Almanac Footy: ‘A History of Australian Rules Football in Woomera 1948 to 1992’ – Part 10: 1972 – 1973

July 16, 2025 by Almanac Admin Leave a Comment

David ‘Dick’ Turpin is a Brisbane friend of Almanacker Allan Barden. During the late 60s early 70s David spent a few years working in Woomera when it was quite a thriving community.

David has researched and written a history of footy in Woomera from the years 1948 to 1992.

The Footy Almanac will publish David’s extensive history over a number of weeks.

Dick has also completed a history of Woomera water polo.

1972

The coaches for the 1972 season were Centrals – John Payne, Koolymilka – Theo Saunders, Village – Peter Hardy, and Works – Vern Cordes.

All games were played at the Newman Oval.

Koolymilka won the lightning carnival held early in the season.

Juniors who stepped up during the year, either permanently or on a 3-match permit, were Rodney Goodall, Greg Whittle, Rick Daly, Paul Sergeant, and Paul McGahan.

The Area & Mail medals were won by Gary Hele of Village with Alex Herewane of Koolymilka runner-up. Gary was the second long-term Woomera schoolboy and WJFL player, after Butch Leverington, to win the awards.

Points at the end of the minor round were Village 18, Koolymilka 16, Centrals 10 and Works 4.

The finals were an exciting affair with Koolymilka, after 19 years, winning their first premiership since 1953 when Neil Kerley was captain/coach. It must have brought great joy to their long-suffering fans, officials, and players. During those 19 years, they only won 17 matches and they are to be admired for the way they stuck it out and enabled the league to function efficiently.

Koolymilka also did it the hard way as their semi-final match against Village ended in a draw and they lost the replay.

It was also interesting that they fielded at least 10 players who had come up from the junior ranks.

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	9		3					18
Koolymilka	8		4					16
Centrals	5		7					10
Works	2		10					4

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1^st Semi	Centrals	18	9	117	Works	15	12	102
2^nd Semi	Village	10	11	71	Koolymilka	11	5	71
Replay	Village	15	14	104	Koolymilka	14	12	96
Preliminary	Koolymilka	16	9	105	Centrals	8	15	63
Grand	Koolymilka	10	13	73	Village	9	8	62

Grand Final: Koolymilka defeated Village 10.13 (73) to 9.8 (62).

Premiership Coach: Theo Saunders. Premiership Captain: Theo Saunders.

Best in Grand Final: Mick Hancock – Koolymilka, Bob Brandt – Village.

League Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st Gary Hele – Village, 2^nd Alex Herewane – Koolymilka.

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Gary Hele – Village 31, =2^nd Rodney Goodall – Village 22, =2^nd Robert “Butch” Leverington – Works 22, 3^rd J Enerberg – Works 19.

League President: Unknown. League Secretary: Unknown.

Koolymilka Football Club – Premiers 1972 – Theo Saunders Captain/Coach

1972 WJFL

In the junior league, Magpies under the astute coaching of Bob Spooner and his assistant coach Don Renton, were once again undefeated premiers.

Eagles made the biggest improvement for the year and only lost the grand final by 1 point.

The minor round table for 1972 was never published however with the use of an Excel spreadsheet I have been able to reconstruct it. You can see why it was never published.

Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Magpies	12	12	0	0	2113	131	92.46	24
Eagles	12	8	4	0	1299	366	78.02	16
Roosters	12	4	8	0	684	1004	40.52	8
Demons	12	0	12	0	25	2113	1.17	0

I cannot help but feel sorry for the Demons as they lost most of their bigger boys after a few games. Their highest score in any game was 6 points and they failed to score in 7 games. The WJFL reported that the boys stuck determinedly to their game and were an object lesson to the other teams. I feel however that the league should have acted quickly to rectify this situation.

The finals continued as expected but not before the Magpies got a fright in the Grand Final.

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1^st Semi	Roosters	38	34	262	Demons	0	1	1
2^nd Semi	Magpies	11	17	83	Eagles	3	4	22
Preliminary	Eagles	26	16	172	Roosters	5	5	35
1^st Grand	Magpies	7	15	57	Eagles	8	8	56

Grand Final: Magpies defeated Eagles 7.15 (57) to 8.8 (56).

Premiership Coach: Bob Spooner. Premiership Captain: Andy Morris.

Best in Grand Final: Mark Hanisch – Magpies, Leigh Goodall – Eagles.

League Best & Fairest: 1^st Paul Sargeant – Magpies, 2^nd Leigh Goodall – Eagles.

Leading Goalkickers: Andy Horne – Magpies 66.

