Almanac Footy: ‘A History of Australian Rules Football in Woomera 1948 to 1992’ – Part 8: 1968 – 1969

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. 

 

1968

In 1968, Mick Daly who had played for Works in 1963 was appointed captain of Central Districts in the SANFL; in 1961, Bill Heron who played for Works in 1958 was appointed captain of Glenelg in the SANFL; and in 1959, Neil Kerley who played for Koolymilka in 1953 was appointed captain of West Adelaide in the SANFL. This meant that 3 footballers who had played in the same small country town had become captains of 3 SANFL teams.  Maybe a unique feat?

 

The same 4 teams as 1967 contested in 1968.

 

Coaches were Centrals – Reg Pattison, Koolymilka – Chris Telfer, Village – Bill Hooker, and Works – Fred Wernert.

 

Village won the lightning carnival held early in the season.

 

It was interesting that Koolymilka had 11 players who had played junior football, Works were not far behind with 9 players.

 

The Area and Mail medals were won by Koolymilka captain/coach Chris Telfer; second, for the second year in a row, was Village ruckman/forward Brian Dempsey; third was Graham Smith of Works who had previously played for Richmond seconds and thirds in the VFL.

 

Centrals and Village had set the early pace however Works were able to recruit 3 quality players in Graham Smith, Mick Simic, and George Christopoulos and this enabled coach Fred Wernert to weld the side into a solid team which eventually won the premiership.

 

Centrals were considered unlucky, having lost the grand final in 1967 by a point and this year by 5 points.

 

Points at the end of the minor round were Village 20, Works 16, Centrals 12, and Koolymilka 0.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	10		2		1155	660	63.64	20
Works	8		4		1109	801	58.06	16
Centrals	6		6		1176	794	59.70	12
Koolymilka	0		12		374	1559	19.35	0

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Centrals	12	22	94	Koolymilka	6	8	44
2nd Semi	Works	11	12	78	Village	7	11	53
Preliminary	Centrals	15	7	97	Village	10	8	68
Grand	Works	13	14	92	Centrals	12	15	87

 

Grand Final: Works defeated Centrals 13.14 (92) to 12.15 (87).

 

Premiership Coach: Fred Wernert. Premiership Captain: Fred Wernert.

 

Best in Grand Final: Jurgen Wagnitz – Works, Neville Johnstone – Centrals.

 

League Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: 1^st Chris Telfer – Koolymilka 12,

 

2^nd Brian Dempsey – Village 11, 3^rd Graham Smith – Works 9.

 

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Gary Hele – Works 39, 2^nd Trevor Overall – Village 33,

 

3^rd Neville Johnstone – Centrals 27.

 

Life Membership: Gil R Smith.

 

League President: William “Bill” Leverington (RIP). League Secretary: Mick Edwards.

 

 Works Football Club – Premiers 1968 – Fred Wernert Captain/Coach

 

1968 WJFL

In 1968 the league introduced team managers on a trial basis. This proved a very successful innovation.

 

Details were:

 

• Demons – Coaches Jack Fry and Klaus Wagnitz – Team Manager Gill Humphries.
• Eagles – Coach Daryl Parsons – Team Manager Ken Pemberton.
• Magpies – Coach Bob Legg – Team Manager Harold Belson.
• Roosters – Coach Ken Butcher – Team Manager Tug Wilson.

 

Life membership was awarded to Bernie Chamberlain, president of the WJFL

 

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	743	497	60.73	16
Eagles	12	8	4	0	640	461	58.13	16
Magpies	12	4	8	0	444	573	43.66	8
Roosters	12	4	8	0	498	768	39.34	8

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Magpies			Def	Roosters
2nd Semi	Demons			Def	Eagles	5	6	36
Preliminary	Magpies			Def	Eagles
Grand	Demons	5	12	42	Magpies	2	5	17

 

Grand Final: Demons defeated Magpies 5.12 (42) to 2.5 (17).

 

Premiership Coach: Jack Fry. Premiership Captain: Leigh Chamberlain.

 

League Best & Fairest: 1^st David Worthy – Roosters, 2^nd Peter Lazic – Demons.

 

Leading Goalkickers: Leigh Chamberlain – Demons 34.

 

Life Membership: Bernie Chamberlain.

 

 

1969

In 1969 the Newman Oval was off-limits due to top-dressing, aeration and reseeding being carried out. This resulted in 2 games in the main being played each Sunday on the Arboretum Oval however on occasions one game per round would be played on the dirt and gibber-strewn Oval at Woomera West; a shock to some players.

 

On the recruiting side, Village recruited 2 six-foot six-inch ruckmen in John Hancock and Bob Tilley; Gary Hele from Works where he had been the top goalkicker for the league in 1968; Graham Brennan a top-flight fullback who had recently played in the Central Australia League in Alice Springs; and 2 very good junior players Ashley Malone and Peter Lazic. Peter was the son of Slavo Lazic, a Village life member, who will be remembered by most housewives in the village for his dedication to the daily bread delivery to all households.

 

Not to be outdone Centrals recruited Graham McKenzie who in 1965 had played 19 league games for Port Adelaide in the SANFL and Ted Pawelski who had played for Port Adelaide seconds in 1956 and had a wealth of experience in suburban and country leagues.

