Who Am I ; Satchel Swinger Edition.

Chariotsonfire · August 2016

Close but not right.

Last clue.

The family home was in Belmont opposite the old Sandringham Hotel.

Rex · August 2016

Chariotsonfire said:
Close but not right.

Last clue.

The family home was in Belmont opposite the old Sandringham Hotel.

Wilson?

Chariotsonfire · August 2016

Give that man Rex a Teddy Bear from the top shelf of Nipper Wilson's monkey racing stall at the Royal Show. :)

Markovina · August 2016

Talking about bookies of a bygone era - that concession bookie Don Martin - he could be quite aggressive that bloke

I went to a Subiaco ( who i support ) Swans game in the 80s at Swans home ground - Haydn Bunton was coach of Subi and Featherby was still playing for Subi

It was late in the season - and it was an important game - whoever won got the double chance i think - so there was a bit riding on the result - anyhow Subi prevailed by about 2-3 goals

This was pre Eagles - so there was a decent crowd - probably 7 or 8 thousand - and as the spectators were streaming out of the ground - there was Donny Martin - well was he dirty that Swans got beat - he was really worked up - words were being exchanged - and he was itching for a fight

He was like a 6ft version of Ron Alexander - moustache and all .

thefalcon · August 2016

ask Ron Alexander how he got that scar on his forehead.... ;)

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

The monkey racing stall at the Royal Show was a beauty..all in the timing knowing when to push down when the tennis ball in the right area...or so I thought ..won it a couple of times and lost dozens of times. They all had Perth or Melbourne Cup winning names I think...decent sized field of about 12 too. They must have cleaned up...the race never started until all tickets bought..then he let them go to a rambling loud commentary of the race. Thought at the time the prizes were fantastic but in reality maybe not quite so.

JayJay · August 2016

Eric was great mates with George Davies....he always presented as a polite, articulate man of steel on his stand, never batted an eyelid as he stood there in his quality threads. George and my mum went to school together and he was a great family friend. Both of them absolutely "hated" having a punt haha.

Markovina · August 2016

Chariotsonfire said:
Denis Martin would have been the punter, also known as "The Bobbing Hat".

The "Bobbing Hat " would have dropped a bundle of cash one night

It was either WA Derby or it might have been the Australian Derby when it was held at GP

Vanderport the winner - about 10-1 - i think Danny Frawley ( failed Richmond coach) sister Ann
Frawley trained and drove

But i reckon the " Bobbing Hat" dropped about 20k - he was racing around the ring - going from one bookie to the next getting everything on the favourite - who was trained and driven by the late Vin Knight- a horse called - Bag Limit - a real grinding stayer - but it couldnt outstay Vanderport - who was a topline horse itself

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

Dennis Martin ( Bobbing Hat ) had some good stories to tell about successful plunges on Jim 'The Jet' Schrader driven horses. There must have been some good oil going around.

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

Has a bloke ever moved that fast in the ring ? Sometimes there use to be a signal when it was time to hit ,Dennis was somewhere in the middle ready to fire.

JayJay · August 2016

One day, I'll be able to tell the full story but some of the participants are still alive....but one of the fastest ever plunges ...and I mean lightning fast...involved a fairly ordinary horse, in fact a very ordinary horse, trained down at Herdsman Parade. If you want the money on quick, employ a runner, a real runner, a WANFL Field Umpire in fact ....no, it wasn't Boundary Umpire Andy Hocking, it was before his time. The horse had been cherry ripe for a few weeks but the price was "robbed" one night and wasn't on offer another, so it had a couple of unlucky transits locked up on the fence. This night, the price was right, the draw perfect and it was all systems go. Some of the old timers might remember this....but the ex Ump blew his bloody whistle....again and again... to signal game on...loudly....on went the cash in a flash....16's to who knows how short in the blink of an eye. Dual purpose with the whistle ....it let the driver, crouched low in the cart at the 13 furlong start in the middle of the back straight, that the commission had been placed. The Umpire, was apprehended by suspicious stipes and dragged off to the stewards room, apparently roaring drunk and put in a room. Race was run, the horse duly saluted, albeit narrowly, and the questions started being asked. Our esteemed WANFL Ump was identified....he had and hasn't ever had a drink in his life- and after initially claiming to have been at the footy and had a few too many (Saturday Night Trots in those days), he promptly "sobered up", told them to charge him with unnecessarily blowing his whistle and got up and walked out. A very nice farm was bought from the proceeds of that night. The ageing WANFL Umpire, now approaching his 90's, is still alive and still lives on the farm.......a little worse for the wear, having also been a survivor Z Force in World War 2, but still sharp enough to smile broadly and break out in laughter whenever you mention the Umpires Whistle plunge, which I often do on my weekly visit to him. In fact on his 80th Birthday celebration held at a Pemberton winery about 10 years ago, who should emerge from the crowd blowing an Umpires whistle to signal the start of the speeches.......none other than his life time friend, who he trained to a Golden Gloves Boxing Title, in the form of Phillip Charles Coulson. Those who knew about the plunge smiled broadly once they heard the repeated blowing of the whistle. Those who didn't laughed anyway, even if they didn't know what they where laughing at. We certainly did.

