Almanac Footy: ‘A History of Australian Rules Football in Woomera 1948 to 1992’ – Part 6: 1964-1965

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. 

 

1964

 

The big talking point at the beginning of 1964 was the appointment of Ken Rau as the Village coach. Ken was a brilliant player and had been a member of the Centrals team when it won the 1960 premiership. He had also won the 1961 Area & Mail medals and had been runner-up in 1962.

 

To make matters worse for Centrals their long-time player Barry Rumble, who had left and played for Ainslie in the ACT in 1963, returned to Woomera and also signed with Village to continue playing alongside his best mate Ken Rau.

 

Centrals on the other hand appointed Village ruckman Graham Pollard as their coach.

 

Other coaches were Koolymilka – Bruce Grillett, RAAF – Flight Lieutenant Norm Durand, and Works – Ray Whitaker.

 

Two more excellent good junior players graduated to senior ranks. They were Brian Dempsey to Village and Kim McFarlane to Works.

 

Midway through the season, a further junior Steve Wright began playing with the RAAF team. He had an immediate impact and in his first game won the Footballer of the Week award.

 

Around the beginning of August, Works was struggling to field a team and for 2 weeks the Magpies junior coach Bill McFarlane came out of retirement to play in the team with his son Kim. I believe this was the first time; maybe the only time that a father and son played together.

 

At this point Works also recruited Richie Thomas and Joe Savage; Richie had been a member of the 1950 Works premiership side and last played for Works in 1954; Joe Savage was an exciting rover and half-forward from the Elizabeth area of Adelaide.

 

The Area & Mail medals were won for the second time in three years by Colin “Bluey” Waller of the Village team; a very popular and well-deserved win. Ray Whitaker of Works was runner-up.

 

It is worth mentioning that Centrals flying wingman 18-year-old Konrad Wraczynski who had already played with Centrals for 3 years was their top vote-getter in the medal count.

 

At the end of the minor round, the points were Village 26, Works 24, Centrals 22, RAAF 12, and Koolymilka 10.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	9	4	2		1130	639	63.88	26
Works	8	4	3		1111	642	63.38	24
Centrals	7	4	4		987	790	55.44	22
RAAF	2	4	9		608	1081	36.00	12
Koolymilka	1	3	9		412	1106	27.14	10

 

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Centrals	12	9	81	RAAF	10	12	72
2nd Semi	Works	12	18	90	Village	11	4	70
Preliminary	Village	12	19	91	Centrals	2	5	17
Grand	Works	17	18	120	Village	12	15	87

 

Grand Final: Works defeated Village 17.18 (120) to 12.15 (87).

Premiership Coach: Ray Whitaker. Premiership Captain: Ray Whitaker.

Best in Grand Final: Fred Wernert – Works.

League Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st Colin “Bluey” Waller – Village 17,

2^nd Ray Whitaker – Works 13, 3^rd Neville Sinkinson – RAAF 10.

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Terry Beckman – Village 40.

League President: William ‘Bill’ Leverington (RIP). League Secretary: Graham Overall.

 

 

Colin ‘Bluey’ Waller of Village is congratulated by WFL President Bill Leverington after winning his second Mail & Area medals in 1964

 

1964 WJFL

 

In 1964 the League decided that the Junior League could stand by itself so the Woomera Junior Football League was born with its own committee and constitution. It was affiliated with the WFL.

 

Its first President was Harry Waller however he passed away only a few games into the season and was succeeded by Doug Bowden.

 

Coaches appointed were Demons – Neil Jenkins, Eagles – Des Doren, Magpies – Bill McFarlane, and Roosters – Lindsay Jervis.

 

During the season the WJFL awarded life membership to Bill Leverington who was the driving force behind the establishment of the junior competition in 1961.

 

The table at the end of the minor round showed that once again the Magpies were minor premiers.

 

Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Magpies	12	9	3	0	773	350	68.83	18
Roosters	12	7	5	0	678	535	55.89	14
Eagles	12	4	8	0	360	676	34.75	8
Demons	12	4	8	0	330	780	29.73	8

 

The major rounds resulted in a premiership for the Magpies.

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Eagles	6	8	44	Demons	5	7	35
2nd Semi	Magpies	19	9	123	Roosters	1	2	8
Preliminary	Eagles			Def	Roosters
Grand	Magpies	7	9	51	Eagles	4	7	31

 

Premiership Coach: Bill McFarlane. Premiership Captain: Lindsay Rogers.

