Season Summary: 1933

This season ticket for 1933 is the earliest in the Club's collection.

 

Roy Dellar, originally from Spotswood, played 71 games and kicked 7 goals for Williamstown from 1930 until the end of 1935, excepting 1931 when he returned to Spotswood for one season. He played in the Seconds grand final in 1929. He transferred to North Melbourne in 1936 for two seasons before crossing to Footscray in 1938. Dellar later re-appeared for North Melbourne in 1944.

Bob Addison played 27 games and kicked 33 goals for Williamstown in 1933 and the first half of 1934 before transferring to South Bendigo. He was leading goalkicker in 1933 with 23 majors. He had earlier played one game for Footscray in 1931 and with Spotswood in 1932.

Don Lavery, from Newtown in the Geelong Sub-district competition, played 15 games in 1933 before crossing to Williamstown District in 1934.

 VFA Recorder, round 1, April 17 1933 with snippets of information pertaining to Williamstown players

Economic conditions in 1933 were every bit as bad as the previous two seasons and running football clubs was no longer a pleasure due to tight finances and lack of interest, and the Club lost a lot of officials due to their unemployment. Charlie Stanbridge, who played in Williamstown's 1921 premiership team, returned at the age of 34 to become captain-coach after giving good service to both Port and South Melbourne. Harold Johns became vice-captain. Recruits included former Footscray player Bob Addison (who was only 157cms tall), who joined from Spotswood, Fred Giles and Bill Scott who also came from Spotswood, Bob Hyde from Werribee, Jack 'Bull' Martin  from Ivanhoe, Dave McDonald from the Seconds, Clarrie Hurwood from Williamstown District, Don Lavery from Newtown in Geelong, Morrie Smith and Arthur McAdam from Williamstown Juniors and Tom Orange from Newport, who would later become a vice-president in the period 1953-70. Eddie Deller made his debut in the round 16 match at Williamstown against Port Melbourne after spending all of the previous season in the Seconds after being recruited from Parkside.

Charlie Stanbridge played in Williamstown's 1921 premiership side before transferring to Port Melbourne the next season where he played for 3 years before joining South Melbourne for 5 seasons where he played 69 games. He then returned to Port Melbourne for 3 seasons before coming back to Williamstown as captain-coach in 1933 but went to Camberwell as assistant coach during the following year.

VFA Recorder, April 17, 1933

The previous year's captain, Gordon Helwig, was still injured following the charity match against the VFL in June 1932 and failed to play at all in this season, ruckman Jack O'Brien was cleared to Brighton after round 2 when he was guaranteed employment by the Penguins, Billy Lynch retired after round 3 to take up umpiring and Jim 'Sandy' Sinclair was cleared to Darling after round 6 but returned in 1934. 

The season opened with a 5-point loss at Yarraville, 9.20.74 to 9.15.69. Williamstown led at every change and was still ahead by a point in time-on in the last quarter before Joe McGrath kicked a long goal to snatch victory for the Villians, an eventual finalist. It was the first time that Yarraville had defeated 'Town at Yarraville in the opening 'neighbourly' round. Stanbridge was best for Williamstown in his first appearance since the 1921 grand final. Oakleigh stormed home with a 7.5 to 1.2 final quarter to win at Williamstown in round 2 by 8 points after the Villagers led by 31 points at the last change. 21.26 was kicked to one end of the ground while only 4.4 was kicked at the other end in a wind-effected match. The third consecutive loss came the next week at Camberwell with a 10-goal defeat to a team that did not even make the finals and saw Williamstown in last place on the ladder. 

Eddie Deller made his senior debut in the round 16 match at Williamstown against Port Melbourne after spending all of the previous season in the Seconds. Originally from Parkside, he would go on to play 130 games and kick 14 goals up until round 10 of the 1945 season, when he retired and became a trainer for the remainder of the season and then again from 1952-58. Deller played in the back pocket in the 1939 premiership victory and was awarded the most consistent player trophy in 1938 and the most effective player in 1937 & 1940. He crossed to Spotswood in 1935 but returned to Williamstown the following season. Deller was vice-captain of the Seconds in 1944 under captain-coach Gordon Ogden when the Reserves started again after the recess in respect of the Second World War. He was the father of legendary VFL field umpire, Bill Deller, and his brother, Reg, also played for Williamstown in 1933 before crossing to Williamstown District. 

