It was 1928, just 20 years after the first game was played at the ground initially known as the Mueller Road sand patch, but those joyous football memories were to sustain Bancroft during the most torrid years of his life a decade or so later.
Blood Bancroft was a survivor. He had two ships sunk under him during World War II, lived through the unspeakable horrors of the Burma railway and floated without food or water for six days in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
He had one ambition throughout those ordeals — to play football on Subiaco Oval, a goal he expressed in a charcoal mural at his first prisoner of war camp in Java and which later proved essential as he and four mates clung to wreckage hoping to be rescued.
“We kept our spirits up by talking about some of the things we would do if we ever got rescued,” Bancroft recalled just before his death in 2013. “I said I was going to play footy again on Subiaco Oval. And I did.”
Bancroft had played alongside Haydn Bunton Sr in his early days, the triple Sandover medallist saying little to the scrawny teenager other than growling “get out of my way” as he set sail for goal, but admitted he was fortunate to play as many as his 12 matches.
Bancroft’s sense of Subiaco Oval as the centre of his early universe was not an uncommon view for a ground that started as a weedy stretch of sand and evolved to become the headquarters of WA football.
Subiaco entered the league in 1901, five years after their beginnings in the lower First Rate Junior competition, but their battle to win games — they came last or second last in each of their first 11 seasons — was little compared with the struggle to find a suitable ground.
Their initial home ground Shenton Park, now Lake Jualbup, was often underwater, with drowning a genuine match day threat, while the common age at Mueller (now Roberts) Road provided an ad hoc venue in the 1890s but offered no security of tenure.
But Subiaco was a thriving town at the turn of the 20th century. It had the advantage of a separate identity to Perth and Fremantle, though the train line made it accessible to both, while the newly formed Subiaco Municipal Council saw football as essential to the health of the district and an ideal promotional vehicle for civic development.
It helped that Henry Daglish was simultaneously State premier, Subiaco mayor and club president.
He was possessed of robust powers of persuasion, assets that he employed to their fullest to see off a 1906 expulsion move before winning council support to develop the site that would soon become known as Subiaco Oval.
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| Crowd at EF v SD grand final |
Like other WAFL clubs experienced later in the century, the establishment of a permanent base soon led to remarkable success, with Subiaco winning three premierships in four seasons from 1912. Another was added in 1924 as the club welcomed the arrival of the player who would contend with Bunton as the greatest of the club’s first half-century — Johnny Leonard.
Bancroft could not separate them as players but had a soft spot for Leonard, no surprise given that it was to watch his hero in action that prompted the seven-year-old to climb into Subiaco Oval.
The fig tree might be long gone but generations of children have followed Bancroft’s lead by flocking to Subiaco Oval with stars in their eyes and football in their hearts.
[This article was first published by John Townsend for The West Australian at the following link: https://thewest.com.au/news/perth/subiaco-every-kids-field-of-dreams-ng-b88607857z]
First
semi-final 1985 – West Perth versus Swan Districts, Subiaco Oval, 31 August (Subiaco Oval), by Kieran James:
ARTICLE: West
Perth earned a rematch against Swan Districts in the 1985 first semi-final
played on 31 August 1985 at Subiaco Oval. In those days there was a grassed
northern bank at the city-end and there was concrete terracing all along the
Roberts Road or eastern side of the ground. These were the general admission
ticket areas back then. In that era, for every final apart from the grand final,
there was no need to pre-book tickets at Subiaco Oval unless you wanted
grandstand seating. In those days semi-finals would attract between 20,000 and
35,000 people and the oval itself could accommodate close to 50,000. Nowadays
grand finals struggle to attract even the type of crowds that semi-finals
attracted in the WAFL’s Golden Era.
In the newspapers leading up to the game the media
columnists were split fairly evenly in terms of which team they thought would
win the game. Swan Districts’ Garry Sidebottom was widely and correctly
perceived to be the wild-card who, on a good day, could single-handedly destroy
West Perth up forward[1]
which is exactly what happened. West Perth also suffered from Menaglio being
out injured[2]; Duckworth not having
recovered from an absence caused by the after-effects of swallowing a fish bone[3];
and, although Comerford, Fong, and Michalczyk did play, they were well below
their bests as a result of carrying niggling injuries into the game from the
qualifying rounds[4]. Swans’ tough centreman
Tony Solin had also been expected to miss the game on the Monday of the lead-up
week[5]
but he returned to play a very strong game. Rogers and the veteran Murnane
missed the last qualifying game versus a lacklustre Claremont, but Murnane was
expected to return for the semi-final and be able to slot in well to replace
the injured Menaglio.[6]
As it turned out Murnane did play but he was not listed in any commentator’s
best-players list. Meanwhile, Rogers’ match statistics of one mark, zero kicks,
and two effective handballs suggest that he was still incapacitated.
