ARTICLE: John Hyde’s predicament was typical of the dilemma faced by Claremont throughout much of their early post-World War II history.
A Geelong star who had won two premierships for the Cats and a club champion award, Hyde was Claremont’s gun recruit in 1955 when the Tigers were trying to dig themselves out of a mess on and off the field.
Hyde was put up at the Highway Hotel, a plush watering hole on Stirling Highway often used by visiting celebrities, while he was wooed by the club.
But when he was due to sign a contract with the Tigers during his first visit to his proposed home ground at Claremont Oval, the meeting fell through in the most unusual circumstances. “Sheep had got into the tin shed that served as our change rooms, office and boardroom and had made a complete mess,” Claremont great John O’Connell recalled.
“Here we were trying to sign one of the best players in the country and we were doing it in a building where you wouldn’t keep your dog.”
The soiled premises obviously didn’t dissuade Hyde because he joined the club. O’Connell later went to Geelong, though not as part of any trade, but it was indicative of Claremont’s ground woes in their first four decades.
The sheep were cheap lawnmowers, if prone to awkward side effects, but the tin sheds were a staple for many years after the grandstand burnt down one night in 1944.
Claremont were accepted into the league in 1926, the club evolving from the Cottesloe team that started 20 years earlier, and played their first season at the neighbouring Showground while Claremont Oval was made ready for senior action.
The showpiece was the elegant wooden grandstand which contained a massive concrete bath in the home change room. It was often used by the entire team until it was condemned by health authorities.
Sadly for Claremont, the loss of the grandstand had a marked impact on the club’s fortunes — with distinct parallels to its recent sojourn at the Showground while Claremont Oval was redeveloped.
Numerous theories developed about the cause of the devastating fire, which destroyed most of the club’s records, photos, jumpers, training equipment and even a well-used piano.
The most credible attributed liability to American sailors who often drank at the nearby Claremont Hotel before repairing to the football ground for further refreshments.
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| After the 1964 Grand Final |
It was a cruel blow for a club that had little success in its first decade before becoming a dominant force inspired by coach Johnny Leonard and champion player George Moloney that would play in seven grand finals in as many years and win a hat-trick of premierships.
The stars continued to arrive — Les McClements and Sonny Maffina in the 1940s then Les Mumme, Kevin Clune and Denis Marshall in the 50s — before the establishment of the highly effective junior council in the 1970s. One of the most tangible legacies left by the often controversial but far-sighted Mal Brown saw Claremont develop into one of the powerhouses of the modern game based on the fertile local recruiting zones.
Flags soon came in abundance, players in their dozens were ushered off to the national competition and, after a decade and half of negotiations, the WAFL’s most plush facility was opened on the site of what was once a sheep paddock.
[By John Townsend for The West Australian. This article was first published at the following link: https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/claremont-a-haven-for-stars-and-sheep-ng-b88603445z]
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| View from above Claremont Oval in 1965 |
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| Mort Kuhlman (Claremont) and Ron Evans (West Perth) in June 1965 |
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| Maurie Jones getting help for an elbow injury in August 1965 |
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| Kieran James (WAFL Golden Era Website) in the centre of Claremont Oval feeling the magic in the air and dreaming that he was Mossy and it was 1981 again. He can see the Krakouers running past and out of the corner of his eye sees Warren Ralph racing into a forward-pocket to take the mark. This picture was taken before the recent re-development of the ground. |
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| The colour pictures were taken in August 2012 before the re-development of the ground and show pretty much how the ground looked like during Claremont's glory years in the early-1980s. |
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