Fremantle Football Club

Fremantle Football Club, unofficially nicknamed Dockers and known informally as "Freo", is one of 16 teams in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia. In 1995 it became the second team from Western Australia to be admitted to the national Australian rules football competition, honouring the rich footballing tradition and history associated with Fremantle. Despite enduring some tough times in the AFL, particularly early on in the club's history, fans have continued to show loyalty and passion for the club and Fremantle is one of the most well supported clubs in the AFL.^[1]

It has been captained by Matthew Pavlich since the beginning of the 2007 season.^[2] High profile players since the club inception include the league's tallest player Aaron Sandilands, former captain Peter Bell, the winner of the 2008 AFL Rising Star award Rhys Palmer, Luke McPharlin and Jeff Farmer. The club is coached by Mark Harvey following the resignation of Chris Connolly midway through the 2007 season.^[3][4]

History

See Also Australian rules football in Western Australia

The AFL announced on December 14 1993 that a new team would enter the league in 1995 and be based in Fremantle. The names "Fremantle Football Club", "Fremantle Dockers" and club colours were announced on July 12 1994. Their first training session was held on October 31 1994 at Fremantle Oval.

A commemorative plaque from Victoria Pavilion, Fremantle Oval.

The decision to base the new club in Fremantle was primarily due to the long association of Australian rules football in Fremantle. The first match to be played in Fremantle occurred in the 1880s ^[5] and the city quickly became a stronghold of the code, with Fremantle based teams winning 24 of the first 34 WAFL premierships ^[6]. For over 100 years it has been represented by two strong clubs in the West Australian Football League: East Fremantle and South Fremantle. However it was not represented in a national club competition until 1995, eight years after the initial expansion of the then Victorian Football League in 1987 with the creation of rival Western Australian football team, the West Coast Eagles.

In February 1996, Levi Strauss & Co., which produces the Dockers brand of clothing, challenged the club's right to use the name "Fremantle Dockers", specifically on clothing.^[7] As a result, the club and AFL discontinued the official use of the "Dockers" nickname in 1997. However, the team is still known unofficially as "The Dockers", both inside and outside the club, including in their official team song Freo Way to Go and the official club magazine "Docker".^[8]

The team endured some tough years near the bottom of the premiership ladder, until they finished fifth after the home-and-away rounds in 2003 and made the finals for the first time. The elimination final against eighth placed Essendon at Subiaco Oval was then the club's biggest ever game, but ended in disappointment for the home team, with the finals experience of Essendon proving too strong for the young team. They then missed making the finals in the following two seasons, finishing both years with 11 wins, 11 loses and only 1 game outside the top 8.

After an average first half to the 2006 season, Fremantle finished the year with a club record 9 straight wins to earn themselves 3rd position at the end of the Home & Away season, a club record 15 wins in a year and a double chance for their September finals campaign. In the qualifying final against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, the Dockers led for the first three quarters before being overrun by the Crows. The following week (September 15) saw the club win its first ever finals game in the semi-final against Melbourne at Subiaco Oval. The club subsequently earned a trip to Sydney to play in its first ever preliminary-final the following Friday night (September 22) at Telstra Stadium against the Sydney Swans, where they lost by 35 points.

Fremantle is the only currently active club the AFL that has not won a premiership (or played in a Grand Final), following Port Adelaide's win in 2004.

The club is also the only team never to have played in a drawn match, despite a controversial Round 5 match against St Kilda at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania in 2006. The Saints trailed by a point when the final siren sounded, but the field umpires failed to hear the siren which many commentators had noted as being "dangerously quiet" during the game. St Kilda's Steven Baker then scored a behind, levelling the scores, before the siren was sounded a second time. Baker was awarded a free-kick for an infringement after he kicked the point and was allowed to take the kick again - which he also scored a behind from. Immediate protests from Fremantle players and officials failed to have any effect, causing controversy throughout Australian rules circles. However, the AFL overturned the result the following Wednesday — the first time this had occurred since 1900 — and awarded the win and four premiership points to Fremantle.

