1980s

Among changes introduced by the VFA from 1980 was the order-off rule for senior games - it had been used in thirds matches for some years - and the playing of seconds fixtures as curtain-raisers to senior games. The two-umpire system was adopted in the finals. One of the highlights of the 1980 season was the round 16 game against Box Hill when Ian Fairley made his senior debut at only 15 years, 10 months and kicked eight goals to help the Seagulls to win 25.15 to 8.9. Fairley, a nephew of 1969 Williamstown premiership player, Ron Page, was then a year nine student at Williamstown High School but went on to have a distinguished career with North Melbourne. Williamstown seconds signalled that better days were ahead for the club by winning the premiership in 1980.

Williamstown slipped three rungs to seventh place in 1981, winning nine, losing eight and drawing one game. The Seagulls were three clear games and considerable percentage outside the final four. While the Seagulls showed occasional good form, a finals place was never likely. The Club, like the VFA, was drifting and living on past glories. Whether it would have gathered enough strength over the next few years to have won the Second Division title and returned to First Division was not tested because, rather fortuitously, that problem was taken out of Williamstown's hands by the VFA. Immediately after the Second Division finals, Williamstown found itself back in First Division.

This represented an enormous opportunity to revive and how well the club grasped that chance became evident as the 1980's unfolded. By the start of the 1983 season the Seagulls had added former Melbourne player Tony Dullard, whose father Adrian had played with 'Town from 1950-53, and Greg Towns, formerly of Carlton and Footscray. Ian Fairley had been cleared to North Melbourne after the first three games of the season. A 97-point win at home against Werribee in the opening round and an 82-point win at Camberwell in round 5 added credence to Williamstown's expected rise up the ladder. However, two further losses convinced Hobbs that Oborne was not the right man to coach the Club and sacked him. Hobbs chose to relinquish the presidency in favour of Hannebery and took over the coaching role for the rest of the season while the Club looked for a new captain-coach.

The Club's upheaval did not sit well with the players and the Seagulls won only four games for the season, remaining in 11th position. Relegation was never a threat because Waverley lost all 18 games. Despite the side's lack of success, Fotheringham kicked 108 goals - or 37.5 per cent of the team's total - to head the VFA list. He and Dullard also were selected in the VFA side that played the VAFA. Recruit ruckman Kim Kershaw, who had played with League clubs Richmond and Hawthorn, won the first of four consecutive best and fairest awards.

Whereas Williamstown had started season 1984 with three wins, it began 1985 with three losses before winning the next eight. An uneven competition meant at least 12 wins would be needed to claim fourth spot and when 'Town lost to Camberwell by five points in round 16 it faced a hard task to reach the finals ahead of Port Melbourne, now a game clear. Both clubs had a chance to boost their percentages in round 17 when they met lowly opponents. Port took advantage by beating Prahran by 76 points to strengthen its grip on fourth position, while the Seagulls had a 22-point win over Werribee. This meant that not only did Williamstown have to win well away against sixth-placed Geelong West in the last round, but rely on home side Coburg (second) inflicting a solid defeat on Port to reduce its percentage. At that stage Port had a percentage of 140.8 to Williamstown's 133.1. Williamstown did its best, kicking 14.16 to Geelong West's 8.10, but Coburg played an even bigger part by trouncing Port 21.15 to 5.9. This pushed Port's percentage down to 131.4, while Williamstown's rose slightly to 134.5. Port was out and the Seagulls were in the finals!

Season by Season Summaries

Year	President	Coach	Captain	Best & Fairest	Leading Goalkicker
1980	Sid Wookey	Merv Hobbs	Neil Courtot	Paul John	Peter Enright (52)
1981	Ernest 'Junior' Jackson	Merv Hobbs	Greg Tweedly	Geoff Bebend	Ian Fairley (39)
1982	'Junior' Jackson/Jeff Bird/Merv Hobbs	Rod Oborne	Rod Oborne	Mark Fotheringham	Mark Fotheringham (98)
1983	Merv Hobbs/Tony Hannebery	Rod Oborne/Merv Hobbs	Rod Oborne/Mark Fotheringham	Kim Kershaw	Mark Fotheringham (108)
1984	Tony Hannebery	Terry Wheeler	Terry Wheeler	Kim Kershaw	Mark Fotheringham (114)
1985	Tony Hannebery	Terry Wheeler	Terry Wheeler	Kim Kershaw	Mark Fotheringham (106)
1986	Tony Hannebery	Terry Wheeler	Terry Wheeler	Kim Kershaw	Mark Fotheringham (79)
1987	Tony Hannebery	Terry Wheeler	Terry Wheeler	Barry Round	Mark Fotheringham (66)
1988	Tony Hannebery	Terry Wheeler	Terry Wheeler	Barry Round	Ian Rickman (49)
1989	Tony Hannebery	Barry Round	Barry Round	Barry Round/Bill Swan	Ian Rickman (125)

