The names below list those soccer players who contributed or attempted to contribute to the war effort without seeing full service with the AIF. Some saw their enlistment rejected or for a variety of reasons failed to complete training in Australia. A number of these still went on to serve at a community level, such as joining societies to assist returning soldiers, or had already been training school cadets. A different cohort left Australia to aid the war effort in civilian roles, such as those who worked in U.K. munition factories.
While modern sensibilities might not class the players as Soccer Anzacs, their service or attempts at service were celebrated at the time by their clubs or local association. In some cases, their names appeared on honour boards alongside those who died in the trenches. Their absences, whether temporary or long-term, still had a profound effect on soccer in Australia. For these reasons their service, however short, has been noted.
George Tregea
In March 1919, a lengthy list of returning soldiers was published in The Queenslander. Appended to the list were the names of a small number of men without a military who had contributed to the war effort. The last name on the list was William George Tregea.
Born on 3 October 1891, Tregea was a member of a well-known footballing family in Toowoomba, having played for for Hotspurs, Waratahs and Western Suburbs at the start of the decade. Despite not holding a combat role, Tregea was listed on the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board alongside his older brother Alfred.
The honour board celebrated those who had contributed to the war effort, whether in military or support roles. Tregea spent two and a half years in Kent working in the munitions factories before returning. Munition workers without the proper contract have no Department of Defence record.
He died in 1948.
Ernest William Hillocks
In 1925, Bill Hillocks refereed a football match between a Toowoomba representative team and the visiting English. He also presided over the banquet after the match, which England had won 6-0. Hillocks was a long-term player and referee in Toowoomba and was often referred to as W. Hillocks to differentiate from his father, also named Ernest William.
Before the war he played for Caledonians in the Toowoomba league. Hillocks was also a member of the Caledonian and Burns society, a social group for Scottish immigrants. In April 1917 the society presented Hillocks with a pocket wallet prior to his departure to England to work in a munitions factory. This work saw him added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board as W. Hillocks, alongside others who gave service in non-combat roles. His brother Edward William Hillocks and cousin Douglas Watson also appeared on the board, both surviving the war with the 49th Battalion. After the war, Hillocks continued refereeing, and spent several years on the Toowoomba British Football Association committee. He later became the president of the Caledonian society until 1930. Hillocks worked as a car driver until his death in 1937.
Albert Edward Hazell
The Darling Downs Gazette gave much praise to Albert Hazell when he enlisted in April 1918. Hazell was over 40, married and was a prominent member of the Toowoomba soccer community. The Gazette held him up as an example to others who had no such responsibilities and had not enlisted. A month later the Toowoomba British Football Association added Hazell’s name to their honour board and hosted a farewell dinner before he headed to camp.
The Toowoomba Chronicle, in covering the dinner, stated Hazell had played for Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United before moving to Australia. He had arrived in Toowoomba at the start of the decade and was soon regularly refereeing games. Hazell also held prominent positions in both the Toowoomba British Football and the Referees associations.
While Hazell’s contribution to the sport earned such praise on his departure, his military career never got started. During his final examination, the military medical board ultimately declared he was unfit to serve, and he returned to Toowoomba. Hazell instead became a member of the local Repatriation Society to assist returned soldiers and was again seen refereeing football. In July 1918, he resigned his position as a cutter in a tailoring firm to open his own tailoring business. He ran the business for over a year before selling it to Frank Murdoch, a local soccer player who had recently returned from war.
The Hazell family left for Melbourne in 1920.
Robert Wilson Galbraith was born in Coatbridge, Scotland. He played for Sturt reserves in 1912 and was captain of the team in 1913. He made some first team appearances in 1914 and transferred to the Adelaide club in 1915. His two brothers also appeared for Sturt 1912-1914, but had both joined the army by 1915.
Robert Galbraith did not join up until September 1917 – his wife Elizabeth gave birth to a son in February 1916 but she died eight months later and the child was cared for by a friend. He also took an exam at the School of Mines and Engineering in 1915, although when he enlisted he gave his occupation as “traveller”.
The 32 years old widower who had been a lieutenant in the militia did not get any further than the Mitcham training camp. Diagnosed with a hernia, and then struck down with mumps, he failed to turn up for his final medical. He was eventually discharged from the AIF with varicose veins in February 1918. His younger brother Donald was also discharged in England at that time with the same condition.
E.C.W. Roeder (Edward Charles William. A fourth forename, Werner, appears on some records. He changed his surname to Chapman in 1915.) It is not known whether he was German or Australian born, or when he came to Adelaide. His father was a Dr. Wilhelm Roeder of Heidelberg, Germany. By the 1890s he was working as a sales rep for Fowler’s grocery company and his name was often in the papers as he was a man of many talents.
He organized one of the first soccer clubs in Adelaide, ‘Pioneers’, who played intermittent and poorly recorded games against a handful of other clubs not under the aegis of an organized association. He played in an Adelaide selection against the crew of HMS Ringarooma at Prince Alfred College in 1893. Here he apparently earned the nickname of “Bismarck” because of the huge metal shinpads he wore.
Roeder was also a renowned singer, often in demand at concerts and parties, and a keen tennis player. Chess was another of his accomplishments. He was named as the chairman of the British Association Football League of South Australia in 1895, an organization which was struggling to keep the game alive. There were no more club games, and the association’s activities seemed to be limited to suggesting games against other states or visiting ships – none of which happened.
Early SA soccer historian Jimmie Stewart wrote a newspaper article in 1925 in which he claims that another tentative soccer association was established in 1898. Roeder was mentioned as a committee member. However, there was no mention of this in the press at the time. A more robust association was finally formed in 1902, but without Roeder on the committee. However, he did play several league games for the North Adelaide club in 1903-04, after which he seemed to end his association with the game.
Roeder served with the militia pre-war, and in 1914 he transferred to the army engineers with the rank of lieutenant. He didn’t serve overseas – he would have been in his mid-forties at this time – and in 1915 he was posted to Western Australia. Here he changed his surname to Chapman, and nothing is known of his later life.