The death of Phil Matson
"You're on a thousand pounds, doctor, if you can save Phil". A well-known Perth sporting man made this offer to one of Perth's most noted surgeons a few hours after Phil Matson, one of the greatest footballers Australia has ever known, was carried broken and bleeding from the terrible motor smash at Nedlands. The doctor smiled sadly. "If I could achieve such a miracle I'd add another thousand to yours and we'd donate it to the hospital," he said. For Phil Matson was beyond human aid from the moment he was carried from the scene of the impact. Yet for all the hours he lay in the hospital his sporting friends hoped on, the telephone rang continually, and before the end came over four hundred people had actually called in person to see or inquire about the unconscious man. And when he went out in the early hours of Wednesday night the State lost not only a great player, but the greatest football brain that it has ever possessed.
The crash must have come with terrific force and with tragic suddenness. Phil Matson and his pal and former clubmate Horrie Bant were driving along Hampden Road, Nedlands, in the direction of Subiaco. It was about 7 o'clock on Monday night and chatting over old times as they probably were a smash would be the last thing they would expect. Near where Hampden-road intersects Government-road, the truck evidently failed to negotiate the slight curve and swung headlong into the bush at the side of the road. For a few yards it plunged past the scrub that fringes the read till it cannoned heavily into a telegraph post flinging the two men from the driver's seat. Horrie Bant was lucky. As the truck struck the post and then hurled itself round at right angles to the road he was thrown clear and luckily struck nothing in his fall. But the fates were against Matson, as in his fall he was hurtled against the post striking it head on. Cruelly smashed Matson was hurried to hospital in the ambulance, but it was soon evident that even his powerful physique would never hold out in the fight against death. Phil was unconscious when carried into the hospital and he never regained consciousness, passing out deeply regretted on Wednesday night.
Crowds at hospital
It is doubtful if ever before has there been such a throng of inquirers at the Perth Hospital. From the time the news of Phil's accident seeped round and until several hours after his death there was constant telephone inquiry for him. And those in a position to estimate considered that something like four hundred people actually called at the institution either to see the dying man or to learn how he was doing. Prominent among them were many old footballers, officials and players of the East Perth and other clubs and many members of the sporting fraternity. One well-known bookmaker offered a thousand pounds to a surgeon if he could save his life. "If I could," said the doctor sadly, "I'd put another thousand of my own to it and we'd donate it to the hospital." For Phil was beyond all hope. Any other man, inferior to him in physique, less strengthened by his continued active life, would have succumbed almost immediately after the terrible crash.
Matson the footballer
When Phil Matson first came to the coast to display his football prowess he landed in Perth with a button, a few beads and a couple of copper coins. He was broke to the world. That was way back in 1908 when he came from the goldfields to take his place in the Western Australian Jubilee Carnival side. Matson came originally from South Australia, but he made his football debut in the West. With West Perth he played one game; for a time he was at Bunbury; but it was left to Boulder for him to display the ability that marked him as one of the finest footballers Australia has ever seen.
Later in 1908 he went back to South Australia where for a period he played consummate football with the Sturt team. Back to the West again he linked up with North Fremantle, transferred from them to Subiaco and then signed up with East Perth.
With North and Subiaco Matson played some of the most dazzling football of his career. He was the champion of those days, an unbeatable mark and a player whose doggedness and ruggedness never acknowledged defeat. Many a time he carried Subiaco on his back; many a time he was the match winner. When Matson was having a good day his football was worth going miles to see. And there is no doubt that the great unattached football public of those days regularly flocked to the match where Matson was playing. His dazzling marking and all-round ability were the magnet and the crowd wanted no other idol with Phil in a side. Three times he played for the State in Carnivals and each time distinguished himself.
In 1918 Matson transferred from Subiaco to East Perth, accepting the position of playing-coach with the team just at the time it was asserting itself in the football world. Since that time East Perth have never looked back. In later years Matson has rarely stripped with them. But whenever he did his brains were always an asset to the team and he was always worth his game. So well did East Perth perform under his mentorship that he coached the last two interstate sides in Hobart and Melbourne, and though Western Australia just lost the honors on both occasions their stamina and prowess as a team were tributes to their coach.
