1934 - THE YALLOURN WANDERERS SUFFER A DEFEAT
The following news article, from the ‘Morwell Advertiser’ in 1934, is a good illustration of how rapidly sporting clubs were established in Yallourn after ‘the turning of the first sod’ in 1921. Within a short space of time, various teams were formed, facilities established, equipment purchased, committees organized and players recruited.
As history shows, the Yallourn Soccer Club grew from humble beginnings to become one of the town’s most successful sporting teams in local, regional and state-wide competitions.
The newspaper report (below) has historical significance as it lists the names of the playing members of the Yallourn Wanderers soccer team of 1934.
In the match, Yallourn was defeated by Morwell; Yallourn’s only goal was scored by R. Scanlon who, according to other newspaper reports of that time, was a most adept and attacking forward for the YSC.
Further, the fact that a fair crowd witnessed the match, despite the inclement weather, suggests that the Yallourn soccer Club was well supported in those early days of the town.
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APRIL 12TH 1934 MORWELL ADVERTISER PAGE: 9
YALLOURN NEWS
SOCCER
Yallourn Soccer Club opened the football season Saturday last, the Wanderers playing Morwell at the oval and the Rovers at the Brown Coal Mine.
Conditions at the oval were not too pleasant, rain making the ground slippery and the ball greasy. Still a fair crowd of supporters turned out to see the opening game.
Morwell won the toss and kicked off. The Morwell team this season is a much stronger team than last and was not long in opening the scoring. A miss kick by one of the Wanderers backs left Dandy to score an easy goal.
In the first half hour Morwell had most of the play and should have been a few more goals up. Davis and Tremain at full back were kept very busy and T. Greer put in some good work at centre half. Morwell were soon two goals up, Dandy again scoring a nice goal.
The Wanderers forwards with a nice run down the field enabled Scanlon to score a good goal. A shower of rain just before half time drove the spectators under cover and half time arrived with no further scores, 2-1.
Beginning the second half, the Wanderers forwards were very soon on the move and kept the Morwell defence on their toes, J. Greer and Scanlon putting in some good work in the forward line. N. Greer had some good chances to score but shot over the bar.
Once again Morwell forwards were on the move and kept P. Challender very busy. The Wanderers goal-keeper at this stage was doing splendid work and brought off some fine saves. It was the turn of Morwell to score again and this time, Matheson scored and left Challender no chance. The left wing of the Wanderers was very weak so that the right wing combination was getting plenty to do. J. Greer and Scanlon, working very well together, were very unlucky in not having a goal to their credit.
The play in the second half was very keen and fast, from one end of the field to the other. Tremain and Davis did well at one end, and Bryce and Meggs did well at the other. A crash between Davis and Matheson held up play for a few minutes.
It was not long before Morwell added a further goal. Challender, making a good save, pushed the ball away from his goal; one of the Morwell forwards had a shot, hit the cross-bar and on the re-bound Matheson made no mistake in scoring with a good shot, giving Challender no chance.
Getting near the end, the Wanderers forwards were trying hard to score. Jowett was doing his share, but the final whistle went with no further score, Morwell winning 4-1.
Yallourn Wanderers team:
(Goal) Challender, (backs) Tremain, Capt. Davis, (half backs) Price, T. Greer and Dalgliesh, (forwards) J. Greer, Scanlon, N. Greer, Jowett and Fletcher.
Best players for Yallourn: Tremain, Davis, Challender, T. & J. Greer and Scanlon.
Morwell: Bryce, Meggs, Matheson and Hanley.
Goal scorers for Yallourn Wanderers: Scanlon.
Goal scorers for Morwell: Dandy 2, Matheson 2.
FOOTNOTES.
1. It is believed that organized soccer matches were played in Yallourn as early as 1930. Four teams formed a local competition; and the games were played on a field located near the briquette factory. The Melbourne based newspaper, ‘The Argus’ (April 6th 1925), carried the following short advertisement seeking teams to affiliate with a newly formed local soccer league…
“YALLOURN AND DISTRICT SOCCER LEAGUE. The Secretary of the above League will be pleased to hear from any Club in the district desirous of entering above League. Jas B. ANDERSON, Hon. Sec. Western Staff News, Yallourn.”
2. Many of the men who lived in the camps at Yallourn were influential in fostering and strengthening the local soccer competition in the early days of settlement. The great majority of soccer players, in the local competition, were employed at the various SEC work sites in Yallourn…
“A high proportion of the workforce at Yallourn in those days was of English and Celtic origins, to them football meant kicking the round ball-soccer. While it did not enjoy the same popularity as Aussie Rules, soccer was well-established in the area thanks to such club officials as president H. Johnson, secretary S. Comber and treasurer W. Langford.” ‘Yallourn Was’ Page: 92.
