Australian Football

Known as ‘Squeaker’ because of his high-pitched voice, ruckman Alex Clarke was arguably Perth’s greatest player during the club’s first decade, an assertion that was seemingly endorsed in 1999 when he was the only pre-World War I player selected in the club’s official ‘Team of the Twentieth Century’. 

He was a member of the club’s first ever WAFA line-up against Fremantle on 15 July 1899, and was rated close to best afield in a three-point loss. When the red and blacks broke through for a premiership with a controversial Grand Final victory over East Fremantle in 1907, Clarke was again one of the foremost players on view. By the time of his retirement in 1912, he had played 161 senior games, only one short of the club record held by teammate Rex Cherry. 

There is little doubt that ‘Squeaker’ Clarke would have been a regular interstate footballer had Western Australia engaged in such contests more regularly during the course of his career. In 1909 he was the fifth person and the first player to be made a life member of the Perth Football Club.

Author - John Devaney