Australian Football

Williamstown

Williamstown Football Club was established in 1864, but for two decades the club was only adjudged worthy of junior status. This changed thanks to a combination of improved performances during the early 1880s, and the ambitious zeal of the club’s committee, notably its energetic secretary Duncan McLeod. Achieving senior rating in the Victorian Football Association in 1884, Williamstown went on to become the competition’s longest serving,[1] if not quite most successful, club.

Its greatest era came during the 1950s when it engaged in numerous memorable tussles with perennial rivals Port Melbourne, more often than not emerging on the winning side, at any rate when it really counted. Indeed, the three year period between 1954 and 1956 was, as far as Town supporters are concerned, the closest thing to heaven on earth imaginable. Each year the grand final pitted Williamstown against the Borough; each year the Borough were heavily favoured to win; and each year Williamstown defied the odds to claim the flag.

In 1954 Port Melbourne defeated Williamstown in a low scoring second semi final by two straight kicks, but a fortnight later it was a different story entirely as the Seagulls controlled the game throughout to win by 32 points, 11.20 (86) to 7.12 (54). The first ruck dominance of Harry Simpson, Reg Fisher and Alby Linton was the principal key to Williamstown’s victory.

The following season saw Williamstown take the long route to the grand final, overcoming Moorabbin in the first semi final by 15 points and Preston by 9 points in the preliminary final. Popular opinion has it that teams which are victorious in the second semi final automatically acquire an advantage in that, come grand final day, they are likely to be fresher than their opponents. However, this was most emphatically not the case in 1955 as Port Melbourne led at every change by 36, 14 and 25 points only to be completely overrun when the stakes were raised during the last quarter. Final scores were Williamstown 13.19 (97) to Port Melbourne 13.10 (88) with versatile skipper Gerry Callahan and 6 goal rover Alby Linton[2] leading the way. Maurie Gear, Max Munday and John Martin were among many other Seagulls players to do well.

If any doubt still remained that Williamstown ‘had the wood’ on Port it was dispelled the following year after another resounding ‘come from behind’ grand final victory. The Borough led for all but the last twenty minutes of the game, but once the Seagulls got their noses - or should that be beaks? - in front there was no containing them as they surged to victory by 4 clear goals. Williamstown full forward Alan McPherson kicked a match-winning bag of 6.4, while centre half forward Ken Reed and rover Alby Linton were other conspicuous performers. A slump to third place in 1957 interrupted what might otherwise have developed into a record breaking sequence of six consecutive premierships.

The 1958 season brought a restoration of normality as the Seagulls survived a second semi final loss to Moorabbin - having previously also succumbed to that club in both minor round meetings - to qualify for the grand final in the most satisfying way imaginable, via a 22 point preliminary final defeat of Port Melbourne.

Williamstown appeared sluggish during the opening term of the grand final and changed ends 28 points in arrears. Thereafter, however, they outscored Moorabbin 6.14 (50) to 3.4 (22) to snatch a draw, but the consensus was that they had had sufficient control of the football to have won. In the following week’s replay the Seagulls carried on where they had left off, with only some erratic kicking for goal preventing a massacre. Even so, they had forged ahead to the tune of 67 points by the final change, and although the Kangaroos finished with something of a flourish they were never remotely in the hunt. Final scores were Williamstown 13.18 (96) to 8.16 (64), with centreman John Martin and ruckman and captain Gerry Callahan starring.

The Seagulls maintained their momentum the following year and finished off the ‘50s in style with a 15.21 (111) to 11.10 (76) grand final mauling of Coburg after the Lions had led by 13 points at three quarter time. Rovers George Mazouris and Darryl Ward, centreman Ray Smith and 7 goal spearhead Ray Cullinan were the chief driving forces behind Williamstown’s win.

