Sharks sink Subi: The 1985 WAFL Grand Final
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The '85 WA Footy Scene
In 1985, as football was in the final throes of its metamorphosis from a predominantly suburban to at least a partly national concern, the Western Australian Football League celebrated its centenary¹. Writing in that year's grand final issue of 'the Western Australian Football Budget' renowned journalist and football historian Geoff Christian summarised the situation as follows:
When the time comes to write a definitive account of the 1985 season, football historians may view the year as one of the most significant in the development of the game - for more than one reason.
The growth of League football in WA can be traced back in an unbroken line to 1885. The development was always steady, sometimes spectacular and based on a powerful public acceptance of the League competition, which has been an eight club affair since 1934. League football has not only dominated WA sport in winter, but has become over the years the most talked about, written about and popular activity in the state.
A minimum of 40,000 people will attend today's game and as many as 250,000 more will follow the match on radio or watch it on live television. The fascination of WA football has continued through the years despite the recruiting activities of the Victorian clubs and all the diverse activities available in a modern society.
But as the centenary year comes to an end, we are approaching the end of League football as we have known it and cherished it for years. Certainly we are living in times of change. The biggest change on the horizon is national football, which according to many, will come into being in 1987 or in Australia's bicentenary year in 1988. National football is seen as inevitable. Hopefully, the new Super League can come into being without destroying forever the fabric of League football. ²
If this backdrop tended to muddy the minds of many Western Australian football barrackers, the same could not be said for the two grand final protagonists, East Fremantle and Subiaco, which had not contested a premiership play off against one another for 52 years.
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Few football clubs are as proud or as demanding of success as East Fremantle. When the Sharks contested their first grand final in five years in 1984 there appeared to be good reason to believe that the club was on the right track, even though they proved incapable of actually lifting the flag on this occasion. However, shortly after the match, rumours emerged that Ron Alexander, the club's captain-coach of three years, was in danger of losing his job. For one thing, despite the fact that Alexander had overseen improved performances in each of his three seasons in charge³, there was a widespread, almost unchallengeable belief that the days of the playing coach in top level football were over. For another, as far as many East Fremantle aficionados were concerned, a football premiership ladder comprised just two positions: premiers, which was occupied by just one club, and 'also rans', which involved all the rest.
In the end, Ron Alexander was given another year to prove himself, and the Sharks responded by proving themselves the strongest side in the League during the minor round (17 wins and four losses, plus the minor premiership), before playing solidly to overcome Subiaco by 12 points in the Second semi final. So pleased were the East Fremantle hierarchy with Alexander's performance that they took the unusual step of re-appointing him on a two-year contract in the week leading up to the grand final. Undoubtedly meant in part as a motivational ploy, this could well have back-fired embarrassingly had the team lost the 'big one', but in hindsight it appears to have been a masterpiece of strategic planning.
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East Fremantle's Grand Final opponents, Subiaco, had endured an even longer sequence of 'outs' than the Sharks. Since the Lions' last premiership in 1973 the club had made just one, fleeting finals appearance, and had endured the ignominy of four wooden spoons. The appointment of Haydn Bunton Junior as coach in 1984 represented a determined effort to reverse the decline; during his previous stint in charge at Subiaco, Bunton had laid the foundations for the aforementioned '73 flag success, and he was almost universally respected for both his tactical insights and his intensely disciplined approach to the game, both of which were features that had been sadly lacking at Subiaco Oval of late.
In 1984, Bunton manufactured a modest improvement in the team's fortunes, but by 1985 he had the side firing on all cylinders. After winning 15 out of 21 home and away matches to qualify for the finals in second place, a two-goal Second Semi Final loss to East Fremantle was neither a disaster nor a disgrace given the team's lack of experience in such contests. Moreover, the players soon showed that they were quick learners by overcoming Swan Districts in the following week's preliminary final by 51 points. The fact that it was the Lions' first ever finals victory over Swans at the fourth attempt⁴ only served to magnify the players' optimism in the run up to the Grand Final re-match with the East Fremantle, a team that Subiaco had never beaten in a Grand Final.
Both coaches took special steps to motivate their charges prior to the big game. Haydn Bunton invited Subiaco's 1973 premiership coach Ross Smith to visit the club's changing rooms on match day to chat privately with the players, while Ron Alexander brought Woodville coach Malcolm Blight over for a full week, during which time he became an 'honorary Shark', training and mingling with the players, and imparting advice and support as required.
