Alfred Trevillian: A Football Odyssey

 This excerpt of my book is provided to Outback Family History. The excerpt focuses on Alf’s football experience on the WA Goldfields in 1904 and in the Perth competition in 1904-1905. To provide veracity and evidence to underpin the book’s commentary, I have spent the past six years collating results of every game of football played by Alf and also performance data concerning every other team within each of those competitions that Alf played.

A joyous, but curiously somehow masochistic journey for me.    By Stephen Rowcliffe schooey@iimetro.com.au

W Trevillian West’s Rover

Alf Trevillian was a true football champion, being “among the best” everywhere he went, matching himself against the toughest opponents, gathering great respect as he went from competition to competition and state to state – his tough mining upbringing (the youngest of 10 boys) stood him in very good stead.

At the start of last century, with the creation of a new (break away) league in the VFL,  Alf Trevillian was reflective of the desire for greater professionalism in the game – he was among the cohort of the first true Ausssie Rules professional footballers – in their approach to the game and the unofficial rewards (payments) that were available to better players.

Alfred ‘Alf’ Trevillian was born in 1877 in Cornishtown (north-eastern Victoria), and his story is also one of mateship and first-hand experience of some of the game’s early icons and controversies; much of which was shared with his friend, the Essendon VFL great, Fred Hiskins – their journeys mirrored each other’s in time, geography and football experience. Alf played 240 games of senior football between 1894-1908 across three states, including 13 games in Kalgoorlie, 44 games with St. Kilda, 10 games with Perth and 17 with West Perth (and 3 premierships and 3 grand final runners up).

Economic and social conditions of the time

Victoria’s economy in the late 1890s was in a dire state, which was due to the prices of wheat, wool and metals falling; and reduction in British investment in Australia, much of which had been used for public works, railroad construction and building development. With the cessation of loan capital, public works came to a halt and banks and land companies started to fail. There was a significant manpower drain from the eastern States to the WA goldfields, but families in the eastern States were being well supported by repatriated monies.

… in September 1896 (in one month alone) the sum of £72,700 was sent in money orders from Western Australia to the Eastern colonies (chiefly to Victoria) ….

Recruitment: WA style

At the start of the 1900s, many of the early Perth (and Kalgoorlie)-based football teams secured players directly from the docks as boats arrived from the eastern States or indeed directly enticed them away from the VFL or South Australian leagues. However, it frequently occurred that a player’s fare was paid by one of the Perth-based WAFA clubs, only to find that another club’s agent had met the boat earlier at Albany (then a regular port of call), and with tempting offers, thereby altering the player’s football destination. It did not follow that the club paying the player’s fare actually secured the player.

Victorian and South Australian footballers brought such a skill to the WA game that saw many of the local players forced out of the top-level local competitions. Every ship from the eastern States brought new players, which were met with great enthusiasm by the crowds, but this made money a much bigger part of the game. It was not uncommon for side wagers of a few hundred pounds on important matches. Each club was strongly supported by sporting hotelkeepers, where players were often boarded free of charge. Many players worked neither in winter, nor in summer. In actual fact,

…after a big match, it was quite a common sight to see many players, still dressed in football uniforms and covered only by an overcoat, drinking heavily till all hours of the night. The licensing laws were suspended in those days as far as some of the leading footballers were concerned.

 Football Migration to WA

Alf had performed consistently well throughout the 1902-03 seasons with St. Kilda in the VFL but had become despondent with the opportunities for consistent success with the Saints. This coupled with the economic straits of the living in Victoria and the increasing internal dysfunction between the St. Kilda football committee and players, and lessening of work opportunities, encouraged Alf to look for football adventure elsewhere. Western Australia beckoned and especially the chance to team up with his childhood friend, Fred Hiskins, had him on a ship westbound in April 1904.

Alf was a part of the 1904 exodus of VFL footballers heading to the West to ply their trades as “professional” footballers on the goldfields and in the emerging Perth WAFA competition. Some of Alf’s Victorian colleagues in WA included Samuel Gravenall (played with St. Kilda in 1903 and returned to the Saints with Alf in 1906); William “Horrie” Bant (1903 with Ballarat Imperials, returning to St. Kilda in 1906); and Arthur “Shooter” Ford (1903 with Carlton, returning to the Blues in 1908).

