Australian Football

Nicknamed ‘Stork’, East Fremantle’s Jack Clarke belied his somewhat ungainly appearance with supreme agility and formidable ball skills. Moreover, in an era boasting many high quality knock ruckmen Clarke had few peers in the role. His battles with East Perth's champion, 'Polly' Farmer became the stuff of legend.

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Jack Clarke’s many playing achievements, which included a Sandover Medal in 1957 and selection in no fewer than four All Australian teams, appear all the more remarkable in light of the fact that he played his entire ten season, 206 game career as an amateur. 

He was hotly pursued by a number of VFL clubs but later maintained “I was never interested in going to Victoria. I was West Australian. Loyalty was most important in that era. No one shifted clubs or went to Victoria. The thing that induces players to change clubs is money - there wasn’t any about when I played.”¹

Always quintessentially a team-orientated player, the highlights of Clarke’s career were the five East Fremantle Grand Finals in which he participated (albeit for only one flag), and the 1961 Brisbane carnival in which Western Australia unexpectedly reigned supreme. He retired the next year, in 1962, going back to his farm.

Author - John Devaney