ARTICLE: Jack Sheedy grew up opposite East Fremantle Oval, so there was no question he would relish the chance to play on the ground he saw converted from a patch of sand and scrub into the home of the WAFL’s most successful club.
One of WA football’s most famous figures as his title Mr Football would suggest, Gentleman Jack — or Bible Jack as he was also known after offering to swear his innocence on a bible during one of his assorted tribunal appearances — Sheedy was at the peak of his powers when he first ran on to East Fremantle Oval in April 1953.
He was 26, already a veteran of 150 club games, two premierships, a couple of years as coach and countless stoushes when Old Easts moved from Fremantle Oval to their own premises a couple of kilometres east of the port town.
“I was born and bred here and lived in the street opposite when the ground was built,” Sheedy, now 90, recalled at his recent induction into the club’s hall of fame.
“My parents took me to the football every week and I would run errands for the players after training. It was and is a great place.”
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| The bar in the clubrooms was popular. |
The ground would soon pay witness to another remarkable footballer — a teenage Graham Farmer, who made his league debut there for East Perth but showed little in a game played in foul weather that he would develop into perhaps the greatest player the game has seen.
East Fremantle were only eight years old when they played their sole season at the barren and distant ground in 1906 before returning nearly half a century later in 1953 to put down roots at a ground they could finally call their own.
The Sharks — as they have been known for the past three decades after seeking an identity with greater bite — are considering a 21st century move to share Fremantle Oval again but while that development is progressing at funereal pace, it is positively electric compared with the glacial move after World War II. Supply and manpower short-ages meant the development first mooted during the war years took nearly a decade to come to fruition and did not create instant success when it finally happened.
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| The Lofts boys kit up to enjoy the action. |
Old Easts only took a few years to win another premiership — one of their WAFL record 29 and against Sheedy’s East Perth after his controversial club switch — but their most dominant years were behind them.
Yet the club continued to boast a host of the game’s brightest stars whose presence at East Fremantle Oval would drive some of the biggest crowds in the league.
A lanky young farmer from Jennacubbine joined the club at that time and Jack Clarke would go on to have one of the game’s great careers. He became the only player from any State to be named All-Australian at four consecutive national carnivals.
The stars were headed by Sheedy, of course, dual Sandover Medallist Ray Sorrell and a crop from the 1970s that included medal winners Brian Peake, Graham Melrose and David Hollins.
[By John Townsend for The West Australian. This article was first published online on 20 September 2017 at the following link: https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/from-sand-and-scrub-to-a-footy-fortress-ng-b88606129z]
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| The football oval (top) was located next to the now-defunct Richmond trotting track. |
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| West Perth Cheer Squad, WP versus EF, northern- or city-end, East Fremantle Oval, 8 August 1981. This cheer squad was led by Pam Hynsen and also included David Barr. It operated for many years at the northern- or Technical School-end of Leederville Oval and at away games. |
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