ALF TREVILLIAN: FOOTBALL TEAMS 1894-1908 (Performance data

2.  In 1895, Alf again played with the North Eastern Victorian representative team against the representative team from Riverina NSW1 In 1894, Alf played with the North Eastern Victorian representative team against the representative team from Riverina NSW

3.  In 1901, Alf played the first 3 games of the 1901 OMFA season with Excelsiors before transferring to play with Howlong (NSW).

4.  In 1901, Alf played with the Albury district representative team against the visiting South Melbourne VFL team.

5.  In 1904, Alf played the first 10 games of the 1904 GFA season with Whitefeather (Kanowna) before being recruited to the Perth FC, playing the final 10 games, including the 1904 WAFA grand final.

6. In 1905, Alf played in the winning WA State Cup team for West Perth in a series of games, against the combined GFA team at Kalgoorlie

7 In August 1906, Alf played with St. Kilda during their officially VFL-sanctioned tour to Sydney (2 games in Sydney, 1 game in Wagga and 1 game in Albury)

Family on the goldfields:

A branch of the Trevillian family initially settled in the South Australia mining towns around Burra, but they relocated to Kalgoorlie several years before Alf’s arrival in WA in 1904. This familial presence provided support for Alf in 1904, thereby allowing him a much easier transition to goldfield’s life, providing work and an entrée to Goldfields football – this was in stark contrast to the experience of two of Alf’s brothers, who, in 1896, attempted to “make a go of it” in the WA goldfields but failed. Another brother struck it rich in WA goldfields in 1894 but died of pneumonia before he could enjoy his wealth.

1904 White Feather Football Club (Kanowna)

The White Feather FC was formed on 22 June 1895 at a meeting at Doyle’s Hotel at which the hotel’s owner, Thomas Doyle, was made President and later became mayor of Kanowna.

Goldfields football was renown as being the hardest competition in the country, played by hardened miners on rock-hard grounds – no place for the faint hearted. Today, Kanowna is a ghost town located about 20 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, but the 1893 discovery of gold put this small outcrop on the map: the town’s population exploded from 2,500 in 1897 to 12,500 in 1899.

Image: Doyle’s Hotel, Kanowna

The White Feather FC played its home games in Kanowna but was dependent on the weekend train schedules to align with the start of their ‘away’ games in Kalgoorlie, Boulder and Trafalgar. On more than one occasion, the Goldfields Football Association petitioned the government to run its 2:30pm train from Kanowna to Kalgoorlie 40 minutes earlier to enable to large groups of players and supporters travelling to football games on the weekend to arrive into Kalgoorlie on time. However, this was rejected on the basis that the present time table had been issued to the public, and serious inconvenience might be caused by granting the application.

Arrival into Kanowna (White Feather)

Alf arrived into Kanowna (from Melbourne via Albany) just in time to participate in the town’s fancy dress football fundraiser on Sunday 24 April to benefit the local hospital and also served as a pre-season ‘Possibles’ versus ‘Probables’ game, which resulted in a win to Alf’s team (Probables) 8-3-51 to the Possibles 3-8-24. Kanowna was no different to many isolated rural communities in that they often had to make their own fun. A fancy-dress party was held in the Kanowna Reserve and reported many men and women “attired in a grotesque manner (men dressed as women) being driven around the town by

Mr. P. Manning in a gaily decorated caparisoned vehicle”. The Kalgoorlie Argus newspaper (28 June 1904, page 19) reported this event and produced the below photo.

Image: Fancy dress football match

1904 Season (White Feather)

Alf’s first game for the White Feather FC was Sunday afternoon on 1 May 1904 at the Boulder Recreational Reserve: a trip which necessitated the logistical challenges of a 20 kilometer train ride from Kanowna to Boulder City.

