Australian Football

South Australian football in wartime

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The 1916 Patriotic season of senior football in South Australia has remained an ignored and undocumented part of South Australian football history. This is probably due to the fact that it was not recognised by the South Australian Football League (SAFL). The league, having made the decision in January 1916 to cancel football, was opposed to the operation of the new administering body. The Patriotic Football Association had taken over as the administering body to organise matches during this time.

The South Australian Patriotic seasons were played from 1916 to 1918 and were unique in their administration and composition. They were played against a backdrop of World War and are of great interest and significance to those interested in the history of football in South Australia. Never before had football been played in such controversial circumstances and in the face of the horrors of the killing fields of World War I in Europe, which claimed many South Australian lives, including those of many league footballers.

The South Australian Football League cancelled its competition in the years 1916-18 because of World War I. The League committee terminated the competition at its meeting in January 1916, as the number of enlistments and casualty lists in the war increased and the with the realisation that the European conflict had become an enormous world war of horrendous proportions, the like of which, had never been seen before.

Australian forces commenced the year with the withdrawal of its troops from Gallipoli, after the campaign to eliminate the main Turkish land defences of the Dardanelles Strait had disastrously failed. The ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) returned to Egypt after its withdrawal from Gallipoli and was totally reorganised with the addition of 50 000 reinforcements. From Egypt, the I ANZAC left for France in March followed by II ANZAC. They went to an area of Flanders near Armentieres, known as “the nursery” for the purpose of adjusting to western front fighting conditions. There were notable differences to fighting strategies used at Gallipoli. The soldiers used steel helmets, Lewis light machine guns and Stokes mortars. Heavy shelling, poison gas, flamethrowers and aircraft were all new. Trench raids occurred much more often.

The decision to cancel league football in South Australia was not universally supported across Australia. The Victorian Football League and West Australian Football League both continued their competitions, while the Tasmanian Football League abandoned competition.

In response to the League decision in South Australia, a number of league based teams, together with the SA Railways Football Club formed a Patriotic Association, which organised a program of matches for the season. The new association had no connections to the league, which did not approve of the competition.

The key controversy about football at this time of war, was whether it would have a negative impact on the drive for enlistments for the armed forces in Europe. Once the Patriotic football season commenced, the intense discussion of this topic that had erupted in the newspapers diminished and nearly all of the newspaper reports concentrated on the game itself.

The main purpose of the patriotic competition was to enable footballers to raise money for injured soldiers. Players met all their own expenses and gate money went to the Patriotic Fund. Mr. H. E. Winterbottom, the secretary of the Wounded Soldiers' Fund, supplied the association with sealed boxes for collecting donations. The expenses for conducting matches were borne by the association and the players.

The outcome was a successful football season in Adelaide, which made a contribution to the Wounded Soldiers Fund. It was thought by many opponents of the Association that it would not be a success, but between £350 to £400 was raised for patriotic funds.

It was anticipated by the new association that the patriotic clubs would be as strong as they would have been, had the South Australian Football League framed the program. Many of the best South Australia’s league players participated in the Patriotic Association competition and as the season progressed, the newspaper match reports indicated that the quality of the games were on a par with those that had been played under the jurisdiction of the league. Every club was represented by a number of players with league experience and naturally those with more, performed more successfully.

Port Adelaide, West Torrens, North Adelaide, West Adelaide and Norwood fielded teams. The footballers resident in the South Adelaide and Sturt league districts took no action to form teams in the association. These districts were regarded as unallotted and the other teams were able to draw on their players. West Adelaide was the club which took by far the most.

At the commencement of the season the captains of the clubs were notable league champions: Port Adelaide had Harry Eaton; Railways had the best player of the captains in Harold Oliver the star of Port Adelaide; Norwood was lead by its 1915 captain Clarrie Packham; Prospect had the experienced centreman Dan O'Brien and West Torrens had ruckman Stan Patten. The exception was West Adelaide’s Vic Peters who had been a second team player at that league club. In a great misfortune for the SA Railways club, its best player Harold Oliver did not play after the first match and his place as captain was taken by Bert Johnson.

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The Patriotic Association was at a disadvantage when some councils would not allow the league ovals to be used for matches, even though the grounds were not in use. Norwood Council refused the use of Norwood oval for the whole season. The Port Adelaide council initially refused the use of Alberton Oval, but changed its decision in June and four matches were played there. The South Australian Cricket Association allowed only one match, which was part of Australia Day celebrations on July 28. The Hindmash Oval was the only league ground available for matches throughout the season and it was heavily deployed by the Association with eight matches.

