Victorian Soccer Season Files - 1932

1932 saw Footscray Thistle claim the Victorian championship for a fifth (and final) time. They did it in emphatic style as well, remaining unbeaten in claiming the league and Dockerty Cup double. They scored an impressive 80 goals in their 14 league games, Jock Lyons leading the league goalscoring charts with 34, 20 more than it took him to claim that honour the previous season when he was with Brunswick.

                                                 Click on images to enlarge


It would prove to be the high point of the club's history, a fifth state title going alongside a fifth Dockerty Cup win and a third time the club had completed the double. They would prove to be the club's last major triumphs, a gradual decline and the shrinking of the game during the Second World War seeing them play their last ever game in 1940.

The V.A.S.F.A. Metropolitan League comprised of 4 senior and 2 reserves divisions in 1932. The Fourth Division contained a few reserves sides of some Third Division clubs, and was reduced to just 6 teams when one of those, Glenroy A, and the Preston third team (playing as Preston B) withdrew in the early stages of the season.

Royal Caledonians A won the First Division Reserves League and Preston A won the Second Division Reserves League. The emerging Hakoah side won their way into the top flight.

The Carrick Cup, also known as the Inter-Association Cup, saw Wonthaggi defeat the Metropolis 2-0 in the replayed Final after an initial 3-3 draw.

Establishing all the league results was not without it's challenges. Some were missing, but able to be calculated by comparing league tables, which thankfully were published regularly in the papers. There were spanners in the works such as the major papers publishing a score of Nobels 4 Caulfield 3 when only the match report in the Sunshine Advocate revealed the scoreline was the wrong way around. There was also a Third Division game which must have been the subject of dispute and protest, as it was clearly replayed again later in the season. Finally, the tables published at the end of season contained errors when compared to the known results and earlier published tables. For instance the penultimate table in Division One showed Footscray Thistle on 71 goals for. The next week, in the same column as the scoreline of their 9-1 win over Brighton (and with goalscorers named to account for 9 goals) the table lists them as having scored 79 for the season.

So here it is:

1932 Victorian Season File  

Boo Reviews Some Yearbooks

Some more old VASFA and VSF Yearbooks have been scanned and uploaded to the Yearbooks & Annuals archive, and I thought I'd discuss their relative merits in a blog post.

Not a VSF Yearbook, the 1968 Victorian Soccer Yearbook

1968 Victorian Soccer Yearbook

Although a VSF product, this is not the actual VSF Yearbook for that year which can be found here.

It is basically a laws of the game booklet with last season's tables thrown in. Maybe they gave them out to schools for promotion/publicity, but even today I wouldn't waste thirty cents on it.

It cost shillings and pence, the 1959 VASFA Yearbook

1959 VASFA Yearbook

VASFA emblem on the cover, a lion and a kangaroo around a football with a crown on it. You could buy Stanley Matthews brand boots and balls in Queen Street. Good solid yearbook, list of VASFA officials and fixture list all nice. Slight shame the players are not identified in the picture of the previous year's State League Champions. Tables perfect, great results grids and cup charts. Slight let down with the list of champions, it's a shame Cup finals don't have further details as in scorers and line-ups. Some reasonable history with lists of previous champions and tours results. A quality production.

Here comes another one, just like the other one, the 1960 VASFA Yearbook

1960 VASFA Yearbook

Very similar to the previous year's version. The pic of the previous year's champion was ditched, and profiles of the leading officials was added. A good historical record.

It's a little bit different, but not in a good way, the 1966 VSF Yearbook

1966 VSF Yearbook

Cover photo is nice, Mike Jurecki of Victoria taking on Torpedo Moscow. Lists of officials and fixtures are all there, as well as additional editorial content with plenty of club profiles an a few photos. It fails to pass muster as a paper of record though, with the results grids and tables on covering the State League and Metropolitan League seniors only. No Cup charts, or even a list of winners, no state team match details, no reserves tables and no junior tables. G.T.Edgar, you are/were a fraud. Not fit to shine Stuart Beaton's shoes.

Gold on the cover but not enough gold, the 1970 VSF Yearbook

1970 VSF Yearbook

Nice action shot on the cover, but sadly the Hakoah and Hellas players aren't identified. Tables still unsatisfactory, none for reserves, the District League or the juniors, but some from interstate and country leagues. Cup charts are back, as are state team match details. Passable.

As old as me, the 1972 VSF Yearbook

1972 VSF Yearbook

Another unidentified player on the cover. Tables issue improving, with reserves, thirds and the District League back in the fold and only the juniors lacking. Cup charts and state team details all there, now with a review of all the State League clubs and a piece on the Argus Medal winner. There are team pics from state team games, again sadly unlabelled. Improving.

