Almanac Footy: SA v WA 1971 – Run Of The Mill

 

The Stage Is Set

 

The 1971 season had a packed roster of interstate games, with South Australia playing each of Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. The Croweaters played the Big V and the Apple Isle over a busy Queen’s Birthday weekend, playing at the MCG on Saturday June 12th, then at North Hobart Oval on Monday Jun 14th.

 

 

 

 

The home fixture against Western Australia was again an opportunity to notionally decide the number two ranked state competition behind Victoria, at least until the 1972 Perth Carnival. It was played on a Saturday at Adelaide Oval, the venue for all major SANFL fixtures.

 

 

 

 

 

The SANFL was in the process of taking control of its own destiny, rather than be beholden to the South Australian Cricket Association. Only one more State game would be played at Adelaide Oval, the epic SA v Vic game in 1973, prior to the Football Park era kicking off in 1974. Who knows, perhaps the SANFL could charge $2.50 for reserved seats if it had its own ground.

 

 

 

 

Reading between the lines of this excerpt from a late-1971 Football Budget gives some insight into the fraught state of the relationship between the SANFL and the SACA. The League took matters into its own hands in late 1971 and the first steps of the development of Football Park at West Lakes were taken.

 

The masthead of the 1972 Football Budgets proudly displayed an “artist’s impression” of the completed Football Park. In late 1972, the Governor, Sir Mark Oliphant, symbolically sowed the first seed at Football Park.

 

 

Game Day

 

 

 

 

The artfully arranged Souvenir Budget cover photo was taken at the Adelaide 1969 Carnival. From left, the players were pacy goal-kicker Graham Scott, veteran wingman John Cahill, All-Australian defender Brian Colbey, four-time Sandover winner Bill Walker, 1969 Tassie Medallist Graham Molloy and ageless rover John Birt.

 

 

 

 

The cards cut from the back of the Corn Flakes packet still do the rounds but the club badges don’t appear much these days.

 

 

 

 

The writer of this editorial correctly identified the ‘run of the mill’ nature of home-town victories that prevailed over the history of SA v WA matchups, but incorrectly nominated 1935 as the last time the Sandgropers had won in Adelaide – WA also won one of the two matches played alongside the Torrens in 1938. Similarly, SA’s injury depleted triumph in Perth in 1962 was also overlooked.

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Marker and Ray Huppatz deserved their prominence here, Gibb Pies perhaps not.

 

 

 

 

ACTION REPLAY!, probably for $0.02 a day back then.

 

CIC Insurance was only deregistered recently, 1st July 2020. Somewhere lodged in my bonce is a jingle of theirs that sang ‘CIC’ to the tune of ‘Stand By Me’.

 

 

 

 

Kerley and Farmer were the biggest of big names in their respective states and well-known across the footy playing states.

 

The SANFL club coaches roster included four coaches from Victoria (and John Birt was at Torrens from 68-70). Patterson took North to the 71/72 flags and Jones left Centrals after taking them to the 1971 Prelim Final. Weideman’s Westies made finals in ‘68 and ‘69 but tailed off badly in ‘70 and ‘71. Teasdale was rewarded with three wooden spoon and two ninths across six seasons with Woodville and West Torrens.

 

Kerley (four), Jack Oatey (ten) and Fos Willams (nine) were all multiple SANFL premiership coaches and towering presences for many decades.

 

Robert Oatey (Jack’s son) set up Norwood’s rebirth under future coach Bob Hammond in the mid-70s. Jim Deane found the SANFL more difficult than Myrtleford while Alan Greer’s success with Adelaide University didn’t translate to finals berths at Thebarton.

 

Jack Oatey, Williams, Kerley, Deane and Robert Oatey are all members of the South Australian Football Hall of Fame. The Australian Football Hall of Fame has recognised as coaches Jack Oatey (Legend) and Williams, with Kerley, Weideman, Teasdale and Deane included as players.

 

The WA list was replete with household names in the west. Of the interlopers, Hassa Mann was a roaring success at South Fremantle, winning the 1970 flag (from last place) as captain-coach during his 1969-71 stint. He stayed out west for a few years and was a state selector in 1975.

