I once talked to Pete
C. and spent the game with him on the scoreboard bank’s concrete terracing at
Fremantle Oval (at around the half-forward flank position closest to the
northern-end goals) for a match against South Fremantle late in the 1986
season. The West Perth Cheer Squad’s flags had vanished and there was only the
two of us left at this juncture in time. Pete C. and I hadn’t even arranged in
advance to meet; it was a chance meeting. I would have to say that the cheer
squad no longer existed at this point. However, Pete’s charming, quiet, and
thoughtful manner had not changed.
After the
game Pete C. and I walked through the Fremantle city streets together and I
think Pete took a Number 106 bus or a train back to Perth while I took a different
bus to Booragoon. We probably parted at Fremantle train station. I originally
wrote this paragraph 26 years later, on 9 January 2013, and I still haven’t seen
Pete again since that day at Fremantle Oval near to the close of the 1986
season. As we walked through the Fremantle city streets together, as the dark
and the chill started drifting in from the ocean (minimum temperatures were 4.5
and 4.0 degrees Celsius on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th August 1986), we were
both fairly subdued and disappointed as it looked like our team’s season was
over (the team probably could not make the final-four) and all the hope of the past
two years had come to nothing. I think
that another reason for my anxious and melancholic mood was the realization,
pushed to the back of my mind, that my life was changing and it would never be
the same again. I was 17-years-old, in the first year of university, and the
adult world of responsibilities, choices, careers, and consequences was fast
closing in, whilst childhood was at an end. In football terms, there was also
massive change at work behind the scenes as the powerbrokers were putting together
and planning for the new as yet unnamed super-team which would play in the VFL
in 1987. Every genuine football person in Perth knew that the WAFL would never
be the same again no matter how upbeat the newspapers were. Like my childhood,
the old WAFL was slipping away. The days of 14,000 plus crowds at the
match-of-the-round were never coming back (source: WAFL Football Golden Era, by Kieran James, page 153, book is available on Lulu and Amazon).
Likely
line-ups:
(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 9 August
1986, p. 187)
South Fremantle FC
Backs: Macdonald,
Carter, Maskos
Half-backs: D Wilson,
Sumich, Mosconi
Centres: B Collard,
Bairstow, Lynch
Half-forwards: Winmar,
Hutcheson, Todd
Forwards: Bennett, M
Sambrailo, D Collard
Ruck: Edwards,
Worsfold, Matera
Interchange: Lockhart,
Sims
West Perth FC
Backs: Munns, Mugavin,
Barns
Half-backs: Binder,
Mifka, Turley
Centres: D Bewick,
Bell, King
Half-forwards:
Menaglio, Bradmore, Lill
Forwards: Waddell,
Foley, Gastev
Ruck: Nelson, Fong, C
Bewick
Interchange: Collinge,
Martin
In: Waddell, Collinge,
Martin
Out: Laidley (ankle),
Chaplin (ankle), Bennett
Match preview
By David Marsh:
“Today is D-Day –
do-or-die – for West Perth, who have their last chance to stake a claim for a
berth in this year’s finals.
“And they could not
have a tougher assignment, as they meet giant-killers South Fremantle at
Fremantle Oval.
“South have had
victories over Subiaco and Perth in the past three weeks. In addition, West
Perth have not won at Fremantle Oval for eight years”.
Match
results
– Saturday, 9 August, 1986, Fremantle Oval
South Fremantle FC 7.5
16.10 21.12 24.18 (162) d West Perth FC 3.5 6.6 10.9 16.11 (107)
Scorers: SF: Edwards
5.3, Matt Sambrailo 5.1, Winmar 4.2, Matera 4.1, D Collard, Bairstow 2.2,
Hutcheson, Todd 1.0, B Collard 0.2, Worsfold, Lockhart 0.1, Forced 0.3.
WP: Gastev 3.2,
Bradmore 2.1, Fong, King, D Bewick 2.0, C Bewick, Collinge 1.2, Foley, C Nelson
1.1, Menaglio, Lill 0.1. [KJ note: One WP goal seems to be missing from this
list.]
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August
1986, p. 101)
Weather: Fine, light
south-westerly breeze.
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August
1986, p. 101)
Attendance: 5,872
(from WAFL Online)
Free-kicks: SF: 7, 4,
4, 3 – 18.
WP: 4, 5, 4, 1 – 14.
Best players:
WA Footballer of the
Year Award:
5 votes Wally Matera
(South Fremantle) – A brilliant 22-kick, four-goal display of roving.
4 votes Mark Bairstow
(South Fremantle) – Another strong, creative performance at centre where he was
under notice from the start.
3 votes Craig Edwards
(South Fremantle) – A quality performance in the ruck and when resting in
attack. Marked brilliantly and kicked four goals.
2 votes Warren Mosconi
(South Fremantle) – A dashing and effective half-back who was outstanding in a
solid South defence.