At the commencement of the season the grounds available were: Hindmarsh Oval, Prospect Recreation Ground was used for six games, South Park Lands for four West Adelaide home matches, East Park Lands for four Norwood home matches and Swansea Oval at Largs Bay for the first two Port Adelaide home matches. This made for 19 matches played on enclosed ovals and 10 matches on unenclosed grounds.

Early in the season the training grounds were very hard and very few players had any practice, and those who did suffered the consequences. After some autumn rain the grounds were in good condition and the games improved beyond expectations

The minor round commenced on May 13, with the six competing clubs at three venues and progressed with increasing interest, publicity and attendances. The standard of play was positively described in published match reports in a number of the Adelaide newspapers including: the Advertiser, Register, Chronicle, Journal, Express and Telegraph and Daily Herald. In the early part of the season the outstanding combined play of a well balanced West Torrens team, which played with the benefit of the Hindmarsh Oval as its home ground. It maintained top position and defeated its closest rival Port Adelaide, on June 10 in the fifth match.

In July, the SA Railways club, which had been unsuccessful in all of its six matches, disbanded due to a lack of players. As the season progressed the remaining five teams all sought to improve, but none matched the improvement of the Port Adelaide team. Port, which had delivered the final thrashing of SA Railways on June 17, was in the process of significantly strengthening its team, with the return of a number of experienced league stars. Port eventually took over as the top team from West Torrens with a win at Hindmarsh on July 15. Port thrashed Norwood in its last minor round game to secure the minor premiership, due to its superior score for and against ratio, as the two teams had lost just one game each.

The finals were played between the first and third teams, Port Adelaide and West Adelaide on the Hindmarsh Oval on August 5 and the match between the second and fourth teams West Torrens and Prospect on the Alberton Oval on August 12. It was hoped that the Adelaide Oval would be made available, but this did not eventuate. Port easily accounted for West Adelaide in the semi final and West Torrens, after its win over Prospect was trounced in the final on August 19.

There were a number of notable matches played over the course of the season. Port Adelaide and West Adelaide played a couple of spectacular, hard fought and high quality matches in the minor round with Port successful on both occasions. Norwood achieved its first win against SA Railways and its best win was against Prospect on July 1. Prospect had its best moment when it defeated West Adelaide in its pursuit of a finals berth and it pressed Port Adelaide very hard late in the season at the Prospect oval. Its worst game was the loss to Norwood. West Torrens achieved a very fine win over Port Adelaide early in the season but its most disappointing loss was playing its worst game in the most important match of the season when it managed to score just 1.13 the final. The notable absence of its star goalkicker Tonkin, resulted in a very unbalanced and small line up in its forward division, which could not compete with the star studded Port backline.

Port Adelaide won the inaugural Patriotic Football Association premiership, with a team full of its redoubtable league premiership champions. The superior condition of Port Adelaide was the difference in close contests, as the players continued to train. Port was reported as good as ever and certainly better than it was in 1915. This was attributed to the introduction of new players to rejuvenate the experienced, but aging team, which lost the Challenge Final to Sturt.

The players and officials were no doubt driven by the failure of the Port Adelaide league club to win the 1915 premiership, having been considered certainties throughout the season and invincible for much of the time. The majority of the Patriotic team came from the Port Adelaide 1915 league team. The premiership was a fitting achievement for the club, which was a proponent of the Patriotic Association and drove the football competition with its systematic, well balanced and improving form as the season progressed and developed.

Port lost only one match for the season, which was its first contest with West Torrens. As the season progressed and towards the end of the minor round, with the return of several of its league champions; MacFarlane, Congear and Oliver, the gap between it and all the other clubs increased. Throughout the season Port Adelaide fielded very strong teams and usually made only one or two changes each week through its matches over the course of the season.

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The standout player for the club was Sampson Hosking [pictured right], who was totally dashing and brilliant at centre in every match. He was named as the best player in no less than six of its winning games. Young wingman Drew, in his first season of senior football, played some excellent games on centre wing and captain Harry Eaton performed well in defence and was described as in Magarey Medallist form in the final. John Hayman was the standout forward of the competition and topped the goalkickers with an impressive tally of 41 goals.

West Torrens finished second with a well balanced team full of junior players, blended with some of the league team’s players and was a remarkably consistent winning combination throughout the season. That was until it met the full force of the systematic team play of the experienced and highly talented Port Adelaide combination in the grand final.

