CLUB 1864 NEWSLETTER June 2019

Seventy years on from our premiership year of 1949 past players Max Club Contact Numbers:

Hughes, Bill Redmond, Keith Abberton, Mal Macpherson and John Molyneux still support our great club by being Club 1864 financial 0400 279 442 members in season 2019. Chops Rickman 0419 537 393 We celebrate these players along with the premiership players from Ed Carr 0447 218 486 1959 and 1969 at our Presidents Luncheon prior to our Essendon Kim Kershaw 0400 673 516 clash. Ray Moloney 0412 427 895 Thanks to all the following past players and staff for your support: [email protected]

1 Brian Auld 36 Dean Humphries 71 Alan Parker 106 Maurie Thurston 2 Eric Beitzel 37 Mark Hunter 72 Tony Pastore 107 Ray Titter 3 Peter Bergin 38 Jeff Ind 73 James Paton 108 Vinnie Turcinovich 4 George Bindless 39 Jesse James 74 Brian Patterson 109 Greg Tweedly 5 Graham Bird 40 Paul John 75 David Patterson 110 Les Twentyman 6 Greg Boxall 41 Frank Jones 76 Joe Patterson 111 David Utber 7 Michael Brown 42 Bob Jones 77 Matty Pearce 112 Geoff Van Wyng. 8 Graeme Buchanan 43 Graeme Kennedy 78 John Perry 113 Martin Vonier 9 Lindsay Cahill 44 Kim Kershaw 79 Ernie Poole 114 Kim Walsh 10 Ed Carr 45 Ricky Knight 80 Ray Powley 115 Terry Wheeler 11 Scott Clouston 46 Luke Kovanovic 81 Bill Pride 116 John Whittington 12 Graeme Cole 47 Peter Lausch 82 Les Quinn 117 Bob Willis 13 Graeme Crocker 48 Cameron Lockwood 83 Lou Raunik 118 Bruce Wookey 14 Arnel Davis 49 Mal Macpherson 84 William Redmond Joining this month were…. 15 Bruce Davis 50 Bradley Mangan 85 Jaci Richa 119 Matt Cape 16 Nick DiMartino 51 John Martin 86 Ian Rickman 120 Jason Chan 17 Trevor Dixon 52 Stephen Masters 87 Clint Rippon 121 Gary Clough 18 Bill Dooley 53 George Mazouris 88 Bill Ritchie 122 Colin Colquhoun 19 Geoffrey Dougall 54 Alan McAsey 89 Frank Rog 123 Lou Dowling 20 Ken Evans 55 James McCuthcheon 90 Terry Rolfe 124 Max Everitt 21 Richard Evans 56 Tom McGowan 91 Tom Russell 125 Sean Grima 22 Ian Fairley 57 Phil McTaggart 92 Peter Ryan 126 Max Hughes 23 John Fanning 58 Greg Minett 93 Kevin Sait 127 Gavin Johnstone 24 Joe Ferguson 59 Ray Moloney 94 Chris Sandells 128 George Major 25 Mark Fotheringham 60 John Molyneux 95 John Sedgeway 129 Trevor Monti 26 Saade Ghazi 61 Mick Mulligan 96 Jared Sharp 130 Max Munday 27 Manu Gilani 62 Beryl Murphy 97 Leigh Sheehan 131 Shane Murphy 28 Ray Green 63 John Murrie 98 Larry Simmons 132 Craig Nankervis 29 John Grieve 64 Marcus O'Connor 99 Ray Smith 133 Murray Nilsson 30 Ray Grzonek 65 Philip O'Keeffe 100 David Smith 134 Terry O'Brien 31 James Grzonek 66 Bernie O'Sullivan 101 Glen Smith 135 Rick Slevison 32 Fred Hall 67 James O'Toole 102 Colin Smith 33 Tony Hannebery 68 Wade O'Toole 103 Grant Smith 34 Brian Harvey 69 Luke O'Toole 104 Mark Szalay 35 Paul Hayward 70 Alun Owen 105 Brent Szalay

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UPCOMING EVENTS FOR Club 1864

1. Team of the Decade -1980’s dinner evening

• Friday 21st June 2019 • 7.00 pm • Seaview Function Centre • 3 course meal & 4 hour drinks package • Tickets can be purchased over the phone 9391 0309 or online: https://store.williamstownfc.com.au/1980s-Team-of-the-Decade

This is an evening for ALL our past players and officials. Yes, the emphasis is on the decade of 1980 – 89 but it is a night for us all to come together and celebrate our clubs achievements and accomplishments.

2. Club 1864 Luncheon – No 2

• Friday 26th July • 12.30pm • Prince Albert Hotel, Williamstown • Meals and drinks at bar prices. Come and join Chops and Kimbo for lunch and a few drinks all at bar prices.

3. Presidents Lunch – Celebrating the 1949, 1959 and 1969 Club premierships

• Saturday 27th June v’s Essendon • Seaview Function Centre • 12 noon

4. Club 1864 Luncheon – No 3

• Friday 23rd August • 12.30pm • Morning Star Hotel, Williamstown

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FROM OUR ARCHIVES: The decade of the 1980’s.

