Round 14, 1984: West Perth FC 18.11 (119) d Swan Districts FC 11.19 (85), Leederville Oval

The former Swan Districts ruckman Ron Boucher in 2009 when he was working at Busselton Council - we had a confrontation with him this day in 1984 at Leederville Oval's northern-end goals during the reserves game.

Round 14, 1984 – West Perth v Swan Districts, Leederville Oval

This is the day we [West Perth FC] unexpectedly defeated the reigning 1983 premiers, Swan Districts FC, at home at Leederville Oval and by a convincing margin as well. We could beat any team on our day during the 1980s and especially at Leederville Oval where the home-ground advantage was enormous. This game was probably West Perth’s best performance for the 1984 season, a season in which the club sadly missed out on the finals. After Round 14 West Perth was third, Won 7, Lost 6, Drawn 1, so it was a rapid fall from grace over the last seven rounds of the home-and-away fixtures. None of The West Australian’s five resident tipsters tipped West Perth this day against Swans. By this time our West Perth FC Cheer Squad was growing in numbers and commitment and we were accumulating more flags. My 1984 Season Notes, compiled during the 1984 season, state that this was the first day we used our new “COP THAT” banner, a banner later made famous for many years in Perth as a result of its appearance in an Emu Export beer commercial. The banner was made up of one red and one blue horizontal stripe with the words “COP THAT” in white capital letters. This day against Swan Districts was also the day we had a confrontation with feared SD premiership ruckman Ron Boucher. Our confrontation might have occurred in the reserves match since Boucher was not named in Swans’ league team 20 on the morning of the game (Johns and Sartori were to share ruck duties).

There had been animosity between West Perth supporters and Swan Districts’ coach John Todd since Todd left West Perth’s Brian Adamson out of a Western Australian state team in 1975 (Dawson, 2004, pp 148, 150), and this animosity followed Todd across from East Fremantle to Swan Districts (Dawson, 2004, p 179). Dawson (2004, p. 179) writes as follows about the relationship between Swans and West Perth during the 1980s: “The feud was always publicly denied, but continued into the 1980s and all Swans-West Perth games were well-attended with many fiery incidents, off and on the field”. 

      We [West Perth cheer squad 1984-86] had a variation of our “walks on water” chant reserved for opposition players as follows: “Ronnie Boucher walks on water/ everybody knows that bullshit floats”. P.A., Mike C., Pete C., and Thommo, especially, thought that this chant was just hilarious. There was an alternative, negative chant “Ronnie Boucher woo-hoo” and at the last syllable we would raise our hands and then move the open right hands in downwards motion in front of our raised, stiff wrists. Mike B. [West Perth cheer squad founder] recounted to me an incident involving Boucher that had failed to rise to the top of my memory and which had missed the first draft of this article. This is one fiery incident relating to West Perth versus Swans matches in the 1980s which has not hitherto been published. According to Mike B. (personal conversation, Kalgoorlie, 14 July 2011), on this day at Leederville, Boucher became upset by our chanting and walked up to where Mike B. and I were seated, leaned forward over the boundary fence, grabbed Mike B. by his West Perth replica jersey, and demanded to know: “What did you f***ing say?” In deep shock, Mike B. managed to stammer: “I’m really sorry, Mr Boucher”. In an interesting postscript to this story, Mike B. (personal conversation, 14 July 2011) mentioned years after this Leederville Oval incident contesting an arm-wrestling bout against Boucher in Broome which was the town where Boucher was then living. To no-one’s surprise Boucher ultimately won the competition overall against all contestants. 

One interesting point from the match results is Dennis Cometti (West Perth coach) continuing with his unorthodox practice of playing players out of position. Phil Bradmore started at centre-half-back before being shifted back to his customary centre-half-forward position where he started to have a major influence on the game and eventually was rated second best-on-ground. David Marsh of The West Australian wrote: “After Phil Bradmore had been outclassed by Swans’ centre-half-forward Peter Sartori in the first term, Cometti moved him to centre-half-forward, where he was an instant success, marking strongly and making good use of the handpass” (Marsh, 1984, “Falcons hit a high note”, The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, p. 96). It is a moot point whether West Perth could have done better in the 1984 WAFL season had all this experimentation by Cometti never happened. David Marsh concluded in the same post-match article “Cometti deserves much of the praise for Saturday’s victory” because he switched Bradmore to centre-half-forward. However, a less charitable interpretation is that Cometti erred by not playing Bradmore at his customary centre-half-forward position from the opening bounce.

