Claremont Teachers College Football Club … a cobbled history.

  • World War 2

    In the Western Australian Amateur Football Association Annual Report for 1939, Hon. Secretary H. B. “Gra” Grosvenor wrote that due to the “International situation”, the 1940 Amateur Football Carnival had been “abandoned”, as had the visit in the next year from a Victorian amateur team.

    The War impacted quickly on the WAAFA.

    In 1940, a team of RAAF was admitted to the association. In view of the numerous enlistments of players, for the duration of the war, it was agreed that only one (1) game needed to be played for entitlement to play finals.

    An amount of £25 was invested in a face of interest war loan and was left to review the association finances of investing further.

    Clubs generally were finding it hard to meet their financial obligations, so it was decided for the duration of the war, that an amendment to the rule be made to permit clubs to supply a ball, but not necessarily a new one – but had to be approved by the opposing Captains & the Umpires and each one used for half the match.

    Towards the end of the year some clubs were in debt to the association, so it was agreed that a debt of over £2 would restrict it from playing in the finals.

    In 1941, Sandovers and Achilles Football Clubs, unable to guarantee the fielding of a team, withdrew from the association. South Perth advised that it was still in recess and unable to participate. This situation would continue for the duration of the war. Several clubs, who withdrew, gave their jumpers to the WAAFA in full or part payment of outstanding fees.

    At the general meeting held on 26 February 1942, it was decided to discontinue the competition for the duration of the war.

    While the Teachers College had still not at that point rejoined the WAAFA, the “International situation” further delayed any possibility of the College’s return to the Association.

    Even the Western Australian National Football League only ran an “under age” competition between 1942 and 1944. [However, the three premierships won during this time are given equal status to any other, in official records (East Perth however don’t give their 1944 premiership win equal status). All clubs competed, with the exception of Swan Districts who could not form a team in 1942, although they were back in 1943. The Sandover Medal was also presented each year.]

    Owing to the drain of players to military service in World War II, the WANFL was forced to suspend the reserves competition from 1941 until 1946, and ultimately this was to be the last season of senior football in Perth until 1945 as the supply of available players became smaller and smaller and the Japanese military threatened northern Western Australia.

    With very small numbers of students enrolled in short 6-month courses, and the call for manpower for the armed forces, there was no hope of fielding a football team during this period.

    Indeed, the College focus was very much on supporting the war effort.

    In July 1939, a Gymkhana held at Gloucester Park in aid of the Perth Legacy Club, and Aged Sailors and Soldiers’ Fund, was supported by, amongst others, the Teachers Training College.

    Later, in July 1940, the newly formed RAAF Comforts Fund was the beneficiary of a concert arranged by Professor Cameron, Principal, and teachers of the Claremont Teachers College, which raised £49/11/4d, with a further £4/1/2d donation from the College.

    The College buildings were being utilised in 1941 for “particularly interesting” activities supporting the air raid precautions organisation, with Claremont wardens meeting at the College on Monday nights, the women’s first aid parties also assembling on Monday nights, and the home nursing division convening on Thursday nights.

    The very small number of men attending the College at this time, undoubtedly due to their enlistment in the armed forces, is exemplified by the attendance at an excursion to the Fremantle City Council and Harbour Trust Commission, by a group of trainees. Led by Professor Cameron, the group of 90 students comprised only 5 men.

    However, the conclusion of the War would see enrolment numbers increase rapidly as demobilised servicemen sought new training, jobs and careers.

  • The Lead-Up to the Second World War

    The re-opening of the Claremont Teachers College in 1934 saw only 60 students enrolled. “The educationally backward step was taken of reducing the short course once again to six months, as it had been before 1919.” (John A. McKenzie: “Old Bush Schools”, WACAE, 1987).

    McKenzie continues: “The re-opened course was highly unsatisfactory and was compared unfavourably with the immediate pre-depression course. The greatest cause of complaint was that there had been no re-appointment of a lecturer in small schools method. Over the next few years the annual intake to the short course was less than forty students. “

    There must, however, have been some level of participation in football. The College Break Up Social held in December 1934 saw football gear being utilised in the “star turn”, the Men’s Ballet item, where “Football shorts and crepe paper formed their costumes.”