3. It is known, that a team from Yallourn travelled to Sale to play a charity soccer match to raise funds to support of the Gippsland Hospital in 1925. Yallourn won that match and the score line was Yallourn 2 : Sale 1. The ‘Gippsland Times’ stated that…
“On the kick-off Yallourn attacked strongly, and after concerted efforts registered a goal. Sale then attacked and forced a corner, but failed to score. Yallourn resumed the attack and scored a fine goal. Shortly after Sale from a fast tricky shot beat the, goal keeper, and when the final bell went the scores were 2 to 1.” September 21st 1925.
4. The above match was played at the Sale Football Oval and the proceeds (£9.0.0. -pounds) were forwarded to the hospital at Sale. Note: £9.0.0 (pounds) in 1934 would be equivalent to $844 (dollars ) today…so it was a most successful charity outing for the Yallourn team.
5. The Wanderers (mentioned above) and the Rovers were two Yallourn teams that competed in the Central Gippsland Soccer Football League. The other two teams were the Brown Coal Mine and Morwell United.
6. A feature of local soccer, in those days, was the comprehensive and well written match reports that were published in the local press.
7. From the earliest of times, Yallourn Soccer Club was mentioned in the major city newspapers. ‘The Age’ reported in June 1937 that in a certain round of the Central Gippsland Soccer Association, Yallourn Wanderers defeated Yallourn Rovers and that the Brown Coal United SC had defeated a local team known as ‘Militia.’
8. Mr T. Greer, mentioned above, later became President of the Yallourn Soccer Club; and there is every chance that Mr Price is the same ‘J. Price’ who became an officer bearer of the club during the 1930’s. Although there is a difference in spelling, Mr F. Tremayne (see: Tremain in the 1934 news extract above) was also a committee member of the YSC in later years.
9. In 1934 the elected office bearers of the Yallourn Soccer Club were :
• President: Mr T. Greer.
• Senior-vice presidents: D. Christie, W. Renwick, J. Murdock and J. Fletcher.
• Secretary: Mr T. Driscoll.
• Assistant Secretary: Mr R. Dinsdale.
• Treasurer: Mr R. Dinsdale.
• General Committee: J. Bain, R. Salisbury, R. Brown, W. Shankland, P. Meens and F. Saunders;
• League Delegates: T. Greer, D. Christie, W. Renwick and J. Driscoll.
10. In time, the YSC became one the best equipped, organized and most successful clubs in Victoria. Under-age soccer flourished in Yallourn in the 1950’s as youngsters of the town flocked to join the local teams…
“ Yallourn run fifteen teams… YALLOURN Soccer Club, formed by a group of young migrants in 1923, runs 15 teams two senior, one junior and 12 schoolboys' teams. The club spends close on £500 ( pounds) every season in sending three teams to Melbourne, and the facilities provided for local practice are on a par with those enjoyed by English third division soccer players….” ‘The Argus’ July 19th 1950.
11. YSC was not only a major force in the Metropolitan League but won the Division: 1 Championship in 1951. During in the 1960’s, Yallourn SC competed in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League and had considerable success and won the ‘Head of the Table’ in 1964, 1965 and 1966.
12. In that same era, Yallourn Soccer Club also won the:-
• ‘Battle of Britain Cup’ (on three occasions),
• ‘The Advertiser Shield’,
• The local lightning premiership competition,
• The ‘Charity Bowl Series’
• & several other major trophies in Latrobe Valley soccer.
13. For further details regarding the early days of soccer in Yallourn, see Murray Lobley’s very enlightening article ‘The History of the Yallourn Soccer Club’ which is posted on the website. To find Murray’s story, type in the word ‘soccer’ into the above search field and press enter.
14. Photos of the Yallourn Soccer Club, throughout the various eras, can also be found on this website.
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This story is part of a Virtual Yallourn history project entitled ‘From the Newspapers’ and a full list of titles in this series, can be obtained by contacting Julie George. The research, writing and posting of this article were completed by Julie and Roger Spaull for the Virtual Yallourn website in October 2016.
The above extract from the ‘Morwell Advertiser’ has been faithfully reproduced. The only amendments to the original copy are the font style, font size and spacing, so as to enhance the story for the purposes of posting on the Virtual Yallourn website