Best in Grand Final: Keith Vine – Magpies, Ian Beckman – Eagles.

League Best & Fairest: 1^st Ian Beckman – Eagles, 2^nd Bill Harvey – Magpies.

 

 

Magpies Junior Football Club – Premiers 1964 – Bill McFarlane Coach, Lindsay Rogers Captain

 

1965

 

With the same teams in the competition, coaches appointed were Centrals – Fred Wernert, Koolymilka – Len Grimes, RAAF – Robbie Anderson, Village – Ken Rau, and Works – Ray Whitaker.

 

More juniors graduated to senior ranks at the commencement of the season including Bill Harvey, Bill Hunkin, and Dick Turpin.

 

This was Village’s year and they were flying only losing their first game late in the season to Centrals.

 

Eager to keep the momentum up they were shocked when on the Thursday before the last game of the minor round the Works president, Harry Stapleton, rang the Village president, Bob Kuhne, to advise that Works had a lot of injured players and would most likely forfeit Sunday’s game.

 

As it turned out by promoting a few juniors including Roddy McFarlane and Peter Stone, Works eventually fielded a team and in a major upset beat Village by 7 points.

 

In the Area & Mail medal count popular Village centreman A W “Bill” Hooker won with 14 votes; second was Central’s captain/coach and ruckman Fred Wernert with 12 votes.

 

At the end of the minor round the points were Village 26, Works 22, Centrals 18, RAAF 14 and Koolymilka 10.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	10	3	2		1314	471	73.61	26
Works	8	3	4		928	811	53.36	22
Centrals	6	3	6		756	829	47.7	18
RAAF	4	3	8		661	1031	39.07	14
Koolymilka	2	3	10		575	1083	34.68	10

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	RAAF	6	5	35	Centrals	5	10	40
2nd Semi	Village	10	14	74	Works	7	9	51
Preliminary	Works	13	19	97	RAAF	2	12	24
Grand	Village	11	15	81	Works	4	12	36

 

Grand Final: Village defeated Works 11.15 (81) to 4.12 (36).

Premiership Coach: Ken Rau. Premiership Captain: Bill Hooker.

Best in Grand Final: Bill Hooker – Village, Ray Whitaker – Works.

League Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st A W “Bill” Hooker – Village 14,

2^nd Fred Wernert – Centrals 12, 3^rd Don Lahey – Centrals 11.

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Fred Wernert – Centrals 33, 2^nd Terry Beckman – Village 30, 3^rd Trevor Overall – Village 28.

Life Membership: Reg Fishwick (RIP), Harry Stapleton (RIP).

League President: William “Bill” Leverington (RIP). League Secretary: Graham Overall.

In October 1965 the Koolymilka Football Club announced that it had decided to change its colloquial name from the Sandhill Savages to the Magpies.

 

 

 Village Membership Badge 1965

 

 

1965 WJFL

 

In the WJFL no less than 7 boys played senior football during the year. They included John McKay, Phid Henderson, Ed Moika, Rod McFarlane, Peter Stone, Trevor Harding and Bob Spooner.

 

Toward the end of the year the long-serving Magpie coach, Bill McFarlane, was transferred by the Department of Works to Adelaide. He was replaced as coach by Works player Joe Savage.

 

The table at the end of the minor round showed the Demons as minor premiers.

 

Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Demons	12	8	4	0	543	328	62.3	16
Eagles	12	7	5	0	492	459	51.7	14
Magpies	12	5	7	0	447	480	48.2	10
Roosters	12	4	8	0	502	662	41.9	8

 

The major round resulted in the third premiership in a row for the Magpies.

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Magpies	8	4	52	Roosters	5	9	39
2nd Semi	Demons	6	3	39	Eagles	5	1	31
Preliminary	Magpies	7	10	52	Eagles	5	11	41
Grand	Magpies	12	6	78	Demons	10	8	68

 

Premiership Coach: Joe Savage. Premiership Captain: Trevor Harding.

Best in Grand Final: All played well – Magpies, All played well – Demons.

League Best & Fairest: 1^st John Trigge – Roosters, 2^nd Keith Vine – Eagles.

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Ed Moika – Demons 33, 2^nd Bob Spooner – Magpies 23, 3^rd Keith Vine – Eagles 11

League President: William “Bill” Leverington (RIP). Association Secretary: Graham Overall.

 

Previous Episodes can be read Here.

 

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