Entering the vintage era, the 1975 VSF Yearbook

1975 VSF Yearbook

Cover photo, with the team identified on page 8. What is this sorcery? Fixtures - even the Industrial League is included. Tables - seniors, reserves, thirds, District League and Provisional League. Only junior table included is an Under 20's league though. Gone - State League club reviews, results grids and state team details. Plenty of Cup charts though. On the verge of the Golden Age that was the 1977 and 1978 editions.

Sporting Life's All-Australians

The following piece owes a great deal to George Cotsanis, who is behind the brilliant My World Is Round Facebook page. It began when he went through the memorabilia collection of Moreland legend Eric Heath and discovered a trophy for "All-Australian Selection" in 1952. An accompanying letter revealed the monthly sporting magazine Sporting Life selected a team. He then embarked on a  search of the Sporting Life archives at the MCC Library and uncovered the full set of All-Australian squads for all the football codes between 1947 and 1955.

You will note some years merely had the player's state mentioned, some years would also feature their club. I've since researched all the current clubs of the selected players, as well as expanding on the custom of the time of simply using an initial and surname by uncovering all the christian names of the squads.

The selector shows a heavy bias towards New South Wales. In the inaugural 1947 squad the only interstate player is Queensland's Bob Lawrie, who played for Leichhardt-Annandale in the NSW competition that year. He would be selected a further four times upon his return to Queensland. There also seems to be a bias against the great Reg Date, selected just twice.

The full list is:

1947

Norman Conquest (North Shore/NSW), Joe Marston (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Cec Drummond (Metters/NSW), Dave Coote (Adamstown/NSW), Bob Lawrie (Leichhardt-Annandale/QLD), Kevin O'Neill (Cessnock/NSW), Charlie Stewart (Lysaghts/NSW), Jim Cunningham (Wollongong-Bulli/NSW), Reg Date (Canterbury-Bankstown/NSW), Ron Hughes (Metters/NSW), Ray Marshall (Granville/NSW)

1948

Ken Hough (Drummoyne/NSW), Joe Marston (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Cec Drummond (Metters/NSW), Bob Bignall (Corrimal/NSW), Dave Coote (Adamstown/NSW), Robert Murray (Canterbury-Bankstown/NSW), Ernie Kemp (Lake Macquarie/NSW), Allan Johns (Adamstown/NSW), Frank Parsons (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Ron Hughes (Canterbury-Bankstown/NSW), Wally Cansick (Thistle/QLD).

1949

Jim Jenkins (Woonona/NSW), Joe Marston (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Cec Drummond (Drummoyne/NSW), Bob Lawrie (Bundamba Rovers/QLD), Bill Wilson (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Bob Bignall (Corrimal/NSW), George Sanders (Granville/NSW), Allan Johns (Adamstown/NSW), Gordon Nunn (St Helens/QLD), Jock McMahon (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Alec Barr (Brighton/VIC).

1950

Norman Conquest (Metters-Canterbury/NSW), Kevin O'Neill (Cessnock/NSW), Cec Drummond (Drummoyne/NSW), Bob Lawrie (Bundamba Rovers/QLD), Tom Jack (Brighton/VIC), Bob Young (Granville/NSW), Eric Hulme (Granville/NSW), Allan Johns (Adamstown/NSW), Gordon Nunn (St Helens/QLD), Frank Parsons (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Harry Robertson (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW).

1951

Ron Lord (Auburn/NSW), Doug Wendt (Adamstown/NSW), Kevin O'Neill (Cessnock/NSW), Bob Bignall (Corrimal/NSW), Norm Rowlands (Granville/NSW), Bob Lawrie (Bundamba Rovers/QLD), Jock McMahon (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Eric Hulme (Granville/NSW), Sammy North (Mayfield United/NSW), Frank Parsons (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Harry Robertson (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW).

1952

Bill Mahoney (Adamstown/NSW), Eric Heath (Moreland/VIC), Frento Mouchka (Hakoah/VIC), Bob Bignall (Corrimal/NSW), Kevin O'Neill (Cessnock/NSW), Angus Drennan (Sunshine United/VIC), Charlie Stewart (Woonona/NSW), Reg Date (Wallsend/NSW), Gordon Nunn (Corinthians/QLD), Jock Cummings (Port Adelaide/SA), Malcolm Wild (Corinthians/QLD).