The general admission tickets entitled you access to the
grassed northern bank and to the concrete terracing but not to the grandstands.
As was the practice in that era, our cheer squad members sprinted up and then down
the grassed bank when the gates opened and claimed a section of seats directly
behind the fence, sufficient to accommodate the core 15 people we were expecting
for the game. The early arrivals claimed around eight spots on each of the
first two wooden seat rows as had been agreed by everyone the week before at
the final home-and-away game. The cheer squad sat in the north-east corner of
the ground, directly behind the fence, in around the same place as Perth
supporters placed a “Chris Mitsopoulos” fence banner during the 1977 grand final.[7]
Cheer squad members settled down to a long day of
watching the early colts and reserves games which, coincidentally, all involved
West Perth. The regular core group members all arrived, one by one and in twos
and threes, and were offered seats in the group’s new “reserved” section. The
crowd in the grassed banked area built up steadily throughout the day. By
starting time for the main game most people seated on the grassed bank had
given way to people standing up. In that era the bars and the food stands were
located right at the top of the grassed bank at the city-end. No group member drank
beer at games which, in hindsight, is somewhat surprising as several people were
18-years-old by August 1985.
Cheer squad members planned to enjoy the day; again there
was a carnival atmosphere, but the group had been metaphorically sobered up by
the recent encounter with the Swan Districts’ fans at Bassendean Oval so people
were careful to avoid trouble. It was always uncertain which team the bulk of
the crowd nearest you would support at finals games and, if you arrived at the
ground very early, you might later find yourself surrounded by opposition
supporters. Therefore, it was wiser to restrain your behaviour before the start
of the main game.
We had all had previous experiences of West Perth losing
final round matches. The team had entered the final four, but not made the
grand final, in 1976, 1977, and 1978, and again in 1982 in Dennis Cometti’s
first year of coaching. Group members were mostly too young to have properly
experienced the 1975 premiership win; on this day in 1985 the core group,
excluding Ben, Rob, Tony, Half, Mario, and Thommo Junior, ranged in age from 15
to 19 so in 1975 this core group would have been aged from five to nine. Group
members had learned not to have high hopes of West Perth come finals’ time. To
be honest people all expected a loss but we would have loved a win. In the end
West Perth was duly defeated by Swan Districts in the first semi-final of 1985,
24.14 (158) to 19.12 (126) in front of an official attendance of 26,508 people.[8]
The team had not been humiliated but I do remember clearly that the result was
never in serious doubt this day. The result did not surprise the cheer squad
members as all of us were West Perth fans of the drought era (to use Brian
Atkinson’s term)!
Garry Sidebottom was unbeatable with his nine goals, the
equal record highest score by any footballer in a WAFL final round match.
Dawson writes that: “[Swans’ rover Barry] Kimberley played the kick behind the
play role to perfection when West Perth had the breeze, ensuring Swans path to
the preliminary final”[9].
West Perth’s losing score of 19 goals was commendable and, according to
Atkinson, on most days would have been good enough to win the game.[10]
A look at the scoring records suggest that West Perth in
1985 suffered from the lack of a regular full-forward with the club’s on-ball
and half-forward-line running players bobbing up to kick much of the team’s scores.
Mark Stephens (27 games, 1982, 1984-86[11])
was named in The West Australian
newspaper to play full-forward in the first semi-final but he kicked no goals
or points and may not even have played. Top scorers for the day for West Perth were
centre-half-forward Phil Bradmore with 4.1 and Derek Kickett with 4.1. Running
players were the only other West Perth men to kick more than one goal with the
remaining multiple goal scorers being Darren Bewick 3.1, Corry Bewick 2.2, Les
Fong 2.2, and Peter Murnane 2.0. Incredibly no recognized full-forward was
recruited by West Perth for the 1986 season and West Perth fans had to endure
the ignominy of watching West Perth reject Mick Rea perform splendidly for
Perth in both 1985 and 1986 playing as a conventional lead-mark-kick
full-forward. On first semi-final day 1985, the presence of full-forward
Sidebottom and Swans’ mental toughness honed by years of successful finals’
campaigns were clearly the two main differences between the teams.
In the end, Swan Districts failed to progress further beyond
the preliminary final in 1985, and Ron Alexander’s East Fremantle defeated
Haydn Bunton Junior’s Subiaco by a mere five points in the grand final. I watched
the grand final not with the cheer squad but with my father and grandfather
seated in the middle-tier of the three-tier grandstand at the western-end of
Subiaco Oval (following a family tradition rather than a cheer squad tradition
this time around). I can remember walking back to our car after the game,
heading back into Subiaco proper, and we stopped a few times to let my grandfather
take short rests sitting on little brick walls and similar. After West Perth
had been eliminated, we all understood that the cheer squad’s duties and
commitments were over for the year.