The Western Derby

Main article: Western Derby

Fremantle's biggest rivalry is with the other Western Australian team, the West Coast Eagles, who they play twice each year in the home and away season, in fiercely contested "Western Derby" matches (Derby is pronounced /ˈdɝːbiː/ in Western Australia). West Coast were victorious in the first nine games, before Fremantle won in round 16, 1999. Since 2000, however, it has become more even, with Fremantle winning 6 of the 14 games and in 2006 the Dockers won both derbies in a season for the first time, they also knocked West Coast off late in the 2007 season in one of the toughest derbies ever. These games are reminiscent of the Fremantle Derby games between East and South Fremantle in the WAFL. A Fremantle Derby Grand Final in 1979 holds the WAFL and Subiaco Oval attendance record of 52,781. ^[9]

The Club

The raising of an anchor is the culmination of the pre-game ceremony at Subiaco Oval

Fremantle Football Club has its training and administration facilities at Fremantle Oval.

The club encourages fans to attend Monday night training sessions, when players remain on the field after training to meet their supporters and sign autographs.

The team's home games are played at Subiaco Oval. Between 1995 and 2000 they also played home games at the WACA Ground.

Current squad

See also Fremantle Football Club drafting and trading history for the complete list of Fremantle's draft selections, delistings and trades

Leadership

Club awards

The Doig Medal is the Fremantle Football Club's annual fairest and best award. Currently, after each of the 22 home and away matches, the Fremantle coaching staff rate each player from 0-7 (with 7 being the best). At the end of the year the votes are tallied and the Doig Medal Night is held to announce the winner. Variations on the voting system have been used in past years. The awards ceremony has been held at the Fremantle Passenger Terminal (1995), Challenge Stadium (1998-1999), Fremantle Oval (2000-2001), the Grand Ballroom at Burswood Entertainment Complex (2002-2005, 2008) and the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre (2006-2007).

The Beacon Award is presented to the club’s best new talent. To be eligible, a player must be under the age of 21 years on or before 31 December of the previous year and have played less than 10 games at the start of the season (matching the AFL Rising Star criteria).

Club guernsey

Fremantle's Home and Away Jumpers

The Fremantle Football Club uses the anchor symbol as the basis for all of their guernseys or jumpers (unlike other sporting codes it is rarely called a jersey, shirt or kit). The home jumper is purple, with a white anchor on the front separating the chest area into two panels, which are coloured red and green to represent the traditional maritime port and starboard colours. The current alternative or clash guernsey is all white with a purple anchor. ^[11]

One game each year is designated as the Purple Haze game, where an all-purple jumper with a white anchor is worn. This game is used to raise money for the Starlight Foundation.

Since 2003, the AFL has marketed one round each year as the Heritage Round. Until 2006 Fremantle wore a white guernsey with 3 red chevrons, to emulate the jumper worn by the original Fremantle Football Club in 1885. However in 2007, the selected round had Fremantle playing Sydney, who also wear red and white. An alternative blue and white striped design was used, based on the jumper worn by the East Fremantle Football Club in their 1979 WAFL Grand Final win over the South Fremantle Football Club. This Fremantle Derby still holds the record for the highest attendance at a football game of any code in Western Australia, with 52,781 attending at Subiaco Oval[2].

In September 2008, newly appointed CEO Steve Rosich confirmed that the Fremantle Football Club would undergo a through review of all areas, including the club's team name, song, guernsey and logo in a bid to boost its marketability. ^[12] However he later confirmed that the purple colour will be maintained as it had become synonymous with Fremantle.^[13]

Club records

Fremantle players enter Subiaco Oval, before a game in 2004.

• Premierships: None
• Highest ladder position (after Rd 22): 3rd, 2006
• Wooden spoons: One, 2001
• Finals series reached: Two
• Wins in finals: One (d. Melbourne Demons 14.18 (102) to 11.8 (74), September 15, 2006)
• Biggest winning margin: 112 points, against Collingwood, May 8, 2005 at Subiaco Oval, 28.12 (180) to 10.8 (68)
• Biggest losing margin: 117 points, against West Coast on April 15, 2000, at Subiaco Oval, 28.10 (178) to 9.7 (61)
• Longest winning streak: 9 games (Round 14-22, 2006)
• Longest losing streak: 18 games, (Round 22, 2000 - Round 17, 2001)