West Torrens thoroughly deserved its second placed position in the first Patriotic Football Association season. It was the only club that defeated the premier team Port Adelaide and was too balanced and accomplished for all the other teams. It lost only to Port Adelaide, once in the second half of the minor round and in the final. In the first half of the season, the young team was the best performed club as it held top place and it won its first seven games, until it was defeated by Port in the second last minor round on July 15. It had a very strong ruck and roving division with Stan Patten, George Marsh, Miller and William Campbell as the stand out rover in the association.

W. Campbell proved a sensation in the competition as a young rover who was the best player for the team over the season with his dashing and hard working displays. He was a driving force in the team’s performances. Marsh was the next best player, with dominant ruck work and powerful marking. The strength of the team’s ruck division extended to Miller, who regularly was one of the best players with solid and hard working following. Stan Patten as captain performed well in ruck.

West Adelaide was easily the third best team and potentially could have achieved better results, given the number of champion league players it had at its disposal during the season. West Adelaide gathered a number of outstanding players from Sturt, the reigning premier club of the League competition and South Adelaide, as well as players from its own league club. Its team on paper was extremely talented and it had the most league players of any of the clubs, but a lack of system and teamwork let it down badly in its finals match against Port Adelaide.

Unfortunately for the club, it was never able to achieve combined team play, but this was likely due to the varied club backgrounds of its players. It won matches through the brilliance of individual performances and with the number of outstanding players, it achieved four wins from its first six matches. Significant player turnover resulted in four consecutive losses in its last four matches. It mustered a strong line up of talented players for its semi final, but was no match for the systematic and combined play of Port Adelaide and West suffered a heavy defeat.

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Vic Peters, in his first season of senior football, was appointed club captain ahead of a number of experienced league players and proved throughout the season that he was the champion player of the team. He was regularly the best player. Frank Golding [pictured left], a Sturt premiership player of 1915, played a number of outstanding games during the season. Other players who contributed on occasions were Gipp with fine roving performances and Bill Mayman at centre.

The team representing the electoral district of North Adelaide used the name Prospect, so that it could use the Prospect Recreation Ground for its home matches. Prospect was made up largely of North Adelaide junior players, with a few league men. The club suffered from a lack of North Adelaide league players in the first half of the season and its results suffered as a result. It won three matches and lost seven.

As the season progressed Prospect, along with the other teams significantly improved its play and the availability of three experienced league men from the disbanded SA Railways saw the team become highly competitive. The wins it achieved early in the season were enough for the club to qualify for the finals but it was unable to defeat West Torrens in its semi final.

Dan O’Brien lead the team from the front and was the best player over the whole season. Close behind him were Dick Williams and Arthur Laschky, who were both described as among the best players in the Association. Laschky was a force in the ruck and Williams was dominant in key positions both in attack and defence.

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Norwood performed poorly, as it had done in the previous league season when it finished last. The team played without too many recognised champions. During the season its play was detracted from, by not having access to the Norwood oval for training and matches. Norwood adopted a club policy of playing as many of its league and junior men as possible and the high number of rotations in its team week in and out saw the club lose all of its early season matches. Injuries and illness to key men in captain Clarrie Packham, Harry Johns and Guy Stephens [pictured left] did not help its results.

Norwood’s performances significantly improved towards the end of the season as its junior men settled into senior football in collaboration with their experienced teammates.

Norwood’s best players were its experienced league men, who all performed admirably. Edward McNamara who substituted as captain at times during the season was very consistent in his play. Sid White and Guy Stephens were driving forces with outstanding play.

The SA Railways club was limited to employees of the Islington workshops and the running sheds in the metropolitan area. Its team had a rich array of league talent available to it, but the team did not train and its lack of combined play saw it lose every match it played. The club disbanded as it struggled to attract enough players after six games.

The SA Railways club was the first club to instigate moves towards football competition in 1916 when it wrote a letter to the league seeking support for such an initiative. It received a negative and highly critical response.

Bert Johnson who took over the captaincy after the first match, was the standout player for the club in its matches. Charley Fullarton did well as the key forward. Conole, Foale and Harley made some contributions to the team at times.

