Almanac Footy: A History of Australian Rules Football in Woomera 1948 to 1992 – Part 2: 1953 -1956

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. 

Part 1 features the years 1948 to 1952.

Dick has also completed a history of Woomera water polo. 

 

Part 1 can be read Here.

 

1953

 

In 1953 Koolymilka appointed an 18-years-old Donald ‘Neil’ Kerley as its captain/coach. Much is written about Kerley walking along the tent lines at Koolymilka looking for players on a Sunday morning before a match; however, despite these trials and tribulations Koolymilka only lost two games for the season and finished top of the table at the end of the minor round.

 

953 was also the year the Mail Medal was introduced as the award for the best and fairest player in the competition. The medal was and still is sponsored by the Sunday Mail in all the country leagues in South Australia.

 

Neil Kerley won the first medal with 29 votes from 12 matches. The runner-up scored 14 votes. I guess that speaks volumes of Kerley’s dominance.

 

Kerley was also Best on Ground (BOG) in the grand final so you could say he had a good year. He went on to coach North Whyalla to premierships in 1954 and 1955, West Adelaide in 1961 and 1983, South Adelaide in 1964 and Glenelg in 1973. Kerley also coached the Magpies Women’s Basketball (Netball) team. They were undefeated premiers.

 

Comments from two of the opposition Works players in the grand final were: ‘We would kick it down the left-hand side of the ground and Kerley would mark it. We would then try the right-hand side and he would mark it again.’ and ‘The coach told us to kick it where Kerley ain’t.’

 

Points at the end of the minor round were Koolymilka 20, Village 14, Works 12, and RAAF 2.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Koolymilka	10		2		643	481	57.21	20
Village	7		5		589	499	54.14	14
Works	6		6		502	538	48.27	12
RAAF	1		11		504	720	41.18	2

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Works	10	6	66	RAAF	9	7	61
2nd Semi	Koolymilka	4	7	31	Village	3	4	22
Preliminary	Works	12	15	87	Village	6	7	43
Grand	Koolymilka	5	12	42	Works	5	2	32

 

Grand Final: Koolymilka defeated Works 5.12 (42) to 5.2 (32).

Premiership Coach: Neil Kerley. Premiership Captain: Neil Kerley.

Best in Grand Final: Neil Kerley – Koolymilka, Hale – Works.

Association Best & Fairest – Mail Medal: 1^st Donald “Neil” Kerley – Koolymilka 29, 2^nd Jay Mitchell – RAAF 14, 3^rd G Castieau – Works.

Association President: A Ralla. Association Secretary: Padre Stuart Calder.

 

Figure 4 Koolymilka – Premiers 1953 – Neil Kerley Captain/Coach

 

1954

 

In 1954 the competing teams were again Village, RAAF, Works and Koolymilka. Village re-appointed their premiership-winning coach of 1952, Bill Novak, as coach.

 

In 1949 two brothers, Jack and Jim Neeson, tried out as rovers for Collingwood in the VFL. Neither made the cut as Collingwood had a glut of high-class rovers including Bill Twomey and his brothers; Lou Richards and his brother; and Bob Rose and his brother. Whilst Jack stayed in Melbourne, Jim obtained employment in Woomera and was playing for Village in 1954.

 

In 1954 the Association Vice President Peter Bell announced that he would be presenting an Area Medal for the Best & Fairest in the Association. Thus, in the main, the best player would be awarded both the area and mail medals.

 

Points at the end of the minor round were Village 20, RAAF 20, Works 6, and Koolymilka 2.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	10		2		624	277	69.26	20
RAAF	10		2		491	359	57.76	20
Works	3		9		367	520	41.38	6
Koolymilka	1		11		255	581	30.50	2

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Works	5	11	41	Koolymilka	5	1	31
2nd Semi	Village	8	5	53	RAAF	7	4	46
Preliminary	Works	3	12	30	RAAF	3	9	27
Grand	Village	6	8	44	Works	5	3	33

 

Grand Final: Village defeated Works 6.8 (44) to 5.3 (33).

Premiership Coach: William “Bill” Novak. Premiership Captain: Ken Moylan.

Best in Grand Final: Jimmy Neeson – Village, Peter Turnbull – Works.

Association Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st Ken Moylan – Village.

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st C Handley – Village 18, 2^nd Richie Thomas – Works 15, 3^rd J Dalhitz – Village 11

Association President: A Fordham. Association Secretary: Fred S Lines.

Life Membership: Squadron Leader Robert Bruce Anderson (RIP) and Peter H Bell (RIP).