1973

In 1973 the coaches were Centrals – Des Roffey, Koolymilka – Herb Ellerbock, Village – George Wood, and Works – Vladge Kurovec. This was the first time in many years that each team had a new coach.

All matches were played on the Newman Oval and the centre area in the shape of a diamond was introduced.

All mini-league matches were played before the senior games.

Centrals won the lightning carnival held a week before the season proper.

During the year Daniel ‘Paddy’ O’Neill was awarded player life membership. Paddy played for RAAF then Centrals to achieve his 10 years and 100 games qualification and as previously explained was the last and only connection to the RAAF Football Club which ceased fielding a team after 1966.

The Area & Mail medals were won by Max Reid of Works; equal second were 3 Koolymilka players Dennis Price, John Cates, and Herb Ellerbock. Dennis Price was an Englishman who had only been in Australia a short while and he picked up the game very quickly.

During the year WFL president Hugh Webb resigned and was replaced by Pat Cullinan.

At the end of the minor round points were Koolymilka 22, Works 12, Village 8, and Centrals 6.

Koolymilka recruited 3 of their very good junior footballers Andy Morris, Robert Waite, and Paul Sargeant.

Koolymilka continued on their way and won their second grand final in a row, by 48 points. The only minor obstacle was that the preliminary final was delayed a week by extreme wet weather.

It should also be noted that Koolymilka’s best player in the grand final, Paul Sargeant, had won the Best & Fairest in the junior league in 1971 and 1972. Another plus for Bill Leverington’s vision in establishing the junior league 12 years previously.

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Koolymilka	11		1		1363	820	62.44	22
Works	6		6		1150	1077	51.64	12
Village	4		8		871	1299	40.14	8
Centrals	3		9		1013	1203	45.71	6

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1^st Semi	Centrals	23	19	157	Village	14	21	105
2^nd Semi	Koolymilka	19	11	125	Works	16	12	108
Preliminary	Works	10	18	78	Centrals	10	11	71
Grand	Koolymilka	18	13	121	Works	10	13	73

Grand Final: Koolymilka defeated Works 18.13 (121) to 10.13 (73).

Premiership Coach: Herb Ellerbock. Premiership Captain: Herb Ellerbock.

Best in Grand Final: Paul Sargeant – Koolymilka, Gavin Hitch – Works.

League Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st Max Reid – Works 11, =2^nd Dennis Price – Koolymilka 9, =2^nd John Cates – Koolymilka 9, =2^nd Herb Ellerbock – Koolymilka 9.

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Gary Hele – Village 31, =2^nd Rodney Goodall – Village 22, =2^nd Robert ‘Butch’ Leverington – Works 22, 3^rd Jeff Enerberg – Works 19.

Player Life Membership: Daniel ‘Paddy’ O’Neill – RAAF and Centrals.

League President: Hugh Webb/Pat Cullinan. League Secretary: Richard ‘Dick’ Bastian.

Koolymilka Membership Badges 1972, 1968 & 1973

1973 WJFL

Early in the season the league committee issued a statement detailing the process for allocating the boys for each team. They included:

In general, players who played for a team last year may play again this season for the same team.
New players will be allocated to teams at the discretion of the committee and every endeavour will be made in so doing to at least start off the season with an even competition.
If any player wishes to change from his last year’s team, he must, before our allocation meeting, apply to the committee for a clearance, and give reasons for the request.
No transfers will be considered at the allocation meeting.
If a new player has a brother already playing in a team he may, if he wishes, play for the same team.

Whilst the reasoning is sound at the end of the minor round the Magpies were undefeated, closely followed by the Eagles, then by the Demons and the Roosters who changed positions from the previous season.

In the second semi-final the Eagles defeated the Magpies, their first defeat in 3 seasons.

The Magpies reversed the result in the grand final winning by 34 points. Bob Spooner took a break from coaching in 1973 and was replaced by John Harris who maintained the high standard of coaching.

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1^st Semi	Demons	5	10	40	Roosters	2	13	25
2^nd Semi	Eagles	13	9	87	Magpies	9	12	66
Preliminary	Magpies			Def	Demons
1^st Grand	Magpies	9	14	68	Eagles	4	10	34

Grand Final: Magpies defeated Eagles 9.14 (68) to 4.10 (34).

Premiership Coach: John Harris. Premiership Captain: Chris Morris.

Best in Grand Final: Greg Cameron – Magpies, Glen Mills – Eagles.

League Best & Fairest: 1^st Philip Waite – Magpies 12, =2^nd Glen Mills – Eagles 11, =2^nd Frank Zeptner – Magpies 11, 3^rd Steven Watts – Roosters 10.

Leading Goalkickers: John Sargeant – Magpies.

Previous Episodes can be read Here.

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