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| During the premiership drought years of the late-1970s and 1980s West Perth could beat anyone on sunny winter's days like this one at Leederville Oval with the passionate home crowd roaring their support. However, the club found it very hard to win at venues like Bassendean Oval and the two Fremantle grounds even in years such as 1976-78, 1982, and 1985 when it made the finals. |
Memories
of my first WAFL match? It was Round 11 1976 (Saturday
19 June). West Perth had won the 1975 premiership under the coaching of
former Fitzroy rover Graham Campbell but to many people's surprise West Perth
was won 3 and lost 7 after 10 rounds in 1976. However, the team's good
percentage of 91.43% suggested it might have been unlucky. Final
football was looking unlikely unless WP improved
quickly and started winning games. I was 7-years-old and my father took
me to Leederville Oval for Round 11, WP v Subiaco (of course that was a
WP home game in those days). It was a terrible day with non-stop heavy
rain. We were able to get a seat behind the fence in front of the tin
shed in the north-west corner of the ground (see the second picture below). People helped us squeeze in
there because I was just a young fellow. We ended up talking to the mother of
the then WP back-pocket player Ian Kent (or at least a close female
relative of Ian Kent). Due to the rain we left at half-time but I was
hooked on WAFL football. Final score: West Perth 14.17 (101) d Subiaco
4.6 (30), attendance 5,175 (sourced from WAFL official website). This
day was the start of a WP resurgence and the club made the final four at
season's end. However, Perth won the 1976 premiership after comfortably
beating WP in the first semi-final. I remember this day in Round 11 the
colourful WP jumpers standing out in front of the grey and depressing
background. Attendance of the round: 16,785 at Perth Oval to see East
Perth easily beat Claremont [by Kieran James, 2 June 2016, first posted in "Say NO to any AFL Clubs in the WAFL" Facebook group.].
This
post generated the following Facebook comments (all comments used with
permission):
Adrian Gibson (Perth supporter):
Such a good memory you have for someone who was so young at the time and the
year 1976 was one of the best for me with Perth winning the flag but I was
surprised how West Perth was going that year after the way they thrashed South
Freo the year before [1975 Grand Final].
Kieran James: I did a bit of
research and from 1975-89 WP performed well in their first year with a new
coach and then performance declined in each case (Campbell in 1975-77, Percy Johnson
in 1978-mid 1979, Cometti in 1982-84, Wynne in 1985-86, and Michalczyk in
1989-91).
Adrian Gibson: Wow you did do
your research, I never thought of that but now I’m thinking about it looking at
those names you are so right. With coaches at Perth we just start bad and go
downhill after that.
Kieran James: I was talking about
West Perth but Perth may have been the same. Another interesting fact is the
trainload of players who travelled between P and WP in those years. I think P
did best out of the trades in total but it was close.
Adrian Gibson: It was strange
they did get rid of Campbell so soon after that flag. I remember a couple of
games at Lathlain Park when we played West Perth. The first was 73: Barry Cable
was on fire, we were in front 4.4 to 1.4, then he got injured and they just ran
over the top of us. I also remember another game when a car went a bit fast in
the car park and hit me on the leg. They took me to the West Perth change rooms
to see if I was OK. I remember being a wide eyed kid of about 12 or 13 and I
saw Polly Farmer, Mel Whinnen, and Bill Dempsey up so close it blew me away.
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| Tin shed and Tech School beyond, Leederville Oval, July 2011 |
Kieran James: Great memories you
shared there. Campbell stayed until end of 77, I don’t know why he left; maybe his family missed Melbourne. I don’t think he was pushed out. WP made finals every
year from 1975-77 under Campbell and then in 1978 under Percy Johnson. Johnson
was fired mid-season 1979, and Campbell replaced him and stayed until the end
of 1981. However, Campbell could only walk on water once and the club missed
finals from 1979-81.
Adrian Gibson: I even think I may
be wrong but I thought he coached Fitzroy in the VFL at one stage.
Kieran James: Yes he did and they
won a night flag under him I think [yes, 1978]. He also coached Glenelg in
1963-84 and ex-West Perth player Ross Gibbs was part of that team.
Adrian Gibson: Yes Ross Gibbs, I
remember him; he was such a great mark for someone his size. Now his son plays
for Carlton and it makes me feel old lol. I know Leederville was a very hard
place to win at. We used to leave there with a 10 goal hiding no matter how
good a side we had.
Kieran James: Yes, WP could beat
anyone on a sunny day at Leederville, with the crowd behind them, ladder placings
didn’t matter, but away from home they were often shocking especially at
Bassendean and both Fremantle grounds.
Adrian Gibson: Yes, it was hard
for most teams at those grounds. My best mate was an East Perth supporter so we
used to go to the footy in turns one week his team and then mine. I also used
to do the scoreboard at Lathlain which was fun. Home ground advantage used to
be a lot stronger in those days and the West Perth Cheer Squad used to be very
loud.
