Starting in the paddock
Gosnells’ Joe Kalajzich speaks to Chris Egan
If you are ever trying to capture the essence of just how football and indeed life has changed in Perth in the past 100 years that the Perth Football League has been in existence, one need only look at the history and origins of the Gosnells Football Club.
The origin of a club that was formed even before the Perth Football League, some 110 years ago, can be linked back to a paddock.
Club historian and former Gosnells Premiership Player, Joe Kalajzich recalls the way that the start of the club was formed.
“There was a response of the community that they would like to have their own team and the initial players, they played on a paddock beside the Gosnells Hotel,” Kalajzich said.
“The publican, a good business man too, said look, I’ve got a spare paddock if you guys want to play football and they would adjourn to the hotel for their post-game gathering.”
While the first origins of the club were to a paddock, the history of the Gosnells Oval, where the Gosnells Football Club still play today, is just as unique.
“The feeling was the paddock was inadequate and they were granted a lot,” Kalajzich said.
“The lot was cleared by hand, blokes worked weekends with horses and they pulled out red gum particularly and cleared this area which became Gosnells Oval and is still the home of the Gosnells Hawks.”
That ground that was granted all those years ago, has gone on to be one of the best in the entire of the Perth Football League. Few grounds in the Perth Football League boast the combination of excellent playing surface, floodlights, full ground carpark viewing and a picturesque grandstand.
In its Sunday Football League years, Gosnells was often the host venue of the competition’s Grand Finals and since joining the Perth Football League, Gosnells has remained a permanent fixture as a Grand Final location. To be a regular Grand Final venue is testament to the quality of the oval itself, but it also takes something more. Namely a group of hard working volunteers that help put on a good day year after year.
That idea of a hard working group of community volunteers making a club special, is one part of the club that has not changed. As Kalajzich tells, it was just like that back in 1911.
“It took enormous participation by the local community in running all aspects of the club,” Kalajzich said.
That one of the great Perth Football League Grand Final venues has traces back to a suburban paddock is testament to how far the clubs have evolved for the past century and more.