It was frustrating to support West Perth throughout the 1980s – brilliant one day, terrible the next. The “terrible” days are reflected in the club’s percentage of 93.18% after 14 rounds (see League Table below). It was doubly frustrating as often the brilliant performances were against the eventual premiers such as Swan Districts in 1984 and East Fremantle in 1985. The 1984 WAFL season was a promoter’s dream. There was a bunch of teams in the middle of the table very close together in terms of wins and losses. It was this tightness of the competition that made it possible for West Perth to drop from third to sixth in the last seven games of the home-and-away season. (WP would lose 5 and win 2 of these last seven games.) East Perth was sixth after Round 14 at Won 7, Lost 7, while Subiaco was seventh at Won 6, Lost 8. Only Perth was out of contention for the finals and even they had not been horrible with 4 wins and 10 losses and a respectable percentage of 83.67% (nowhere near 2012 Greater Western Sydney territory) [by Kieran James, 21 July 2012].

Likely line-ups:

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 7 July, 1984, p. 189)

West Perth FC

Backs: Papalia, Comerford, Morgan

Half-backs: Michalczyk, Bradmore, Bonson

Centres: Warwick, O’Brien, Mifka

Half-forwards: D Kickett, Nelson, Simms

Forwards: Davis, Hendriks, Gastev

Ruck: Crole, Menaglio, Fong

Interchange from: Mountain, Bell, Fraser

In: Papalia, Bell, Mountain, Crole, O’Brien, Nelson

Out: Bogunovich (hip), Campbell (knee), Dayman (ankle), Stephens, Hathaway

Swan Districts FC

Backs: Ware, Mullooly, Hetherington

Half-backs: Langsford, Rance, Solin

Centres: Brenton, Neesham, Narkle

Half-forwards: Richardson, Sartori, Holmes

Forwards: Marshall, Hutton, Shine

Ruck: Johns, Fogarty, Kimberley

Interchange: Hodyl, M Smith

Out: Hoyer

Selections:

GEOFF CHRISTIAN: Swan Districts

KEN CASELLAS: Swan Districts

ROBERT WAINWRIGHT: Swan Districts

DAVID MOSS: Swan Districts

TIM GOSSAGE: Swan Districts

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 7 July, 1984, p. 189)

Match results – Saturday 7 July, 1984, Leederville Oval

West Perth FC 3.1 7.4 14.9 18.11 (119) d Swan Districts FC 4.5 6.9 9.15 11.19 (85)

Scorers: WP: Bradmore 4.1, Fong 2.3, Davis 2.2, Gastev 2.1, D Kickett, Michalczyk 2.0, Comerford, Crole, Mifka, D Simms 1.0, Bell 0.1, Forced 0.3.

SD: Holmes 3.1, Narkle 2.0, Fogarty 1.3, Brenton, Marshall 1.2, Sartori 1.1, Richardson, M Smith 1.0, Kimberley 0.4, Hutton 0.2, Johns, Langsford 0.1, Forced 0.2.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

Weather: Unsettled, strong south-westerly breeze.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

Attendance: 7,146 (from WAFL Online)

Free kicks: WP: 7, 9, 12, 4 – 32.

SD: 9, 5, 4, 5 - 23.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

Best players:

1 John Gastev (West Perth) – A devastating 22-kick roving display. Inspired his teammates with his never-say-die attitude.

2 Phil Bradmore (West Perth) – After a quiet first quarter at centre-half-back, he played brilliantly at centre-half-forward.

3 Paul Mifka (West Perth) – Provided considerable drive on a wing with a 17-kick performance.

Team rankings: WP: J Gastev 1, P Bradmore 2, P Mifka 3, D Warwick 4, L Fong 5, D Simms 6.

SD: S Richardson 1, D Langsford 2, P Sartori 3, B Kimberley 4, J Fogarty 5, T Mullooly 6.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

	R 14
	P	W	L	D	%	Pts
EASTFREM**	14	9	5	-	107.47	36
SOUTH FREM	14	8	5	1	122.77	34
WEST PERTH	14	7	6	1	93.18	30
SWAN DIST*	14	7	7	-	111.03	28
Claremont	14	7	7	-	100.90	28
East Perth	14	7	7	-	89.07	28
Subiaco	14	6	8	-	97.57	24
Perth	14	4	10	-	83.67	16

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

*eventual 1984 WAFL premiers

Coaches’ Comments:

Dennis Cometti (WEST PERTH):

“They [WP] battled hard and I’m proud of the way they stuck at it.

