Samuel M. Miller
1939
Player/Coach/Umpire/Administrator 1924-1967
Sandovers Football Club
Samuel Marshall Miller was a classy rover and centreman who was involved in amateur football, on and off the field, for more than 40 years. He started his football career in 1924, two years after the WAAFL competition was formed, in a period that set the foundations for todays’ amateur league.
Many of the teams of the era carried names of businesses in Perth and Fremantle. Miller played for the Sandovers Football Club, a prominent sports store in Perth owned by the famous Sandover family.
He played for the Sandovers for 14 seasons from 1924 to 1938 and was a part of their premiership winning teams of 1928, 1935, 1936 and 1937, as well as representing the East Perth Football Club in 31 games between 1933 and 1935.
Miller’s talents saw him win the WAAFL Best and Fairest in 1936, the same season he captained the inaugural Western Australian State Team for the Carnival in Adelaide. His involvement in state football saw him Vice Captain of the State Side in 1938 and later, coach of the state team from 1948 to 1951 and 1953.
He was awarded Life Membership of the WAAFL a year after his playing career ended in 1939 and continued to give to the competition afterwards becoming an umpire in 1954 and serving as a member of the Protests and Disputes Board in 1955.
In 1962, he was appointed President of the WAAFL and served in the position for six years until 1967. He is also recognised as serving as Vice President of the WAAFL.
He was recognised in 2010 as inaugural Hall of Champion of the Western Australian Amateur Football League as one the League’s earliest greats.
