Australian Football

Stan Patten joined West Torrens from the Cornwall Football Club in 1913 and was a prominent league ruckman on either side of world war one. He also played for Torrens in the patriotic competition which ran between 1916 and 1918 when the SAFL went into recess owing to the war. In 1918 he captain-coached the side to a patriotic league premiership courtesy of a Grand Final win over West Adelaide.

When full scale league football resumed in 1919 Patten continued as club captain under the coaching of his former pre-war team mate Bert Filsell, and the pair spent three seasons working together to lay the foundations of Torrens’ first ever senior premiership in 1924 (although Patten had been retired as a player for two years by the time of the triumph). 

Always a commanding and assured on-field presence, Stan Patten was chosen to represent South Australia at the 1914 Sydney carnival, when it seems probable that he played in all five of the state’s matches. (Unfortunately, however, this cannot be definitively proved as team sheets for the series are no longer extant.) His career with Torrens comprised 78 games and saw him kick 58 goals.

Author - John Devaney