Australian Football

He may not have been the greatest player ever to win Western Australian football’s most prestigious individual award, the Sandover Medal, but to suggest, as some have done, that East Perth’s Alan Quartermaine does not warrant a place among the game’s elite is palpably unfair. Quartermaine, who played a total of 108 WANFL games and kicked 180 goals for the Royals between 1969 and 1979, was not always a first choice senior player, but performed consistently well during the 1975 season to win his Medal with 16 votes, two more than team mates Peter Spencer and Ross Glendinning, and Stan Nowotny of Swan Districts. 

A ruggedly aggressive performer, the biggest disappointment in Quartermaine’s career came in 1972, when the WANFL Tribunal found him guilty of striking Claremont’s Wayne Reynolds in that season’s Second Semi Final, and he was suspended for three matches. This meant that he missed the 1972 Grand Final, in which the Royals won their first flag for 13 years. The nearest he came to making amends was in the 1976 Grand Final against Perth, but a useful, three-goal performance on a half forward flank was insufficient to prevent the Demons from winning comfortably. 

Somewhat ironically, when East Perth finally went top again in 1978, he played just one senior game for the year, preferring to concentrate on his University studies. Alan Quartermaine, who played most of his football either in the centre or across half forward, was chosen to represent Western Australia on three occasions.

Author - John Devaney