The season's first victory came in round 4 with a 20-point win over eventual runner-up Coburg at Williamstown, 10.14.74 to 8.6.54, with Clarrie Hurwood kicking 5 goals on debut and Bob Addison best player. Three successive losses at a water-logged Port Melbourne, at Williamstown to Brighton and then at Sandringham were followed by a win by 45 points over eventual wooden-spooner Brunswick at Williamstown, with first-year player Bill Scott booting 6 goals and Arthur 'Porky' Sykes best player. Brunswick led by 7 points at quarter time but added only 2.8 to 10.12 for the remainder of the game. In the Brighton match, Ted Cahill kicked 8 goals out of 13 in a losing score and 6 goals at Sandringham in another loss. A further loss was suffered at Williamstown in round 9 at the hands of Preston by just two points, with the Villagers having 33 scoring shots to 20 by the Bullants. The game was lost in the third quarter when Williamstown added 3.10 to 2.0, after kicking three successive posters in the first quarter. Preston's Pitts kick sailed through for the winning goal as the final siren sounded. 

                                                                            

Sporting Globe, June 21 1933, a scene from the round 10 clash at Toorak Park which Williamstown won, 12.18.90 to 12.15.87, with Jack Barnes kicking 4 goals.

The season's third victory came at Toorak Park with a 3-point win over Prahran followed by an 11-goal defeat by Northcote at the Motordrome. Another close match against Yarraville at Williamstown resulted in a 1-goal win despite The Villians leading at every change of ends. Four consecutive defeats to Oakleigh, Camberwell, Coburg and Port Melbourne, the last three by substantial margins, had Williamstown back in second-bottom position by round 16. Three players, Cairo Dixon of Williamstown and Mason and Harvey of Camberwell, were all reported on striking charges in the round 14 clash at Williamstown. Dixon had only returned to the team the previous week after serving an eight week suspension for striking and was reported a further two times before the season was out, incurring an additional two-week suspension. The Villagers returned to the winner's list with a lucky two-point victory at Elsternwick over Brighton, 9.14 to 9.12, in a match affected by a strong wind. 17.20 was kicked at one end of the ground and just 1.6 at the other. Williamstown led by 5 goals at three-quarter time and managed to kick the only goal into the wind during the match in the last term to 5.5 by the Penguins to just fall over the line. 

The home-and-away rounds were completed with three successive defeats, to Sandringham, Brunswick and Preston, followed by two victories at home over Prahran and Northcote. The four-goal loss to eventual wooden-spooner Brunswick was followed by the year's biggest defeat by 97 points at Preston which had Williamstown back in 11th position on the 12-team ladder. Champion full-back, Fred Brooks, missed the only game in his six-season career at 'Town with influenza in the round 21 clash with the Two Blues, who also had players withdraw with illness and took the field with only 17 men. The Seagulls led at every change and prevailed by 24 points. The year's best performance came in the final game of the season with a 25-point win over eventual premier Northcote at Williamstown. The team won one less game than the previous season and slipped one rung on the ladder to ninth, although victories were achieved over three of the four finalists.

VFA Recorder for the round 21 clash against Prahran at Williamstown, which was won by 'Town by four goals, 15.12.102 to 11.12.78, after the Two Blues played all the first quarter with just 17 men due to influenza and absentees.

First-year player, Bob Addison, was leading goalkicker with 23, followed by Ted Cahill and Billy Blake who both booted 20, then Bill Scott and Jack Barnes with 16, Bill McCabe and Charlie Stanbridge 14 and Con Drew with 12. The team scored 217 goals and 290 behinds (1592 points) to 275 goals and 306 behinds (1956 points) kicked by opponents. Charlie Stanbridge was the Club's first Recorder Cup winner and tied with Oakleigh's Dave Withers for the newly-introduced VFA Medal. Stanbridge also took out the Club best and fairest award, beating 'Porky' Sykes who finished equal fifth in the VFA Medal.  

