WAFL Collectables

NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENTS

These are a bit of an enigma, so far as collectors go. Some, like the single-page, gloss-white paper photographs inserted in The Western Mail, are very sought-after. But others, which were just articles or cartoons printed on the regular pages of a newspaper, are much less prized. This can never claim to be a complete list of all the "sets" of supplements/posters etc that have been printed, but is a list of those which are, at least, somewhat collectable.

1922 PALS Periodical Caricatures

In 1922, the weekly boys' magazine PALS Periodical published on the inside of the back cover black-and-white cartoon caricatures of the leading footballers of the day. There were 14 caricatures in the series, which ran from May 20th to August 12th, inclusive. Ten were from the VFL and two from the SANFL.

Only two WA players featured in the series - Subiaco's Wilfred Brophy, whose caricature was published on July 15th, and East Fremantle's William "Nipper" Truscott, whose caricature appeared in the August 9 edition.

Wilfred Brophy (Subiaco)

"Nipper" Truscott (East Fremantle)

1934 Western Mail Team Photographs

These are perhaps the most sought-after of the newspaper supplements, largely because of the quality of them. Printed on heavy, gloss-white paper, these hand-coloured photographs of the eight WAFL teams of 1934 were issued loose inside The Western Mail. The paper, which became The Countryman, issued these supplements (which were slightly bigger than A4 in size) for many years, but only twice did they feature our local football stars. This set is also notable in that it features the first Swan Districts team, which joined the league that season.

Claremont

East Fremantle

East Perth

Perth

South Fremantle

Subiaco

Swan Districts

West Perth

1947-1955 Sporting Life Photographs

Between 1947 and 1955 Sporting Life magazine published a series of photos under the banner "Star Gallery". Of course, many footballers appeared in this series, but only one was from WA - champion Perth ruckman Merv McIntosh.

Merv McIntosh (Perth)

1953 Western Mail Player Photographs

In 1953, The Western Mail was at it again. This time, they featured players, rather than teams. But, again, the production was first-class, making this another very collectable set of photographs. The supplements were issued loose inside the paper betwen June 11th and August 27th, meaning there were 12 in the set.

1954 Western Mail League Football Teams Photographs

Issued in eight consecutive weeks late in the 1954 season, these team photographs were printed inside the back cover of the Western Mail. The pictures carried with them a description of the club's history and of the 1954 players.

5 August - Subiaco
12 August - Swan Districts
19 August - Perth

26 August - Claremont

2 September - East Perth
9 September - East Fremantle
16 September - West Perth
23 September - South Fremantle

1955 Weekend Mail

These caricatures were printed weekly in the Weekend Mail between June and August of 1955. They featured 12 of the leading WAFL players of the day and could also be bought on art paper for threepence apiece from the Press Photo Service at Newspaper House. It is the art paper print that collectors are generally chasing today.

4 June - Merv McIntosh

11 June - Frank Sparrow

18 June - Jack Sheedy

25 June - Ted Kilmurray

2 July - Jim Spencer

9 July - Ken Caporn

16 July - Ray Schofield

23 July - Laurie Kettlewell

30 July - Charlie Tyson

6 August - Noah Lee

13 August - Keith Harper

20 August - Jack Clarke

1966-69 Weekend News Souvenir Posters

In 1966, the Weekend News magazine started publishing a "souvenir" poster in its pages each week during football season. The series continued until 1969, producing more than 100 posters in total. But records about the magazine are difficult to find and there may be a few more than the 104 known posters out there somewhere. The format of the poster was different each week, making it impossible to tell when each was published.

The biggest problem with these is that they were usually torn roughly from the magazine and can often be in poor condition when they do turn up, which is very rarely.

16 April 1966 - Barry Cable (Perth)
23 April 1966 - Mal Brown (East Perth)
30 April 1966 - John McIntosh (Claremont)
7 May 1966 - Unknown Subiaco Player
14 May 1966 - Peter Dougan (South Fremantle)
21 May 1966 - Mel Whinnen (West Perth)
28 May 1966 - Ken Bagley (Swan Districts)
4 June 1966 - Tony Casserly (East Fremantle)
11 June 1966 - Bert Thornley (East Fremantle)
18 June 1966 - Bill Walker (East Fremantle)
25 June 1966 - Kevin Murray (East Perth)
1966 - Ian Abraham (Claremont)
1966 - Wayne Harvey (Claremont)
1966 - Bob Johnson (East Fremantle)
1966 - Keith Doncon (East Perth)
1966 - Mal Atwell (Perth)
1966 - Greg Brehaut (Perth)
1966 - Pat Dalton (Perth)
1966 - Murray Macdonald (South Fremantle)
1966 - Kevin Miller (South Fremantle)
1966 - Peter Eakins (Subiaco)
1966 - Brian Sarre (Subiaco)
1966 - Keith Slater (Subiaco)
1966 - Cyril Litterick (Swan Disricts)
1966 - Brian France (West Perth)
1966 - Bob Spargo (West Perth)

1979 Brownes WAFL Player Mini Posters

An interesting addition to The Football Budget in 1979 was the set of 32 colour player posters which were sponsored by Brownes and featured the dairy's advertising material on the reverse. One random poster was inserted loose into each program, making it difficult to complete the set because there were less than 32 Budgets issued that year. The posters are the same size as the Budget was in those days and are difficult to find in good nick because many of them ended up taped up on the walls in kids' bedrooms.

Ken Hunter (Claremont)
Jim Krakouer (Claremont)
Phil Krakouer (Claremont)
Alan Walker (Claremont)
Tony Buhagiar (East Fremantle)
Mal Dobson (East Fremantle)
Brian Needle (East Fremantle
Brian Peake (East Fremantle)
Barry Cable (East Perth)
Wayne Duke (East Perth)
Phil Kelly (East Perth)
George Michalczyk (East Perth)
Ian Miller (East Perth)
Stephen Hargrave (Perth)
Ken Inman (Perth)
Barry Kimberley (Perth)

c1985 Sanyo Supplements/Posters

Ron Alexander (East Fremantle)

Gerard Neesham (East Fremntle)

Brian Peake (East Fremantle)

Murray Wrensted (East Fremantle)

Peter Featherby (Subiaco)
Laurie Keene (Subiaco)
Dwayne Lamb (Subiaco)
Neil Taylor (Subiaco)