WAFL Collectables

The WAFL has certainly suffered from a lack of annuals over the years. But the few that were produced were quality publications and, in my opinion, are better than anything ever produced in Victoria. Chief among those is the Football Register, which probably holds a special place in the hearts of many Sandgropers.

The earliest of all annuals was the variously titled WA Football Guide, which started in the early years of the WAFL. Information about the publication is, however, very difficult to come by and I have only ever seen the 1904 and 1906 versions. While I have lumped these ten known guides together, they probably should be treated separately because the publisher changed on several occasions and there is often nothing to suggest any connection between one guide and the one produced the previous year. Of course, there is no guarantee the list is complete, either.

The first guide, a "compact pamphlet" called The West Australian ABC Football Guide, was produced in May 1893 by C Marr and CJ Ellis, of Sands & McDougall, and included the then-WAFA rules, 1892 results, 1893 fixtures for the WAFA, and VFA, plans of the playing grounds and lists of club officials and colours. It cost threepence. The 1894 guide was very similar.

The title of the 1895 guide was The West Australian Football Guide and it was again published in May/June. As usual, it included the fixtures, rules, a list of the clubs and previous results. It is not known whether Marr & Ellis were involved.

But, by 1896, the guide was being published by Messrs Edwards and Derkins. Now called the "Premier Football Guide" and costing sixpence, It contained, in tabular form, a scoring sheet for each game of the season, the WAFA and rugby fixtures, a season's record table and competitions. It was available from Sports Depot in Barrack St.

The 1897 guide was published by George Shinger in May/June and cost threepence from local booksellers. It contained fixtures for the WAFA, rugby and soccer, the playing rules and a list of clubs, club officials and colours. There was also a list of association secretaries.

In 1898, a guide called JK Smith's Football Guide was issued in April. But in May/June, another guide, by Edward Newton McCulloch of the Lands Department, was published. Called McCulloch's Football guide and published by Gordon & Gotch, it featured the rules of the three football codes played in WA, along with diagrams of field positions and fixtures. It cost threepence.

I can find absolutely no reference to any guide being published between 1899 and 1901, but in 1902 another guide was published. As usual, it contained a list of rules and fixtures for the WAFA and minor grades, along with scoring sheets. It cost threepence.

Undoubtedly, though, the best of the guides were issued in 1904 and 1906. The 1904 guide, issued by journalist AW Martin aka "half-back", and approved by the WAFA, was sold for sixpence from late May. It covered the history of football across Perth, rural WA, Australia, NZ and South Africa and included lists of premiers and record-holders, along with photographs of current and former leading players and the local teams. Called "The Australian Football Guide", it was published by Messrs Daniel & Climie, of Barrack St. There was a also a 1904 guide published by Robert Salter of Kalgoorlie, though that had a Goldfields focus.

Finally, the 1906 "The West Australian football Guide" by AW Martin and EH Brewer (known as "little mark"), was a comprehensive guide to football in this State.

As alluded to, the Football Register is undoubtedly the most important of all annuals issued in Western Australia and a full collection (1962-1990) is a fantastic WA footy library in its own right.

Unfortunately, these days, the early Registers are very difficult to come by, especially those from 1962-1964 and 1970-1972. I am also often asked by other collectors to help them obtain a copy of the 1973 Register. However, none was printed in 1973 and a full collection, therefore, consists of 28 editions.

Ross Elliott started his career as a part-time football writer in Bunbury, writing in the match-day program for the Bunbury-Collie league. In the 1950s, he sold his sporting goods store and turned to journalism full-time, producing programs for other small South-West leagues and calling football on local radio. He was soon recruited by the Daily News, for whom he covered WA’s second national football championships victory at Brisbane in 1961. He returned home determined to produce a Wisden-style almanac of WA football.

What followed was Ross Elliott’s Football Register, first published at the end of the 1962 season and printed by Mt Lawley Print. It ran until 1972, during which time much of the writing was done by journalist Warwick Kay. Haydn Bunton Jr was involved in the sale of advertising. Elliott, meanwhile, continued calling matches on 6PM, hosting radio football shows and, eventually, hosting Sunday World of Sport on Channel 7. However, when he entered parliament in 1972, he didn't have time to continue with the Register. None was published in 1973.

Peter Poat, who had worked for the South West Times in Bunbury after Elliott, moved to Perth in 1972 and was disappointed when the Register was not produced in 1973. He approached Westralian Publishers, who agreed to pay Elliott an annual fee for four years for the rights to continue the publication. The deal required Elliott to write the foreword for each edition. Once that deal was up, Elliott's name was dropped from the title. The Register, which was printed by Action Press from 1976, continued until 1990. By this time, the decline of the WAFL because of the advent of the national competition had destroyed its commercial viability.

1959

1982

1983 (Scream For Your Team '83)

Until recently, I had thought this was just another failed attempt to start a yearbook. Over the years, I have had a few copies of the 44-page 1970 annual, which was edited by Mick Connolly. But I recently obtained a 1977 annual, edited by Jim Connolly, which says on the front "8th edition". Then came a 1972 annual, a 1993 and a 1971 annual, all of which were published by Jim Connolly. What's unclear is how regularly it was published between that first edition in 1970 and the 1993 edition (which may not have been the last). As a result, I'm now looking for at least seven editions for my own collection. And it's entirely possible it continued after 1993.

Apparently, the annual was an unauthorised publication, which was sold in competition to the Football Register on grand final day.

This was billed as a Who's Who of Australian football, carrying biographies of every league player in Victoria, WA, SA and Tasmania. Published by Newspress of Victoria, it had a heavy Victorian bias, but had some very useful information on the WAFL. I haven't yet obtained a copy of the 1974 edition, but it may contain the only decent recounting of the 1973 season because of the lack of a Register that year.

1972

1973

1974

This annual, written by Murray and Oliver Drake-Brockman, doesn't look like it lasted very long. Printed by Mt Lawley Print, the only issue I have seen is from 1967. It featured information about both the WAFL and VFL because Murray had returned to Fitzroy by the time the book was published.

1967

1980

This brilliant book of biographies of WAFL players was first issued in 1982 inside the pages of Westside Football. Buyers had to cut it out and fold it together to turn it into a book. But it was so popular that it was published in a stand-alone book from 1983-1989 inclusive, the last two versions being in A5 size.

First released in 1948 by Perth's Daily News newspaper, this publication was originally called "Fanfare" and was an A5-sized magazine. But it can't have been too successful, because it was another 16 years before the next one was released, this time at 80+ pages and called "Football '64 in Western Australia". There was then another break until Football '68 with a young Dennis Cometti on the cover. That publication continued through to 1973 before taking a break in 1974, though it was tagged with the Daily News's Saturday paper Weekend News from 1970 onwards. It was back for 1975 and in 1976, '77 and '78 there were two editions each season (one being a pictorial edition). The final edition as published in 1979. The name of the magazine changed on occasions and the full name of each is included in the listing below.

While not strictly a WAFL publication in that it concentrated on junior clubs across the metro area, this failed annual does feature some great photographs of the WAFL stars of the day and many WAFL stars in their junior team photographs.

1967