An extract from Larry Floyd's book on the history of the VFA and Williamstown - the goalscorers of 1933.

Long-serving timekeeper and life member since 1929, George Hope, passed away at his residence in Railway Crescent in early January at the age of 64. Vice-president from 1894-1908, Captain William Henry Emmerson, passed away at his home in Morris St. after a long illness aged 81 on April 29. Former player, Thomas Beeching, passed away at his residence in Malvern on March 24 at the age of 74. Beeching was a member of the first Victorian Navy and played for the Villagers from 1875-77 while based at Williamstown, and was a member of the team that won the Junior Challenge Cup in 1876, the Club's first piece of silverware. He played later with West Melbourne (1878-80, between 17-27 games 4 goals) and then Hotham (North Melbourne) 1881. He also played some games for local team, Battery United, in 1880.

At the annual meeting held at the Town Hall in November, life memberships were awarded to Mrs Rowley Sands from the welfare committee and general committeeman since 1929, Mick Maloney. 

Nathaniel 'Jack' O'Brien played 18 games and kicked 6 goals from 1931 until he transferred to Brighton after round 2 of the 1933 season. Originally from Yarrawonga, he played 13 games with South Melbourne from 1928-30 and one game with Hawthorn in round 1 of 1931 before transferring to Daylesford but was at Williamstown by the end of June. 

Eric Shade

Eric Shade played 37 games and kicked 24 goals with Williamstown from 1931-33. Originally from Williamstown CYMS, he played 20 VFL games with Footscray in 1929 and 1930 before transferring to the Villagers. 

Con Sheehan, pictured here on a 1934 Licorice Larks trading card.

Con Sheehan played 77 games and kicked 58 goals for Williamstown from 1928 until the first round of 1932, when he was cleared to Yarraville by the VFA on residential grounds. Originally from Yarraville Juniors, he would go on to captain-coach Yarraville in 1934 and coach Newport CYMS in 1944. Sheehan was secretary of the Williamstown Past Players and Officials Association from 1956-61.

A local, Harold Johns came to Williamstown in 1925 and played until the end of 1934, registering 125 games and 47 goals. He was captain for part of 1931 and vice-captain in 1933. He was suspended for 10 weeks in 1931 for elbowing a Prahran opponent. He received life membership belatedly in 2019.  

Billy Blake, originally from North Williamstown Juniors, played 76 games and kicked 82 goals from 1930-34 before crossing to Yarraville in 1935. He was later a trainer with Williamstown from 1945-51.

Tom Byrne came to Williamstown from Carlton during 1930 and played 39 games and kicked 39 goals up until the end of 1933. He transferred to Fitzroy in 1934 but was at Prahran by the middle of the season. He then went to Hawthorn in 1935 and played 61 games and kicked 70 goals up until the end of 1939. Byrne represented the VFA against the VFL in a game at Princes Park in June of 1932.

VFA Recorder, round 2, April 22 1933, with results, ladder, goalkickers and snippets of information pertaining to Williamstown players from round 1.

Cr O.P. Chanter, pictured here in 1937 when he was Mayor of Williamstown, became a vice -president of the Football Club in 1933, a post he would hold until the end of the 1937 season.

Williamstown Chronicle, January 7, 1933 - George Hope was a long-serving timekeeper for the Club and received life membership in 1929.

Williamstown Chronicle, January 21, 1933.

Williamstown Chronicle, April 1, 1933 - Thomas Beeching played for Williamstown from 1875-77, and was a member of the team that won the Junior Challenge Cup in 1876, the Club's first piece of silverware. He played later with West Melbourne (1878-80, 17-27 games 4 goals) and then Hotham (North Melbourne) 1881.

The Herald, May 1, 1933 - Captain William Henry Emmerson, vice-president 1894-1908, passed away at his home in Morris Street after a long illness on April 29, aged 81. 

The Age, May 1, 1933

Williamstown Chronicle, May 6, 1933