1953

Bill Henderson (Granville/NSW), Cliff Almond (Cessnock/NSW), Doug Wendt (Auburn/NSW), Bob Lawrie (Bulimba/QLD), Pat Clarke (Hakoah/VIC), Kevin O'Neill (Cessnock/NSW), Charlie Stewart (Woonona/NSW), Jack Lennard (Mayfield United/NSW), Alan Garside (Granville/NSW), Malcolm Wild (Corinthians/QLD), Harry Robertson (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW).

1954

Bill Henderson (Granville/NSW), Jack Mather (Adelaide Juventus/SA), Kevin O'Neill (Cessnock/NSW), Ron Adair (Maccabeans/WA), Tom Jack (Hakoah/VIC), Bob Young (Corrimal/NSW), Charlie Stewart (Woonona/NSW), Harry Rice (Hakoah/VIC), Ken Learmonth (Corrimal/NSW), Malcolm Wild (Eastern Suburbs/QLD), Harry Robertson (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW).

1955

Bill Henderson (Granville/NSW), Cliff Almond (Cessnock/NSW), Bill Wilson (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Eric Duff (Balgownie/NSW), Joe Marston (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Cliff Sander (St Helens/QLD), Frank Laughran (Moreland/VIC), Syd Thomas (Hakoah/VIC), Don Hodgson (Victoria Colts/VIC), Jock McMahon (Leichhardt-Annandale/NSW), Ray Neal (Canterbury/NSW).

Most All-Australian Selections:

6: Kevin O'Neill

5: Bob Lawrie

4: Cec Drummond, Harry Robertson, Joe Marston, Charlie Stewart, Bob Bignall, 

3: Allan Johns, Frank Parsons, Gordon Nunn, Jock McMahon, Malcolm Wild, Bill Henderson

Most Selections by Club:

17: Leichhardt-Annandale

10: Granville

8: Cessnock

7: Adamstown

6: Corrimal

5: Hakaoh (Melbourne)

Selections by State:

72: New South Wales

13: Queensland

11: Victoria

2: South Australia

1: Western Australia

Random Pictures

Did a bit of tidying up of the old hard drive, and noticed I really do have a lot of pictures stored. Most are pretty ordinary, but some are worth sharing.

R.I.P. old scoreboard at Lakeside (Bob Jane) Stadium

It may not have been a glittering career, but it had it's moments.

Club members building the foundations of the new rooms at Bastow Oval, to become Kevin Bartlett Reserve. Stand up and salute them.

Trainspotting, Richmond Under 21's v Bentleigh Greens Under 21's, 2012.

Thanks to Markian Jaworsky, Buddy's Mobile Disco was the iconic VPL sponsorship sign. Green Gully Under 21's v Richmond Under 21's, 2012.

The big stage. 2010 VPL Grand Final.

South Melbourne fan's make a fine political statement on Heyington Bridge in 2010.

Iain Stirton carries son David as he walks off the park after Moorabbin City defeated Eltham/Diamond Valley United away in 1994.

1970's George Cross at Olympic Park.

1932 Hakoah, Metropolitan League Division Two Champions.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

The 1935 Dockerty Cup Final

Whilst listening to some items that Radio Sport National posted on Soundcloud to mark the 90th anniversary of their original incarnation 3UZ, I recalled coming across mentions of radio football broadcasts whilst searching the Trove archives.

A search soon revealed that radio station 3AR covered the 1935 Dockerty Cup Final from Olympic Park. Commentary came in between coverage of races at Moonee Valley that were called by Jim Carroll.

That year's Cup Final was one of the all-time classics, and a re-match of a titanic struggle from the previous year. In 1934 the Final saw Caledonians and Hakoah draw 4-4, before the Scots took the trophy with a 3-2 victory in the Replay. This denied Hakaoh a League and Cup double.

The states preeminent sides would meet in the Final again a year later. Once again Hakoah were the League Champions, with Caledonians having finished Runner's-Up. Caledonians has preceded Hakoah as League Champions in taking the 1933 title. As usual there would be no shortage of goals, with Hakoah claiming the double with a thrilling 4-3 triumph (as covered here in The Argus).

Despite taking an early lead, Hakoah had to come from 2-1 down at the interval. They fell further behind after the resumption, before a burst of three goals in twenty minutes capped a remarkable comeback in front of a crowd estimated as 2,000 people.

The Hakoah team was one of the strongest sides seen in Victoria to that point in history. Aku Roth, Frank McIver, Alec Forrest, Alf Mackey and Johnnie Orr would all represent Australia at some stage.

