Australian Football

Bert Renfrey’s name is forever associated in the minds of South Australian football fans with arguably the greatest achievement in the state’s entire football history: the emphatic 1911 Adelaide carnival win. Renfrey it was who captained the croweaters during that series, the highlight of a varied career that saw him involved in senior football in four states.

Born in South Australia, Ethelbert Luxmore Renfrey made his league football debut with North Adelaide, aged just 16, in 1895. He spent four seasons with the red and whites before moving to Norwood, where a series of eye-catching performances earned him his inter-colonial debut against the VFL in 1899. Two years later he was on the move again, this time to West Broken Hill, which at the time boasted arguably the strongest club side outside the three major football states.¹ After playing in West Broken Hill premiership sides in 1901 and 1903,[2]Renfrey headed west, initially to Kalgoorlie, where he spent the 1904 season playing for Boulder City, and then, after accepting a contract to play for West Perth for two seasons, to the coast.

The Cardinals, who were captained by another South Australian in Bill Plunkett, had a very strong team at this time, and in Renfrey’s first season they won the flag after overcoming East Fremantle in a replayed Grand Final. Renfrey attracted much acclaim for the quality of his performances: he was speedy - twice running second in the Stawell Gift - gutsy and skilful, and could handle a variety of positions. In 1906 he was widely regarded as the most accomplished player in the competition, and West Perth sorely missed him when he was forced to drop out of the Grand Final team against East Fremantle because of injury. Old Easts won with ease. 

The following year Bert Renfrey headed back east for a season in the VFL with St Kilda. Once again, he came under notice for some fine performances as he helped the Saints to qualify for the VFL major round for the first ever time, but he was unable to prevent a substantial loss to eventual premier Carlton in a Semi Final. An attractive offer from West Broken Hill saw Renfrey back there in 1908, although he returned to Melbourne midway through the year as a member of the New South Wales state side which competed at the Melbourne carnival. It was while he was at the carnival that he was approached by Arthur Thomas from Sturt who was endeavouring to attract proven footballers to his club using the best bait possible - the promise of employment and accommodation, courtesy of club benefactor John Dempsey.

The 1909 season saw Renfrey at Unley Oval as one of a group of players quickly dubbed ‘Dempsey’s Immigrants’. Other members of the group included Harry Cumberland (St Kilda), Albert Heinrichs (East Fremantle), Phil Matson (Boulder City), Francis ‘Driver’ Dunne (South Fremantle), Joe Bushell (North Fremantle) and the South Melbourne pair of Percy Champion and Alphonse Wood. All were to prove instrumental in varying measure in lifting Sturt out of the doldrums, but it was to be Renfrey who would leave the most enduring legacy.

Captain of the club from his debut season until 1913, Renfrey also coached the side from 1910-13. Inspirational and dashing, he was one of the first players selected in South Australian state teams during this period, making a total of 11 appearances in all, and his tremendous performances during the 1911 carnival were a significant factor in the home state’s ultimate success.

Renfrey’s Sturt career ended in acrimonious fashion during a 1913 season that began spectacularly for the Blues who topped the ladder after round six with 5 wins. However, when they succumbed to a fast finishing West Adelaide side by 11 points a couple of weeks later the knives were suddenly out for the Sturt skipper, whom some teammates accused of ‘playing dead’. The matter was not finally resolved until after the following week’s match against North Adelaide, which featured a number of heated on field exchanges between Renfrey and several of his team mates. After the match, which Sturt lost by seven points, a fight broke out between Renfrey and one of his fellow ‘Immigrants’, Albert Heinrichs. The encounter was fierce, prolonged, but ultimately inconclusive. However, it had the effect of convincing the committee that Renfrey had lost the loyalty of his troops, and so he was replaced as captain by Murray Brannigan. 

When Sturt finally broke through for its inaugural league premiership a couple of seasons later, Bert Renfrey, the man who had arguably done more than anyone else to steer the club on an ascendant course, was no longer involved. His final contribution to league football came with a brief pre-World War I stint as coach of South Adelaide.

Over a century after his retirement as a player, Bert Renfrey’s significance in the history of the Sturt Football Club was officially recognised by his inclusion in the club’s ‘Team of the Century’.

Author - John Devaney