As a new decade dawned Williamstown was undeniably the VFA’s leading club, but things had not always been so rosy. During the club’s early years the competition was dominated by the clubs which would eventually comprise the VFL,[3] with Williamstown’s best effort in its first thirteen seasons being a third place finish in 1888. Even after the defection of the VFL contingent in 1897 success did not automatically materialise, and premierships, when they did finally start to arrive, only did so intermittently.

Williamstown’s first flag was procured in 1907 by means of a 7.10 (52) to 3.16 (34) defeat of reigning premiers West Melbourne. The key to the victory was Town’s irrepressible opening term burst when they booted 4.4 to 0.2 with stand in skipper Ted Alley, rover Gibbs and full forward Briggs leading the way.

Williamstown had to wait until 1921 for another tilt at the premiership. Fourth after the home and away rounds they became the first VFA side to achieve a flag from that position when they overcame perennial finalist Footscray in both the final and the challenge final. The two teams actually confronted one another over three consecutive Saturdays as the final was initially abandoned at three quarter time with Williamstown enjoying a 4 points advantage. It was just as tight the following week, with Town’s eventual margin of victory a mere 3 points, but this was increased to 3 goals in the decisive challenge final.

Footscray achieved their revenge when the two sides next met in a premiership decider three years later, winning 11.11 (77) to 3.4 (22) before departing the fold, along with Hawthorn and North Melbourne, to embark on a new career in Australia’s premier football competition, the Victorian Football League.

Williamstown’s fortunes over the following decade and a half were not nearly so exalted as they failed to contest the finals in all bar one of the next fourteen seasons, culminating in the ultimate indignity of a wooden spoon in 1938.

The following year, however, brought a classic ‘rags to riches’ scenario as Williamstown astounded everyone by going top. VFA football was close to its twentieth century zenith at this point with a huge crowd of 48,238 turning up at the MCG for the grand final, in which unfancied Williamstown was pitted against reigning premiers - and raging hot favourites - Brunswick. The first half of the game saw most pundits’ expectations seemingly being realised as Brunswick established a comfortable 22 point advantage, but in the third term the Seagulls came roaring back to overhaul the deficit and go into the last quarter with a 10 point lead. The closing stanza was fiercely contested but Williamstown, with centreman George Fitch and ruckmen Matt Cave and Bill Spokes in dominant form, held on to win by 9 points.

In 1940 Williamstown boasted one of the strongest forward lines in VFA history, but despite Harry ‘Soapy’ Vallence kicking 111 majors for the season and Ron Todd 99, they surprisingly only finished third.

The first post-war grand final in 1945 saw the Seagulls back on the winners’ rostrum with a 16.21 (117) to 10.20 (80) defeat of arch rivals Port Melbourne. First year half forward Geoff Spring was Town’s best, followed by full back Reg Ryan, half back flanker Arthur Cutting and wingman Norm Chisholm.

Williamstown’s next grand final appearance came in 1948 but Brighton proved too strong. However, the following year the Seagulls made the most of comparatively limited scoring opportunities to down Oakleigh on grand final day by 3 points. Final scores were Williamstown 10.5 (65) to Oakleigh 8.14 (62) with Williamstown’s aerial supremacy coming to the fore at critical stages during the match.

Williamstown began the 1950s slowly but after claiming third place in 1953 they were poised for one of the most concerted eras of success in VFA history, as described earlier.

During the 1960s, after a comparatively bright start - third place in 1960, and runners up in 1961 and 1964 - this invincibility disappeared. In 1967 the Seagulls were relegated to second division where they remained for two seasons, losing the 1968 grand final at that level to Geelong West before beating Sunshine the following year. A first division grand final appearance in 1970 (lost to Prahran by 50 points) flattered to deceive and when the Seagulls next contested a grand final six years later it was back in second division. Thankfully, however, the Seagulls ended up on the right side of the ledger this time, defeating Mordialloc comfortably by 57 points. The win was sweet revenge for the occasion earlier in the season when Mordialloc had kicked an all time record score of 34.12 (216) at Williamstown’s home ground.