    Not only was the quality and duration of the Teaching course under criticism, but the usage of the trainee teachers in schools, for demonstration and observation purposes, had the effect of keeping students off-site, away from the College for at least part of the week. This issue was raised by the Union at the Public Service Appeal Board in 1936.

    During these pre-war years, it was never likely that a College football team could be drawn together from such small numbers of students in courses of such short duration, and enrolment and graduation dates which did not align with the football season.

    The recess for the Football Club continued.

  • Recess

    The apparently generosity of the Claremont Teachers College football team in withdrawing from both the 1928 and 1929 competitions mid-season, ostensibly due to ground unavailability, masks a bigger problem faced by the Football Club, and the College itself.

    Many of the teaching courses at the time were only of 6 months duration, and others were of 12 months, commencing in the middle of the year, and reaching completion the following year. There were also some two year courses. This of meant that many students graduated in July, and it is very likely that the majority of their appointed teaching positions were in small and isolated country schools. The exodus of students at this time undoubtedly left the College team undermanned, and withdrawal from the competition in both years was inevitable.

    Of course, another event which had a critical impact on the College, and therefore the Football Club, was the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

    During the depression , the college was temporarily closed down at the end of December 1931 as an economy measure. For several months prior to that, numbers had gradually declined as students completed their courses.

    The Minister for Education, Mr N. Keenan KC, stated that at the close of 1931, the Education Department projected that they would have “over 170 teachers who have passed through the Teachers’ College waiting for employment.” He continued, “at the present rate of annual vacancies … it will take more than 3 years to absorb those teachers.”

    Interestingly, he slated much of the blame for this over-supply at the feet of teachers themselves.

    He gave three reasons for this:

    1. Marriages of female teachers were far less frequent than before, and consequently, female teachers remained longer in the service.
    2. Long Service Leave had been suspended.
    3. Apparently, during the land boom in the 1920s, some of the male teachers in the country became farmers, and there was none of that now.

    The present position was that “the department’s annual loss of teachers was 50, and there were 176 teachers to supply that annual loss.” In addition, he stated, “in case of emergency, we have a small army of possible another 176 supply teachers – female teachers who had married and left the service who want to come back, and untrained teachers who have not been through the Training College, but who have had practice as teachers.”

    The College re-opened after some minor maintenance in July 1934.

    60 monitors were selected for training, and short courses were planned to commence on July 1. It was hoped there would be 120 students enrolled at the College in 1935.

    The opening actually occurred on Monday July 9. As far as possible, it was planned that “academic lectures will be delivered by members of the University staff, whilst the practical training will be under the control of the Education Department.”

    The small enrolment numbers, the over-abundance of available supply teachers, the apparent gender imbalance in the workforce, and the financial crisis all conspired to preclude the re-establishment of the Claremont Teachers College Football Club in the 1930s …

    … and war clouds were brewing.

  • Premierships and Honours

    Claremont Teachers College Football Club

    Hall of Fame

    The Perth Football League website includes a Premiership Tally of over 100 clubs and the totals of premierships won. Led by University with 98 premierships, a further 30 clubs have premierships totals in the double digits. [https://perthfootballhistory.com.au/premiership-tally]

    Among the more than 70 clubs with single-digit premiership totals are Teachers Training College with 6, and TTC Claremont with 4. However, due to the vagaries of tertiary educational institution nomenclature, these are actually the same club with a variety of names.

    Claremont Teachers College was at different times known as Teachers College, Training College, Teachers Training College, Teachers Training College Claremont, Teachers College Claremont, Claremont Teachers College, and Claremont CAE, along with various abbreviations of those names.

