few Applecross JFC players (I was another) who lived outside of Applecross proper and had not gone to Applecross Primary School.

One of our best players was Roy “The Spoon” George, a strong and aggressive key-position player who could play at centre-half-forward or in the ruck. He was a Malcolm Brown / Jason Dunstall / Tony Lockett / Dermott Brereton / Stephen Kernahan type footballer. He was one of our very few players who could have held down a regular spot at a club like Karoonda (which is exactly what did happen, as we will see).

The other Applecross JFC players I can remember are Craig Wright (full-back), Doug Stirling (wing), and David “Blackie” Black. Blackie was probably my best friend in the team, along with Roy, as we had sat next to each other for a few weeks in Science class in Year 9 and I think we were in Photography class together in Year 10.

Craig was a good full-back; reliable, and a strong mark and kick. However, he could not do much to stop the tide of opposition goals as these would be initiated in the midfield and the ball would always be sailing over his head. He was a great kick out from goal; he had a majestic and righteous drop-punt which was accurate and deadly in flight. It would drop suddenly, like an expert’s volleyball serve, and his teammates knew about this and could often mark his kick outs from the goal-square. I remember taking at least one mark from one of his kicks; it was on the half-back flank at Gairloch Reserve in the south-west corner of the ground (the Gairloch Street side but at the Macrae Road end). Maybe that was my only mark for the year! Craig’s kicks could deceive the opposition as they would float magnificently, in the usual textbook way, and then drop suddenly as if shot by a pistol. Wrightie had the integrity of being a guy who had come up through Applecross Primary School, Applecross JFC, and Applecross Senior High School.

Then we had Douglas “Dougie” Stirling on the wing who was one of our top six players without a shadow of doubt. Looking back, I guess we were stacking the back-line which was a common sense thing to do given our team’s shortcomings. There was no-one of quality forward of the wing and especially after Roy left. Doug was slim, fast, and agile; he had pace and was a thinking person’s footballer. It seemed like he was running on tiptoes as he had no presence and could move quickly into empty space without seemingly making any noise. A good comparison would be the Carlton wingman, David Glascott, who was at his peak during the Carlton back-to-back premiership years of 1981-82. The soccer player, Shunsuke Nakamura, who played for Glasgow Celtic, was similar in that, if you watch videos of his goal-scoring efforts, you will see him silently and quickly moving into just the right positions to outwit the defence and score often with a single touch from a teammate’s pass. Doug was in the unenviable position of often getting the ball and not knowing what to do with it as he was always under pressure and we had no-one of any talent forward of the wing.

Roy “The Spoon” George’s departure from Applecross JFC to join Karoonda mid-season 1983 was massive news among our group of mates in high-school and beyond. It caused almost as much of a sensation as when Maurice “Mo” Johnston became the first high-profile Roman Catholic player to join Glasgow Rangers in 1989 (well, perhaps not). It felt, deep down, like a betrayal of sorts. It shook my faith in the spirit of football and the goodness of the world. No wonder that Metallica released an album called …And Justice for All. Applecross needed all the good players it could get whereas Karoonda was already spoiled for choice. Imagine the legendary Doug “Dougie” Hawkins leaving struggling Footscray in the mid-season of 1981 to join a premiership-quality team at Carlton or Tony Lockett leaving St Kilda in mid-season 1985 for Essendon. It felt like that. There was something very depressing, if not morally questionable, about the whole sad affair. It shook your faith in humanity. I played one year for Karoonda Under-16s in 1984 as Applecross didn’t field a team. It wasn’t very enjoyable. Applecross should have demanded a transfer fee from Karoonda for Roy’s services in 1983 and shared the cash out among the players! A free pie and chips and a free ticket to a WAFL game would have been very much appreciated! [By Jack Frost, 5 October 2018.]

Gairloch Reserve looking south towards Macrae Road from Gairloch Street. The view would have been very similar in 1983.

Karoonda Reserve in Booragoon (bottom four pictures). The children's playground replaces the double cricket nets which used to stand here in the late-1970s and 1980s. The club-room is the same as in 1983-84 except for the new section on the far western end which juts forward compared to the rest of the structure (and has no veranda section).