Out at East Perth the club house has been in gloom ever since Monday night. They thought the world of their coach out there. For he peeled off each training night, and pulling on the guernsey hopped into the game as eagerly as any of the men under his care. Matson was a mixer and a democrat if ever there was one. The old heads reckoned there was none like him in the air; the younger school who knew him by repute know that they cannot do better than mould their game on the lines he played.
The funeral
Phil Matson's funeral on Friday afternoon was one of the most remarkable testimonies seen for years of the popularity of a man among the sporting fraternity. The hearse that carried his remains to the grave was loaded with an imposing array of beautiful wreaths and the throng that followed it was comprised of men of every walk of life, for Matson had friends and supporters whose interest extended far beyond football. Many a hard-bitten sport rubbed furtively at tear-dimmed eyes as the coffin was lowered, and hands that sprinkled sand into the yawning pit shook nervously as men bent their heads to hide their emotion. The last rites were a remarkable and an impressive tribute.
Peace to the ashes of one of the greatest footballer and probably the greatest sporting idol the West has seen in the last score of years.
Phil Matson: An appreciation ('Kudex', Daily News)
Death has removed one of the greatest personalities that ever adorned the Australian game of football. Thousands in this and other States will mourn the passing of one whose brilliance and manliness in the field of sport earned him just recognition, and the warm-hearted friendship of all true sportsmen. To football his loss is irreparable, for, besides having served the game faithfully and well in the capacity of player, he proved himself a coach of outstanding ability.
Player and coach
Many will argue whether the game ever produced a greater player than Phil Matson. The late Albert Thurgood would be regarded in some quarters as being more entitled to that distinction, but it is certain that the game has never known a man in whom the qualities of player and coach were more perfectly combined. A natural-born footballer, Matson lived to rise supreme over all rivals of his day. As a coach all Australia recognised his uncanny skill. Just as he was a footballer by nature, so was he a tactician, born, not made. The younger generation never saw Matson in his prime, but the elder of enthusiasts recall again the wonderful exploits of a player who commanded every asset a player would wish to have.
Matson differed from many other recognised champions in the respect that his success on the field was the outcome of all-round ability. He could handle the ball with a sureness that was remarking, his high marking was phenomenal, he was a good kick over long and short distances alike, and although he played the game with unrestrained vigor, his methods were never questioned. Matson's knowledge of the game and his general equipment enabled him to fit into any place on the field, but it was his brilliance as a centre player and at centre half-forward by which he will be best remembered. For years he consistently showed form which stamped him as a super-player.
Daring moves
As a coach the most glowing tribute to his qualities would be paid by the players who served under him. In this capacity the members of the East Perth team would know him best. These and other footballers credit him with being a genius as coach. His own all-embracing experiences of the game taught him all the tricks of the trade. Some of his moves staggered by their daring. Even those who proclaimed themselves sound judges would denounce his tactics as calculated to bring about the downfall of his team, but Matson knew best. It was the very daring of his methods, in many cases, that ensured their success.
Truly can it be said that no other man guided a team through stormy seas more cleverly, carefully, and shrewdly than Matson could do. There was another side to his character as leader. Matson did not believe in half measures. When he urged his men to victory he never gave any possible justification for misinterpretation. Players will tell that Matson's vigorous and candid urgings have won matches. He was an inspiration to the players; to them his every word was gospel. It is only men of personality who can achieve results in this way. It was control attained by the influence of a remarkable personality. The late Ivo Crapp, prince of umpires, and Matson had this trait in common.
Twenty years in WA
Matson came to Western Australia a young man. He was born near Adelaide, and, so far as can be recalled, his association with the game in this State—a connection that was to prove of such material benefit to the sport here—commenced when he linked up with a Claremont junior team soon after his arrival. He was also at West Perth for a very brief period, and then followed a visit of short duration to Bunbury. Thence he moved to the goldfields, where the game was thriving as the result of the influence of the many brilliant footballers who migrated there from the Eastern States following the discovery of gold.