The 1 May 1904 game against Boulder City was very much a mismatch from the outset with the Boulder team containing several of the best footballers in the country, including the brilliant and much-traveled Bert Renfrey (St. Kilda VFL player). By quarter time, Boulder led 4-3-27 to White Feather’s no score, which was further extended in the next quarter resulting in a half-time score of 5-4-34 to 1-1-7.

This continued in the second half with the assistance of the wind, Boulder ran out easy winners 9-8-62 to 2-3-15. Alf played well but was still finding his feet, adjusting to the climate change – one of the standout players for Alf’s team was Jack ‘Bella’ Wells (later St. Kilda), who transferred from the Mines United FC.

Alf’s second game with Feather was on 8 May 1904, which saw the team click against Trafalgars at Kanowna. Reports acknowledged, “several new men stripped for the locals and from the start it was obvious that the Feathers would be able to vanquish their opponents easily”. This report summed up the game with the locals completely over-running Trafalgars to lead 3-4-22 to nil at quarter time and increased this score by half-time to lead 7-5-47 to 0-1-1 and then to the end to win 11-12-78 to 0-5-5. The Kalgoorlie Miner (9 May 1904) reported:

“the White Feather team played a fine game, their combined players probably as good as any of the best eighteens in the association. The most brilliant players were Clarke (3 goals),

Trevillian (2 goals), Hall, Ogilvie (1) and Dunlop (1)”.

Reports of GFA games were sporadic – some weeks in great detail, others scant with little other detail than the scores. Alf’s third game with Feather was on 15 May 1904 against Warriors, which saw the opposition win a low-scoring game: Warriors 3-6-24 to White Feather’s 2-8-20.

The Round 4 game on 22 May 1904 attracted a large crowd to the Kalgoorlie Recreation Reserve for White Feather’s game against the powerful Railways team. The game matched Alf against Horrie Trinder, one of his former St. Kilda VFL colleagues from 1902-03. Horrie, as the first VFL player of Portuguese descent, only played 10 VFL games as he competed with the brilliant Wyn Outen in the same position.

Horrie continued playing with the Railways FC team until 1907.

The starting time for games was brought forward from 3:00pm to 2:45pm to make the most of the winter afternoon’s fading light. However, due to the late arrival of the train from Kanowna it was 3:30pm before the game started, which prolonged the game into the darkness when it “was almost impossible to distinguish the players apart”.

The red and white jumpers of the Feather team started well with a rapid-fire goal kicked out of a scrimmage in front of goals and immediately from the ball up propelled the ball forward but only added a behind. It was at that point that the black and red jumpers of the Railways team awoke to rain kicks goal- wards to lead at quarter time 5-4-34 to 1-1-7: the sole White Feather goal kicked by Alf. Feather came out in the second quarter with gusto to kick another behind followed by 3 behinds to Railways, followed by a couple of goals, but White Feather rallied late for Alf to kick his second goal right at the end of the quarter to trail 2-2-14 to Railway’s 7-9-51.

Consistent with the first two quarters, Feather scored first in the third quarter, but their kicking was erratic missing several easy chances, including a behind from a free-kick awarded to Alf (Trevillian). The score line against the Feather grew, despite swinging the ball forward on several occasions they could only add behinds: the end of the third quarter saw Feather trail 2-7-19 to 8-12-60. The final quarter was played in the darkness, so it was impossible to distinguish the player as “they flirted about after the ball”. Railways had much the better of the play with the final whistle blowing resulting in a Railways victory by 11-12-78 to Feather’s 3-9-27. The newspaper reported that,

…Kanowna’s (Whitefeather) best man was Trevillian, who was ably supported by Wells, Dunlop, Jones, Cunningham, O’Connell, Annert, and Sloan”.

 

The Round 5 game against Mines Rovers on 29 May provided Alf with an opportunity to play against Fred Hiskins, who by that time had established himself as a key component of the Mines team.  A fast-paced game was played by both teams, but the Mines team prevailed 7-14-56 to White Feather’s 6-9-45, of which Alf contributed two goals.