The Seagulls’ real return to ascendancy had to wait another decade, however, and when it finally came it was more often a case of frustration than fulfilment, reminiscent in some ways of Port Melbourne’s fortunes in the 1950s. In the eight seasons between 1985 and 1992 the Seagulls appeared in all bar two grand finals,[4] winning two and losing four.

When the VFL was transformed into a feeder league for the Australian Football League in 2000 Williamstown, along with Werribee, initially aligned themselves with the Western Bulldogs. However, after just one season of this arrangement the Seagulls opted out, and entered into a unilateral alignment with Collingwood. As with all such arrangements there would, almost inevitably, be one or two initial teething problems, but at the time there seemed absolutely no reason to suppose that the liaison between two of Australia’s proudest clubs[5] should not go on to be both long-standing and fruitful.

Such an expectation was given partial credence as early as 2003 when the Seagulls overcame Box Hill in the VFL grand final in front of a crowd of 10,000 at Optus Oval. Veteran Adrian Fletcher won the Norm Goss Memorial Medal as best afield. In 2004, however, the team endured a premiership hangover of gargantuan proportions, with a total of just 6 wins from 18 matches consigning it to a distant tenth place on the ladder. There was marginal improvement in 2005, but a 7-11 record still failed to procure finals participation. Much better was to follow, however, as in 2006 the Seagulls developed into a bona fide premiership threat, qualifying for the finals in fourth place with an 11-7 record, before comfortably overcoming minor premier Northern Bullants in a qualifying final. This result earned Williamstown a preliminary final encounter with Geelong, but after a hard fought game it was the Cats who prevailed by 27 points. However, after a couple of mediocre seasons it seemed the Seagulls were once again a force to be contended with, an impression reinforced in 2007 when they again comfortably reached the finals, only to bow out of premiership contention, just as in 2006, at the preliminary final stage.

With Victorian football set to undergo yet another restructuring exercise at the end of the 2007 season, Collingwood and Williamstown announced that they would be dissolving their seven year old partnership forthwith. The Magpies subsequently indicated that they wished to field a standalone team in the VFL from 2008, while the Seagulls made it known that they were keen to enter into another partnership arrangement with one of Melbourne’s AFL clubs. Few people were therefore surprised when, at the beginning of October, it was announced that Williamstown had agreed a three year alignment deal with the Western Bulldogs.

As things turned out Williamstown remained aligned with the Western Bulldogs for six seasons with their best performance coming in 2011 when they lost the grand final to Port Melbourne by 56 points. They also won the 2011 Foxtel Cup thanks to a 21 point defeat of Claremont in the final. Three years later a second Foxtel Cup went Williamstown's way following a 10.11 (71) to 1.2 (8) grand final annihilation of West Perth. Since 2014 the Seagulls have been a standalone club and they achieved noteworthy premiership success in 2015. In front of 12,900 spectators at Etihad Stadium they led at every change of the grand final en route to an 18.12 (120) to 8.18 (66) triumph over Box Hill Hawks. The Seagulls' performance was characterised by "slick ball movement and slingshot-like play"[6] with on-baller Michael Gibbons accumulating 28 possessions to win the Norm Goss Medal for best afield. Williamstown's victory was all the more laudable given that all of its players were part-timers.

Williamstown again qualified for the VFL finals in 2016 when they got as far as a preliminary final. Casey Scorpions had the Seagulls' measure, however, and romped home by 7 goals, 12.13 (85) to 5.13 (43). A year later the Seagulls topped the ladder after the home and away rounds and began their finals campaign promisingly with an 18.10 (118) to 11.7 (73) qualifying final defeat of Casey Demons.[7] However, that was as good as it got as thereafter the wheels inexplicably sent off with Williamstown succumbing to an 8.11 (59) to 12.10 (82) preliminary final loss at the hands of eventual premiers Port Melbourne. The 2018 season came to an end at the same stage, albeit that the Seagulls fell short by only a single point against eventual premiers Box Hill.