Matson spent several years on the goldfields, and it was there that he blossomed into the champion that we all knew so well subsequently. However, the Sturt team in South Australia commanded a lot of influence in those times, and in order to strengthen its team it looked round in the other States for the men to effect this aim. A man named Dempsey was the big influence behind Sturt at that time, and the party of champions who rallied to Sturt's S.O.S. became known as "Dempsey's Immigrants." Vic Cumberland, the Victorian champion, was one of them, and from our own State went Phil Matson, ‘Diver’ Dunn, Ern Renfrey, and others.
It was about 1910 that Matson severed his connection with Sturt, and, returning to Western Austraila became one of the leading players of the now defunct North Fremantle League team. That district was justly proud of its footballers at that time, as they had an excellent team, among whom were the celebrated Jim Toohey, Billy Goddard, Joe Corkhill, and the McKenzies. Matson was already famous as a player, and all teams were anxious to secure his services. Subiaco had the luck to get him, and he stripped with that team continuously from 1912 to 1918. During that period Subiaco won three premierships, 1912, 1913, and 1915. Besides Matson, other great footballers then wearing the maroon livery were "Hubba" Limb, "Digger" Thomas, George Oakley, the Bushells, "Bruiser" Lang, Horrie Bant (who was injured with Matson), Billy Orr, Joe Scaddan, "Snowy" Ridd, and Harry Morgans. Matson was then at the peak of his form and his play was the talk of the Commonwealth.
Transfer to East Perth
In 1918 Matson became a member of the East Perth club, and he continued to be actively associated with that team to his death. Although approaching 40 years of age, he took the field with East Perth in the big games up to 1923, stationing himself in the forward lines, where his 'football brains' could be, and were, most usefully exercised in the interests of the team. All the time he filled the role of coach to East Perth, except in 1925 when he removed to Victoria. He took charge of a team at Castlemaine, and his accomplishments became so well recognised that if there had not been difficulties in the way of securing the appointment Matson would probably now be filling the role of coach to a Victorian League team which badly wanted and tried to get his services [Richmond appointed Matson coach for the 1926 season, only for his transfer request to be denied by the VFL].
It was lucky for East Perth that the hitch developed in those arrangements, because it is admitted that without him they would have been as a rudderless ship. Seven times since 1919 that team he been successful in winning the premiership, and no attempt is made to conceal the fact that the credit was largely Matson's. In token of their esteem the club unanimously voted him to life membership. Only last week Matson played a game with the Perth Sports. Service to sports
Phil Matson represented Western Australia in the carnivals of 1908, 1911, and 1914, being captain of the last mentioned team. So striking has been his success as a coach in the State that the controlling body sent him away with the carnival team of 1914 in that role, and re-appointed him for the carnival last year. These appointments again served to illustrate Matson's qualities as a leader.
Matson also achieved distinction as a swimmer, having won many championships in local waters some years ago, and having been a very capable exponent of breast-stroke swimming. It is tragic that football will know him no more, but there is a slight leavening of solace in the fact that the name will be carried on by two of his sons, Glen and Cliff, members of the Perth team, who bid fair to emulate the famous feats of their father.
Footnotes
Title: Phil Matson's tragic death: Story of his great sporting career Author: Mirror Staff Writer Publisher: Mirror (Perth, WA: 1921-1956) Date: Saturday 16 June 1928 p 4 Article Illustrated Web: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article76407647
Title: Was born leader: Great loss to football Author: Kudex Publisher: The Daily News (Perth, WA: 1882-1950) Date: Thursday 14 June 1928, Home (Final) edition p.5 Article Web: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79508650
Comments
Leo from Freo 7 June 2021
That's a brilliant article, befitting of its subject, the great Phil Matson.
Thank you very much for this.
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