Chasing their own era
Mount Lawley’s Trevor Howard speaks to Chris Egan
Winning was a way of life for the Mount Lawley Football Club from the late 1970’s through to the early 1990’s. With eight ‘A Grade’ premierships in a 13 year window between 1979 and 1992, Mount Lawley lays claims to one of the greatest eras throughout the 100 year history of the Perth Football League.
Perhaps what is most interesting about the powerful era that Mount Lawley created during this 15 year run, was the origin of the era and what inspired the club to be great.
As a former President and Mount Lawley Hall of Champion member Trevor Howard explains, they were chasing two other clubs that were in the midst of their own incredible eras.
“We used to talk about times where we wished we were as good as Wembley or University, it was always got to beat Wembley and Uni,” Howard said.
“So we just set out that if we are going to have success on the field, we need to be organised and disciplined off the field.”
It was poetic that Mount Lawley’s first ‘A Grade’ premiership would come in 1979, bringing to a halt an incredible run by the two teams they most aspired to be like. From 1968 to 1978, either Wembley or University would claim every ‘A Grade’ premiership. With Mount Lawley winning the 1979 premiership, it signalled a changing of the guard.
Through the 1980’s, Mount Lawley claimed the ‘A Grade’ premiership in 1983 and a historic four-peat between 1985 and 1988. They would follow up with two more premierships in the 1990’s with back to back flags in 1991 and 1992.
Howard was the President of Mount Lawley for the majority of this golden era and credits the team’s on field success with having people that had preached the importance of discipline before he took over as President. With this focus on a disciplined approach established and Howard instilling a newfound commitment towards running a professional amateur club off-field, it would be that Mount Lawley were ideally placed to replicate the deeds of the two clubs they were chasing from the decade prior.
“The club had not had a lot of success, and in the eighties it just took off” Howard said.
“We were not only successful on the field, we were a good club off the field, a lot of fun socially and people just came down to be a part of it.”
Notably this era for Mount Lawley was led by a group of players that had grown up together, played their footy together and enjoyed premiership success together.
“We did have some good kids come and play at the club,” Howard said
“They were just local kids and they played for about 10 or 15 years together and that was where the success was from.”
The respect of this era for the Mount Lawley Football Club has lived on throughout the club’s recent history. Back in 2013 as part of the club’s 50th year celebrations, the club started its own ‘Hall Of Champions’ with most of these inaugural members having ties to this period during the 1980’s.
In 2021, even as they compete in ‘B Grade’ Mount Lawley are still encouraged and inspired by this great era. There will always be a desire in the chase, just like that great Mount Lawley side of the 1980’s.