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Malcolm Blight was by no means the only champion on the training track at East Fremantle Oval that week. For example, despite nearing the twilight of his career, Sharks ruck-rover and half back Brian Peake could still lay claim to being one of the best in the business, an assessment he proved in 1986 by being named captain of the All Australian team for the second time. His on ball associate Gerard Neesham was another classy performer whose astute football brain would later be put to good use as a successful League coach.
Meanwhile, centreman Murray Wrensted had given notice of his undoubted pedigree by winning the 1985 Sandover Medal, and blondhaired rover or wingman Chris Mainwaring was not only one of the best rookies in the competition, but was widely regarded as "one of the best first year players to break into League football in recent years".⁵ Despite the widespread impression that they were essentially a team of hard workers whose emerging success under Bunton was based on determination, discipline and a superabundance of courage and heart, the Lions also had their share of classy performers including 1985 Media Guild Footballer of the Year, Dwayne Lamb, veteran centreman Peter Featherby, a survivor of the club's previous premiership victory in 1973, potentially matchwinning but inconsistent forwards Michael Mort and Stephen Sells, and exciting and talented youngsters Mark Zanotti and Andrew MacNish.
Given their greater finals experience and overall supremacy over Subiaco in recent seasons, the Sharks were marginally favoured by most observers to win. However, the Lions' gallant display against Swans in the Preliminary Final, which had seen them "firstly resisting the Swan Districts physical pressure, then overcoming the nervous tension, and finally crushing the opposition's resistance and storming to a magnificent finish"⁶ attracted more than a smattering of support in the week leading up to big match. Grand Final day dawns windy and showery. A crowd of 42,657, the lowest for a Grand Final since 1974, looks on as, with a blustery wind favouring the eastern end of the ground, East Fremantle captain-coach Ron Alexander, on winning the toss, surprisingly elects to kick to the western end.
1st Quarter
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1 min Having collected the ball, East Fremantle wingman David Rankin dashes through the centre of the ground and goes long towards the goal square. Sharks centre half forward Clinton Browning gets hands to the ball but is unable to get it under control and it goes to ground. Ron Alexander is first upon it and snaps truly over the head of ducking team mate Roger Kerr. East Fremantle 1.0; Subiaco 0.0
4 mins From the centre of the ground, Lions skipper Neil Taylor perfectly picks out team mate Stephen Sells who is running into space, towards goal, just inside the 50 metre arc. Sells seems to be in an inviolable marking position, but at the last instant his opponent Gavin Wake makes a desperate lunge at the ball and just manages to get a fist to it. Unfortunately for Wake, however, the ball bounces right in Sells' path, enabling the lanky half forward to run onto it and, from a distance of some 20 metres, soccer it through for a goal, narrowly eluding Wake's despairing attempt to spoil. East Fremantle 1.0; Subiaco 1.0
11 mins Subiaco half forward flanker Michael Mort and Sharks defender George Christie contest a mark midway between left centre wing and half forward left for the Lions. Christie effects a prodigious leap from behind but Mort stands his ground, gets a hand to the ball, and then hangs onto it on the second grab. A disgruntled Christie is reluctant to move back onto the mark, whereupon the umpire awards Mort a generous 15-metre penalty which brings him to within 50 metres of goal. After looking to be missing the target to the right, Mort's elegant drop punt veers around to left, leg break fashion, at the last moment to creep in for full points. Subiaco 2.1; East Fremantle 1.1
15 mins With squally rain now falling, Stephen Sells leads Gavin Wake in a race for the ball near the boundary line at half forward right for the Lions but, having grabbed hold of it, his momentum carries him out of bounds, whereupon Wake gives him a friendly shove to be going on with. The umpire, however, sees fit to award Sells a free kick, which Sells effortlessly steers through with a raking left foot drop punt from just outside 50 metres. Subiaco 3.1; East Fremantle 1.1
20 mins At a boundary throw in in Subiaco's left forward pocket Lions full forward Laurie Keene manages to palm the ball to Peter Spencer whose left foot snap shot miraculously avoids a forest of bodies to sail through for a goal. Subiaco 4.3; East Fremantle 1.1
21 mins Subiaco force the ball forward from the ensuing centre bounce courtesy of Neil Taylor, whose thumping kick eludes a waiting pack of players near centre half forward and bounces straight to Michael Mort. Unable to believe his good fortune Mort, who is a good five metres clear of his nearest opponent, runs in toward goal, steadies, and form just outside the 25 metre arc⁷ and almost straight in front, has no difficulty in splitting the centre. Subiaco 5.3; East Fremantle 1.1