    [Similar inconsistencies exist with the Secondary Teachers College at Nedlands, which is both TTC Nedlands (1 premiership), and N.S.T.C. (2 premierships). Mt Lawley Teachers College is credited as TTC Mt Lawley (2), Graylands Teachers College as Graylands TC (2), and Churchlands Teachers College as TC Churchlands (5). ]

    Apart from Claremont, the Teachers Colleges only existed for relatively short periods of time before changes were brought into being. These included closures, restructures as Colleges of Advanced Education, and amalgamations into what became Western Australian College of Advanced Education, and eventually Edith Cowan University.

    Greater recognition of the impact and success of the Teachers Colleges, and in particular, Claremont Teachers College, is clearly required.

    Using the Perth Football League website, a Hall of Fame has been extracted from the archives, documenting the remarkable record over only about 60 years, of what was for most of its existence a relatively small tertiary institution. Premierships, Runners Up finalists, Fairest and Best winners, and competition leading goal kickers have been compiled. Where available, scores, semi-final and preliminary final results, and other details have also been included.

    A GRADE PREMIERS & SANDOVER SHIELD WINNERS

    1924 TEACHERS COLLEGE (Hugo Fisher Trophy)

    (The Hugo Fisher Trophy 1924)

    1925 TEACHERS COLLEGE (SANDOVER SHIELD)

    1926 TEACHERS COLLEGE (SANDOVER SHIELD)

    (The Sandover Shield in 2014)

    A COLTS PREMIERS AND C.J. VERYARD CUP WINNERS

    1960 GRAND FINAL Runners Up to University: University 12.9 (81) def Teachers Training College 6.6 (42)

    1962 T.T.C.: Teachers Training College 10.7 (67) def University 6.7 (43)

    1964 T.T.C.: Teachers Training College 9.5 (59) def University 6.8 (44)

    1965 GRAND FINAL Runners Up to University: University 7.14 (56) def Teachers Training College 4.6 (30)

    B GRADE PREMIERS & C.J. JAMIESON CUP WINNERS

    1963 T.T.C. CLAREMONT GRAND FINAL Teachers Training College Claremont 15.15 (105) def Hilton Park 3.15 (33) [plus ‘A’ Colts team]

    1964 T.T.C. CLAREMONT B GRADE: GRAND FINAL Teachers Training College. 12.14 (86) def University 6.8 (44)

    C GRADE PREMIERS & GROSVENOR CUP WINNERS

    1966 GRAND FINAL University 8.12 (60) def Teachers Training College 7.10 (52)

    1974 T.C. CLAREMONT GRAND FINAL Teachers College Claremont 17.16 (118) def Maylands 9.6 (60)

    1980 SF1: Mt Lawley 17.14 (116) def T.C. Claremont 14.11 (95)

    1981 SF2: City Beach 16.11 (107) def T.C. Claremont 11.5 (71)

    1981 PF: Whitford 20.13 (133) def T.C. Claremont 14.15 (99)

    D GRADE PREMIERS & FLANAGAN CUP WINNERS

    1967 T.T.C. GRAND FINAL Teachers Training College 8.5 (53) def University 6.7 (43)

    1970 C.T.C. Claremont Teachers College 15.16 (106) def North Beach 10.10 (70)

    E GRADE

    1978 GRAND FINAL Teachers College Mount Lawley 16.18 (114) def Teachers College Claremont 7.9 (49)

    1984 GRAND FINAL W.A.C.A.E. 12.16 (88) def Applecross 12.10 (82)

    B GRADE FAIREST & BEST

    1954 K. ARMSTRONG (T.T.C.)

    1964 M. BUTCHER (T.T.C.)

    ‘A’ COLTS FAIREST & BEST

    1960 J. King (Teachers Training College)

    1961 B. Slater (Teachers Training College)

    1962 G. Stannage (Teachers Training College)

    C GRADE FAIREST & BEST

    1980 S. MCNAMARA (T.C CLAREMONT)

    D GRADE FAIREST & BEST

    1982 W SIMMONDS (TC CLAREMONT)

    E GRADE FAIREST & BEST

    1978 S MCNAMARA (T.C. CLAREMONT)

    1983 W SIMMONDS (CLAREMONT CAE)

    UNDEFEATED TEAMS

    1925 TEACHERS COLLEGE

    B GRADE LEADING GOALSCORER

    1963 M. LEACH T.T.C. CLAREMONT (no total known)

  • Private Edward William Vinicombe, Service Number 4018

    The apparently generosity of the Claremont Teachers College football team in withdrawing from both the 1928 and 1929 competitions mid-season, ostensibly due to ground unavailability, masks a bigger problem faced by the College itself.

