The story behind the story

Kalamunda’s Ray Veitch speaks to Chris Egan

Football in Kalamunda dates back to the 1940’s and the Kalamunda and Districts Football Club, affectionately known as the Kalamunda Cougars, has been largely responsible for the growth of the game in the community, often seen as a country town embracing city football.

Despite the pride that exists in the club and the stories that have come from Kalamunda and the Perth hills, there had never been efforts put into capturing the 70 plus year history and ensuring that the great stories of Kalamunda would be told for future generations.

It was this thought in mind that inspired former Club President Ray Veitch to start the process of collating a book and telling the ongoing story of the Kalamunda and Districts Football Club.

“There’s such a long history of the Kalamunda club going through four different associations and it’s been amazing doing it for about a year or so, getting some of the old history, and so many people are amazed at how the club started,” Veitch said.

“There’s been a lot of interest with the older members and current people.”

Beyond just the history of the origins of the club and the different competitions that the club has competed in, the story of how it went through a number of different grounds to find its spiritual home, as well as the generous community support that helped turned the ground into a home, capture the essence of the Kalamunda and Districts Football Club.

As he has gone through the process of getting all the stories to collate a book, Veitch has taken a further fascination for a club that he has only been involved with since the 1990’s.

Similarly as he has delved deeper into the stories with a number of the Kalamunda club greats he believes even they had a greater appreciation for the history of their own club.

“It’s amazing that some of the older guys around the place, when you are going back and the dates are put in front of them, the stories and some of the history they remember themselves,” Veitch said.

Knowing how important sport and football has been to the culture of the wider Kalamunda community, Veitch has a goal to complete the book and ensure that it is seen beyond just the football club.

“That history needs to be told, the Kalamunda history has books on the orchards and the early settlers and all that sort of stuff, so we hope to make that in a couple of years,” Veitch said.

In a generation that is very much about looking ahead and fully engaged with the achievements of the now as opposed to the then, it is refreshing to see a club that has taken the time to look back, to help it look forward.

History will always have a special place at proud community clubs.