25 mins The first sustained period of East Fremantle attacking pressure in the game culminates in Rankin's superb pass from left centre wing finding Browning at centre half forward. The versatile Browning, who is equally adept at either end of the ground, makes no mistake. Subiaco 5.3; East Fremantle 2.1
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27 mins As the ball is squeezed out of a scrimmage of players at half forward right for East Fremantle the Sharks' '85 Sandover Medallist Murray Wrensted swoops upon it, swerves to dodge an approaching assailant, and fires off a prodigious kick from right on 50 metres which never looks like missing. Subiaco 5.3; East Fremantle 3.1
29 mins Just outside the 25 metre arc, directly in front of Subiaco's goal, Lions centre half forward Warren Dean contests the ball in the air with his direct opponent, Bryce Forman, and the ball tumbles to ground. Michael Mort gathers it up, but is immediately tackled by East Freo defender Gavin Wake, causing the ball to spill loose. With his back to goal, Dean reaches the ball first and, with Mort providing assistance in the way of a strong shepherd on Wake, spins 'round onto his right foot and fires home. Subiaco 6.3; East Fremantle 3.1
30 mins Lions coach Haydn Bunton swaps full forward Laurie Keene and centre half forward Warren Dean around, and the move pays immediate dividends as Keene gathers the ball near the front edge of the centre square and propels it to within 15 metres of goal where Solin spoils Dean's attempt to mark. Unfortunately for the Sharks, however, the crumbs are gathered by Spencer, whose round the corner snapshot brings up Subi's seventh major. Subiaco 7.3; East Fremantle 3.1
The Lions add one further behind to their tally right on the quarter time siren and overall can be very pleased with their first term's work. They have handled the greasy ball with greater surety and moved it about with more purpose and skill than their opponents. This, coupled with their overall dominance in one on one contests, both aerially and on the ground, has enabled them to compile a useful half time lead of 27 points.
QUARTER TIME: Subiaco 7.4 (46); East Fremantle 3.1 (19)
2nd Quarter
During the quarter time interval, the rain dies out, while according to the TV commentators the 3 or 4 goal breeze which had favoured the Subi goal in the opening term has also abated.
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2 mins Midway between left centre wing and half forward left, Clinton Browning wins a free kick for holding the ball against Phil Lamb and spears a perfect low pass down Gerard Neesham's throat at centre half forward. Playing on quickly, Neesham spots Brian Peake some 20 metres or so closer to goal, and coolly hits him on the chest. From almost exactly 25 metres out on the most negligible of angles, the Sharks 1977 Sandover Medallist is never going to miss. Subiaco 7.4; East Fremantle 4.2
6 mins Under intense pressure at left half back, Andrew MacNish's clumsy attempt to handball over his head is ruled a throw and, from the resultant free kick, Gerard Neesham makes the Lions pay the maximum price. Subiaco 7.4; East Fremantle 5.2
9 mins With the Sharks players continuing to harass and physically intimidate them, Subiaco's defenders make a succession of elementary errors, one of which sees Glen O'Loughlin's 'blind' clearing kick from deep in the right back pocket marked unchallenged by Murray Wrensted near centre half forward. Wrensted makes no mistake. Subiaco 7.4; East Fremantle 6.3
11 mins From the rear perimeter of the centre square, Mainwaring kicks directly forward some 35 metres and Roger Kerr, diving forward, marks on his chest before handballing to his left across his body to Peter Wilson. The young Sharks half forward runs on, bouncing the ball once, and from right on 50 metres from goal directly in front just manages to squeeze his kick inside the left goal post for a major score. Subiaco 7.4; East Fremantle 7.3
14 mins Wilson is again in the thick of the action as he picks up the ball in heavy traffic on right centre wing and immediately throws the ball onto his boot. Fortunately for East Fremantle, his kick travels in the direction of Clinton Browning who runs with the flight of the ball and marks on his chest some 55 metres from goal more or less straight in front. The bearded Browning then throws all his weight behind a prodigious drop punt which comfortably eludes the waiting goal line pack to put the Sharks in front for the first time since early in the opening term. East Fremantle 8.3; Subiaco 7.4
17 mins Sells on right centre wing for Subiaco dances and pirouettes around a succession of opponents, running in field a good 20 metres (without bouncing the ball) in the process. Finally, he gets boot to ball and prods an inelegant looking kick in the direction of centre half forward where Scott and Harding contest. Scott has front position and gets his hands to the ball first, but promptly drops it under duress from his opponent. The umpire, however, rules that Harding's attentions had been illegal, and awards Scott a free kick, from which he nonchalantly converts to level the scores. East Fremantle 8.4; Subiaco 8.4
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Moments later, a forced minor score hands the lead to Subiaco, only for Roger Kerr to soccer a behind on 21 minutes to once again tie up the scores. Rankin's 'poster' in the opening minute of the time on period restores East Fremantle's advantage.