    Many of the teaching courses at the time were only of 6 months duration, and others were of 12 months, commencing in the middle of the year, and reaching completion the following year. There were also two year courses.

    The remarkable success of the Teachers College team in 1924 – 1926 may in part be due to repatriation programs offered by the College to soldiers returning from the World War.

    One such returned soldier was Edward William “Ted” Vinicombe of East Pingelly, the oldest of 7 children of William Edward Vinicombe and Ellen Sarah Window. He was aged 18 on his enlistment, with his father’s permission, as a Private in 1915, and trained at Black Boy Hill. His enlistment papers record him being 5’9″ (175cm) and 145 lbs (63 kg), with grey-blue eyes, fair complexion and brown hair. He was deemed fit for active service.

    Embarking from Fremantle on HMAT Ajana in December 1915, he was taken on strength with the 48th Battalion AIF.

    His records show he was wounded “in the field” in France in August 1916, and this is noted as “Shell shock”.

    Transferred to the Australian Fourth Division Infantry School, then attached to the First Anzac Corps School, he was subsequently moved again to the Second Anzac Corps School until July 1917. Returning to the 48th Battalion and service in France, he was hospitalised in France with abcesses in his groin. Further hospitalisation for boils and scabies took place in England, and he also spent time in the notorious Bulford Hospital, receiving treatment for VD. He was absent without leave on two occasions during his enlistment, losing a total of five days’ pay.

    [Administrative headquarters of the No. 1 Australian Dermatological Hospital, Bulford, Wiltshire, April 1919. The hospital was the principal VD treatment facility for 1st AIF soldiers in Britain. Although a grim, depressing amenity for patients and staff alike, it undertook effective medical work. In its peak year of activity, 1918, it managed 9 404 patients. (Source: Australian War Memorial, photograph no. D00456.)]

    Ted Vinicombe returned to Australia at the end of December 1918, and was discharged on 17th of April 1919. He received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

    He attended Claremont Teachers College for a one year course in 1924-25, and was thereafter named in the team that won the 1926 Perth Districts Football Association Premiership.

    The Principal of the College, William J. Rooney, wrote of Vinicombe, “Fine presence and personality, forceful and tactful proving an excellent senior student. Good attainments. He has made much progress and will be a great power for good. He is a tireless worker and adds a fine steadying influence. He will meet with success …”

    Ted Vinicombe began his teaching career on probation at Hay River, west of Mt Barker, and Boyagarra, north-east of Brookton in 1926. These appointments did not preclude him from playing in the 1926 Premiership side, and he may also have been selected in the earlier two Premiers, as no records have yet been located. In Brookton in 1925, he married Ailsa Sladden. His teaching posts next included Nebrikinning [Narrogin] 1929, Highbury [Narrogin / Wagin] 1933, Dongara 1936 (where he was Secretary / Assistant Treasurer in the local RSL branch), Nabawa [Chapman Valley] 1940, and Bluff Point [Geraldton] 1943. He resigned in 1946, but returned to teaching in 1948 at Narrogin, followed by appointments at Applecross (Deputy Principal) 1952 and Rivervale (Head Teacher) 1956. He died at Rivervale in 1956, aged 58. (Source: “Western Australian Teacher Soldiers of World War 1 1914 – 1918”, Neville Green).

    Apart from a court appearance in January 1938, as a result of a traffic accident with a motorcycle policeman, Ted Vinicombe seems to have led an uneventful life after his time at the Teachers College.

    However, it is likely his experience in the Infantry training schools predisposed him to pursue a teaching career after his discharge. A mature former soldier with good leadership attributes would no doubt have been a handy recruit for the College football team.

