| Herbie Screaigh | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Wyborn Herbert George Screaigh | ||
| Date of birth | 12 May 1911 | ||
| Place of birth | York, Western Australia | ||
| Date of death | 7 July 2002 (aged 91) | ||
| Place of death | Nedlands, Western Australia | ||
| Original team | Central Football Club (YDFA) | ||
| Height/Weight | 165 cm / 61 kg | ||
| Position(s) | Rover, forward pocket | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1932–41; 1946 | East Perth | 206 (359) | |
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 1933–34; 1939 | WANFL | 7 (13) | |
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 1940 | East Perth | 21 (13–8–0) | |
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1 Playing statistics to end of 1946 season .
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| Career highlights | |||
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Wyborn Herbert George "Herbie" Screaigh ( /skriː/; born 12 May 1911 in York, Western Australia; died 7 July 2002 in Nedlands, Western Australia) was an Australian rules footballer who played for East Perth in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). He also served with the 2/11th Battalion during World War II.
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Born to Edward Screaigh and Maud Weatherall in York, Western Australia,[1] Screaigh originally played for the Central Football Club in the York District Football Association (YDFA). He first attracted the attention of East Fremantle recruiters at the end of the 1930 season, but declined their invitation after no job could be found for him in Perth.[2] He again drew the interest of recruiters the following year after winning the Selby Medal for the best player in the YDFA,[3] and was recruited by East Perth for the 1932 season. He had an immediate impact, winning the club's best and fairest in his first season. He also played in the losing grand final side against West Perth.
Screaigh again won the club best and fairest in 1933, and was selected as the rover in a WANFL representative side at the 1933 Sydney Carnival, at the time being considered "the leading rover in the league".[4] He kicked six goals in four games to be considered one of the side's best players. He also finished runner-up by one vote in the Sandover Medal to Claremont-Cottesloe's Sammy Clarke.[5]
He again represented the WANFL at interstate level in 1934, playing two games against the SANFL, kicking three goals.[6] He won his third consecutive best and fairest award, and was also East Perth's leading goalkicker, in part due to the absence of a key marking forward. This was repeated in 1935.
Screaigh was a key member of East Perth's successive 1936 finals competition which culminated in a grand final victory. Despite being considered strong underdogs, East Perth defeated Subiaco in the first semi-final 6.11 (47) to 5.16 (46), winning through to a preliminary final against East Fremantle. In front of a crowd of 10,079 at Subiaco Oval, East Fremantle led by 13 points with four minutes remaining. East Perth managed to kick 2.2 in the final minutes to win 14.14 (98) to 14.13 (97), with Screaigh kicking 1.2, including the winning goal, crumbed from a pack with three seconds remaining. The club subsequently won the grand final against Claremont 11.5 (71) to 9.6 (60), with Screaigh again kicking a goal with the last kick after the match [7]
After the retirement of previous captain Mick Cronin due to a leg injury before the 1940 season, Screaigh was appointed captain of the club for the 1940 season, with Cronin remaining in a role as non-playing coach.[8] Cronin returned to the game in 1941 and was re-appointed captain, with Screaigh returning to the role of vice-captain.[9]
Screaigh enlisted in the 2/11th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a private in 1940. He served on home duty and in New Guinea during the war. Screaigh captained the battalion's football team in the 6th Division's football league hosted in North Queensland, and was also captain of a combined AIF team in 1944.[10][11]
He was discharged from the army in 1945 after the 2/11th was disbanded, and returned to East Perth for the 1946 season,[12] playing his 200th game on 13 July 1946, against Claremont.[13] He retired at the end of the 1946 season.
Screaigh died in 2002 in Nedlands, and was buried at York Cemetery.[14] In 2006, he was selected as the 19th man in East Perth's pre-World War II Team of the Century,[15] and in 2011 was posthumously inducted into the East Perth Hall of Fame.[16]
Screaigh was one of the smallest players in the WANFL at the time, standing only 165 cm and weighing 61 kg[17] – he had only been recruited to East Perth after convincing the club secretary, F. D. Book, who had on appearances thought Screaigh was "too small and meek", to allow him to play in several scratch matches before the 1932 season.[2] Screaigh was adept at twisting out of tackles:
One of the most admirable features of Screaigh's play, and one which is not usually found in small men, in his straight-ahead style. He does not waste time and ground by long, sweeping turns or dodging backwards and forwards. If in trouble he turns like an eel, swiftly and sharply, and does not waste time in getting rid of the ball.
—The West Australian, 18 July 1933
Screaigh was also talented at drawing free kicks for head-high contact by dropping his head during tackles:[18]
"When going through with the ball and confronted by an opponent, he drops the ball and at the same time throws up nis head, almost invariably causing his opponent to give away a free-kick for holding him round the neck."
—The West Australian, 18 July 1933
Despite playing as a rover, Screaigh kicked a large of amount of goals, averaging 1.75 goals per game throughout his career. Against Subiaco in July 1933, he kicked nine goals, the second-highest of a player playing as a rover in Western Australia.[19]
Screaigh married Jean Augustine Marwick on 3 December 1932 at St Patricks Catholic Church in York, with whom he had two daughters.[20]