2014 Round 12, Quarter time.

27th May Birthdays.

 

Wayne Carey 1971.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Kingsley Hunter, born 27th May 1975.

From 1995 to 1998 Kingsley played 41 games for Fremantle and kicked 86 goals. Though he was probably not the best 'reader' of the game he led well and had a physique which saw him win enough of the ball to be an effective full forward.

Footscray recruited him in 1999 to hopefully give them a high scoring full forward.  he was with them until the end of 2002 and played 57 games for 28 goals.

Due to a lacklustre year in 1999 he was moved to the back line for 2000 and did well.  2001 saw him back in the forward line then in 2003 he made an unexpected move to Hawthorn.

His career basically fizzled out as injury saw him play only 2 games in his 1 year there for a 1 goal return.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

 

Subiaco Football Club.

The Subiaco Football Club was incorporated in 1896 and until 1900 played as a First Rate Junior side and had some premiership success.

In 1901 they were admitted to the Western Australian State League and up until 1911 they finished last or second last every year.

Their fortunes turned around in 1912 when they won their first WASL Premiership. They followed this up with another in 1913 and a third in 1915.

Winning a fourth flag in 1924 they then had to wait until 1973 for another. They had played in 3 grand finals during the early 1930’s but lost them all.  Part of the reason for this could be the fact that they lost a lot of players during that time.

In 1938 they recruited triple Brownlow medallist Haydn Bunton as captain coach, along with another couple of VFL players, in a hope to field a ‘champion team’.  This of course did not eventuate, but Bunton did win 3 Sandover medals in his time with the club.

1968 saw the arrival of Haydn Bunton Jr as playing coach. Whilst they did not win a premiership under him it was his example and leadership that changed the attitude of the players and returned them to a top team.

Other Premierships came in 1986, ’88, 2004, ’06, ’07 and ’08 – 11 in all.

Some notable players to join VFL/AFL ranks from Subiaco include Bighton Diggins, Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer, Mike Fitzpatrick, Peter Featherby, Dwayne Lamb, Mark Zanotti, Karl Langdon and Drew Banfield.

Source: Subiaco Football Club web site.

3 x 10 at Fitzroy.

Len Wigraft was with Fitroy from 1917 to 1927 and wore the number 10 guernsey from 1922.  He played 135 games for the club and kicked 41 goals.

He was a close checking follower who had a big body and football smarts. During his time the club were in 3 grand finals for 1 flag.

An 8 time Victorian representative, he won Fitzroy’s Best and Fairest in 1920, 1924 and 1925.

Vin Williams played 93 games for the ‘Roys between 1952 and 1959 and scored 7 goals.

He was a fair player and was used mainly on the wing. Vin played for Victoria in 1954.

Laurie Serafini, real name Lorenzo, kicked 9 goals in 146 matches between 1977 and 1985.

Starting in the forward line he actually found his niche in the back half and was a more than capable player.

He was moved to the full back position but eventually settled on a half back flank where he was able to move around more and clear the ball down the ground.

In 1983 he played for Victoria against South Australia and also played for the state B side twice.

Source: AFL tables and The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

 

VFA & EARLY CLUBS.

By the early 1860’s actual football clubs were becoming more common with the main clubs at that time being Melbourne, South Yarra, St Kilda, Richmond, Emerald Hill (which became South Melbourne), Prahran, University and Collingwood. Some of these teams are not those of the same name in the current competition.

By 1877 people realised that there needed to be a central body to help organise and control the competition and so the VFA was formed on 7^th May 1877.

At that time the association was split into two divisions with the senior clubs being Carlton, Melbourne, Hotham (which became North Melbourne), Albert Park and St Kilda. Geelong also played against these clubs, though it was not officially recognised as a senior club until 1878.

Some of the junior clubs were Essendon, Hawthorn (not current club, as it was disbanded in 1888) and South Melbourne.  Essendon and West Melbourne became senior clubs in 1878 and South Melbourne in 1879.

By this time there had developed a gap between the richer, more prosperous clubs and their ‘poor neighbours’, so some of the clubs got together and decided to form another competition and the VFL came into existence in 1897. 

The breakaway clubs were Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne, St Kilda and Collingwood. Meanwhile the VFA were left with Richmond, Port Melbourne, North Melbourne, Footscray and Williamstown, some of which eventually made their way into the VFL.

For a number of years there were attempts for the two groups to work side by side but there was always some ill feeling and eventually the VFL became the more well supported competition.

Source: A National Game & More Than A Game.