West
Perth Football Club (continued)
Ironically,
to pour salt into the wounds, West Perth defeated eventual premiers East
Fremantle two out of three times in the 1985 home-and-away rounds. None of the
cheer squad members would have regarded East Fremantle as clear favourites had
West Perth gone on to encounter the Sharks in the 1985 grand final. West Perth
probably had the Moss Street-based club’s measure. Football is made up of
vagaries, trivia, and ironies such as this. In fact, from 1976-86, the pre-West
Coast Eagles part of the drought era, West Perth generally had a strong record
against the eventual premiers. Most West Perth supporters believed that the
team could beat anyone on its day, throughout the drought era, with the
possible exception of the 1979 season. However, from 1976 through to 1985, West
Perth was always choked or outplayed or outmuscled in those final round matches
it did manage to play in. It might have been a nerves problem and /or a matter
of self-belief. West Perth was up against highly professional and disciplined
teams coached by legendary and expert WAFL coaches including Ken Armstrong
(Perth); Mal Brown (South Fremantle and Perth); Haydn Bunton Junior (Subiaco);
and John Todd (Swan Districts).
Those hardcore West Perth supporters of the drought era
were not foolish enough to fail to see a pattern at work. The team clearly ran
on enthusiasm, confidence, emotion, and passion during those years. Whereas
most other clubs started slowly under a new coach only to reach first the
finals, then to lose a grand final, and then finally to win one, West Perth
peaked in the first year of a new coach and then the trend was downhill until
the next new coach was brought in! As examples of the normal course of events
at other clubs, Perth lost in 1974 but won in 1976 and 1977; East Perth lost in
1976 but won in 1978; South Fremantle lost in 1979 but won in 1980; Swans lost
in 1980 only to win in 1982, 1983, and 1984; East Fremantle lost in 1977 but
won in 1979 and later lost in 1984 but won in 1985; whilst Subiaco lost in 1985
but won in 1986. Later on VFL/AFL club West Coast, famously, lost in 1991 but
won in 1992 and 1994. The principle even applied to pre-drought West Perth when
it lost in 1973 but won in 1975. It was certainly true, in that era, that “you
had to lose a grand final before you could win one” and this adage became wise
advice in Western Australia not only for football but for life in general.
Dawson also, referencing this period in WAFL history, refers to what he terms
“an old football adage”, i.e. “you must lose one to understand what is needed
to win one”.[12]
However, departing from the normal pattern at the other WAFL
clubs, West Perth won in 1975 in Graham Campbell’s first year; reached the
finals in 1982 in Dennis Cometti’s first year; and reached the finals again in
John Wynne’s first year in 1985. However, West Perth failed to make the finals
in Cometti’s second and third years (1983 and 1984); and again in Wynne’s
second year (1986). Even in the immediate post-West Coast era the club made the
finals under George Michalczyk in his first season in 1989 only to be wooden-spooners
for his next two seasons.[13]
The theory that this constituted a unique West Perth pattern was a fairly
convincing one although, in all of the years, there were a host of other
factors that no doubt could also be used to explain the various rises and
falls. It seems that the West Perth playing group became enthusiastic under a
new coach but then became bored and lackadaisical by the coach’s second year.
It didn’t seem to be a very mature response to the outside observer.
[This article is taken from Chapter 4 (pages 142-147) of the book Goodbye Leederville Oval: History of West Perth Cheer Squad 1984-86 by Kieran James which can be bought at Lulu.com or Amazon.]
[1]
Christian, G. (1985a), “Swans prepare for an early blitz”, The West Australian, 30 August, pp. 191-2; Stocks, G. (1985b), “A driving force ...”, The West Australian, 31 August, p. 192.
[2] Christian, ““Swans prepare for an
early blitz”.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] See the 1977 WAFL grand final DVD
which is available from the Perth Football Club main office or at the
merchandise store at Lathlain Park on match days.
[8] Atkinson, It’s a Grand Old Flag, p. 335.
[9] Dawson, John Todd, p. 221.
[10] Brian Atkinson, personal
interview, 8 July 2011.
[11] Atkinson, It’s a Grand Old Flag, p. 375.
[12] Dawson, John Todd, p. 183.
[13] Brian Atkinson, personal
interview, 8 July 2011.
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| Port Adelaide Magpies supporters @ Foxtel Cup match versus Claremont, 16 July 2011 @ Subiaco Oval (attendance: around 1,000). |
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