“A lot of people made comments about our loss to South Fremantle a week earlier. But that effort wasn’t all that bad, because we had several players on the sidelines”.

(Source: David Marsh (1984), “Falcons hit a high note”, The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, p. 96)

Match analysis
Quotes from DAVID MARSH:

Les Fong

“West Perth were swept to success against Swan Districts at Leederville Oval on Saturday on an irresistible wave of self-discipline and team-spirit.

“This wave, which began as a ripple during the first quarter, continued to swell till it was big enough to submerge Swans in the final term

“The skill, stamina, courage and discipline of the West Perth players brought coach Dennis Cometti one of his best moments since taking over the Falcons in 1982.

“Cometti deserves much of the praise for Saturday’s victory. After Phil Bradmore had been outclassed by Swans’ centre-half-forward Peter Sartori in the first term, Cometti moved him to centre-half-forward, where he was an instant success, marking strongly and making good use of the handpass.

“His strong attacking play and the brilliant roving of John Gastev was the spark needed to set West Perth alight.

“Captain Les Fong was a courageous rover and Doug Simms played soundly at centre-half-back in the second half.

“West Perth had clear winners on the wings, with Dean Warwick and Paul Mifka providing tremendous drive.

“Full-back Geoff Hendriks, ruckman Stuart Crole and ruck-rover Peter Menaglio were consistently good performers.

“Half-forward flanker Steve Richardson was active for Swans, but he lacked support.

Derek Kickett & Les Fong

“Sartori shone at centre-half-forward in the first half and then excelled in the ruck.

“Swans also received good service from Barry Kimberley, Tom Mullooly, Don Langsford and Keith Narkle.

“West Perth played with far greater discipline than their rivals.

“An example of this was shown in the third quarter when the West Perth players were consistently first to the ball.

“In the 31-minute [third] quarter, the Swans players gave away 12 free-kicks and four 15-metre penalties and received only four free-kicks”.

(Source: David Marsh (1984), “Falcons hit a high note”, The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, p. 96) [archival research by Kieran James].

Rex Lipp (left) and Ron Boucher (right). I did a Google search for Ron Boucher and this is one of the images that came up. This is from a Queensland website and I can't be sure whether this is "our" Mr Ron Boucher because of the sunglasses.  It would be great if a more knowledgeable person could comment on this.

Round 13, 1984 - South Fremantle FC 20.17 (137) d West Perth FC 16.12 (108), Subiaco Oval.

 Round 13, 1984 – South Fremantle v West Perth, Subiaco Oval

Some might wonder why I include this game as a “Classic WAFL Match” given that West Perth played badly against South Fremantle and lost by a convincing margin. One reason is that this website does not want to be (unduly) biased and matches involving West Perth defeats should be featured here on the site too. This match was interesting for a number of reasons. For those who were not in Perth in the 1980s it was common in this era for games to be played at the neutral venue of Subiaco Oval without Subiaco FC being involved. These games were always enjoyed by us [West Perth FC cheer squad 1984-86] as you could sit in any of the grandstands if you wanted to for just the price of general admission. Subiaco Oval was not a completely yuppified and corporate ground in the mid-1980s: it was still a “people’s ground” with a grassy bank on the city end behind the goals and English soccer style concrete terracing all along the Roberts Road or scoreboard wing. It is hard to imagine the transformation this ground has experienced in the past 25 years with the corporate set now in full control and Subiaco FC having moved its home games literally just down the road to West Perth’s old stomping ground at Leederville Oval. At Subiaco Oval there was no designated place for West Perth supporters to habitually congregate so we usually set up behind the Fremantle end goals on the ground level or the second level of the old three tier stand. On one particular occasion, retold in my book, we joined with another unofficial supporter group called “Grandstand Falcons” which used to sit at the back of the Leederville Oval grandstand and which I believe still exists in some form to this day. Our group was younger than Grandstand Falcons. We were aged 8 to 18 whereas the other group was mostly then in their twenties. We had flags whereas they did not. Both groups were about the same size and both groups enjoyed rowdy chants and songs, some G-rated and some decidedly less so. I think it was probably on this day we joined with Grandstand Falcons on the second tier of the grandstand. Our numbers were growing rapidly week by week at this stage of the 1984 season and our fifteen regulars were probably already with us by this time. We sat in front of Grandstand Falcons with our flags spread out on the empty yellow bucket seats in front of us. We had around 50 people that day combined across both groups plus hangers-on and we made a huge noise which reverberated through the grandstands due to the echoes. Although West Perth lost, as a cheer squad this was probably our greatest single day and the most enjoyable one. There were some showers this day which made the undercover Subiaco Oval grandstands an even more attractive option.