The best player for the season was Sampson Hosking from Port Adelaide. He was the standout centreman in dashing and brilliant form throughout the season. Harry Eaton and John Hayman were other strong performers for Port. George Marsh, Stan Patten and Billie Campbell were the star players from West Torrens. Vic Peters was the star for West Adelaide, with Frank Golding and Bill Mayman doing well. Dan O’Brien, Dick Williams and Arthur Laschky were the best men for Prospect. Sid White, Guy Stephens and Lawrence McNamara all performed brilliantly for Norwood. Charles Fullarton and Bert Johnson were the best players for SA Railways until it folded.

The attendances commenced tentatively on May 13 for the opening round with just 300 at the Prospect Recreation Ground for the match between Prospect and West Torrens but quickly increased quite strongly with 3 000 in attendance the following week at the South Parklands for the match between Port Adelaide and West Adelaide and attendances of over 1,000 at the other two games. These were comparable crowds with the league matches of the previous season. Attendances were maintained throughout the season and increased for the finals.

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Umpire Mr. A Hickey was awarded the final from the umpiring panel

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The umpires for the Patriotic Football Association matches included league umpires of 1915, Mr C O’Connor as the most notable. The Association received 24 applications for its roster of five umpires and had plenty of interest and talent to choose from. The five appointed were Messrs. O'Connor, Cartwright, Hickey, Ward, and Slade, who were all willing to accept a nominal fee in order to assist the patriotic funds.

The Patriotic Association administrators were all new, as anyone associated with the administration of the South Australian League clubs shunned the new association and its activities. The Chairman of the Association was Mr. F. F. Ward and the Hon. Secretary, Mr. J. F. Sullivan.

The Secretaries of the patriotic clubs were: Port Adelaide; Mr. C. V. Tyler; Norwood, Mr. A. De Laine; West Torrens, Mr. P. Green; West Adelaide, Mr. A. A. Edwards; Prospect, Mr. J. P. Rowan and SA Railways, Mr. R. H. Gundry.

In the Advertiser newspaper on July 17 it was reported that at the next meeting of the Patriotic Football Association an attempt would be made to extend the season by arranging another set of matches. It was hoped by the association that the S.A.C.A. would grant the use of the Adelaide Oval for the remainder of the season. The extension of the season was planned take an extra five Saturdays. This meant that the season would still close earlier than in former years. It was considered that the Wounded Soldiers Fund would benefit considerably if the association adopted the suggestion, but the outcome of the meeting did not produce an extension, so the season remained with 29 matches in total.

As the football season in Adelaide moved towards the finals, the Battle of Pozieres involving Australian troops was launched on 23 July 1916. The battle was a subsidiary attack of the Somme Offensive which had commenced on July 1 1916. This offensive was a major allied attempt to break through German defences during World War I. The battle of Pozieres saw the Australians and British fight hard for an area that was a first rate observation post over the surrounding countryside, as well as having the additional benefit of offering an alternative approach to the strategically important French town of Thiepval. The ridge finally fell to the Australian troops, after almost two weeks of bitter fighting on 4 August 1916. As a result of the fighting the village of Pozieres itself was completely destroyed.

In July, the forces were moved into action in the Battle of the Somme and suffered enormous casualties in unsuccessful and hopeless attacks until the campaign ended on November 18. The year ended in a low point for the Australian Infantry Forces as the war situation as a whole continued to worsen.

The number of South Australian recruits continued to increase as did the number of South Australian footballers who enlisted. This continued through the season and once it had finished.

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Mr FF Ward Chairman of the Patriotic Football Association

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People attended the Patriotic matches to witness good football in spite of the fact that the clubs were turned down by suburban corporations in their efforts to secure ovals. The Exception was that West Torrens club secured the Hindmarsh Oval, and played the first match in connection with the Hindmarsh Memorial Fund before an Attendance of about 1,000 spectators, which raised £14.

Patriotic football in 1916 kept alive the high level of competitive football in Adelaide. The high standard of play was confirmed by the newspaper reports of the day and the attendances were comparable with league matches in 1915. Significantly for football, the season allowed many league players to extend their playing careers, which would have otherwise lapsed in inactivity. Players such as Dan O’Brien, Stan Williams, Sampson Hosking, Guy Stephens, Sid White, Lawrence McNamara, Stan Patten, Frank Golding and Bill Mayman amongst many more. Some ended their playing careers during the Patriotic seasons, while others were enabled to continue with further league seasons after the war. Importantly the season unearthed future champions of the game and gave them valuable experience at the highest level. Most notable of these young players were Jack Hamilton, John Karney and Vic Peters.

Many of the 1916 Patriotic season players enlisted during and after the season.