The Dockerty Cup Finals of 1931

It is a misconception that Australia is lacking in football history, the issue is more the lack of establishing and maintaining the folklore of the game over the years. With the revival of the Dockerty Cup in recent years, it's opportune to look back and seek to find what should be celebrated as the "famous" epics of the past. One of which must surely be the triumph of the Wonthaggi Magpies in 1931.

Not competing in the Melbourne Metropolitan League, the Magpies began making an impact in Victorian football through their Dockerty Cup runs in the 1920's. A Wonthaggi team reached the Third Round in 1923, though the papers do not discern whether it was the Magpies or the local rivals Wonthaggi Caledonians/Thistle.

The Third Round was reached by the Magpies in 1927, before an appearance in the Cup Final of 1928. A replay was required to eliminate Heidelberg in the Second Round, before a convincing 3-0 defeat of Footscray in the Third Round. The Final was reached with an emphatic 6-0 win over Brighton in the Semi-Final. It was the same scoreline by which they where defeated by the Naval Depot in the showpiece at the Motordrome.

The 1928 Finalists met in the Second Round the following season, with Naval Depot getting through with a 2-1 win in a replay following a 2-2 draw in their first clash. In 1930 Albert Park prevented Wonthaggi from progressing beyond the Second Round.

Goals from P.Spooner and J.Gibson saw the Magpies defeat Hakoah 2-0 in the First Round of the 1931 competition. Hakoah were on their way to taking out the Championship of the Third Division. In the Second Round there was an easy 5-0 win to dismiss eventual Second Division Runner's-Up South Yarra.

The Third Round ended in controversy in terrible conditions in Wonthaggi. Racing to a 3-0 lead over Melbourne Thistle, heavy rain caused a delay to the start of the second half. Thistle pulled a goal back as the referee Mr.Hadlington dismissed appeals to abandon the game until he called a half to proceedings with three minutes remaining.

In the Semi-Final against Footscray Thistle, J.Spooner opening the scoring in the first minute at the Exhibition Oval before a second half equaliser brought about a replay. In the replay it was J.Spooner on the scoresheet again, his goal sending the Magpies into the Final with a 1-0 win.

On Saturday September 12, Wonthaggi Magpies took on Brunswick in the Dockerty Cup Final at the Exhibition Oval. Brunswick were seeking a League and Cup double, having been undefeated in taking out the First Division Championship. With both clubs having black and white colours, it was Wonthaggi who were allowed to wear their regular kit whilst Brunswick had to use their alternate. Neither side was able to find the back of the net, the 0-0 draw ensuring a replay the following week.

In the Replay the action moved to the Brunswick Oval. Once again, despite the use of extra-time on this occasion, the teams could not be split with another 0-0 draw recorded. This necessitated a Second Replay, held the following Saturday in Wonthaggi. A crowd of 3000 turned up to see the Magpies finally secure the Cup with a 1-0 victory. The match report and record of subsequent festivities from The Powlett Express of Friday October 2nd is featured in the picture below (click to enlarge) as it appeared in the paper:

It was an achievement which had all the hallmarks of every great underdog story. A country town, with it's roots in the harsh mining industry, prevailing over the city slickers. A team full of brothers taking on the wider world. It contains a romantic element that has gone missing from the game, which hopefully will be brought back by the return of the Dockerty Cup and initiation of the FFA Cup.

Weekend and Millennium Wrap

VPL action for the weekend began with a 1-1 draw between Bentleigh Greens and Port Melbourne. Graham Hockless gave Port the lead from the spot, Greens equalised through Luke Pilkington and then held on for a point after having Luke Sherborn sent-off with a quarter of an hour remaining. Both sides remain contenders in 2013.

The same night saw Dandenong Thunder go down 0-1 to the flying Northcote City. In a game the FFV Facebook updater seemed to have fallen asleep at, it was Milos Lujic who produced the winner on 65 minutes. Northcote are still unbeaten, and Thunder should still be in the mix come the business end of the season.

Two goals from Osagie Ederaro saw Green Gully defeat Southern Stars 2-1 at Kingston Heath. Stars only have Richmond below them on the table, and Gully look unconvincing as they try and bridge the gap to the pacesetters above them.

Hume City moved up into third place with a hard fought 1-0 win over Pascoe Vale at Broadmeadows Valley Park. Hume can mix their form, but if goalscorer Nick Hegarty can retain it are set to be in contention for a while yet. Paco continue to battle away and remain closer to the Finals contenders than they are to what would normally be the relegation places.

Richmond missed a few easy chances, which mixed with conceding soft goals is a recipe for disaster and went down for the eight count, 2-4 to Oakleigh Cannons. Oakleigh have plenty of new signings lined up, but money can't buy you love and may not get them back in the Finals mix for 2013.

Finally the old NSL Derby saw honours even, with South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights playing out a draw at Lakeside Stadium. Much mirth has been made of big mouth Ljubo Milicevic scoring an own goal which made the final score 2-2. 

Onto the wrap from the last millennium. 1929-1931 was a tumultuous time for the Brunswick club. I'm not able to come up with a final table for the lower leagues in 1929, with a few results still missing, but Brunswick were promoted to the First Division as runner's-up in Division Two behind Caledonians. 