The 1935 season saw Frank McIver top the goalscoring charts for the third year in succession, with a whopping 45 goals. Ten of those came in a 17-1 crushing of Melbourne Thistle in June. He was still a prolific scorer ten years later, netting five goals in a game at Como Park for Prahran A as they defeated R.A.A.F. Laverton 12-0 in April 1945. With records sketchy at best during World War II, it still appears certain he was leading scorer again in 1942 and 1943. He would become Secretary of the Latrobe Valley Association, and when coaching at Moorabbin City in the early 1950's would still turn out for the reserve team if they were short of players.

Club captain Aku Roth was also still going strong a decade later, playing for the Hakoah-Moreland combine which came into being during World War II. P.Lewis had emerged to prominence in the great Naval Depot side of the late 1920's. Alec Forrest had been the league's top goalscorer in 1930 for St Kilda before his move to Hakoah. Forrest, McIver and Alf Mackey all played in the Victorian team which defeated India 4-2 at the M.C.G. in 1938, McIver notching a brace and Forrest also getting on the scoresheet.

The Caledonian side was nearly as illustrious, many of whom would form the nucleus of the mighty Nobels team of 1939-40. The Weirs, Youngs and Grays were all prominent in representative games, along with H.Beats and J.Paulsen.

The 1935 Dockerty Cup Final was certainly the pinnacle in the battle between two dominant and highly decorated club teams that had taken Victorian football to a new level.

Resolving Resolution Of The Statistical History

I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions, but after three trips to the State Library Victoria over the holidays to chip away at compiling the statistical history of competitive Victorian football I am making it a mission to have it as completed as possible by the end of the year.

Since regular, organised, league football began in 1909 I have 44 years in which all the relevant data I consider important is complete. What do I consider important? Final league tables for all the senior divisions. The names of the champions in the Reserves, District and Amateur Leagues below them. Line-ups and goalscorer details for State Grand Finals and Dockerty Cup Finals. The results of all other senior and reserves Cup finals. The results of any play-off matches for promotion/relegation between leagues. The names of all League Best and Fairest Award winners. Top goalscorers for the senior leagues. On that last one, with most goalscorers not listed in many early years and no tallies published, I allow seasons prior to the 1960's that have all other information but leading scorers to be classed as complete.

This leaves 57 years where information is still incomplete.

Some of these could be wiped out as impossible to find and moved into the complete column. For instance all 1955 is lacking is the name of one of the goalscorers in The Sun Cup Final. I still hold out hope of finding a match report that list it, but can assure you it wasn't in The Sun.

1910, 1913, 1919, 1921, 1924, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1958, 1959, 1963, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1973 and 1990 are all years where Dockerty Cup Final and Final Replays need more details regarding team line-ups.

Early Grand Finals/Play-Offs used on odd occasions in 1920 and 1923 also lack line-up details.

The modern age, which should really be online somewhere, but sadly isn't, sees years like 2000, 2002 and 2003 missing the names of the reserves league champions across all divisions. 2002 is also the one year without the winners of the State and Provisional League Best and Fairest Awards.

Funds have been allocated in this financial year for Trove to digitise The Sporting Globe up until 1954. If that is up and running in the latter half of the year it will help in finding results to make some incomplete league tables in the period at least more respectable.

In most cases I have now gone through the major papers (The Age, The Sun, The Herald, The Argus) in looking for information. I've tried Il Globo for Dockerty Cup Final details in years involving Juventus. I looked through some Jewish newspapers to see if there was any information about Hakaoh in the Second World War years when the major papers cut down coverage to a paragraph but they had more important things on their minds. I will now need to try more local suburban papers.

So if anyone out there knows of anyone with a collection of old soccer papers or records that I could have a look at, please get in touch.

Grounds of the Past: St Kevin's Oval, Heyington

Ever since I first saw an old ad in Soccer News promoting Hakoah playing games at St Kevin's Oval in the 1950's I've been fascinated with the idea of top level football being played there.

Going the opposite direction at Heyington Station will take you to what is now Kevin Bartlett Reserve, home of Richmond in NPL1. The St Kevin's Ovals sit wedged between the College next to the station on the west, the Monash Freeway to the north, the Kooyong Tennis Club with it's historic stadium to the east and the Glen Waverley railway line to the south.

The claim "Victoria's Premier Soccer Ground" seems a bit far fetched. Public transport access would have been good, car parking more problematic. Facilities would probably have been pretty basic, no different to the other roped off pitches in open parks that prevailed in that era. If the ground surface is what it is like today, that would probably have been something to boast about though.