 

Coaches appointed for the year were Centrals – Nev Johnstone, Koolymilka – Barry Weber, Village – Ken Rau, and Works – Fred Wernert.

 

During the year, Fred Wernert was replaced by George Christopoulos as Works coach.

 

Village won the lightning carnival held early in the season.

 

In an interleague match Central Augusta defeated Woomera by 13 points.

 

It came as no surprise, that at the Area & Mail medals count 2 players, Graham McKenzie of Centrals and Alan Hancock of Koolymilka, tied for first place. The medals were awarded to Graham McKenzie on a countback but as happened in 1999, the countback system was abolished and after 30 years Alan Hancock was retrospectively awarded the Mail medal.

 

During the year in a fiery contest between Village and Centrals, 3 Centrals players were reported and suspended; Ed Moika was suspended for 4 weeks; Graham White was suspended for 5 weeks, later reduced to 4 weeks; and Daryl Parsons was suspended for 10 weeks, later reduced to 8 weeks. Centrals found it appalling that it took 4 weeks from the time an appeal was lodged until a hearing by the SANFL.

 

Another innovation introduced in 1969 was that of player life membership. To qualify a player must have played 100 games and played for 10 years.

 

There was no doubt however that it was the year of the Village team and they went through the season undefeated and won the grand final by a record 92 points.

 

Being undefeated, they joined the Works teams from 1958 and 1962 in a select club.

 

Points at the end of the minor round were Village 24, Centrals 16, Works 6 and Koolymilka 0. Koolymilka actually won 1 game against Works but points were deducted as they played an unregistered player.

 

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Village	12		0		1668	431	79.46	24
Centrals	8		4		1251	819	64.34	16
Works	3		9		730	1323	35.55	6
Koolymilka	1		11		460	1536	23.04	0

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Works	15	17	107	Koolymilka	12	14	86
2nd Semi	Village	14	15	99	Centrals	12	9	81
Preliminary	Centrals	16	16	112	Works	14	13	97
Grand	Village	17	14	116	Centrals	2	12	24

 

Grand Final: Village defeated Centrals 17.14 (116) to 2.12 (24).

 

Premiership Coach: Ken Rau. Premiership Captain: Peter Hardy.

 

Best in Grand Final: Brian Dempsey – Village, Rex Quick – Centrals.

 

League Best & Fairest – Area & Mail Medals: =1^st Graham McKenzie – Centrals 15,

 

=1^st Alan Hancock – Koolymilka 15, =3^rd Peter Lucas – Village 11, =3^rd George Christopoulos – Works 11.

 

Leading Goalkickers: 1^st Gary Hele – Village 63, 2^nd Wayne Brady – Centrals 36.

 

Life Membership: L R “Chick” Schollar (RIP), Tom Harding (RIP).

 

Player Life Membership: Ronald Vivian Weser (RIP) – Works, Terry C Lavender (RIP) – Centrals, Barry Gebler (RIP) – Works, Barry Rumble (RIP) – Centrals and Village, A W “Bill” Hooker – Village, Ken Rau – Centrals and Village.

 

League President: William “Bill” Leverington (RIP). League Secretary: Pat Kelly/Des Jones.

 

 

1969 WJFL

At the start of the season, all boys were asked to register and they would then be allocated to a team. This was to follow the policy of equalisation, long before the word was introduced by the AFL.

 

Coaches and managers appointed were:

 

• Demons – Coach Jack Fry – Team Manager Gill Humphries.
• Eagles – Coach Daryl Parsons – Team Manager Trevor Heffernan.
• Magpies – Coach Michael Hancock – Team Manager Harold Belson.
• Roosters – Coach Ken Butcher – Team Manager D Cartwright.

 

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

 

Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Magpies	12	8	4	0	759	621	55.83	16
Demons	12	7	5	0	793	615	56.31	14
Roosters	12	5	7	0	603	672	49.64	10
Eagles	12	4	8	0	499	759	39.58	8

 

The grand final between Magpies and Roosters resulted in a draw. The replay the following week resulted in a win for the Magpies. This was a credit to coach Michael Hancock, assistant coach Bob Spooner, and manager Harold Belson.

 

Final	Team	G	B	Pts	Team	G	B	Pts
1st Semi	Roosters	11	16	82	Eagles	11	7	73
2nd Semi	Magpies	7	4	46	Demons	4	11	35
Preliminary	Roosters	13	8	86	Demons	10	7	67
1st Grand	Magpies	9	11	65	Roosters	9	11	65
2nd Grand	Magpies	14	13	97	Roosters	2	5	17

 

Grand Final: Magpies defeated Roosters 14.13 (97) to 2.5 (17).

 

Premiership Coach: Michael Hancock. Premiership Captain: Mick Carter.

 

League Best & Fairest: 1^st Leigh Chamberlain – Demons 22, 2^nd Ralph Hill – Roosters 15, 3^rd

 

Stan Grillett – Magpies 13.

 

Leading Goalkickers: Leigh Chamberlain – Demons 50, Stan Grillett – Magpies 32, G Wilson – Roosters – 14.

 

 

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