27 mins Lions ruckman cum forward Keene catches the ball cleanly from a boundary throw in deep in the left forward pocket for East Fremantle, but his quick handball away is collected by Sharks wingman Rankin, who immediately off loads to Wilson. Wilson's left foot snap looks ungainly but nevertheless produces the goods. East Fremantle 9.5; Subiaco 8.4
Both sides can only manage minor scores for the remainder of the quarter which concludes with the scoreboard showing East Fremantle a single straight kick to the good.
HALF TIME: East Fremantle 9.7 (61); Subiaco 8.7 (55)
3rd Quarter
4 mins The Sharks are playing some of the best football of the afternoon, characterised by crisp foot passing, slick handball, and clever and purposeful backing up, but the Subiaco players are nevertheless making things hard for them with some vigorous use of the body and frenzied tackling. Nevertheless, a breakthrough for East Fremantle seems inevitable, and finally arrives when Roger Kerr's seemingly goal bound shot from 50 metres floats away to the left at the last moment, whereupon Clinton Browning uses opponent Clinton Brown's back as a step ladder to take a soaring mark. There is no anti-climax either as his kick for goal splits the centre. East Fremantle 10.8; Subiaco 8.8
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5 mins In contrast to their recent predisposition for neat, precise short passing, the Sharks on this occasion scramble, soccer and punch the ball forward from the ensuing centre bounce. The ball is met strongly at centre half back by Lions defender Mark Zanotti, but he is fiercely met by Jones and goes to ground, spilling the ball in the process. Clinton Brown is backing Zanotti up, and punches the ball away, but he too is sent sprawling, this time by Andrew Lockyer. As Lockyer and Brown indulge themselves by engaging in a brief but spectacular wrestling exhibition, the ball bounces into the clear and is picked up by Neesham, who handballs to Jones, who in turn finds Kerr and, as the wrestling bout comes to a peremptory end, the East Freo number one converts with a clever snap. East Fremantle 11.8; Subiaco 8.8
8 mins The umpire bounces the ball right on the 25 metre arc on a 45 degree angle to the right of the Subiaco goal, and Laurie Keene neatly palms the ball to Peter Spencer, who manages to get off a handball to Neil Taylor just before being tackled by George Christie. Taylor has time to take his bearings and fire off a low left foot snap shot which goes straight through the centre. East Fremantle 11.8; Subiaco 9.8
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14 mins Spencer, having marked on his chest just outside 50 and directly in front of goal, sends a left foot kick towards goal which Keene holds onto on the second grab. From 12 metres out on a 60 degree angle to the right of goal he effortlessly splits the centre. East Fremantle 11.9; Subiaco 10.10
25 mins After a sustained spell of Subiaco attacking pressure has yielded only behinds, the Sharks execute a swift breakaway down their right wing which culminates in Roger Kerr shooting for goal from just outside 50. The ball reaches the goal square where Clinton Browning and Michael Crutchfield contest the mark. Crutchfield, who has been doing the regulation thing all afternoon by playing in front of his opponent, only to repeatedly lose out, is upstaged yet again as Browning soars a good metre or so higher off the ground to get first one and then both hands to the ball for a telling mark. After tossing the ball above his head in triumph, Browning trots back to take his kick and, from point blank range, is never remotely likely to miss. East Fremantle 12.9; Subiaco 10.12
27 mins Greg Wilkinson from the centre of the ground kicks towards centre half forward where Sharks centre half back Bryce Forman appears to have the sit, only for Warren Dean to get a fist to the ball from behind. The ball bounces to Neil Taylor, who thumps it back to Dean, who sends a high, looping handball across the face of goal in the direction of half forward right to Phil Lamb. Measuring his kick carefully, Lamb coolly registers his 1st goal of the game to bring the Lions to within less than a straight kick of their opponents. East Fremantle 12.9; Subiaco 11.12
As rain begins to lash down once again the siren sounds a couple of minutes later with no addition to the scores.