On Sunday afternoon 12 June 1904, White Feather played its Round 6 game against Kalgoorlie at its home ground at the Kanowna Recreation Reserve ground. A cold wind blew across the ground which prevented a large crowd from attending what promised to be a tight game. Kalgoorlie kicked to the southern end of the ground and started at a frenetic pace right from the bounce and goaled immediately, which was followed by an opportunistic snap at goal resulting in a behind. The red and white of the Feather team eventually got their hands on the ball for one unsuccessful attempt at goal, which was countered by more scoring by Kalgoorlie – quarter time scores saw Kalgoorlie lead 3-4-22 to White Feather 0-1-1.

White Feather came out after the break with more resolve and much improved play and accuracy in kicking saw them overtake Kalgoorlie’s quarter time score nearing half-time. However, one of White Feather’s back men was penalised near the Kalgoorlie goals, allowing the visitors to inch ahead at the long break – Kalgoorlie 4-5-29 to White Feather 4-3-27 at halftime. After the long break Kalgoorlie stretched its lead in a game that was becoming “increasingly rough”. Kalgoorlie was not able to pull away due to “indifferent kicking at goal”, but still led at three-quarter time by 5-8-38 to Feather’s 4-4-28. The last quarter was described as “as a scramble, during which nearly 40 free kicks were given – mostly to the Kalgoorlie team”. Once ahead and with a clear (biased) advantage of the umpire allowed the Kalgoorlie team to gradually shut the game down by using the tactic of taking “more than once taking an unduly long time to kick the ball after taking marks”. White Feather’s O’Connell managed to secure a fine angle goal towards the end, but to no avail as the Feather went down by five points. Kalgoorlie 5-9-39 to White Feather 5-4-34, with Alf kicking two of the team’s five goals.

The Round 7 home game at Kanowna Reserve on 19 June 1904 was against Boulder City in “inclement weather”, which did not deter a fair crowd from turning up to watch. This presented an opportunity to put up greater opposition than the feeble 47-point shellacking received in Round 1 on 1 May against Boulder (when they lost 2-3-15 to 9-8-62). Boulder won the toss and kicked with the wind in the first quarter, which provided them with great assistance to the extent that the “gusts were so strong and erratic that the when the ball went out of bounds on the eastern side, it just kept going”. Despite the wind assistance Boulder did not take full advantage and Feather had little chance to promote the ball to their end and failed to score. A different complexion was put on the game early in the second quarter, when Downing registered two goals were for the local team. The visitors were soon behind in the scores, which threw fresh life into the team, who were playing a good game and were at the head of affairs. Boulder rallied to be slightly ahead at the long break 2-4-16 to White Feather’s 2-0-12. After a lengthy adjournment, owing to the rain storm which swept over the ground, both teams went to work with a will. The going, however, was very greasy, and numerous harmless falls occurred in the mud. Boulder made whatever use they could of the ball and got a goal early, but the play was very even with Boulder leading at three-quarter time 3-4-22 to White Feather’s 2-3-15.

Football fields in the goldfields were not seeded and grassed until around 1910, so when it rained the field quickly developed into a mud bath. This meant that any lead that a team gained while playing in dry conditions as quickly assigned a much greater value once the rain began. The wind lulled in the last quartet, and the rain, which fell so heavily in the previous period, almost ceased. The Feather men were unable to add to their total, while the City team notched three minor scores resulting in a Boulder City victory by 3-7-25 to White Feather’s gallant 2-3-15.

Alf’s second last game for White Feather was a home game on 26 June against Trafalgars, who were the GFA competition ‘whipping boy’, who in eight rounds of football, had a total score differential of minus 482 (i.e., teams had scored 482 more points than Trafalgars had managed themselves). Feather’s Round 2 game against Trafalgars was a dominant performance and the Round 8 game was a sound win: 6-1-36 to Trafalgars’ miserly 1-5-11.

Below tables (1904 and 1905) show the wholesale movement of players between clubs.

Alf played the first half of the 1904 season with Whitefeather (Kanowna) and then with Perth FC in 1904. He then played for West Perth in 1905.