Year	Reserves B&F	Thirds B&F	Best Clubman	Most Consistent	Coach's Trophy
1980	Paul Eudey	Chris Sandells	Phil McTaggart	Geoff Bebend	Neil Courtot
1981	John Sinnott	Gary Goding	Phil McTaggart	Paul Eudey & Ian Fairley	Geoff Bebend
1982	Jeff Ind	Mark Cannon	Bob Pearman	Mark Fotheringham	Mark Fotheringham
1983	Paul Eudey	Ray Arandez	Keith McKay	Laurie Taylor	Paul Sinnott
1984	Paul John	Grant Doll	Jeff Ind	Glen Murphy
1985	Wayne Hodges	Ritchie Raeburn	John Clifton	Kevin Hughes	Andy Daly
1986	Ron James	Ian Argus	Barry Wright	Alun Owen	Graeme Bratby
1987	Stephen Weir	Brett Gould	Kelly Brent	Brett McTaggart	Ray Green
1988	Wayne Morrissey	Scott Evans	Terry Maloney	Robert DiMartino	Laurie Taylor
1989	Wayne Morrissey/ Marcus O'Connor	Wade O'Toole/ Mark Tkocz	Doc Gilani	Andy Howlett	Ron Simmons

Year	Secretary	Treasurer	Reserves Coach	Thirds Coach
1980	Brendan Bailey	Rob Harding	Phil McTaggart	Dave Hughes
1981	Brendan Bailey	Rob Harding	Phil McTaggart	Dave Hughes
1982	Les Goding	Graham Oborne	Phil McTaggart	Dave Hughes
1983	Les Goding	Graham Oborne	Phil McTaggart	Dave Hughes
1984	Bob Pearman	Paul Stebbing	Colin Dell	Colin Dell
1985	Bob Pearman	Paul Stebbing	Bruce Davis	Bruce Davis
1986	Bob Pearman	Paul Stebbing	Bruce Davis	Bruce Davis
1987	Bob Pearman	Paul Stebbing	Tony Dullard	Bruce Davis
1988	Bob Pearman	Paul Stebbing	Tony Dullard	Larry Simmons
1989	N/A	N/A	Tony Dullard	Bruce Leighton

Year	General Manager/CEO
1989	Grant Smith

Competition Awards

1982 Under 19's Competition Leading Goal Kicker - John Crombie 151
1983 Division One Leading Goal Kicker - Mark Fotheringham 108
1984 Division One Leading Goal Kicker - Mark Fotheringham 114
1984 Runners-Up JJ Liston Trophy - Kim Kershaw, Kevin Sait
1984 Winner AG Gillon Medal (Under 18's) - Grant Doll
1986 Winner Norm Goss Memorial Medal - Tony Pastore

1986 VFA Seconds leading goalkicker - Andrew Gibbons 86

1987 VFA Seconds leading goalkicker runner-up - Paul McKay 54

1987 VFA Thirds leading goalkicker - Scott Whitzell 107
1987 Winner JJ Liston Trophy - Barry Round
1988 Winner JJ Liston Trophy - Brett McTaggart (tied with Gary Sheldon, Coburg)
1989 Winner JJ Liston Trophy - Saade Ghazi
1989 Division One Leading Goal Kicker - Ian Rickman 125

Photos

For more stories on the 1980'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=N0GfYU9LKmY

Members of the 1980's Team of the Decade, taken at a function held at Seaview Events Centre, June 21, 2019

Back row: Kevin Sait, Ian Rickman, Kim Kershaw, Rob Dimartino, Glenn Murphy, Mark Fotheringham, Barry Round, Ian Fairley

Middle row: Rick Slevison, Grant Smith, Terry Wheeler, Lindsay Cahill, Brett McTaggart, Kevin Hughes, Paul John

Front: Wayne Muschialli