Ten most memorable and historic moments in the West Kimberley Football League since it launched nearly one century ago

For almost a century, the West Kimberley Football League has been the heart and soul of the region’s sporting world and has produced many memorable moments along the way for the town and its surrounding communities. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause widespread cancellations, the 2020 WKFL season has been left in the balance. In light of this, the Broome Advertiser has taken a journey down memory lane and picked the 10 most memorable moments in WKFL history. The birth of West Kimberley football The year was 1921. Broome was picking up the pieces from World War I and while several sports such as cricket, bowling and racing had quickly resumed, many began making the call for regular football matches. Before 1921, the odd social match would be played between the Cabbages and Sprouts in 1917. The town was already clearly divided into two sectors, with Chinatown at one end and the wealthy pearlers at the other, and it was hardly any wonder that games would be played on the basis of this rivalry. As a result, the very first season of football began and ran for three months when North Broome were declared the inaugural premiers after defeating South Broome, 6.13 (49) to 6.7 (43). Local football historian Brian Kane said he was surprised to find that football in Broome had begun in an organised way back then. “In fact, the first football committee had no less than five vice-presidents,” he said. “Next year will mark an important milestone as Broome will celebrate 100 years of football, which is quite a feat because very few country towns in WA can boast that sort of history.” Towns’ Golden Era Anyone who follows the WKFL would know Towns have enjoyed a long history of success over the years, dating all the way back to the 1950s, when the second era of WKFL began. While winning 24 premierships over the years is impressive, anyone associated with Towns would look back at the 1970s with fond memories. This was the “Golden Era” for Towns, where they won five premierships in a row from 1974 to 1978. It is a feat that has not been matched since and Mr Kane believes it is unlikely the feat would ever happen again. During the “Golden Era”, several Towns personalities wrote their names in the history books, including Stewie Gregory — who holds the record for most appearances in premiership matches with nine — Glen Medlend and Greg Howard. Perfect runs Whether you’re a player, coach or a supporter, you would know all about the euphoria of your team winning a grand final. But what if you managed not only to win the flag but also all of your games leading up to that? The first time this happened was in 1953 when Towns, captained by club legend Don Gibbs, had won each contest, including their finals matches, to take home the premiership flag that year. Bob Stephens kicked 14 of the 15 goals Towns scored in the grand final and Keith Murray retired having played in three successive premierships. This feat would not be matched until 54 years later when Cable Beach pulled off the perfect run in 2007 and defeated Towns 10.9 (69) to 7.6 (48) to win the grand final. “Cable Beach cleaned out the trophy cabinet that year,” Mr Kane said. “Not only did they win the premiership, Joseph Dann won the best and fairest medal, Neil Marshall was leading goal kicker with 45 goals, Brett Claudius won the Father McMahon medal for best on ground in the grand final and the team won the pre-season Reconciliation Cup.” More than a decade later, the Cable Beach women’s team made it through the 2018 season without losing a game and winning the premiership over Derby Tigers. The rapid growth of women’s football After decades of watching the boys, there was an increasing demand for women to be given the opportunity to play football. While the AFL was looking into starting the AFLW, the WKFL granted the women of Broome their wish in August 2015 when they got to take part in an exhibition match that would see Cable Beach square off against the Saints. That exhibition match would go on to become the catalyst for the league to start up its very own dedicated women’s competition, which would officially begin in 2017 with four teams—Cable Beach, Saints, Derby Tigers and Looma Eagles—taking part in a short season. From there, interest in women’s football grew exponentially around the country and the competition expanded as a result with a longer season and more teams added to the fold. Peninsula Bombers and Bidyadanga Emus joined in on the action in 2018, followed by Broome Bulls in 2019, with Towns set to debut their very own women’s team in 2020. The rapid growth of women’s football was felt all throughout the Kimberley, prompting sporting organisation Garnduwa to begin hosting a women in sport forum in 2020 to bring women from all over the region with a love of sport together. A class of the elite The Kevin Bullen Best and Fairest medal is one of the highest individual accolades a player can receive in the WKFL. While there have been many different winners of the Best and Fairest medal as well as a few ties over the years, a select few have managed to join a selection of players that have taken home the medal in multiple seasons. Towns’ Ernie Rahman was the very first to do so when he won back to back medals in 1954 and 1955. However, nobody managed to pull off a three-peat until the 1990s when Beagle Bay’s Patrick Cox won the accolade in 1991, 1992 and 1996. This feat would be matched more than a decade later when Looma Eagles’ Lyle Buck won the medal in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Other players to have won the Kevin Bullen medal multiple times include Saints’ Alec Dann (1978, 1980), Towns’ Mark James (1985, 1986), Chad McElroy (1993 for Towns, 1997 for Bulls), Peninsula Bombers’ Brendon Cox (1999, 2002), Cable Beach’s Joseph Dann (2007, 2013), Broome Bulls’ Hayden McLeod (2014, 2016 in a tie with Bidyadanga’s Angelo Thomas), Bidyadanga Emus’ Angelo Thomas (2016 in a tie with Bulls’ Hayden McLeod, 2019) and Derby Tigers’ Wade Wungundin (2017, 2018 in the first three-way tie with Cable Beach’s Anthony Treacy and Looma’s Zephaniah Skinner). It’s all in the family If there’s one thing that stands out in the WKFL, it’s the amount of families represented within the clubs. From the Hunters to the Pigrams to the Danns to the Thomas’ the WKFL is certainly a family affair as much as it is a fun competition to watch. Some of these families have gone on to make some big achievements in the WKFL from grand final appearances to individual accolades. Most WKFL followers would know about the ‘Four Brothers’, where Vernon, Joseph, Leon and Ashley Dann all represented Cable Beach in nine of their premiership matches. Joseph has played in six premiership matches to date, followed by Vernon with three, while Leon and Ashley have an appearance each. Speaking of premiership appearances, the Thomas family hold the record for most members appearing in one grand final side, with eight members (Aaron, Angelo, Courtney, Jayden, Lionel, Marvin, Rowan and Thomas) representing Bidyadanga Emus in their 2016 premiership effort. Angelo Thomas went on to win the Best and Fairest medal that season and Rowan was named Best on Ground. Meanwhile, the Cox family seems to have an extensive medal collection, with five members of the family having won the Best and Fairest medal on nine occasions - including Patrick’s three wins and Brendon’s two wins). Nailbiters and Thrillers Over the years there have been many thrilling matches that have left spectators on the edges of their seats. While the home and away seasons have produced plenty of nail-biters, including some draws from time to time, the grand finals have also put on some thrillers for the masses. Mr Kane said the closest grand final to date was back in 1983, where Towns defeated Saints by just one point, despite Saints forward Mark Fogliani booting four goals with a torn hamstring. Towns would be involved in another memorable grand final nearly 20 years later when Lindsay Dean kicked a goal after the siren to defeat Saints by two points. In more recent memory, the 2018 WKFL Grand Final between Cable Beach and Looma Eagles almost ended in a draw as officials began readying themselves for sending the match into extra time. However, Looma’s Hayden Smith would mark the ball right in front of goal at the siren and booted a goal to give the Eagles their second premiership flag. Going on to bigger things The raw skill and talent of the WKFL’s footballers has seen many of them go on to try and make it big in larger leagues such as the WAFL and the AFL. The first to pave the way to state level football was Peter Talman back in the 1960s, when he was drafted to East Perth in the WAFL but ultimately decided to play for Nightcliff in the Northern Territory Football League. Talman also went on to try his hand in the South Australian National Football League, playing 11 senior games for Port Adelaide. While Talman was the first to pave the way to state football, Gavin Mitchell and Neil Marshall would blaze a new trail to the AFL when they were drafted to Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles respectively in 1995. While Marshall would ultimately return to the WAFL after playing four games for the Eagles, Mitchell played 36 games for the Dockers before moving to St Kilda, where he played a further 52 games. Arguably the most successful WKFL recruit to date was Joel Hamling. After graduating from Broome Senior High School, Hamling was drafted to Geelong Cats at pick 32 but would not find success until he recruited by the Western Bulldogs as a delisted free agent in 2014. Hamling played 23 games for the Bulldogs between 2015 and 2016, including playing in full back in their 2016 premiership match. Since then, Hamling returned home to WA when he was traded to Fremantle Dockers. Other players that went on to find success in the WAFL and AFL include Lewis Broome, Patrick Cox, Joseph Dann, Ashley Sampi, Gerrick Weedon, Zephaniah Skinner, Jack Martin, Bailey Banfield, Liam Bedford, Brett Claudius, Joe Sara, Keifer Yu and Anthony Treacy. The return of a cult hero While plenty of WKFL players that went on to play in the WAFL and AFL have returned home and continued playing over the years, no one would expect a retired AFL cult hero to put on the footy boots one more time in the Kimberley. Former Fremantle Docker Kepler Bradley was visiting the Kimberley for remote school football clinics as part of his role at WAFL side Claremont when he was convinced by former West Perth teammate and La Grange Remote Community School principal Bradley Trpchev to fill in for the Bidyadanga Emus in their 86-point round five win over Towns. Bradley booted three goals from 50m during the match. Bradley told the Broome Advertiser he had to borrow a pair of boots because of the last minute decision to play and had to cut the toes out because they were just one size too small. After the match, Bradley said it was “a cracking game” and was impressed by the “tremendous skills and talent”. Cable Beach “doing it for Brett” After suffering a crushing five-point defeat to the Looma Eagles in the 2018 WKFL Grand Final, Cable Beach were more than determined to finish what they started in 2019. However, tragedy struck when coach Brett Claudius died in December of that year, prompting then-assistant coach Shaun Bin Swani to step up and rally the troops to “do it for Brett” in their 2019 campaign. The Greenbacks would go on to make it all the way to the grand final after an impressive 12-2 home and away season, where they found themselves up against the Broome Bulls. They then held off the brave Bulls by 29 points in what was an emotional premiership victory that was subsequently dedicated to Brett. Shaun Bin Swani and Best on Ground medal winner Jordan King honoured Brett in their respective post-match speeches. “He would have been proud watching us, all year we said we were doing it for Brett and now we can say we did it for him,” Bin Swani said.