Australian Football

Englishman Marty Atkins was a key feature of the football landscape at South Fremantle for over a decade. Recruited from Kwinana, the 189 cm, 92 kg Atkins was a former soccer goalkeeper whose determination and adaptability made him equally adept in key positions at either end of the ground. His promise was immediately recognised when he was awarded the Arthur Hankinson ‘Player of the Future’ Medal at the end of his debut season with the Bulldogs in 1990. Tough and resilient, Atkins embraced few frills in his approach to the game but was almost invariably effective.

First chosen to represent Western Australia in 1992, Atkins made a total of 6 appearances for his state in an era when interstate representative football was in decline. After the 1993 state league clash with South Australia at Subiaco, a game which Western Australia won by 24 points, he was awarded the Simpson Medal as best afield. A policeman, he also represented the Western Australian police team at a number of interstate carnivals, gaining All Australian selection several times. By the time of his retirement he had played a total of 266 WAFL games, breaking a long standing club record held by Tom Grljusich.

The highlight of Atkins’ career came in 1997 when he was one of his team’s best players in an emotionally charged come-from-behind grand final victory over perennial arch rivals East Fremantle. Two years later in South Freo’s centenary season, Atkins was controversially forced to miss the Bulldogs’ premiership showdown with West Perth when he incurred a suspension following an apparently innocuous incident in the second semi final game against the same club. Without his experience and steadying influence, the Bulldogs narrowly lost a match they might otherwise have won.

Author - John Devaney