1960's

 

The Williamstown Football Club entered the 1960's as arguably the most dominant team the VFA had ever seen coming off an era which saw them win five premierships in six years. However, the club was at the crossroads with aging stars mixed with new recruits and young talent to take the club forward into a new era of success.

 

The early years of the 1960's saw Williamstown make the finals in the first three years, coming close to ultimate glory in 1961 when they were defeated in the Grand Final by Yarraville by ten goals. 1961 also saw the VFA make a radical decision to split the competition into two divisions in an attempt to even out the competition. Williamstown joined the top division with most of the other larger and dominant teams of the era.

 

1963 saw the club unable to make the finals for the first time in ten years. Undeterred by the previous year's performance, the Seagulls conjured an emphatic turnaround the season following that saw the club into another grand final against Port Melbourne, only to fall short of their 11th premiership flag.

 

After missed opportunities early in the decade to achieve success, the club then entered a period of concern after disappointing seasons in 1965-66 saw the Seagulls become a shadow of its former self. 1967 saw Williamstown record its worst season in history at the time, 'winning' the wooden spoon and subsequently falling back to second division for 1968.

 

Looking to bounce back, the side came tantalisingly close to returning to division one, only to go down to Geelong West in the grand final of 1968 by two goals. Although not totally dismayed by the previous year, the club was finally able to achieve the ultimate success from its fourth try of the decade, defeating Sunshine by 20 points in the 1969 Grand Final and thus promoted back into Division One at the beginning of the 1970's. The first's premiership was capped off with premiership wins for both the seconds and thirds.

 

In May 2017, at an event held at the Club's Seaview Function Centre, a Team of the Decade from the 1960's was announced. The team selected can be seen below. A report on the night can be viewed at this link:  http://www.williamstownfc.com.au/news/10-latest-news/705-1960-s-team-of-the-decade-announced

 

 

Season by Season Summaries

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

 

 

Year	President	Coach	Captain	Best & Fairest	Leading Goalkicker
1960	Arthur Johnson	Gerry Callahan	Ray Smith	Ray Smith	Tom Pelly (42)
1961	Arthur Johnson	Gerry Callahan	Ray Smith	Ray Smith	Keith James (48)
1962	Arthur Johnson	Gerry Callahan	Daryl Ward	John Cope	Keith James (40)
1963	Arthur Johnson	Gerry Callahan	Daryl Ward	Leo Maloney	Keith James (42)
1964	Arthur Johnson	Gerry Callahan	Daryl Ward	Bobby Turner	Keith James (41)
1965	Arthur Johnson	Gerry Callahan	Daryl Ward	Tom Russell	Jim Jenkinson (29)
1966	Ron Marrett	Gerry Callahan	Daryl Ward	Jeff Trotman	George Savige (32)
1967	Ron Marrett	Gerry Callahan	Bob Ware	Ian Nankervis	Eddie Szyszka (54)
1968	Ron Marrett	Max Papley	Max Papley	Ian Johnston	Eddie Szyszka (61)
1969	Arthur Johnson	Max Papley	Max Papley	Ken Barnes	Dallas Patterson (58)

 

 

Year	Reserves Captain Coach	Reserves B&F	Thirds Coach	Thirds B&F	Fourths Coach	Fourths B&F	Best 1st Year
1960	Alby Linton	Doug Kellett	Wally Ward	Allan Harris	N/A	N/A	Graham Clough & Alan McAsey
1961	Neville O'Connor	Neville O'Connor	Wally Ward	Ray Bamford	N/A	N/A	Greg Taube & Bobby Turner
1962	Neville O'Connor	Ken Barnes	Wally Ward	Haydn McAuliffe	N/A	N/A	Ray Bamford & Ray Johns
1963	Neville O'Connor	Ron Leonard	Wally Ward	Kevin Dooley	N/A	N/A	George Savige
1964	Neville O'Connor	Ray Bamford	Wally Ward	Cyril Harris	N/A	N/A	N/A
1965	Jocka Mellis	Jocka Mellis	John McConville	Cyril Harris	N/A	N/A	N/A
1966	Jocka Mellis	Arthur Lee	John McConville	John Whittington	N/A	N/A	Barry Dodd
1967	Jocka Mellis	Bob Smith	John McConville	Peter Sonsie	N/A	N/A	Eddie Szyszka
1968	Ron Leonard	John Raffle	Des Hosking	Gary Craddock	Bernie Johns	Michael Halemba	Andy Camilleri
1969	Jocka Mellis	David Utber	Des Hosking	Phillip Humphries	Bernie Johns	Tommy Welsh	Robert Percy

  

 

Year	Secretary	Treasurer	Best & Fairest Runner-Up	Best & Fairest Third Place	Advertiser  Award	Chronicle Award
1960	Stan Whear	Maurie Power	Bob Jones	Daryl Ward	Bob Jones	Bob Jones
1961	Stan Whear	Maurie Power	Jack Evans	Daryl Ward	Ray Smith	Ray Smith
1962	Stan Whear	Maurie Power	Graham Clough	Don Carmichael	Alan McAsey	Graham Clough
1963	Stan Whear	Maurie Power	Daryl Ward	Greg Taube	Leo Maloney	Leo Maloney
1964	Stan Whear	Bob Major	Jim Jenkinson	Denis Railton	Jim Jenkinson	Jim Jenkinson
1965	Alec Bell	Alf Leaman	Jim Jenkinson	Daryl Ward	Tom Russell & Charlie Evans	N/A
1966	Alec Bell	Alf Leaman	Charlie Evans	Bob Ware	Bob Ware	N/A
1967	Alec Bell	Alf Leaman	John Murrie	Owen Madigan	Ian Nankervis	N/A
1968	Alec Bell	Alf Leaman	Max Papley	Bob Smith	Ian Nankervis	N/A
1969	Alec Bell	Alf Leaman	Paul Hayward	Robert Percy	Robert Percy	N/A

 

Competition Award Winners

1961 A.G. (Alec) Gillon Medal, VFA Thirds Best & Fairest - Ray Bamford

1968 J. (Jack) Field Medallist, Division Two Best & Fairest - Ian Nankervis

1968 Division Two Leading Goal Kicker - Eddie Szyszka (61)

1968 Division Two Reserves Best & Fairest - Ron Leonard 

 

Photos

 

                                              Williamstown Thirds, Premiers 1969

  

 

 

For more stories on the 1960's from some of the Club identities of the era please click on the following link to one of Bruce Davis' productions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdY2z0gdko8

                                                                     

The 1960's Team of the Decade was announced at a function in May 2017, with Max Papley being elevated to Legend status in the Club's Hall of Fame, joining the late Ron Todd, Ray Smith, Gerry Callahan, Barry Round & Ian Rickman.