A vintage photograph of the 'South Australian Football Association. Inter-State Team 1913. Played in Sydney, July 12-16'
Adelaide, Frank A. McNeill, Gawler Place, 1913.
A gelatin silver photograph (242 × 289 mm), on the original captioned mount, now matted and behind glass in an antique-style wooden frame (external dimensions 517 × 563 mm).
The photograph has a tiny chip to the top edge, and a tiny surface blemish in the background; the mount has two short creases and minor surface loss to silverfish (affecting only a few letters in the identifying names); overall, in excellent condition.
In 1907 the South Australian Football Association 'changed its name to the South Australian Football League with the previous title ... passing to the body governing Seconds football. The new SAFA did much to promote football among country areas with visiting "B" grade sides making country trips previously undertaken by league teams' (Bernard Whimpress: 'The South Australian Football Story', 1983). This interstate trip would appear to be one of these events. Those featured in the photograph are (left to right, top to bottom) H. Tomkins (delegate, Torrens), C. Ryan (Sturt), R. Barron (delegate, Sturt), F.C. Horwood (South), V. Cottrell (delegate, West), S. Fisher (North), J. Madden (delegate, West), G. Battye (Torrens), and W. Sinclair (delegate, Sturt); D. Watson (trainer), P. Baulderstone (Sturt), M. Sims (West), B. Offe (Sturt), A. Benda (West), V. Richardson (Sturt), S. James (Norwood), A.A. Miller (Torrens), and T. Constable (trainer); L. Wisdom (Port), C.F. Young (honorary treasurer & assistant honorary secretary), B. Nash (Norwood, captain), Fred Adams (manager & honorary secretary SAFA), R. Rowan (Port, vice-captain), W. Essery (delegate, Norwood), and H.J. Thomas (South); F. Goodger (Norwood), R. Oatey (North), W.M. McAuliffe (West), H.R. Coates (Torrens), and W.R. Marshall (Torrens). There are not too many household names among them - a young Victor Richardson stands out - but the First World War had no small part to play. For example, the captain, 'Brunel Nash was a promising Norwood player whose career was impacted by injuries and the onset of World War 1. He followed his father as an engineer and was named after the famous British engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. From 1909 he played centre in the league and B grade teams for Norwood and also captained the B grade interstate team on several occasions. Brunel enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914 in the 10th Battalion, which was completely recruited from South Australia. He found himself with three Norwood teammates, Tom Storey, Phil Robin, and George Beames. A letter from the four soldiers to Mr J.J. Woods, secretary of the Norwood Football Club, was read at the annual meeting of the club on March 30th 1915: "... we formed a club in this battalion, with P. Robin as captain and B. Nash as vice-captain, and have successively beaten, by a large margin in each case, the 11th Battalion (Western Australia), the 6th (Victorian), and the 3rd Field Artillery Clubs. All these teams had senior players in them, about half of the Victorians being either league or association. The first game was played right under the pyramids almost, the ground being only about 400 yards distant from Cheops, and the latter two on the Cairo ovals....". Brunel Nash was among the first troops to land at Gallipoli and was posted as missing, presumed killed between April 25th and May 2nd 1915. According to some reports he died at the same time as Phil Robin on April 25th. Brunel was 27' (Redlegs Museum, online). It has been established that Brunel Nash was killed in action on 2 May 1915. His team mate in this photograph, Percy Baulderstone, was also killed in action at Gallipoli on 2 July 1915.
Item #122128
Price (AUD):
$800.00