There was also a pavilion, as captured in this photograph from Soccer News in 1954:

Now from the Freeway, and the Gardiner's Creek Bike Trail that runs under it, you can see a pavilion between the two ovals. Closer inspection reveals it to be a more modern building than what would have stood on the site when it was a Victorian Division One soccer venue.

To the right (as you look at it in the photo) of the building I found the following plaque:

So that would have been the quaint building captured in Soccer News. Behind the plaque is a tree probably planted at the time of the new facility being built, and behind that a rubbish bin. Which gave me an opportunity to try and take a photo from roughly the same spot the Soccer News photographer took his from.

So that is where top level football was played in Melbourne as it entered the soccer boom of the 1950's. Hakoah would soon find their way to making Middle Park their new home. Securing enclosed grounds was a major issue as the game moved from primarily being participant-based into becoming a spectator sport with the emergence of powerful, ethnic-based clubs.

It may remain unknown to most, but St Kevin's Oval is a part of Victorian football history.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

The Forgotten Grand Finals

Many hours of looking at the online archives of The Age and The Argus have left me closer to insanity than usual and neglecting the blog for the longest time in it's brief history.

I guess most casual observers of the local game may know that the VPL switched from a first past the post Championship to a Finals series in 1992, with North Geelong taking the first Grand Final 4-1 after extra time against Brunswick Juventus. Despite the old First Division, and then from 1958, the old State League awarding the Championship to the side the headed the ladder at the conclusion of the season, there had been "Grand Finals" prior to 1992.

In 1915 the fledgling League was contested in two Sections rather than Divisions. In the Semi-Finals, Albert Park (top of Section A) defeated St Kilda (runner's-up in Section B) 4-0. Section B leaders Thistle got past Section A runner's-up Northumberland and Durham United 3-2. Thistle claimed the Championship of Victoria by triumphing 1-0 over Albert Park at Middle Park, Brown being the scorer.

With the disruption caused by the First World War, soccer in Melbourne went into recess as most players enlisted to serve their King and Country. When organised football got back underway in 1919, there were only enough teams for one division, but in 1920 the two section set-up was back in use. The first Grand Final between Northumberland and Durham United and St Kilda was drawn 1-1, leading to a replay in which N&D (a much needed abbreviation) claimed the title with a 2-0 win.

The competition then went back to the traditional divisional structure, but again a Grand Final of sorts was required in 1923. This time it was because deciding the Championship on goal difference or goal average was considered inadequate, so St Kilda and Footscray Thistle, locked on 20 points each faced each other in a Championship Play-Off. The two sides still took a bit of separating, the first encounter ending in a 2-2 draw. The replay was also drawn, this time without any goals, before St Kilda finally took the honours 2-1 in the second replay, making it a double by winning the Dockerty Cup 1-0 over Preston as well.

There was upheaval in the administration of the game in 1927, with a "District" competition set up by the new Melbourne Soccer Football Association. Some older clubs were cast aside and played in their own competition, which was not covered by the major papers.

In 1928 the District League was divided into North and South Sections, again requiring a Grand Final to determine the Championship of Victoria. Naval Depot, playing out of Crib Point, went undefeated in the Southern Section, and Footscray also failed to taste defeat in the Northern Section. The Grand Final at the Motordome saw the Navy men take the honours 2-1 with goals from Crowe and Lewis. P.Lewis would go on to represent Victoria and play for Brunswick and Hakoah before his death on May 26th, 1936.

The District set-up was abandoned in 1929, as was the use of sections in the top league. They say war is hell, and it certainly was for local football in the latter part of World War Two. The league continued to shrink, back to a single division for much of the hostilities. In 1945 the teams played each other once, before the second phase saw the top five play each other once again, the bottom five doing likewise.

By 1947, it was back to the two sections top division concept, this time with ten teams each. It turned into a farce, as the difference between some clubs was vast. Sunshine United hammered Heidelberg Rangers 21-0, South Melbourne United won 13-0 at Woodlands, the R.A.F. beat Olympic 12-1, Moreland crushed Woodlands 15-2 and Park Rangers defeated the same hapless Woodsmen 18-1 amongst the many uneven contests which resulted in numerous double figure scores. Angus Drennan netted 8 goals in the above mentioned romp by Sunshine United. The Grand Final was also a high scoring affair, with Sunshine United getting up 6-2 against Moreland at Olympic Park.

The debacle saw a permanent return to the traditional divisional league structure from 1948. So there were Grand Finals before 1992, but I've yet to ascertain enough information from match reports to see if we can declare retrospective Jimmy Rooney Medal winners.