Beginning their time in the top flight with consecutive wins before a loss to Melbourne Thistle. Three more wins followed before the upheaval of Saturday June 14. The expulsion of Croatia from the State League in 1972 is well documented, but Brunswick being thrown out of Division One in 1930 is less well known.

The year prior the Victoria Soccer Football Association had taken a lease of the Motordrome for the winter sporting season. The venue was used to host a weekly match of round at a time when soccer clubs were having trouble getting access to enclosed grounds. In fact the practice of taking around a collection plate whilst playing in open park was still taking place in the 1950's.

On that fateful day in June the proverbial hit the fan when Brunswick refused to play their "home" game against Footscray Thistle at the Motordrome. They were not happy about having another game moved there by the VSFA. Their May 10 clash with Melbourne Thistle had already been allocated as a Motordrome game by the Association. With a succession of away games and a weekend off for the annual England v Scotland fixture, they faced going three months without playing an actual home game at Royal Park. They argued that such a break made it hard to gain an enclosed ground from their council given it would be used so infrequently. A letter was sent to the VSFA and the game was announced as not going ahead the day before with the Division Two clash between Caulfield and Williamstown moved to Swan Street instead. The VSFA Council then suspended Brunswick for the remainder of the season, their results expunged from the records.

Footscray Thistle went on to retain their State Championship, with Caledonians runner's-up. Appeals were dismissed, with the great Harry Dockerty resigning from the Council in disappointment. Unlike Croatia, Brunswick's exile would be brief. South Melbourne were relegated after finishing last, losing all 12 games. Travel from Crib Point every second was becoming an issue for 1928's unbeaten Champions Naval Depot, and they withdrew from the League. Therefore upon the end of their suspension Brunswick remained in the First Division for 1931.

1931 would be their year, winning the Championship by six points from Caledonians, winning 12 and drawing 2 of their 14 games. In J.Lyons they had the league's top goalscorer with 14 goals. In an epic Dockerty Cup Final, which required two replays, they finally lost out 0-1 to Wonthaggi Magpies after two goal-less encounters. Their decline was imminent and just as dramatic, finishing only fifth in 1932 before being relegated when coming last in 1933 when conceding 103 goals in the course of an 18 game season, picking up a solitary point.   

'Cause Night is Day and Day is Night - Bits and Pieces II

Another random thoughts column, losing on penalties in the indoor soccer semi-final taking up most of the time tonight. Making the loss worse is the preliminary final is on Sunday afternoon and will clash with VPL game between Oakleigh Cannons and Richmond, which is where I will be.

Great win by the Socceroos last night, giving us the reasonable equation of winning against Iraq next Tuesday equaling World Cup qualification. Milligan, Kruse, Holman and Bresciano amongst our best with opening goalscorer Bresciano far and away still the best passer of a ball we have. Or maybe it just stands out more amongst those that are more athletes than footballers like Wilkshire.

The things that infuriate most when going through The Age and The Argus online archives can be too numerous to mention. But I will have a crack. Results are often listed in the format of Winner 2 d Loser 1, rather than Home Score Away Score. Results are pretty consistent, but actual league tables are few and far between. Some years the results are conveniently placed at the bottom of the match reports, but some they are not and you have to read the full match reports to determine final score and scorers which is fairly time consuming. There are some times when not all goalscorers are listed in high scoring games, with only those that, in Aussie Rules parlance, "kicked a bag" rating a mention. 

In the time before lights and longer working hours, there were no midweek catch-up games. There were no penalty shoot-outs, so postponements and replayed cup ties would often extend the season to the point where it could not be finished because clubs lost venues when the cricket season began.

I would probably change my stance on the whole NPLV shambles if Flinders Naval Depot had put in an Expression of Interest and were brought back to top flight Victorian football. Is there a scoreboard big enough to accommodate the name Northumberland and Durham United? Footscray Thistle and Melbourne Thistle used to give us a great Thistle Derby. 

John Wren's Motordrome was one of the early homes of Melbourne football. The pitch was surrounded by a concrete saucer track used for cycling, motor bike and speedway racing. The latter two were not particularly safe events, and it's a sobering thought that more than a few lives were lost at the arena.

The above mentioned online archives are all well and good, but the true gold can only be found on the microfilm at the State Library Victoria, in the little reels marked Sporting Globe. I'm old enough to remember The Sporting Globe being in publication, with the primary sport if covered always having been horse racing. Many pages were devoted to Aussie Rules (for a long time the Victorian Football Association (VFA) was almost on par with the VFL (now AFL) and other sports though. Soccer was usually pretty well covered, exceptionally so in the 1960's in the post-War migrant boom years. The Globe came out twice a week, a midweek edition on Wednesday, and a Saturday evening edition which contained all that days race results and footy match reports. This was of course largely in the pre-television era.

Actually, there is greater gold than even The Sporting Globe. Accordingly it is also even harder to come by. Have a look at:

http://www.ozfootball.net/museum/index.php/en/downloads

where you can find a few of these beauties:

http://www.ozfootball.net/museum/downloads/SoccerNews1953May16.pdf

Next bits and pieces I will ponder the question, does the FFV have a copy of each of the Yearbooks the VASFA and VSF used to produce?