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Club History
11 April 2005
1929-30
Secretary A.Gracie Captain Keith Stenhouse. At this time the F&DMCA was composed of eight clubs these being The Workers Club, Railways, Spicer and Dettmolds ( generally known as Essandee ),Harbour Trust, Boltons, Wesley, South Fremantleand Spartans. Wesley and South Fremantle were old rivals as they too had been members of the Churches Association. In their first game in the F&DMCA Spartans defeated Wesley 108 runs to 69 with the following side:- M.Rossman: J.Gibson: K.Stenhouse: R.Kirk: R.Hickmott: J.Barnes: W.Petterson: I.McClumpha: K.Clifton: A.Gracie and J.Vaughan. A later game drew the following praise from The Fremantle Advertiser on 24th November, 1929: Hey! What sort of a club have we got here? Spartans against Essandee made 163 for the loss of only four wickets on the Park on Saturday. Opener Jack Gibson made 82 not out. In another match against Essandee later in the season Bob Kirk made the Club's first century when he made 101 not out.Given that the F&DMCA had become a much stronger association than the Churches Association Spartans performed creditably to finish fifth in this season. R.Hickmott with 325 runs and 27 wickets was the star player. 1930-31 saw the Club qualify for the finals only to lose their semi-final to East Fremantle Footballers Cricket Club but unfortunately this season received a very poor coverage in the local papers and very few figures for the season have been established. 1931-32 developed into one of the most
traumatic in the club's long history. The side had developed into a very strong
combination with a powerful attack spearheaded by Roy Thomson and Ritchie
Hickmott with the captaincy being filled by Ian McClumpha, who as an all-rounder
was one of the club's all-time great players.There were some very fine
performances recorded during the season :- However, under the rules of the Association as they were then, as they had
won the Minor premiership South Fremantle had the right to challenge which of
course they did.Unfortunately for Spartans South reversed the result of the
previous game and so won the Premiership. 1932-33 saw South once again put a dint in Spartan's hopes by defeating them in the semi-final.An opening parnership of 102 by Hunt (83) and Treloar (50) was a batting highlight while the bowlers had their moment of glory when they bundled the Workers Club out for 21. Roy Thomson with 246 runs and 31 wickets was the leading player. Thomson and another outstanding all-rounder in Ritchie Hickmott left Spartans at this stage and went on to enjoy very successful WACA careers with North Fremantle and Fremantle respectively. Their departure left the club in a very weak state, a situation that took some time to correct. 1933-34 will have to rank as one of the worst in the club's history as they didn't win a match and finished last in a nine match competition.In the process they suffered the indignity of being dismissed by East Fremantle for 18 which was still the First Grades worst effort some sixty years later. It is interesting to note that during this season Fremantle Park had deteriorated into such a poor condition that Richmond Raceway became the headquarters of the F&DMCA. At that stage it was still Spartan's home ground. This season was another of those that received scant attention from the local papers and very few figures from the season have been established. 1934-35 Fortunately the disastrous performance
of the previous season was soon forgotten as the club went from strength to
strength to enjoy a very good season indeed. There were eleven clubs associated
with the F&DMCA for this season and these were:- Court Unity; Railways;
Druids; East Fremantle;South Fremantle; CBC Old Boys; Scots; Spartans; Workers
Club; RANR;and Fremantle. Spartans won the Minor Premiership but lost the Grand
Final to East Fremantle. East Fremantle then had to wait over fifty years until
1987-88 before they won their next FirstGrade Premiership. The highlights of the
season were:- The following season - 1935-36 - saw Spartans slip out of the four. The outstanding performance for the year was a last wicket partnership of 108 between Alan Ebbs ( 80no ) and Claude Steenholdt (43 ) with the Navy Club being on the receiving end. Steinholdt 223 runs and G.Hollingsworth 37 wickets were the stars. 1936-37 didn't see much improvement in the club's fortunes but two individual efforts by Bob Kirk demonstrated what a fine cricketer he had become. The first was a chanceless innings of 111 in 59 minutes against East Fremantle followed by a haul of 9 for 42 against the Navy Club. He finished the season with 342 runs and 20 wickets to be the leading player. 1937-38 had much the same result with fifth place being the best the club could manage.They did have one very satisfying moment when they dismissed their old rivals South Fremantle for 47. Ian McClumpha with 6 for 30 and George Prince with 4 for 17 were the destroyers. McClumpha as captain led from the front with 258 runs and 31 wickets for the season. This season led to the demise of The Fremantle Churches Association as a
competitive body in Fremantle cricket. 1938-39 was not a particularly memorable season as Spartans only managed to finish eighth out of the eleven teams George Prince (senior) with 343 runs and Ian McClumpha with 225 runs and 56 wickets were the stars. A highlight of the season was Spartans dismissing Soap Distributors for 41--- in 4 overs! 1939-40 was a much better effort as the side
reached the four although they lost in the semi-finals to the Lumpers Cricket
Club. There were some notable efforts during this season:- 1940-41 saw the war gradually pushing sporting competitions into the background and as a result the membership of the F&DMCA had fallen away to six clubs. Spartans finished fifth but won a competition called the Second Division Shield by beating Sixth side East Fremantle.Tasker and McClumpha gave the side a great start in this match with an opening stand of 150 The 1941-42 season struggled along until Christmas when a meeting of the captains at Fremantle Park decided to suspend the competition until the cessation of hostilities, which as it turned out was to be 1945.This decision was based on the fact that the state of the war had reached a pretty grim stage, most teams were struggling to find enough players and Fremantle Park was about to be covered with obstacles to prevent enemy aircraft from landing on it in the eventuality that Australia was invaded. ******** So ended the first stage in the club's history. The club since its inception always had the Church of Christ in Fremantle as its parent figure. The Church Hall in High Street Fremantle was a marvellous venue for all their social activities. During the period 1918 to 1942 the club had been represented by many fine
players.Many of these became renowned in other sports while some made their mark
in the WACA competition. Statistical records of the era have been hard to establish but research at
the Battye Library has filled in quite a number of gaps and though they aren't
complete as yet they are getting close. The leading players and their aggregates
were:-
As stated earlier, the pitches that they played on were atrocious by modern standards - often little more than rolled grass - so it is not surprising that the bowling figures look more impressive than the batting figures. This era also spanned the Great Depression and many players missed seasons ,or parts of seasons ,as they were off looking for work so the men on the above list would have been able to achieve much better statistics had they been able to play on a more regular basis. Article by Brian Waterer |