THREE QUARTER TIME: East Fremantle 12.9 (81); Subiaco 11.12 (78)
4th Quarter
2 mins Waterson near the left centre wing boundary for East Fremantle just manages to keep the ball in play by tapping it in front of him before gathering and firing off an awkward looking left foot kick towards centre half forward. Subiaco's Michael Crutchfield appears to have maneuvered himself into pole position to mark, but yet again it is Clinton Browning, coming in from the side this time, who has the last laugh as he gets much higher off the ground than his opponent and comes back to earth holding the ball. His shot for goal from 40 metres out looks flaccid but does the business. East Fremantle 13.9; Subiaco 11.12
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5 mins George Christie's clearing kick from deep in East Freo's right back pocket travels close to the right half back flank boundary where Andrew MacNish soars high above Chris Mainwaring to take a spectacular mark. MacNish's centering kick finds Keene at the true centre half forward position but, under duress from Stephen Green, he drops the mark. The umpire, however, adjudges that Green has taken Keene high, and although Keene's resultant shot for goal does not appear to impress the Subiaco fans situated behind the goal it nevertheless elicits the waving of two flags by the goal umpire. East Fremantle 13.9; Subiaco 12.12
11 mins Dwayne Lamb's relieving kick from half back left for Subiaco holds up in the breeze and is marked easily by Chris Mainwaring who pumps the ball back, with interest, in the direction from which it came. The ball is thumped another 15 metres toward goal by Lockyer, whereupon Wrensted snatches it up, skirts around an attempted tackle by Wilkinson, and fires home from a distance of less than 20 metres, directly in front. East Fremantle 14.10; Subiaco 12.12
15 mins Near the front edge of the centre square, Brian Peake is awarded a free kick for a push in the back. His thumping kick travels to within 20 metres of goal where Clinton Browning takes yet another well judged overhead mark before calmly bagging his sixth major of the day. East Fremantle 15.11; Subiaco 12.12
21 mins Lockyer's behind pushes the margin out to three straight kicks. East Fremantle 15.12; Subiaco 12.12
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25 mins With time and space proving as difficult to find as at any stage in the game, Subiaco desperately try to force the ball forward by any and all means at their disposal. After Andrew MacNish takes a one hander at half forward left he tumbles the ball forward to Neil Taylor who runs on towards goal only to be confronted by George Christie. Just before he crashes into Christie, Taylor off loads a quick underground handball to brother Brian, who snaps truly to bring both the Lions supporters, and many of the neutrals, in the crowd to life. East Fremantle 15.12; Subiaco 13.12
27 mins Running into an open goal, Stephen Sells misses to the right from a distance of barely 15 metres. East Fremantle 15.12; Subiaco 13.13
30 mins Just in front of Subiaco's right behind post, Sharks full back Colin Waterson runs onto the ball and endeavours to tap it in front of himself towards the boundary line deep in the back pocket. However, he inadvertently knocks the ball too far ahead of himself and it is gathered up by Sells whose high centering kick is marked by Scott on the left point of the goal square. The baying cheers of the Lions faithful as Scott drills the ball home at first drown out the wail of the final siren, but gradually recognition dawns on the players and they either slump to the turf in anguish, or embrace each other like conquering heroes. East Fremantle, which had seemed 'home and hosed' as late as the onset of time on has held off a strong finishing Lions combination to sneak home by five points in a veritable classic, which was undoubtedly the pick of the three major state Grand Finals played in 1985.⁸
Subiaco could perhaps claim a measure of misfortune over Stephen Sells' glaring late miss which, had it been accurate, might at least have secured a draw, but the old adage 'bad kicking is bad football' applies every bit as much to a single, ostensibly 'easy' shot missed under pressure as it does to a team which has 40 scoring shots to 20 and still loses the game.
FINAL SCORE: East Fremantle 15.12 (102); Subiaco 14.13 (97)
Postscript
Ron Alexander, who had permanently 'benched' himself in the '85 Grand Final shortly after registering the game's first goal, remained at the helm at East Fremantle for just one further season. It would be 1992 before the Sharks again tasted premiership glory. Subiaco by contrast was a team very much 'on the up'. In 1986 it gained revenge over East Freo in the Grand Final with a thumping 19.16 (130) to 8.13 (61) win, and it enjoyed a similarly emphatic success in 1988 against Claremont.
In the meantime, of course, the Western Australian football landscape had changed irrevocably with the formation in 1987 of a composite WA side, the West Coast Eagles, which participated in an expanded VFL. The repercussions of this development on WA football's traditional structure, as well as on the clubs which, over the previous century, had become household names, were enormous and devastating, and are discussed in detail elsewhere⁹.