 

Alan Joyce saw Old Easts win flags not long after his two turns at coaching, 1971/72 and 77/78, but his best result was runners-up in 1977. Joyce experienced the highs during his time at the helm of Hawthorn with flags in 1988 and 1991. This was in contrast to the lows of his time at Footscray during 1994-96.

 

The widely travelled Haydn Bunton Jr famously captain-coached Swan Districts to the 1961/62/63 premierships. He was said by many to have been instrumental in Subiaco’s 1973 flag after coaching them from 1967 to 1972. Bunton coached Subiaco to two flags during a successful era when he returned from 1984 to 1992. He coached South Adelaide from 1975-82 and Sturt from 1993-94.

 

Of the WA ‘locals’ Mal Atwell captain-coached a hat-trick of flags for Perth from 1968-70. Malcolm Brown took East Perth to the 1973 premiership and South Fremantle in 1980. WA coach Farmer took West Perth to the top in both 1969 and 1971. Denis Marshall and Bill Walker had relatively short, fruitless coaching careers.

 

Atwell, Brown, Bunton, Marshall, Farmer and Walker are all members of the Western Australian Football Hall of Fame, the latter four all having Legend status.

 

Bunton is in the Australian Football Hall of Fame as a coach. Farmer (Legend), Mann, Marshall and Walker have been inducted as players.

 

 

 

 

We were blessed with footy writers back then – you can take that to the bank.

 

 

 

 

That top ad gives me an idea for a series, oh wait, it’s already been done.

 

Coke, making ouzo drinkable since about 1978 in my case.

 

 

 

 

Were they centurians or centurions? Technically neither. What else would Ken Farmer need to do to be officially recognised as a Legend of the game?

 

How about the Bruce Schultz story? Unlucky.

 

 

 

 

Only seventeen Croweater names are shown, some of which have the correct spelling.

 

From the starting twenty, Malcolm Blight, Brian ‘Copper’ Colbey, Barrie Robran and Rex Voigt were omitted from the pen-pix. Wayne Phillis was written up here but not selected.

 

Debutant Voigt was 20th man in what was (surprisingly) to be his only appearance in the red, navy and gold jumper. Every other player selected played more than once for SA over their careers, most racking up double figures. Ebert and Blight both played for the state during the 1980s.

 

Marker was chosen as the new State captain, after assuming that role at Glenelg at the beginning of the 1971 season.

 

 

 

 

Richard Browne was brought to East Fremantle by new coach Joyce, who had previously coached him at Preston.

 

Of the debutants listed, this was the only game at State level for Bridgwood and McCulloch. Prossser was left out of the twenty but was selected against the Vics two weeks later in his only State appearance.
Ken McAullay was back at Adelaide Oval late in 1971 for the Sheffield Shield game v SA, but he carried the drinks. The SA team included Barrie Robran, who was playing in his second and final Shield game. Bruce Duperouzel batted in the middle order for WA.

 

A number of these names may be unfamiliar to those of us “over east” – please fill us in with anything that you might know about any of these players.

 

 

 

 

AMSCOL – heaven on a stick, or between two wafers, if that’s your preference.

 

 

 

 

References to ‘Melbourne Premiership Table’ or ‘Perth Results’ rather than their States remind me of paper bus tickets with pithy proverbs, Deadly Earnest, black and white rock music programs breathlessly hosted by groovy twenty somethings on Saturday mornings and Peter Plus. If you know, you know.

The running total of career goals was a feature of early 70s Budgets. Lindsay Backman’s high tally is somewhat surprising without checking that he was nearing 200 games. He finished up in 1972 with 347 goals to his name. Fred Phillis racked up 836 goals and the 1969 Magarey Medal. Eric ‘Fritzy’ Freeman slotted 390 goals and also played eleven Tests for Australia.

 

 

 

 

Seacombe High’s ‘Super’ Carey had just joined the Glenelg league ranks when this game came around.
Other future stars on parade here were Milan Faletic, Barry Hank, Lindsay Heaven and Neville Roberts. Yes, Phil Graney is Dave’s older brother.

 

For the Thirds (U/19s), Chris Natt and Alex Drzal are the best known.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, no scores are available.

 

 

 

 

Rupe’s afternoon rag had the Big Three plus Teaser.

 

 

 

 

Keen studiers of form will note that Crown and Sceptre was a dual acceptor at the Port. Steel Helmet, usually piloted by veteran jockey Bob Cox was a favourite of mine, although at the tender age of ten, It generally wasn’t burdened by any of my pocket money.

