After the fire
Wanneroo’s Greg O’Day and Russell Burnett speak to Chris Egan
One of the most infamous stories of Perth Football League’s recent history, was the Wanneroo clubroom fire from 2008. The blaze which made headlines on news outlets across Perth in August of 2008, as Wanneroo Senior Football, Junior Football and Cricket clubs all saw years of history go up in flames.
Greg O’Day who was part of the consortium that helped set up Wanneroo 23 years earlier in 1985 still recalls it as one of the darkest days for the club.
“It was horrible, arsonists who set fire to it on the Friday night and it was still burning on the Saturday when we went to play cricket,” O’Day said.
While Wanneroo’s own insurance would cover the contents and the Shire of Wanneroo were covered for the clubrooms, it could not cover some of the prized club possessions which succumb to the fire. The fire hit hard to the entire sporting community around Wanneroo, as the clubrooms itself were a crucial part of a successful senior footy, junior footy and cricket club being established in the 1980’s.
The hit was even more difficult for the senior footy club given the rejuvenation they were going through on field. Having lost the ‘A Grade’ premiership by just six points in 2004, a loss of key player personnel meant they had fallen down the grades to become a ‘C Grade’ club at the time of the fire. Having to spend three years in a shed while the clubrooms were being rebuilt set the club back even further.
Adding to those difficulties, the rebuild would cause friction between the respective sporting clubs and the council.
As Russell Burnett who has been a long time Wanneroo member and currently works on Special Projects for Wanneroo recalls, there was tension between what was the best direction for the clubs. Even though O’Day and Burnett are good friends, there were disagreements from all sides about the rebuild.
“In the rebuild, Greg and I are friends, but we were at loggerheads over it,” Burnett said.
“The major issue was council and city wouldn’t listen to the user groups.”
Despite the arguments and difficulties in getting there, the new clubrooms were built and fit perfectly into a ground which remains one of the best in the Perth Football League.
The fortunes of Wanneroo would mirror the new clubrooms over the next few years. They would rise out of ‘C Grade’ and then in 2017 would claim the ‘B Grade’ premiership to make it back to top flight football.
And they would do it with one of the newest and best clubrooms in the league.