  • Beginnings

    This little blog will attempt to record and preserve a small part of the history of the Claremont Teachers College Football Club, which played in the WA Amateur Football League (as it was), and its predecessors, from the 1920s to the 1980s. Contributions are welcomed from former players or officials from any era. Much of the historical information is drawn from the Perth Football League website. (https://perthfootballhistory.com.au/)

    The photo above, which I stumbled upon in an eBay sale, is of the 1924 Premiership side, taken, as anyone who knows the College would realise, outside the Refectory (see below). Interestingly, a Norfolk Island pine tree can be seen in an identical position in both photos.

    Photographer: Susan Barratt

    The names of the players are handwritten in pencil on the back, but unfortunately covered with mounting tape, which I have not tried to remove.

    Claremont Teachers College was the only teacher education institution in WA, from its foundation in 1901, until the establishment of Graylands Teachers College in 1955. The football team was known by many variations of names over its lifetime, and this has perhaps led to the under-appreciation of its successes.

    The 1920s

    1922 saw the formation of the Mercantile Football Association, representing business or mercantile houses. In 1924, it became known as the Perth District Football Association, to allow the affiliation of clubs other than company teams. In that same year, a team from Teachers College was admitted to the competition, sporting Green and Gold colours. Based on the photo, it would appear that the uniform was possibly a green guernsey with gold stitching of the CTC letters, at least on some.

    In its first season, the Teachers College were the Premiers, winning the Hugo Fisher Cup by defeating Commonwealth Bank 9.5 (59) to 5.14 (44) . Hugo Fisher Pty Ltd were sports goods manufacturers in Perth who also manufactured the ‘Fischer’ football. This is the team in my photo, with, it would seem, the Hugo Fisher Cup.

    The Teachers College team claimed the Premiership again in 1925, winning the inaugural Sandover Shield. (In 1923, Mr Alfred Sandover offered to present a shield for the Association. It was accepted but it was decided to defer its awarding till 1925. The Sandover Shield is still contested and presented to the A Grade Premiership team.)

    Played on 8th of August 1925 at the Showgrounds, the College again defeated Commonwealth Bank 13.14 (92) to 10.14 (74) . Reportedly a “very evenly balanced team”, it was reported that the College was undefeated in this season by virtue of its 10-win record up to the two finals, and a win in the Grand Final.

    For the first time, all clubs were instructed to have numbers on their guernseys.

    In 1926 Teachers College, by defeating Harris Scarfe & Sandovers on the 7th of August at Beatty Park, achieved a third consecutive Premiership and won a second Sandover Shield.

    The 1927 season commenced with 7 teams, although one withdrew mid-year. After 3 rounds, the Final was played. Teachers College were given the privilege of registering ten further players who were eligible to play after 17th August due to the number of players leaving the college after that date, but did not make the Final.

    A shortage of grounds in 1928 resulted in Teachers College’s offer to withdraw from the Association, which was accepted on the 30th of July.

    A third round of only three matches per team was drawn up.

    In 1929, the Perth Districts Football Association name was changed to the Western Australian Amateur Football Association. At the completion of the two rounds, and after Teachers College’s withdrawal on the 15th of July 1929, the remaining six teams fought out the finals fixtures with University defeating Harris Scarfe & Sandovers in the Grand Final and winning the Sandover Shield. University had only been admitted into the Association in 1928.

    A summary of the Premierships completed in the 1920s shows the huge impact that the Teachers College had on the fledgling competition. Undoubtedly drawing from a pool of young fit men, after the first flush of success, the College nevertheless struggled to field teams towards the end of the season, perhaps due to players being appointed to country teaching positions. At the time, many teaching courses were only of 6 months duration, while other 12-month courses commenced mid-year and finished the following June.

    From its acceptance into the competition, the Teachers College team had been Premiers in 1924, 1925 and 1926, and runners-up in 1928. The 1927 runners-up assignation was corrected in the publication the following week.

    The Teachers College / Training College team apparently did not resume in the Amateur competition until 1947, fielding in ‘C’ Grade, but not making the Finals.