I remember when with Milton Rendell

Do you remember when the local footy season started? Having grown up in Guildford naturally our local team in the West Australia Football League was Swan Districts. The WAFL as we knew it was the main competition and the great thing about it was your footy heroes were local people who worked in the community. Bill Walker was the captain and triple Sandover Medalist at the time in the sixties and seventies. The buzz at Bassendean Oval (now known as Blue Steel Oval) was great my mum and dad use to go to the local games and those days you could even go into the change rooms and listen to the half time address, which was really a lot of shouting. There were lots of local heroes Keith Slater was the dominant ruckman at the time, Ken Bagley playing both ends of the ground, Joe Lawson was a great Full back, Fred Castledine who later coached all great players. To name a few from the original winning Premiership team (who beat East Perth in the 1961 grand final by 24 points), Lindsay Johnston who was the full forward in 1961 and later became an umpire in WAFL. Those who know Lindsay, he is one of those rare characters. Right up to the start of AFL WAFL footy attracted great crowds. The MacDonald Stand was the loudest in the league and to be honest atmosphere at local footy was great. It was where you caught up with your mates and watched guys you grew up with apply their skill. Swans play at home this week against West Perth so go down and support your local club. In coming weeks there will be plenty of parents driving their kids around to play in their local suburban team, some kids playing their first ever game. All the best to all the volunteers who help make the hot dogs and work the canteen and wash the jumpers, run the boundary and more. Without these people you don’t have a club and help our future champions to get the opportunity to play.  Together Everyone Achieves More.