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Some Interesting WAFL Finals History
Compiled by WAFL Historian Steve Davies
Although football dates back to 1885 in WA, finals did not always decide the
winners. Before 1904 the team finishing on top at the end of the season were
declared premiers.
Two
finals were played on the same day back on September 10th 1904, East Fremantle
beat North Fremantle at Fremantle Oval and West Perth defeated Perth at the
WACA in the first of 393 finals matches so far played. Two incidents of note in
the first ever finals series in 1904 are as follows...
In the
East Fremantle v North Fremantle final North were forced to play the second
half with only 17 men after Fitzpatrick had to leave the field with a broken
collarbone after collision with East Fremantle’s Forrest E. Palmer.
In the
1904 Final - the "premiership decider" - East Fremantle 12.11 beat Perth 3.7
despite Perth having 20 more free kicks than East Fremantle. During this match
it was reported that Mr Thomas Kennedy, a well known traveller and brother of
one of the Perth players had a heart attack and later died.
The
term "Grand Final" was not used until 1931. It was in this year that the
present method of deciding premiers (known as the Page System) was adopted.
The
Page system is named after VFL delegate Percy Page who steered it through
legislation. It was actually the brain-child of a young Melbourne solicitor
named McIntyre and it was, for a short time, known as the Page / McIntyre
system.
Who
has umpired the most WA finals? Ivo Crapp, who umpired 147 VFL matches (1897 -
1905) before coming West, officiated in a record 33 WA Finals (1906-1919) - A
remarkable achievement. Frank O'Connor is next best with 28 WA Finals and Ross
Capes has 25 finals to his credit. East Perth's 1925 Sandover Medallist George
"Staunch" Owens umpired 20 finals matches and is the only other person to have
umpired 20 or more finals in WA.
Only
seven times in the history of the WAFL finals has the minor premiers failed to
make the grand final. East Fremantle in 1932 and 1936, Subiaco in 1943, South
Fremantle in 1955 and 1983, Perth 1963 and Claremont in 1979.
Only 8
finals have been decided by one point since - and only one since 1938. What
about the 1936 finals then? In 1936 East Perth (coached by former East
Fremantle player, Jerry Dolan) became the first team to win the Premiership
from 4th place. On the way to the Grand Final they had defeated Subiaco and
East Fremantle both by a single point in their respective finals. In the East
Fremantle match - East Fremantle had lead East Perth by 13 points with 5
minutes to go but luck was on East Perth’s side that year.
There
have been 5 drawn finals - the last being the 1989 1st Semi final between East
Fremantle and West Perth.
Which
Club has played in the most Finals? East Fremantle head the list with a total
of 176 finals (1904-2001). They have so far won 99 finals and will be eager to
record their 100th final win this year. They have drawn 3 finals (including the
1905 and 1938 Grand Finals - but lost both replays).
East
Perth with 114 finals matches played is next closest and their tally of 60
finals wins (Under-Age years 1942-1944 included) is also second best.
South Fremantle are third and would love to get the chance to "go one
better". From 109 Finals they have 54 wins & 54 losses with one match ending
in a draw.
It was
50 years ago that the lowest score in a 1st semi final was kicked, this being
East Perth’s 6.7 (43) when beaten by Claremont.
The
highest score in any final is still Swan Districts 28.13 (181) in the 1980
preliminary final defeating East Perth 15.15 (105)
And
the biggest win in a final? That was in 1959 when Subiaco kicked 16.8 to
Perth's one behind in the 3rd quarter of the 1st Semi Final to record a huge
129 point win.
What
about finals goals? George Doig holds many goal kicking records for East
Fremantle. here's another one. George Doig's tally of 82 is a long way ahead of
any other East Fremantle player when it comes to kicking goals in finals. His
nearest rival is Big Bob Johnson with 37 goals and Neil Lester-Smith runs third
with 33 goals in finals. |
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