Individual awards and records

• Brownlow medallists: None
• Coleman medalists: None
• AFL Rising Star award: Paul Hasleby, 2000; Rhys Palmer, 2008
• All Australians: Matthew Pavlich 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008; Peter Bell 2003; Paul Hasleby 2003.
• International rules representatives: Heath Black 2005; Matthew Carr 2003; Ryan Crowley 2006; Robert Haddrill 2004; Paul Hasleby 2003; David Mundy 2006; Matthew Pavlich 2002, 2003; Brett Peake 2006; Clive Waterhouse 1999
• Most games: Shane Parker, 238 games (as of end of 2008)
• Most consecutive games: Matthew Pavlich, 160 games (Rd 15 2001 - Rd 16 2008)
• Most goals: Matthew Pavlich, 379 goals (as of end of 2008)
• Most goals in a season: 72 Matthew Pavlich, 2007
• Most goals in a game: 10 Tony Modra vs Melbourne, Rd 10 1999, MCG
• Mark of the Year winners: Tony Modra 2000; Luke McPharlin 2005
• Goal of the Year winners: Winston Abraham 1996

Attendance records

• Record attendance (home and away game): 45,436, Round 1, March 30, 2003 at AAMI Stadium v Adelaide
• Record attendance (home game): 42,213, Round 6, May 6, 2006 at Subiaco Oval v West Coast Eagles.
• Record attendance (finals match): 61,373, Preliminary Final, Sept 22, 2006 at Telstra Stadium v Sydney.

Club song

The official song of the club is Freo way to Go. It was written in the mid 1990s by Ken Walther and unlike many of the other Australian rules team songs, it is played to a contemporary rock tune but is based on a traditional Igor Stravinsky arrangement of a Russian folk song, Song of the Volga Boatmen. ^[14]

The song is regarded with a great deal of both derision from many opposition supporters^[15][16] and equally fierce loyalty from many fans.

Membership

Membership slogan on banner before NAB Cup Quarter Final, 2006.

Supporters cheer on the Dockers

Despite a relative lack of on-field success, Fremantle has surprised many with record membership figures. The club in 2005 had the fastest growing membership in the AFL competition with home crowds growing at a similar rate. The club's recent membership slogans have emphasised the passion of Fremantle fans for their team.

History of club membership numbers

Fremantle Football Hall of Legends

The Fremantle Football Hall of Legends was inaugurated by Fremantle Football Club in 1995, in recognition of the new AFL team’s links with its home city’s football heritage. The inductees are nominated by the two clubs from the Fremantle area in the WAFL: East Fremantle and South Fremantle. In time, players who represented Fremantle in the AFL will join their predecessors in this prestigious Hall.

Ceremonial positions

Number 1 Ticket Holders

It is traditional for each club to recognise a prominent supporter as the #1 Ticketholder. Fremantle originally chose to award this to the sitting member for the Federal Seat of Fremantle. This was roundly criticised as the member may or may not be a Fremantle football supporter. The policy was soon changed to select a well-known Fremantle identity for a two year period.

• 1995-1996 Carmen Lawrence
• 1997-2002 Jack Sheedy & Steve Marsh
• 2003-2005 Rove McManus
• 2006-2007 Luc Longley
• 2008-        Jesse Dart

Famous fans include television personalities Rove McManus and Simon Reeve.

Patrons

Since 2003, the Fremantle Football Club has been honoured to have the Governor of Western Australia as its patron.

• 2003-2005 His Excellency Lieutenant General John Sanderson, AC
• 2006- His Excellency Dr Ken Michael, AC

Vice-Patrons

• David Malcolm – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (retired)
• Syd Corser
• Con Regan
• Steve Marsh
• Jack Sheedy

Mascots

• 1995-1999: Grinder - A cartoon-like docker man, in a similar style to Popeye, with a permanent snarl, oversized jaw and muscular arms.
• 2000-2001: The Doc - a straggly blonde-haired mascot, similar in appearance to Fremantle players Clive Waterhouse or Shaun McManus.
• 2002-Current: Johnny "the Doc" Docker - a blonde haired surfer with a surfboard under one arm is the Docker's official mascot in the Mascot Manor promotion for kids.

References

See also

• List of Fremantle players - Alphabetical
• List of Fremantle Dockers league players - Ordered by debut
• Australian rules football in Western Australia
• Fremantle Football Club drafting and trading history

External links

• Official Website of the Fremantle Football Club