* Fred Hiskins was a true champion and a lifelong friend of Alf Trevillian since they were young boys. Fred was the VFL’s leading goalkicker in 1901, and a Victorian state representative in 1902 before he travelled to WA, where he played three and a bit seasons with Mines Rovers.

Fred and Alf had played against (and with) each other in NE Victoria, against each other in the VFL and against each other in the Goldfields competition.

1904 Perth Football Club

At the mid-point of the 1904 GFA season, Alf was recruited to the Perth FC to play in the WAFA competition in the capital city. The Perth FC expected Alf to commence with the team for the game on 2 July against the WAFA powerhouse team, East Fremantle. However, there was an administrative delay in finalising the clearance, so Alf remained in Kanowna for another week and played in the game against the Horseshoe Warriors FC on 3 July 1904. Extremely strong winds favored the Warriors, and by the first quarter break, they led 6-4-40 to Feathers’ nil score. The wind had dropped noticeably in the second quarter taking away the advantage the Warriors had enjoyed in the first quarter. The game dissolved into a classic arm wrestle with Feather’s outscoring the Warriors in the final three quarters by 38 to 24, but the damage was done at the start to lose the game 5-8-38 to 9-10-64 – Alf finished with two of his team’s five goals in his last game in the GFA.

After playing 13 games in GFA, including two pre-season games with Fred Hiskins’ Mines Rovers team, a pre-season game and nine competition games with White Feather FC and a benefit game, Alf came to the notice of the Perth football fraternity and was recruited to the Perth FC to play out the 1904 season. His expected departure from the Goldfields was noted in the Kalgoorlie Miner (Thursday, 30 June 1904), as follows,  Alf Trevillian, the ex-St. Kilda footballer, who for some time has been doing yeoman service for the red and whites, left by yesterday’s express for the metropolis, where he will play for the Perth club for the remainder of the season”.

Specifically, Alf rated individual praise and acknowledgement of his injury,

… Trevillian, the ex-St. Kilda ruck man will take his place for the first time tomorrow in the ranks of the red legs, and from all accounts will prove a valuable acquisition to the club. Since his arrival from the goldfields he has been suffering a recovery from an old injury sustained in his last match on the goldfields. Trevillian is described as a very handy man, being a brilliant mark, a good ruck man, and a tricky player Perths will probably utilise his services forward where his marking capabilities will be extremely useful.

 Corrupt Perth players (1904 grand final)

Within a day or so after the 1904 grand final between Perth and East Fremantle, speculation was rife that the game had been “thrown” to favour betting concerns with certain players “playing stiff”. There were stories of bookies setting up their stands outside Perth’s change rooms. The game was tight until half-time with East Freo leading 3-5-23 to 2-2-14, but Perth (capitulated) only added another 11 points in the second half. East Freo thrashed Perth 12-11-83 to 3-7-25. However, with or without corruptive influence of bookmakers, East Fremantle’s big game performance was outstanding. They played in 14 grand finals in a row between 1899-1912, wining nine of them.

1905 West Perth Football Club

Alf and five of his 1904 ex-Perth FC teammates, Albert Bennetts, Harry Parsons, Francis O’Callaghan, Stan Jeffreys and William Wyatt, were gutted following the 1904 Perth FC grand final debacle and decided to move to play with West Perth in the 1905 season.

From the outset of the 1905 season, West Perth played like a team that had been together for a long time, rather than a newly built one, whereas the 1905 Perth team (Alf former team from 1904) were despairingly described as a “combined Sunday school picnic showing little acquaintance with each other. Refer to above tables, which illustrate that the 1905 West Perth team had been carefully assembled to win a flag.

 Throughout the 1905 season West Perth deployed a tactic, which befuddled the opposition defense. The Wests forwards did not rush with the ball directly towards the goal; they were prepared to kick the ball backwards and laterally across the goals in searching for players in better position when there was a crowd of players in front of goal, until a player could be found in the open with a clearer shot.