cisco · August 2016

Sensational recollections Boys - keep them coming!!!

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

@Markovina Subiaco had some very good footballers in the mid 80s..some of there clashes against Swans and East Fremantle were legendary. Both Taylors, Featherby, Sells, Keene, Lambs x 2 , Zanotti, O Loughlin, Dean, McNish, Breman, Kevin Sparks and Peter Spencer both recruited from East Perth plus many more.

cisco · August 2016

Do you guys remember Peter Melesso - he played VFL for South Melbourne and St Kilda then went to Claremont under Gerard Neesham and got drafted by the Eagles and then went and played in a few premierships for Claremont. He got very sick towards the end of his career but thankfully he is all ok now.

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

Absolutely Cisco. Amazing recovery because many don't get through it unfortunately. Some of those Claremont teams Neesham coached were almost unbeatable. One game in about 1987 ( Eagles first year) they had about 7 or 8 ready made young AFL footballers in the team..they bolted the premiership in. Fairly sure a young Ben Allan was playing for them then. Great premiership player for Hawthorn and former captain of Fremantle Dockers.

cisco · August 2016

Gee Riders the WAFL must have been a great comp in the 80s.

I watched a Grand Final on youtube and the crowds were huge.

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

It was a privilege to grow up and attend. Will never forget it. Eagles first ever game was against Richmond..Subiaco Oval 1987...what's no so well known is that East Perth played West Perth immediately after that game... the whole crowd or 99% of them got up and left. The WAFL was never going to be the same again. It was over.

cisco · August 2016

Very similar to football in Tasmania. I was heavily involved with Williamstown in the VFL and Tasmania came into the competition. Absolutely ripped the heart out of the strong TFL local competition and it has never recovered!!

Let me ask you this Riders do you think the formation of the Eagles and Dockers has been beneficial?

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

Bringing Peel Thunder in too early..the ridiculous alignments..East Perth and West Perth giving up there home grounds...the traditions were certainly squashed. As far as the alignments go Adelaide Crows have a reserves team in the SANFL as do Port Adelaide..Eagles and Dockers should do the same. That creates competion...with a bit of spite...for WAFL teams to knock them off.

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

It was inevitable Cisco. It was always coming. Took me a while to embrace though. Could never work out though why many so called one eyed North Melbourne , Geelong, St Kilda etc etc 'supporters' immediately changed to barrack for the Eagles. Was weak as I thought..but different strokes for different folks.

cisco · August 2016

Many thanks for your input Riders - I grew up in Albert Park close to South Melbourne and I barracked for South Melbourne in the VFL as did all my mates and went every Saturday.

When they got sent to Sydney I was devastated so my dream as a little boy was to play district cricket for South Melbourne which I eventually did but now the ground is a bloody soccer ground!!

Every time I drive past the ground I think if only but one positive was that my boyhood hero Rod Carter had a great career with South Melbourne and then Sydney!!!

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

The good old Lakeside Oval...never made it on to 'The Winners' often...but what a ground! Tilt Carter was the sort of bloke you would like in the trenches next to you. That's another thing...Windy Hill, Arden Street, Junction Oval, Western Oval, Princess Park , Lakeside Oval ,Victoria Park, Moorabin...they had a thing called atmosphere...some of the games at the big grounds now lack that badly.

