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The FD Book Medal - East Perth FC

 

The honour of winning the fairest and best award in any team at any level carries a high degree of satisfaction and achievement and some great football names have claimed the reward at the East Perth Football Club.

While the presentation of an award for the "Most Brilliant Player" was made in the club's early days, the award has been officially listed on the club's Honour Board since 1926 and after several name changes and formats, it has now become known as the FD Book Medal.

Recent Hall of Fame inductee Larry (Plum) Duffy heads the Book Medal list, winning the award in 1926 as a seasoned rover who was on his way to playing in all seven premierships from his debut year of 1919 through to 1927.

William (Billy) Thomas was the first player to win back-to-back medals in 1928-29, but that was quickly superceded by a hat-trick of wins to Herb Screaigh in 1932-33-34 and a fourth three years later.

Graham (Polly) Farmer won his first fairest and best in his second season, 1954 and he continued that dominance for six of the next seven years - broken only by his teenage friend and Sister Kate's colleague Ted (Square) Kilmurray in 1958.

Players like Derek Chadwick, Mal Brown and Peter Spencer collected successive medals, with the latter two also adding a third down the track and there have been several other multiple winners such as Stephen Curtis, George Giannakis, Peter Miller, Ryan Turnbull and Aaron Marley.

The effort of Marley, a tough and courageous defender from the coal-mining town of Collie, is worthy of mention.

Always something of a reluctant city player, the country product became a "medal specialist" in his career. If he wasn't winning a fairest and best or a premiership medallion at East Perth, he was claiming the Hayward Medal for the South West League's best player or the Pike Medal for best-afield in a grand final - or just another premiership medal with the Collie team of Mines Rovers and later with the amalgamated Collie Eagles.

The 2000 season wasn't only a premiership drought-breaker, with the club's first flag in 22 years, but it was a three-way tie with Marley joining David Swan and Rod Wheatley, who collected his second the next season.

 

The Missing Link

Football club records can often pose mysterious puzzles and East Perth's list of fairest and best players was no exception.

For many years the Honour Board in the club's foyer had the word "unrecorded" alongside the year of 1930, with no official records able to indicate who won this trophy.

Club historian Bill Forrest's continuous search of records had failed to provide the answer and he had listed 17 players from the 1930 season who played 12 or more games and suggested that the fairest and best player would have been one of those.

Despite a general appeal to club members for a copy of the 1930 annual report, or any knowledge of the award, the mystery remained.

However, during one of Forrest's regular cleaning sorties among the club's records after the shift to Leederville Oval, he discovered a discoloured and tattered piece of paper with several newspaper cuttings attached. A photo headed "East Perth Backs Prominent" had the caption "W. Gilbert (Subiaco follower and forward) appears to have little chance of getting the ball - M. Ryan, Davies and Baker, all of East Perth, have the advantage of numbers in this aerial duel."

The photo was very discoloured, but pasted on the back was a newspaper cutting headed - "East Perth Club's Meeting" - with the date of 1930 written across the top.

The article recorded the club's 1930 annual general meeting, showing a balance sheet with a deficit of 234 pounds (a considerable amount in 1930), which was put down to a multitude of causes, including the Depression being felt in the State - an explanation of why no annual report was printed in 1930.

Listed in the newspaper report was a resume of the season and a complete list of trophy winners - including the 1930 fairest and best winner, Albert Davies.

After being ‘unrecorded' for more than 70 years, Albert Davies has finally taken his place as a winner of the FD Book Medal on the club's fairest and best Honour Board and a missing link in East Perth's history has been solved. 

Below is the complete list of F.D Book Medalists: 
 

Year

Player

1926

Larry Duffy

1927

J. (Brum) O'Meara

1928

W.C.G. 'Billy' Thomas

1929

W.C.G. 'Billy' Thomas

1930

Bert Davies

1931

D.J. (Mick) Cronin

1932

Herb Screaigh

1933

Herb Screaigh

1934

Herb Screaigh

1935

Brian Ryan

1936

Leo Graham

1937

Herb Screaigh

1938

Ray Starr

1939

Dave Miller

 

Ritchie Thomas

1940

Ritchie Thomas

1941

Max O'Loughlin

1942

John 'Todge' Campbell

1943

Ray Perry

1944

John 'Todge' Campbell

1945

Harry Outridge

1946

Jim Washbourne

1947

Norm Gibney

1948

Frank Sparrow

1949

Ray Perry

1950

Frank Allen

1951

Ray Perry

1952

Frank Sparrow

1953

Jim Spencer

1954

Graham Farmer

1955

Graham Farmer

1956

Graham Farmer

1957

Graham Farmer

1958

Ted Kilmurray

1959

Graham Farmer

1960

Graham Farmer

1961

Graham Farmer

1962

Don Marinko

1963

Derek Chadwick

1964

Derek Chadwick

1965

Kevin Murray

1966

Syd Jackson

1967

Hans Verstegen

1968

Jim Haines

1969

Mal Brown

1970

Mal Brown

1971

Ken McAullay

1972

Mal Brown

1973

Gary Malarkey

1974

Ron Alexander

1975

Peter Spencer

1976

Peter Spencer

1977

Stephen Curtis

1978

Kevin Bryant

1979

Phil Kelly

1980

Wayne Otway

1981

Dean Turner

1982

Stephen Curtis

1983

Peter Spencer

1984

Grant Campbell

1985

Brett Stephens

1986

Craig Starcevich

1987

George Giannakis

1988

David Bain

1989

George Giannakis

1990

Lucio Baroni

1991

Ryan Turnbull

1992

Peter Miller

1993

Ryan Turnbull

1994

Dean Talbot

1995

Greg Jones

1996

Paul Peos

1997

Peter Miller

1998

Aaron Marley

1999

Ryan Turnbull

2000

Rod Wheatley

 

David Swan

 

Aaron Marley

 

(three-way tie)

2001

Rod Wheatley

2002

Paul Ridley

2003

Brent Cowell

2004

Troy Wilson

2005

Andrew Merrington

2006

Troy Wilson

2007

Frank Agostino

2008

Tim Noakes

2009

Trevor Oliver

2010

Craig Wulff

2011

Brendan Lee

2012

Paul Johnson

2013

Brendan Lee

2014

Steven Payne

2015

Paul Johnson

2016

Mitchell Fraser

2017

Julian Ameduri

 

Nathan Blee

 

Fraser McInness

 

(three-way tie)

2018

Mathew Allen

 

Patrick McGinnity

 

Luke Partington

 

(three-way tie)

2019 

Jackson Ramsay

2020

Jackson Ramsay

2021

Christian Ameduri

2022

Hamish Brayshaw

 

1948 &1952 FD Book Medallist 
Frank Sparrow


Graham "Polly" Farmerholds the record for
the most FD Book Medals. He won seven in
1954,55,56,57,59,60 & 61


Ted Kilmurray won his only FD Book
Medal in 1958, between Farmers
run of 7 medals


Clubgames record holder Derek Chadwick
wonback to back medals in 1963 & 64





Peter Spencer was the best player
at the Club in 1975,76 & 83


Another multiple winner George
Giannakis, he won Medals in 
both 1987 & 89


Ryan Turball won 3 FD Book Medals 
in 1991,93 & 99


Paul Peos was the Clubs best player in
1996 and later went on to coach
the League side ten years later


In 2000 a record three players tied
for the FD Book Medal. David Swan
pictured, was one of the three


Troy Wilson won two FD Book Medals
in 2004,06


2007 FD Book Medallist, Frank Agostino
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011 and 2013 winner Brendan Lee