The match is also interesting as it shows the “changing of the guard” at South Fremantle with young stars such as Jon Dorotich and Nicky Winmar playing alongside hardened and experienced guys from the 1980 premiership team such as Brad Hardie, Benny Vigona, and Stephen Michael. We see by 1984 Michael no longer had the capacity to lead the ruck but the aging star played well in this game at centre-half-forward. South did very well to basically move most of the premiership stars out by 1986 but we see that the club rebuilt wisely and strategically and never did it collapse to last place on the ladder and one-win-for-the-year scenarios. (Although it finished seventh in 1986 it still won seven games.) In fact in 1984 South still had a very strong side. The great Benny Vigona played very well this day scoring seven goals and was very unlucky, it appears, not to earn Ken Casellas’ best-player award for the game. Our cheer squad had a chant for Benny: “Benny’s got a Vigona!” We thought this toilet humour was very funny. I don’t perceive this as a racist chant as we were simply playing on the sound of the surname and if a white player had had a similar name then that player would have received the chant. Obviously these were simpler and less politically correct times. We loved our Aboriginal players at West Perth (Derek Kickett and Ron Davis) and our Italian-Australian ruck-rover Peter Menaglio (our chant was “Saint Peter clap-clap-clap”) and our Chinese-Australian first rover Les “Chopsticks” Fong.

West Perth was brilliant one day, horrible the next in 1984. This poor performance against South was followed by a masterful victory at home against the reigning premiers Swan Districts FC only seven days later. Clearly the side had missed Craig Nelson against South Fremantle and it was beaten badly in the ruck on that day [by Kieran James, this revised version dated 20 November 2013].

Likely line-ups:

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 30 June, 1984, p. 179)

South Fremantle FC

Backs: Barrett, G Carter, Henwood

Half-backs: Mosconi, Mount, Vigona

Centres: Grljusich, Hardie, Winmar

Half-forwards: Gillies, Dorotich, Michael

Forwards: Matera, Arnold, B Collard

Ruck: Rawlinson, Vasoli, Hart

Interchange: Little, Amoroso

In: Amoroso

Out: N Carter (thigh)

West Perth FC

Backs: Dayman, Comerford, Fraser

Half-backs: Morgan, Bradmore, Campbell

Centres: Warwick, Michalczyk, Mifka

Half-forwards: D Kickett, Stephens, Davis

Forwards: Simms, Hendriks, Gastev

Ruck: Bogunovich, Menaglio, Fong

Interchange: Bonson, Alderton

In: Alderton, Stephens

Out: Nelson (knee), Crole

Selections:

GEOFF CHRISTIAN: South Fremantle

KEN CASELLAS: South Fremantle

ROBERT WAINWRIGHT: West Perth

DAVID MARSH: South Fremantle

TIM GOSSAGE: South Fremantle

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 30 June, 1984, p. 179)

Match results – Saturday 30 June, 1984, Subiaco Oval

South Fremantle FC 5.6 9.9 15.13 20.17 (137) d West Perth FC 6.3 7.6 9.8 16.12 (108)

Scorers: SF: Vigona 7.3, Mount 6.1, Winmar 2.4, Vasoli 2.0, Arnold, Collard 1.1, Michael 1.0, Dorotich, Grljusich 0.2, Hardie 0.1, Forced 0.2.

WP: Menaglio 4.3, Davis 3.0, Gastev 2.2, Comerford 2.0, Michalczyk, D Simms 1.1, Campbell, Hathaway, D Kickett 1.0, Mifka 0.2, Fong 0.1, Forced 0.2.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 2 July, 1984, p. 87)

Weather: Showers, light south-westerly breeze.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 2 July, 1984, p. 87)

Attendance: 10,496 (from WAFL Online)

Free kicks: SF: 4, 9, 9, 3 – 25

WP: 10, 3, 5, 3 – 21.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 2 July, 1984, p. 87)

Best players:

1 Jon Dorotich (South Fremantle) - Was the chief factor behind his side’s victory. Gave an outstanding performance of ruck play. Took six marks, had 10 kicks, made six effective handpasses and made 21 effective ruck knocks.