1 vote Peter Sumich
(South Fremantle) – A notable performance at centre-half-back against Phil
Bradmore.
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August
1986, p. 100)
Team rankings: SF: W
Matera 1, M Bairstow 2, C Edwards 3, W Mosconi 4, P Sumich 5, D Collard 6.
WP: J Gastev 1, C
Nelson 2, C Binder 3, L Fong 4, C Turley 5, C Bewick 6.
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August
1986, p. 100)
Rd. 19
|
||||||
P
|
W
|
L
|
D
|
%
|
Pts
|
|
SUBI*
|
19
|
15
|
4
|
-
|
134.56
|
60
|
E FREM**
|
19
|
14
|
5
|
-
|
132.29
|
56
|
PERTH
|
19
|
12
|
6
|
1
|
105.06
|
50
|
CLARE
|
19
|
10
|
9
|
-
|
119.01
|
40
|
W Perth
|
19
|
8
|
10
|
1
|
89.54
|
34
|
S Frem
|
19
|
6
|
13
|
-
|
72.80
|
24
|
S Dist
|
19
|
5
|
14
|
-
|
86.09
|
20
|
E Perth
|
19
|
5
|
14
|
-
|
82.24
|
20
|
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August
1986, p. 101)
*eventual 1986 WAFL
premiers
**eventual 1986 WAFL
runners-up
Leading goal-kickers
after Round 19 (Top 9 players):
80 – Mick Rea (P)
71 – John Scott (C)
55 – Warren Dean (S),
Stephen Sells (S), Colin Waterson (EF)
53 – Brian Peake (EF)
48 – Wayne Ryder (P),
Craig Edwards (SF)
41 – Tony Buhagiar
(EF)
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 11 August
1986, p. 101)
Complete match report
(full-text):
By the late GEOFF
CHRISTIAN:
“South Fremantle are
at the start of a bright [new] era in league football based on an excellent mix
of raw talent and enthusiasm, blended with the right amount of experience.
“That formula was the
basis of South’s scintillating 55-point win over West Perth at Fremantle Oval
on Saturday, a victory full of merit and one that should help guarantee that
the season ends a lot happier than it started for the Bulldogs.
“An indication of the
amount of ability available at Fremantle Oval these days can be gauged by the
fact that gifted veterans Benny Vigona and Willie Roe were in action in the
reserves on Saturday.
“The absence of these
brilliant attacking players obviously did not hamper South who kicked their
season’s highest score [of] 24.18 and almost kicked the Falcons out of
business.
“West Perth arrived at
Fremantle Oval on Saturday knowing that victory was a stepping stone into the
final four. It was not an easy task on an oval where the ground surface is
obviously a big advantage for the home team.
“The Falcons left four
hours later without even touching that stepping stone and failed miserably to
measure up to the challenge laid down by South.
“The victory was built
around superb performances by No. 1 rover Wally Matera (their smallest player),
ruckman Craig Edwards (their biggest player) and centreman Mark Bairstow, who
fitted neatly in the middle.
“[Wally] Matera has
not given a better display of his roving skills. His work at the fall of the
ball was classical in style and he made few, if any, handling errors.
“Edwards’ marking and
general ruck play was superb and the same could be said of Bairstow whose
powerful work in the middle was of the quality West Perth wished they had
available to them.
“South had plenty of
other individual stars but it was more the spirit and the team co-operation
revealed by this young Bulldogs’ line-up that West Perth found impossible to
match for all but the opening 12 minutes.
“Everywhere West Perth
turned on Saturday they found trouble. On a day dedicated to national dental
health week, West Perth simply bit off more than they could chew.
They lacked the bite
of the Bulldogs; there was [sic] too
many gaps in their play and too many weak spots that obviously were tender to
the probe.
“It was not a day when
centre-half-forward Phil Bradmore could lead the Falcons out of trouble. He was
well held by Peter Sumich, a first year player who started the season in attack
but looked admirably suited at centre-half-back.
“There was plenty of
defensive support for Sumich, mainly from Warren Mosconi, Gavin Carter and
Arthur Maskos.
“Things were no better
in defence for West Perth.
“Matt Sambrailo, who
started the year for South on a wing, showed natural flair at full-forward when
he kicked 5.1 and Barry Hutcheson has the look of a man who knows how to play
at centre-half-forward.
“And to add to the
woes of the West Perth defence, Neil Winmar [later “Nicky” Winmar] decided to
show how well he can play at centre with a 17-kick, four-goal effort”.
(Source: Geoff
Christian (1986), “Bulldogs find a formula for success”, The West Australian, Monday, 11 August 1986, p. 100)
 |
| Night-time match pictures are from an equally freezing cold Fremantle Oval (WAFL) game. This time the match was on Friday night, 17 August 2012 versus Swan Districts. Pictures show South Fremantle Cheer Squad (formed 2002), featuring Wayne (red cap and white SFFC sleeveless jersey) and Patrick (white cap and red jacket) among others. |
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