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2015 Hall of Fame Induction Dinner

Friday, June 26, 2015 - 3:24 PM by James Sansalone

On the 25th of June East Perth proudly inducted five club stalwarts into our Hall of Fame. The selection committee consisting of Jack Clayton, Bill Forrest, Alan East and Laurie Kennedy nominated the inductees to the Board, who ratified the induction of Bert Harrold, Archie Herd, Jim Spencer, Phil Tierney and David Swan.

This special night was celebrated by 150 previous inductees, sponsors and guests as well as 20 current players and the senior coaching staff. On a night of many highlights the stand out moment was Douglas Herd, our oldest living player, accepting his father Archie Herd’s medal. It was a humbling moment for everyone in the room as Douglas spoke of how much the Club has meant to the Herd family since Archie’s debut 100 years ago.

Club legend, Peter Spencer spoke about how important an influence his father Jim was on his playing career. Peter shed light on how much football and our club meant to Jim and how he was not only an integral part of Peter’s learning of the game but also that Peter wanted to wear his father’s famous number 3. Incidentally when he came to retire he would do so on the same amount of games as his dad (185).

Our Full Forward of the century Phil Tierney reminisced on the differences between his four coaches, Jack Sheedy, Kevin Murray, Derek Chadwick and Mal Brown. Phil modestly stated that he ‘fell into’ playing for East Perth and never imagined he would be good enough to play League football. Stats show that not only was Phil good enough, he excelled averaging an incredible 3.26 goals per game over his 190 matches in the Black and Blue.

The youngest of our Inductees, David Swan, passionately discussed how much East Perth has been and continues to be an important part of not only his life but for the Swan family. Reciting the date and people he first meet from the club, the relief of winning the drought breaking 2000 Premiership and how the three premierships he was a part of were all individually special.

Club legends including as JK Watts, Garry Gillespie, 2015 game ball legend Jim Haines, Kevin McGill, Hans Verstegen, Mal Atwell and Frank Allen were kept busy throughout the night signing autographs and telling stories. Games record holder Derek Chadwick also shared a conversation with Craig Wulff, who now sits second on the all-time games record list in a moment that will not be forgotten by Royals supporters for a long time.

A big thank you to our MC for the night David Christison, the magnificent catering supplied by John, Dora and the crew at Teramo Caterers and all the staff who made the night possible. Our next Hall of Fame induction night will be held in 2017.