2 Benny Vigona (South Fremantle) – Was in dazzling form at right-half-forward where he simply outclassed Tony Fraser. Took seven marks, had 21 kicks (including seven goals) and made three effective handpasses.

3 Brad Hardie (South Fremantle) – Enjoyed his return to the centre where he was a strong and efficient player throughout, despite strong opposition from George Michalczyk for the first three quarters. Took eight marks, had 23 kicks and made five effective handpasses.

Team rankings: SF: J Dorotich 1, B Vigona 2, B Hardie 3, P Vasoli 4, G Gillies 5, K Cornell 6

WP: P Menaglio 1, L Fong 2, P Bradmore 3, D Warwick 4, G Michalczyk 5, G Comerford 6.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 2 July, 1984, p. 87)

	Rd. 13
	P	W	L	D	%	Pts
E FREM**	13	8	5	-	106.43	32
S FREM	13	7	5	1	122.00	30
S DIST*	13	7	6	-	114.64	28
E PERTH	13	7	6	-	89.76	28
W Perth	13	6	6	1	90.49	26
Subi	13	6	7	-	99.31	24
Clare	13	6	7	-	97.56	24
Perth	13	4	9	-	85.40	16

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 2 July, 1984, p. 87)

*eventual 1984 WAFL premiers

**eventual 1984 WAFL runners-up

Match analysis:

Jon Dorotich (Carlton, 1992)

Quotes from KEN CASELLAS:

“Adversity brings out the best in talented sportsmen, and at Subiaco Oval on Saturday South Fremantle’s Jon Dorotich continued his emergence as a ruckman of quality.

“In three previous seasons in league ranks Dorotich was regarded almost purely as a centre-half-forward or centre-half-back.

“But since the crippling knee injury suffered several weeks ago by the side’s No 1 ruckman Craig Edwards, the inability of champion Stephen Michael to continue as a front-line follower and the injury to tall ruckman Lindsay Borthwick, Dorotich has been thrust into his new role.

“He was a key figure in South’s convincing triumph over a disappointing West Perth on Saturday when he and Paul Arnold took charge in the ruck from the outset.

“He and Paul Arnold made things comparatively easy for second-string rovers Brad Collard, Geoff Gillies and Nicky Winmar, who were called on in the absence of top-line rovers David Hart and Wally Matera.

“Bogunovich battled gamely and he sorely missed the assistance of the injured Craig Nelson.

“South rose to the occasion in grand style as they bounced back after two successive defeats and the upsetting loss of lively centreman Noel Carter, Hart and Matera.

“Captain Brad Hardie, unconvincing for most of the season on a half-forward and a half-back flank, took over from Carter in the centre and produced a dashing display opposed to the fiercely determined George Michalczyk.

“Michalczyk and rover Les Fong were West Perth’s hardest-working midfield players on a day when West Perth fell down badly in attack and also had problems in defence.

“In attack, Doug Simms was restricted to five kicks by a resolute Kevin Cornell, Derek Kickett had a miserable time on Tony Amoroso and Ron Davis kicked three goals in the first quarter and then managed only two more kicks for the rest of the match.

SFFC aboriginal legends - Vigona, Roe & Rioli

“With Hardie shining in the centre, Paul Vasoli being a creative ruck-rover and wingers Richard Lynch and Rod Grljusich playing solidly, South had plenty of opportunities in attack.

“Benny Vigona celebrated his move out of defence with a dazzling display at right-half-forward where he simply had too much class for Tony Fraser.

“Vigona weighed in with seven goals and Stephen Mount enjoyed a trial at full-forward, where he marked strongly and finished with six goals.

“Coach Malcolm Brown kept [Stephen] Michael at centre-half-forward throughout the game, and Michael gave the attack added zest with his robust play and deft use of the handpass.

“Judged on Saturday’s match, South are in the top four to stay, but West Perth will have to lift their rating considerably to have any chance of appearing in the semi-finals”.

(Source: Ken Casellas (1984), “Dorotich makes his mark as ruckman”, The West Australian, Monday, 2 July, p. 86) [archival research by Kieran James].