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

Some of the preseason games when Carlton plays at Princess Park or the Pies at Victoria Park are easier and better to watch that some of the rubbish games during the season. Even the commentators get into it. Some of these great suburban grounds should have been utilisised and kept up to date and used. At least Kardinya Park is still going!

cisco · August 2016

You are spot on Riders that is why I loved my time at Williamstown so much it was real grass roots footy and the rivalry with other VFL/VFA Clubs was huge.

Going to those old suburban grounds you could feel and smell the atmosphere and ride all the big bumps and tackles!!!

Ridersonthestorm33 · August 2016

Agree. Collingwood V Eagles at Victoria Park let me tell you is a little bit different to Collingwood v Eagles at the MCG. One of those grounds has a real distinctive home ground advantage. When a Melbourne side plays a team outside of Victoria in Melbourne those games should be at their home base..playing in front of half empty huge stadiums is a joke. Sometimes half empty is being very kind.

VillageKid · August 2016

Ridersonthestorm33 said:
It was inevitable Cisco. It was always coming. Took me a while to embrace though. Could never work out though why many so called one eyed North Melbourne , Geelong, St Kilda etc etc 'supporters' immediately changed to barrack for the Eagles. Was weak as I thought..but different strokes for different folks.

What was more amazing to me Riders was that one eyed WAFL fans could walk away from supporting their local club and WAFL. I am a Swan Districts fan and will be a Swan Districts man til the day I die. I still cant believe there was no WAFL topic started on PTT this year but there was a Super Rugby one amongst others :-O although with the season we had maybe it wasnt such a bad thing! =((

Ridersonthestorm33 · September 2016

Couldn't agree more. Something to do with jumping on a bandwagon..but they weren't really WAFL supporters at all. Only on the surface. Tell you a Swan Districts player I despised...and mean that out of respect...he was a hell of a good tagger.. his name...Bill Skierwoski ( excuse spelling ) would tag blokes like Steve Malaxos , one of the Krakouers , Peter Spencer etc etc ... Number bloody 13 he was I think. Great player. Booed him often haha.

Ridersonthestorm33 · September 2016

VK can you remember another bruiser at Swans...Greg Latham. Swans were a machine by the early 80s. However there was a period before then that they were easy beats..can recall EP giving Swans some hidings but by the early 80s the boot was on the other foot. Claremont and Subiaco had some very weak teams too before both became a big force. There was a stage when Subiaco were almost non competitive ( think Peel Thunder early years ) but they turned it around by slowly improving in 1984 ,becoming a power in 1985 and winning the premiership in 1986. That was it then...the Eagles were formed and a 'monster' ( AFL ) was created. WAFL and suburban warfare as we knew it was finished.

JayJay · September 2016

Just returning to the thread title...well, a little bit....at least this is about horses.......Vanderport.....yes, Anne Frawley trained and very occasionally drove him (Maher, Lang, James, Murphy...they all intermittently handled him). He was a very serious horse Vanderport. The last of the colonials by Cute Van (by Van Derby) out of a Gyro mare, now they don't get much more colonial than that...and what a good horse. As luck would have it, I was at Moonee Valley about 1985 when Bag Limit beat him in the Vic Derby and then they came over to Perth for the Australian Derby......and Vanderport knocked off poor old George Grjlusich's Prince Paladin in the Aussie Derby after Vinnie murdered Bag Limit ( I always reckoned Vin drove GP very poorly, seriously over confidant on occasions but that was Vinnie). Vanderport came back as a 4 year old and won the Golden Nugget (beating Trunkey Weserner and Graymoore Dream). As for Prince Paladin, his 2nd in the Australian Derby was preceded by a 2nd in the WA Derby behind Our Mighty Son (Maxwell Hook 3rd) and followed a 2nd to Maxwell Hook in the the WA 3YO Sires. Should I mention the Prince's 2nd to Tamai Boy in the 4YO Triple Crown or just leave it alone, noting that at George's incredible funeral, the Bookmakers Association was well represented......as they should have been.....George was a generous donor over many decades.

VillageKid · September 2016

I remember Skwirowski & Latham fondly Riders. Billy played in our triple premiership sides in the 80s whilst Greg had left by that time but from memory he was the son of former Swans player Ralph Latham.
Some good names there JJ Vanderport & Bag Limit to very good Vic pacers whilst Prince Paladin must have been one of George's best along with Taipan Trunkey. Graymoore Dream think was owned by a couple of SD & MGCC legends in Messrs Slater & Gartrell

G'day Punter!

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