ARTICLE: As a boy growing up in Perth’s western suburbs in the 1970s, there were few prospects more terrifying than catching the train to Bassendean Oval to watch Claremont take on Swan Districts.
The train ride from Swanbourne was straightforward enough, even though the last couple of stops before Success Hill started to bring contact with characters best avoided once the game started.
A three-minute trot down Thompson Road, a right and then left to the main gates on Old Perth Road and you were in the ground.
Then the fun started.
The railway has played a major part in Swan Districts’ history, with Bassendean Oval’s position on the Midland line providing easy access to the city and eastern suburbs, which supplied many of its players over the decades.
Sports were played at the then Bassendean Reserve from the early part of the century, but it was the foresight of former South Fremantle player RA (Dick) McDonald in the mid-1920s, then a member of the Bassendean Road Board, that saw funds raised to convert Bassendean Oval into a facility suitable for senior football.
McDonald’s vision was to create a league club based in the district, a dream that would come true in 1934 when Swan Districts were admitted to the WA National Football League with their founding father the inaugural president.
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| Swans’ Haydn Bunton Jr vs. Perth, April 1964. |
McDonald was also recognised with the naming of the 800-seat grandstand in his honour, an historic achievement lost on a small boy whose only ambition was to survive unscathed amid the most threatening football environment of his limited experience.
The RA McDonald Stand was the source of that terror; a wooden stand packed with the most ferocious and vocal supporters whose synchronised foot-stamping played tune to the fortunes of their team.
They had seen dark days — Swans failed to make finals for 15 consecutive seasons after World War II, a record that stood until Peel’s entry to the league nearly half a century later — followed by the most glorious reign as Haydn Bunton’s men won three straight flags from 1961.
Silky Bill Walker, a four-time Sandover medallist, roved alongside Bunton while Test cricketer Keith Slater dominated the ruck and a host of equally hard men, such as Ken Bagley, Tony Nesbit and Fred Castledine, played for keeps.
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| Bassendean Oval crowd, 1961 |
Swans struggled for success in the 1970s, as did Claremont, but their one or two battles a year at Bassendean were epic contests between two different worlds.
Crowds flocked to witness these encounters, with the crush in the outer only matched by that on the late train, with 10,000 and more fans often squeezed into the ground.
There were nearly that many on the devastating day in June 1976 when Claremont’s Norm Uncle kicked 10 goals, only for Swans’ Mark Olsen to answer with nine as the home team got the better of a 45-goal shootout.
It remains the closest any WAFL match has come to having opponents kick 10 goals.
[By John Townsend for The West Australian. This article was first published online on 18 September 2017 at the following link: https://thewest.com.au/sport/wafl/bassendean-oval-home-of-hard-men-on-and-off-the-field-ng-b88600154z]
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| Swan Districts versus West Perth at Bassendean Oval in 1964. |
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| A game between Swan Districts and South Fremantle in 1962. |
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