 

 

 

 

Wayne Phillis and Bob Hammond were cut from the final twenty.

 

For the visitors, Prosser did not play and Manning was replaced by Ian Cooper, the former St Kilda premiership player and current Swan Districts player.

 

 

 

 

Possible placings only for SA, with Blight replacing Wayne Phillis.

 

 

 

 

Ansett disappeared around the same time as the Twin Towers in Manhattan. Things were wonky as early as 1971 though.

 

 

 

 

This shot of Farmer and Darley (the original Jumbo Prince) was taken during the 1968 Adelaide Oval match, catching Darley mid-genuflection.

 

 

 

 

Hamilton, Golding and Snell live on thanks to the small pieces here.

 

 

 

 

The WAFL full-forwards seemed to be more prolific than their SA counterparts. Four players have scored over 1000 goals, Austin Robertson, Ted Tyson, George Doig and Bernie Naylor.

 

Ric Vidovich won the SANFL goalkicking in 1968. He kicked 65 goals in 1971 for East Fremantle from 15 games. He returned to Centrals for a single game in 1976 after having moved back to SA earlier. He still follows Centrals keenly.

 

 

 

 

Phil Tierney sandwiched one season at West Torrens in 1970 (16 games, 65 goals) between his time at East Perth (1962-1969, 1971-72), finishing with 621 goals for the Royals.

 

Austin Robertson was a certified g-u-n, gun. In fact he was a son of a gun too.

 

Neil Hawke was sadly under-represented in this article. He was a dual premiership player in 1957/58 for East Perth after playing for Port Adelaide in 1957. Hawke represented his new state twice in 1959, the season that he took out the WANFL goalkicking. He also made his first class cricket debut for WA. After returning to SA in 1960 he was a was a first-class regular until his Test selection in 1963. He played 27 Tests as an all-rounder. He starred for West Torrens and SA in the winter game. Neil Hawke remains the only player to have represented both WA and SA at football and cricket.

 

 

 

 

There was a distinct Central District flavour here, with Grljusich, Casserly and Haughan all top-notch WA recruits. Shortill (only one ‘h’) was preceded by Claremont’s Denis ‘Dinny’ Barron at Elizabeth.
John Wynne was a lively and colourful player for Norwood and SA, as depicted in this article from Malcolm Ashwood.

 

 

 

 

More multi-state players with a WA connection, although it should also be mentioned that Ralph Rogerson started his career at North Adelaide and was a member of SA’s 1958 Carnival side.

 

 

 

 

Did Denis Marshall have a good sit-down with Joel Selwood at some stage?

 

Fos Williams and Nipper Truscott will hold that playing record for eternity.

 

 

 

 

Polly Farmer was a titan of the game. In 1971, he was recognised with an MBE, coming from a fair way back in the Disadvantaged Stakes.

 

This story of Haydn (yes, H-A-Y-D-N) Bunton Jr barely scratches the surface. He was still coaching at SANFL level in the 1990s.

 

 

 

 

Name these players, I can’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note that the fourth page should be captioned with SEASON 1962 and SEASON 1964 respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brandy and Stanley, what a duo.

 

The Outcome

 

 

 

 

 

The Budget was on the money. The home side had the game in the bag by half time but had to fend off a last quarter comeback by the Westerners. Four Ray Huppatz goals in the last quarter sealed the comfortable Croweater win, 15.19 (109) to 12.10 (82). Huppatz bagged six majors in total with solid support Peter Darley’s four. Bob Kingston held Robertson to a single goal, scored after three quarters without a kick, a match-winning effort. Bill Dempsey and McAullay were WA’s best.

 

 

 

 

 

Although this game was lauded by the SA nabobs, it has largely been forgotten, despite the prominence of many of the competitors involved. The pattern of home side victories continued in the 1972 Carnival in Perth, with the WA thumping SA, kicking 15.11 (101) to a miserable 6.17 (53).

 

 

 

 

Farmer retired as a player at the end of the 1971 season. As a testimonial, the 1971 Rothmans Channel 7 Cup was held in Perth amongst teams from WA, SA and Vic.

 

More from Swish Schwerdt can be read Here.

 

 

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