In 1985, however, the Sharks could gloat and rejoice, although there was a measure of annoyance over the decision to award the Simpson Medal to Subiaco's Brian Taylor ahead of popular media choices as best afield in Clinton Browning and Murray Wrensted. Nevertheless, according to club historian Jack Lee East Fremantle's 1985 ensemble "would not have looked out of place as a state side".¹⁰
Moreover:
The squad was perhaps the strongest in the club's history. It simply glistened with talent, and some of those who served most of their time with the reserves were unlucky. In ordinary years they would have been regular League players. ¹¹
Evaluated against this fulsome assessment, Subiaco's achievement in getting to within five points of the Sharks appears highly praiseworthy. Indeed, club skipper Neil Taylor felt that the side "gained some respect" from its performance, and this is little doubt that the experience gleaned from the '85 major round stood the club in good stead over the ensuing few seasons. Nevertheless, Lions coach Haydn Bunton could not hide his disappointment. "In fishing terms," he reflected, ruefully, "1985 will always be remembered as the one that got away."¹²
Match Summary
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BEST
East Fremantle: Browning, Wrensted, Waterson, Neesham, Wilson, Mainwaring
Subiaco: Dean, Featherby, B.Taylor, Sells, N.Taylor, Scott
SIMPSON MEDAL (best on ground): Brian Taylor (Subiaco)
ATTENDANCE: 42,657 at Subiaco Oval
Footnotes
1. According to the Collins English Dictionary, 6th Edition, 2003 the word 'centenary', when
used as a noun, refers to "a 100th anniversary or its celebration". From this, it is possible to
deduce that the Western Australian Football League - or, to be strictly accurate, its earliest
precursor, the Western Australian Football Association - was formed in 1885, making it 100
years old in the year in question. Based on this same literal interpretation of the English
Language, the Victorian Football Association and the South Australian National Football
League, both of which were established in 1877, celebrated their centenaries in 1977, while
the Tasmanian Football League, formed a year later than the VFA and the SAFA (precursor of
the SANFL), commemorated its centenary in 1978. What, then, are we to make of the
Australian Football League's, which is a more or less direct successor to the Victorian Football
League, formed in 1897, decision to hold its centenary celebrations in 1996? Clearly the AFL,
which has grown to regard itself as the sole repository of football excellence, not only presently
but also, in what it wrongly regards as its own previous incarnation, the VFL, historically, is in a
similar way much too important and sophisticated an organisation to be constrained by literal
interpretations of the English language.
2. 'The Western Australian Football Budget', 21/9/85, page 15.
3. In Alexander's first season, 1982, East Fremantle had won 8 out of 21 games with a 5-16 record in 1981), and finished sixth. The side had won 10 and lost 11 matches in '83
to qualify for the finals in fourth spot, only to crumble before the might of John Todd's all powerful
Swan Districts side, which was en route to the second of three successive premierships. Then, in
1984, the Sharks had finished second with a 13-8 record after an evenly contested minor round,
beaten Swans in the second semi, only to allow the same opponents to kick 10 opening term
goals to nil in the grand final re-match, effectively ending the contest almost before it had
begun; over the remaining three quarters of the match, East Fremantle had outscored the
opposition by 15 goals to 10, but it was too little, too late.
4. The previous finals meetings between the clubs had been: 1943 preliminary final (wartime
under age competition) - Swan Districts 13.17 (95); Subiaco 7.11 (53); 1961 preliminary final -
Swan Districts 16.19 (115); Subiaco 15.9 (99); 1974 1st semi final - Swan Districts 13.21 (99);
Subiaco 11.10 (76). The 1974 1st semi final had been Subiaco's last finals appearance before
1985.
5. Gary Stocks in 'the Western Australian Football Budget', 21/9/85, page 19. The 1985
WAFL 'Rookie of the Year' Award went to Mark Bairstow of South Fremantle, however.
6. Ibid, page 5.
7. For a period during the 1980s, Western Australian Football League grounds featured both
25 and 50 metre arcs.
8. In the VFL, Essendon won a 'blow-out' against Hawthorn by 78 points, 26.14 (170) to 14.8
(92), while in Adelaide, Glenelg had won out in similar fashion over North Adelaide, 21.15
(1410 to 12.12 (84).
9. See in particular the sentries in the Clubs section on Claremont, Subiaco and Fremantle.
10. Celebrating 100 Years of Tradition by Jack Lee, page 419.
11. Ibid, page 419.
12. Diehards 1946-2000: the Story of the Subiaco Football Club by Ken Spillman, page 224.
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