Season 1986:

Season 1986 began with the signing of veteran ruck man Barry Round. Born on Australia Day in 1950, Round was 36 by the time he made his debut with Williamstown. It mattered little because the big fellow continued to play well and was responsible for drawing a lot of people to games. After finishing the previous season as grand finalists there was no doubt that Williamstown would make the final four, the Seagulls did not gain the double chance and had to start their quest for the flag from the first semi final. Williamstown won 12 games, but failed to beat any of the other three finalists – Coburg, Frankston and Preston – in the home and away games. Williamstown was a 10-point winner in the first semi-final against Preston and then accounted for Frankston 19:19 to 12:17 in the preliminary final. Coburg, which had headed the table and comfortably won the second semi-final, was a formidable opponent for the Grand Final. The Seagulls lead by 45 points at three-quarter time and extended this to 52 points six minutes into the last term. Coburg rallied to give itself a slim possibility that it could steal a late win. Twice Williamstown steadied to goal with the final margin being 13 points, 17:9 to 14:14. First year player, Tony Pastore was awarded the Norm Goss Medal whilst Glenn Murphy (CHB), Grant Smith (RR), Ronnie James (HFF) and Barry Round where others to shine. By winning the seconds and thirds premierships Williamstown made it a clean sweep and underlined the depth of talent in the club. Andrew Gibson’s 22 goals in the game at Camberwell set a new club record. (“Seagulls Over Williamstown” – Marc Fiddian 2003)

FEATURE – Paul “PJ” John

(We thank Geoff Van Wyngaarden for this contribution.)

Williamstown Football Club has produced many great players over its long history and the 1980 club winner Paul John is one such player. With the popular nickname ‘Johnsey’ or ‘PJ’, Paul played between 1978 and 1984 playing 68 senior games and kicking 138 goals in an outstanding senior career. He proudly wore the number 32 jumper that had previously belonged to club icon Ken ‘Egghead’ Barnes. In his first season at the club in 1978 Paul played in every senior game under new club coach John ‘Sticks’ Fanning and won the clubs ‘Best 1st Year Player Award’. Paul also won the senior goal kicking in 1979 with 59 goals.

1980 Club B&F winner – Paul John

3 A true club person, Paul also won the 1984 Reserves Best and Fairest Award. Later on after his playing days, Paul took over as senior club runner in 1986 from John ‘Jesse’ James and was on the Match Committee under senior coach Merv Keane from 1996-98 as well as having other roles in various years. Paul was not only born in Williamstown but his family connection goes back to his grandfather, Herbert John who played with Williamstown in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Paul’s Dad, Bert John was also heavily involved with the Williamstown Football Club. Among Bert’s many roles was as a St. John’s boy trainer under Head Trainer Bobby Major. Bert later became a statistician for the club and later helped in the beer booth with Bobby Pearman, Les Quinn and Terry ‘Pee Wee’ Maloney. “I played senior football with the famous Spotswood Football Club from 1975-77 but my dream was to play footy for Williamstown. When I joined the club in 1978 we were in Second Division and most of the players were mainly local area players. It was tough hard footy back then with clubs like Yarraville and Sunshine. Sixteen a side football meant the game flowed on. I was a teammate when Ian ‘Flossy’ Fairley played in his debut match as a 15 year old. He certainly developed into a champion. He was a quality kid, raw early but his ability was always going to come through. Other new recruits to Williamstown in my time were Mark Fotheringham and Kevin Sait both recruited from Yarraville. I could never catch Kevin Sait when I played against him so it was good to get him on our side. Just two great quality blokes recruited to the club amongst many others.” “I was on the Match Committee and runner under Terry Wheeler in 1986. In the pre-season we had to make a big decision. We were training down the Fearon Reserve and B.D. (Bruce Davis) had his Kombi-Van parked on the Esplanade. The whole Match Committee jumped in to make the decision whether we should recruit Barry Round to the club. We all agreed that we wanted him and the rest is history” “Kim Kershaw was another quality person and recruit. He was a mountain of a man, 4 best and fairest awards speaks for itself. He was a funny man to be around and always did the hard stuff. A great personality and asset to the club…….. Mark Fotheringham was so consistent around the goals. He was great to have around the club and a good person…….. Geoff Bebend was a great player who started with me in 1978. As hard as nails, very dour, very loyal and hard at it…….Ronnie James in 1985 was a stand out. Picked in the Grand Final as a 15 year old. Being on the Match Committee with 23,000 people at the Grand Final. Ronnie just had the ability watching him in the lower grades. His ability to come off the bench just gave us that extra pace. Sixteen a side just contributed to Ronnie making the Grand Final team with that extra pace around the ground” “We were just a working mans’ club before we became more professional. Terry Wheeler made the club more professional. Tony Hannebery was great value for the club. The volunteers and trainers we all drank together. Kelly Brent used to sing songs. It was an honour for me to play at Williamstown. The mateship and I still keep in contact with past players. I still enjoy having been part of our great club. Number 32 is always in my Tattslotto numbers. The ‘Willy Rangers’ song was great and just so popular.” “The footy and social turns were great. We went to places such as Manila and the Gold Coast amongst others………. Hoggy at the Gold Coast, we put him on the Dodgem Cars, he was wearing a pair of bathers with netting inside. His legs became stuck on the steering wheel with the insides of the netting hanging out…….. On another trip the Bavarian Steak House had just burnt down, and someone found some warm wine to drink……. On another trip we went to Captain Morgans’ sea food restaurant, $10 all you can eat. I ate 98 oysters. The next day John ‘Jesse’ James went back and ate 102 oysters…….. Another funny story was when Ray Powley sponsored a day with his wines and set up a marquee. Ray brought his marketing girls. At the end of the day they came in the clubrooms for a drink. They accidentally saw Jack Aziz naked, last out of the showers, amazed and scared they bolted………. The gambling night at the clubrooms when we got raided by the police was also interesting.”

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