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| View from Can Bar @ Lathlain Park, P v SD, 2/7/2011 |
Kieran James: Adrian, who was P’s
greatest rival then and how was WP viewed? My memory is WP and P were on fairly
friendly terms. … The drawn WP v P game in Round 1, 1986 was a big match. WP
had high hopes of doing well in 1986 but Perth was emerging fast under Browny
[Mal Brown] and you took over from us in the final four that year (we made it
in 1985).
Adrian Gibson: I think East Perth
was our greatest rival. I mean we beat them in four grand finals; they were the
Collingwood of the WAFL. They lost 66, 67, and 68 to us; 69 and 71 to you; and
then 76 to us and they only won in 72 and 78 (which still hurts also). I wasn’t
very fond of South Freo either.
Kieran James: And the 78 win was
due to Ian Miller and Barry Cable switching sides and Murray Couper and John
Quartermaine being out of the Perth team. Those EP defeats were very enjoyable.
Adrian Gibson: Yes and when we
kicked with the wind that day [1978 grand final versus EP], it poured down and
when they kicked with it there was no rain at all. Miller wanted to come back
to Perth but they were so up themselves and had just won the flag so they said
they didn’t need him. That made me so angry, I thought it would bite them in
the backside which it did. He played really well that day; Buzz [Peter
Bosustow] nearly got us over the line but we really missed Couper and Quartermaine
that day.
Discussion
turned to the 1982 Final Round Series as West Perth supporter Andrew Henryon
joined the chat.
Andrew Henryon (West Perth
supporter): East Fremantle and Claremont have always been our nemesis. As
[John] Dimmer used to say: “If we can win at Shark Park, we can win the GF!” We
should’ve won the flag in 1982.
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| Can Bar crowd, Lathlain Park, P v SD, 2/7/2011 |
Adrian Gibson: Yes, I remember
82. I thought it would be Claremont and West Perth in the grand final but Swans
came from nowhere to win it. [Dennis] Cometti had a good side that year.
Kieran James: And West Perth
found Claremont hard to beat but did well against Swans from 1982-84 so it was
unfortunate we met Claremont in the preliminary final. In fact in Swans’
premiership years [1982-84] we won 5 out of the 9 home-and-away games against
them. [Note: Doubters can verify the accuracy of this statement by checking the
old results year by year at the WAFL’s official website.] I remember the 82
preliminary final, watching it from the middle-tier of the three-tier stand and
seeing Ray Holden being outclassed by Warren Ralph. I had high hopes in 1985
too; we were good against East Fremantle that year but we didn’t meet them in
the finals.
Andrew Henryon: The David Palm
suspension from the 1982 1st semi-final thrashing of East Perth did
not help. Shame because 1982 was our year and it got away, like what happened
to the Dockers in 2013.
We
went on to a discussion of the 1985 final round series:
Kieran James: East Fremantle was
our nemesis in every year except for 1985 when WP beat EF in two out of the
three home-and-away games including the last minute Subiaco Oval win when the
late Chris Mainwaring missed at the end. (In the video on YouTube I can be seen
at 2:53-54 congratulating the West Perth players after the siren, I was a tall
and skinny 16-year-old guy, black hair, light-blueish check flannel shirt,
jeans, and WP jumper tied around the waist.)
Andrew Henryon: The Mainwaring
miss. … We were never a chance in 85 under John Wynne, I’m not going there.
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| Can Bar Crowd, Lathlain Park, P v SD, 2/7/2011 |
Kieran James: As a young fan I
remember having hope in 85 but of course was unaware of any goings on at the
club. 1986 was a huge disappointment.
Then
there was some mention of 1978, another year that got away for both Perth and
West Perth.
Andrew Henryon: Have a look at
the 1978 home-and-away. In Round 21 EP 5th to 2nd, WP 2nd
to 4th after EP beat us in round 21 at Leedy in front of 24000! Real
bizarre events and EP came from nowhere to win the flag. Unbelievable destiny!
Adrian Gibson: Yes, I remember
that last game in 78. East Perth was on a winning streak of 7 or 9 games or something
and had to win to make the four and the other results went their way and they
ended up 2nd and played us in the 2nd semi-final but the
crowd was so amazing at that game.
Kieran James: It was too bad that
Perth came so close to repeating their hat-trick of flags exactly one decade
later but failed (66-67-68 and nearly 76-77-78).
[A special thanks to Adrian
Gibson and Andrew Henryon for their kind permission in allowing me to share
their comments here. We should write down our memories of the WAFL Golden Era
while there are still some of us left. Someone who was 6-years-old when the
West Coast Eagles was formed will be 35-years-old today. People of this age and
below have no personal memory of the pre-Eagles environment in Western
Australia. If people don’t care about the WAFL Golden Era today there may come
a time when they will care again.]
