BEST PLACED MAN

1 October 2026

Some readers may remember a photo I posted in last year’s “Return to Perth” blog of my Uncle Pete playing football in the 1930s. I was thinking of him in the week of mourning over the loss by the Fremantle Dockers to the Brisbane Lions. He played 109 games in the WA Football League from 1929 to 1935 with one more game in 1939 halfway through the round. As a child I remembered (clearly not very well as it turned out) being told by a wharfie friend of his about a football final being lost because of bribes. I’d always remembered it as Subiaco, Pete’s team, versus West Perth but I’ve finally found a website which lists all the games he played and he wasn’t in that 1935 final:  https://waflfootyfacts.net/player/stats.php?PlayerID=3895

So the story must have been about either the 1931 or the 1933 grand final between Subiaco and East Fremantle. Which makes sense given the wharfie mate telling the story and probably  being in the “know” about what happened in his community.  Apparently, the top three Subiaco players were offered one thousand pounds (about $120,000 in  today’s money) to throw the game and Pete was the only one to say “no”. Subiaco lost in both grand finals so it could have been either game. Could the Fremantle Docker’s loss this year be kismet after all these years?

Pete may not have won in a final but he did win various gold medals and Susan and I inherited one each. Mine has the outline of a football on one side and is engraved with the beautiful phrase “best placed man” on the other. This phrase, as well as setting the imagination alight, was handy in recovering it after it was stolen a number of years ago. My rented house in Station St, Carlton was broken into twice in the 1990s. According to the police, after one break-in, burglars would wait for six months or so until the insurance company had paid out and stolen items such as record players, TVs, CDs and jewellery were replaced and break in and take it all again. After the first effort, I learnt to hide my good jewellery but I wasn’t that thoughtful when I first moved in. A number of pieces, including Pete’s medal, were stolen. I did my best to describe and even sketch the missing pieces for the police which included a pearl blister ring, an amethyst ring which I’d been given for my 18^th birthday, and other gold rings and necklaces. Clearly the most unique piece was Pete’s medal and the wording drew the attention of a pawn broker in Collingwood who in turn, reported it to the cops. I didn’t get all my jewellery back but did get the chance to buy the medal back. 

Another reason for thinking about Pete is that we’re spending a few days in the Porongorups, the place he retired to after years of working as a storeman and packer at the Perth Markets. But more about that in another post…