Almanac Footy History: Finding Uncle Stan – Have Boots Will Travel

 

 

Good friend of the Footy Almanac Michael Sexton recently contacted Rod Gillett at the NSW Football History Society to ascertain if they had any information regarding his great uncle Stan Castles who played a couple of games with Fitzroy in 1932.

The NSW Football History Society whose ‘role is to research, gather, document, catalogue and arrange for the safe keeping of objects and items of significant interest to the history of Australian Football in NSW and most particularly in Sydney’  fortunately  were able to provide Michael with information, including military records, about his Great Uncle Stan.

Michael wrote the following piece about the footy and sporting life of his Great Uncle Stan. Please enjoy Michael’s story below.

 

 

Finding Uncle Stan

By Michael Sexton

 

1932 Fitzroy FC – Stan Castles is circled in red. Triple Brownlow Medalist, Haydn Bunton is seated third from the right in the front row

 

Stan Castles was a well-travelled forward who played league football in three states and was long remembered for a thrilling victory at Erskineville Oval in 1928.

On that rain-soaked day, South Sydney led by three points with the match ticking into its final seconds. The heavy ball was thumped forward in hope by a Sydney defender to Castles who had raced out from full forward to mark on the wing. According to the Melbourne edition of the The Sporting Globe, Castles was 40 yards out and his kick ‘soared between the posts to the delight of the sorely pressed Sydney supporters’. It was his fourth for the quarter and seventh for the day.

In his socks, Castles stood 177cm and tipped the scales at 67 kilograms – big enough to play as a key forward in his era. He was born in Port Melbourne and joined the navy at age 16, training on the HMAS Tingira and then serving overseas on the HMAS Adelaide. Football really began in 1926 when he was stationed at Flinders and ran out for the Naval Depot when it beat Mornington for the Mornington Peninsula premiership.

His move to Sydney in 1928 saw him write some headlines – ten goals in a thrashing of Western Suburbs, eight against Newtown in a semi-final and the final kick thriller against South Sydney. He was nicknamed ‘Amy’ after the famous Australian opera star of the time Amy Castles, who was his cousin. It was love that took him away from Sydney football and the navy. He had met Mena Halstrom while serving on the HMAS Marguerite in Western Australia and to be reunited with her, he was invalided out of the navy and discharged at Sydney. Clearly no invalid, upon arriving back in Western Australia, he lined up with the South Fremantle club.

The red and whites already had a full forward of note – Alfred ‘Sol’ Lawn who was in the middle of a seven-year stretch as the club’s leading goal scorer – and so Castles found a spot nearby in the pocket where he stayed out of the way of the leading forward and snagged opportunist goals when they were offered. His first match was a derby at Fremantle Oval against East Fremantle which ended in the second quarter with a visit to hospital to reset a dislocated shoulder. Over two seasons, Castles averaged 2.4 goals per match and in 1930 earned the trophy for ‘most popular player’, yet he was not included in either of the grand final teams of 1929 and 1930 – both of which South lost. At season’s end he and Mena returned to Sydney where he found work in the wool stores and collected £4 per match playing again for Sydney. The return on investment for the club came in the first match of 1931 when he kicked 11 against St George. By season’s end, Castles had booted a record 109 majors while Sydney claimed the premiership by five points in an ugly grand final win over Newtown.

During that season, Castles was selected for NSW to play against the VFA at the SCG. Jimmy Stiff – a local favourite of ours – booted five for the home state and Castles one, but they fell short by 12 points. The Victorian team featured Doug Nicholls who was briefly a team-mate of Castles the following season at Fitzroy. In what was essentially a try out for the Maroons, he booted three goals in two matches before returning to Sydney where he played out his career.

In later life Castles played golf off eight and took up cycling – once riding with a pair of others from Sydney to Melbourne to see the Melbourne Cup. His football allegiance switched to rugby union where he was involved at Eastern Suburbs as a committeeman. He passed away in 1987 at Cronulla NSW.

This piece was first published on https://www.nswfootballhistory.com.au/

 

 

More from Michael Sexton can be read Here.

 

 

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