Part I: the tied final (WAFA grand final 1905)

The 1905 WAFA grand final was between West Perth and East Fremantle – a chance for redemption…

At the end of the grand final a behind scored by West Perth in the first quarter was not registered on the scoreboard, so at the end of the game, East Freo players and supporters alike were celebrating without realising the drama that was yet to unfold. It was only when the goal umpires (McRae and Hooke) conferred at the end of the game and added West Perth’s missing behind, that some 40 minutes after the final bell, the game was officially declared a tied game.

A tied grand final caused logistical problems for the State Championship, whereby the premier of the WAFA would play the premier of the Kalgoorlie-based GFA for their right to be crowned State champions. Given that the grand final needed to be replayed the following week, this created some organisational challenges, with the State Cup play-off game having to be postponed by a week.

Considering the grinding and physically and psychologically exhausting nature of the grand final, West Perth deployed a tactic of confusing the opposition by selecting most of its players “out of position” (effectively playing forwards as defenders and backmen as forwards). The game of football in the early 1900s was very much a positional one, with players getting used to which opposition player they would meet from week to week and prepare accordingly. This selection tactic worked like a beauty.

Part II: the grand final replay

Given that the game was timed using a “running clock”, whereby stoppages were factored into the time played, the ploy of keeping the ball out of play was a good tactic. In 1905, there were no free kicks for intentionally kicking the ball out of bounds, so once in front West Perth continually kicked it out of play. On one occasion a Wests player kicked the ball so far out of bounds that it landed in the open bar area of the Grantham Hotel (which overlooked the ground). One of the Wests supporters took the ball and hid in the pub’s toilet (helping to wind the clock down) before it could be recovered and returned to the umpire.  The final score was 4-7-31 to 3-9-27 with West Perth putting all their efforts in the last quarter to frustrate their opposition while only scoring three behinds themselves.

WA State Championship

As the newly crowned WAFA premiers, the West Perth team traveled to Kalgoorlie to play against the Railways football team (the GFA premiers for 1905 and the two seasons before that); the winner of which would be crowned the WA State champion. The match was scheduled to be played at the Kalgoorlie Recreation Reserve on Sunday 15 October 1904.

Image: Alf Trevillian (immediately to the right and behind the player taking the mark)

Image: Alf Trevillian (far left, wearing cap)

The match against Railways was, as expected, a one-sided affair with West Perth winning quite easily by 10-12-72 to 2-11-23. The following Wednesday (18 October) the GFA arranged a match to be played between West Perth and a combined GFA team. The match was a more evenly contested one with the combined GFA team leading until the last quarter, when the Wests team began to assert themselves, eventually winning 7-10-52 to 5-9-39. The West Perth team departed Kalgoorlie on the overnight express train back to Perth on the Thursday night.

Stopover game at Northam on return

The distance from Kalgoorlie to Perth is 594 kilometres, which now takes 7 hours 13 minutes to complete the journey by train. However, in 1905 this took about 16 hours via the express train so the proposal to break the journey at Northam, about 100 kilometres from Perth, was a welcome relief.

The West Perth team arrived into Northam on Friday morning and were greeted with a spectacular all-expenses paid hospitality by the president of the Eastern District Football Association (EDFA). It had become common practice for the WAFA football premier to play the top GFA Kalgoorlie-based team at season’s end to determine the State Champion and the EDFA had arranged a game against the returning WAFA team for the previous few seasons. It is worthy to note that each of the four metropolitan teams which had visited Northam on their return journey from Kalgoorlie (since 1901), had lost – indeed the Combined Northam team scored a decisive victory over West Perth in 1903, when they visited as the 1903 WAFA runners up.

The 1905 match was played on the East Northam ground on Saturday 21 October between the Combined Northam team and a weakened West Perth team, given that some players (Ford, Diprose and Rowe) had to return to Perth directly after the games in Kalgoorlie. Nevertheless, West Perth had sufficient talent and fire power to easily account for the local team by 6-14-50 to 3-8-24.

Image: West Perth, Premiers and State Cup winners (Alf Trevillian 2nd row from front, standing 6th from left with mustache)

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History

My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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