 

1955

 

In March 1955 it was announced that a second club based in the village had been formed. The club had been named “The Woomera Centrals Football Club” and adopted the colours of red and black. The initial committee elected was: President – R Banks, Vice Presidents – J B Higgins and J Mulcair, Secretary – R Edwards, and Treasurer – L Stringer.

 

A few weeks later it was announced that Rodger Stringer had been appointed Centrals first coach.

 

Rodger had an impressive CV: he was a member of the West Adelaide team that won the SANFL premiership in 1947, he was captain/coach of West Augusta when it won the Great Northern Football Association premiership in 1951 and he was a member of the Village premiership sides in 1952 and 1954.

 

He went on to win the Area and Mail medals in 1955 from Village player Brian Flanegan.

 

In 1955 the Pimple Oval was unavailable as it had been decided to convert the surface to grass. The three ovals used (all with gravel surfaces and full of gibbers) were MacCallum, Woomera West, and Koolymilka. For training purposes, the ovals were allocated as follows: MacCallum – Village and Centrals, Woomera West – Works and RAAF, and Koolymilka – Koolymilka.

 

Points at the end of the minor round were Works 20, Village, 18, Centrals 14, RAAF 8, and Koolymilka 0. It was a commendable effort by Centrals to finish third in their first year in the competition.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Works	10	3	2		1028	351	74.55	20
Village	9	3	3		888	358	71.27	18
Centrals	7	3	5		964	433	69.01	14
RAAF	4	3	8		627	678	48.05	8
Koolymilka	0	3	12		144	1412	9.25	0

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	RAAF	7	9	51	Centrals	5	7	37
2nd Semi	Works	10	8	68	Village	5	7	37
Preliminary	RAAF	7	5	47	Village	4	5	29
Grand	Works	15	14	104	RAAF	10	5	65

 

Grand Final: Works defeated RAAF 15.14 (104) to 10.5 (65).

Premiership Coach: Unknown. Premiership Captain: Fred Brown. I have searched high and low for the name of the Works coach. If anybody knows please let me know.

Best in Grand Final: A Higgie – Works, Rankin – RAAF.

Association Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1st Rodger Stringer – Centrals 18, 2^nd Brian Flanegan – Village 16, 3^rdWhitbread – Koolymilka 12.

Association President: A Fordham. Association Secretary: Fred S Lines.

 

Figure 5 Centrals Football Club 1955 – First year in competition. The mascot is Terry Ryan.

 

1956

 

At the end of 1955, the Village coach Bill Novak who was employed as a Line Foreman with the Post Master General’s Department (PMG) was transferred to Adelaide. He left a legacy of being the first coach and Village the first team to win two premierships.

 

In his place, Village appointed Roger O Harris as coach and Brian Flanegan was elected captain.

 

Works also had a new coach in Herbert “Bert” Heffernan and William “Bill” Butterfield was elected captain.

 

Like 1955, the Pimple Oval was not available so the three grounds used were MacCallum, Woomera West and Koolymilka.

 

Rodger Stringer now back playing for Village repeated his performance of 1955 by winning the Area & Mail medals from Milton Maczkowiack of Works. It would be another 40 years before this feat of winning 2 medals in a row was repeated by Ashley Lodge in 1995 and 1996 and by then there was no longer a Woomera team in the competition.

 

Points at the end of the minor round were Village 18, Centrals 16, Works 14, RAAF 14 and Koolymilka 2.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	9	3	3		988	560	63.82	18
Centrals	8	3	4		694	467	59.78	16
Works	7	3	5		732	516	58.65	14
RAAF	7	3	5		586	484	54.77	14
Koolymilka	1	3	11		181	908	16.62	2

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Works	7	10	52	RAAF	4	6	30
2nd Semi	Centrals	5	7	37	Village	3	6	24
Preliminary	Works	7	6	48	Village	6	10	46
Grand	Works	8	12	60	Centrals	1	4	10

 

Grand Final: Works defeated Centrals 8.12 (60) to 1.4 (10).

Premiership Coach: Herbert “Bert” Heffernan. Premiership Captain: William “Bill” Butterfield.

Best in Grand Final: Milton Maczkowiack – Works, Archie Ryan – Centrals.

Association Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st Rodger Stringer – Village 18, 2^nd Milton Maczkowiack -Works 15, =3^rd Archie Ryan – Centrals 14, =3^rd Robert “Bob” Ortmann – Works 14.

Association President: Keith Orr. Association Secretary: Fred S Lines.

 

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