The connection between Association Football and South Australian military enlistments may date back to the 1890s. The “Ogilvy” who accompanied Breaker Morant with a group of Renmark men who rode to Adelaide to enlist for the Boer War in January 1900, may have been the same Ogilvy who appeared in the Renmark team list for the games against Mildura in 1896. There were several Ogilvy brothers, so we cannot be certain. The family were land owners and farmers in the Renmark district.
The South Australian British Football Association was founded in 1902 by mainly British tradesmen and middle class migrants. The main office holders in that year were Tom Holford (potter), Frank Dobbie (bank officer), Frank Storr (tailor) and Jimmie Stewart (baker’s sales rep.) Most of the first players were British. They included Mellis Napier, a future judge and Chief Justice of the state. Jimmie Stewart claims to have taught Australian born novices at the Adelaide club in 1904 how to play the game, and Jock Wilde performed the same task at the Hindmarsh club in 1905.
An anomaly to the British heritage was the German E.C.W. Roeder. He formed the Pioneers soccer club in 1893, which, for a year or so, played in unofficial competition against a few ad hoc opponents. Roeder joined the army engineers in 1915 with the rank of Lieutenant.
The Royal Navy contributed George Roffey to South Australian soccer. He took his discharge in Adelaide, and went on to found the Cambridge club in 1906 and play for the state. He served in the AIF during the war and continued his involvement with the game in the 1920s.
British migration to South Australia increased in the four or five years before the war. Many seemed to be “crack” players and lifted the standard of the Adelaide game, which at the beginning of the 1914 season was said to be excellent, with a “genuine rivalry” now existing between most teams. Jimmie Stewart claimed that the standard of the game in 1914 was higher than that in 1930. It didn’t seem to matter whether the players came from London, Manchester or Glasgow or from villages in Kent or Sussex, they were all good players. Little is known of the clubs they had played for in the “old country”. Only three pre-war players were known to have played for professional clubs – Jock Wilde (Glossop), Jock Wallace (Greenock Morton and Stockport) and George Ardern (Sheffield United). There may have been more; ships full of migrants were still arriving in early 1915. There were some government organized schemes, such as the Farm Apprentices scheme which brought Jock McQueen and Charles Stoerkel to South Australia.
Wilde was a big man with a big moustache who dominated games as an attacking centre half and intimidated opponents and referees. He was the driving force behind the Hindmarsh club from 1905 until 1911, when he went to Sydney to play for Glebe. He led the Reds to four league titles and two cup wins and captained the state team in every game. Jimmie Stewart said he was “the finest player South Australia ever had”. Wilde was also a prominent cricketer with the West Torrens club.
Wallace was a typical Scots pro – skillful but hard. He arrived at the Port in 1910 and led the Seasiders to back-to-back league titles in 1911-1912. Usually a left half, he was the midfield organizer of his side and captained the state team against South China in 1923 at the age of 43! He retired soon afterwards to run a pub in the Adelaide Hills, but continued as Port Adelaide chairman until 1929.
Ardern was a club-hopper who lifted the standard of every club he played for. He was a left back who sometimes went up front if goals were needed. Arriving in 1912 he played for Hindmarsh, Tandanya and North Adelaide before the war. After the war he went back to Hindmarsh in 1919, finishing at Port Adelaide in 1920. In that year he captained the state team and won the best player of the league award before returning to England.
There were just twelve clubs in 1914, and only half of them fielded reserve teams in regular competition. South Adelaide secretary Harold Pearce, in a letter to The Advertiser, claimed that out of 340 players and officials, 230 had enlisted by mid-1916. Soccer barely existed outside the metropolitan area. The railway town of Petersburg had their “first kicks” in 1912, as did Broken Hill, considered to “belong” to South Australia after a ruling made at a Commonwealth Football Association meeting in 1914. The smaller town of Orroroo began playing in 1913.
In Adelaide there was a sense that the playing strength was increasing faster than the administration and finances of the game. There were complaints about grounds in poor condition or not properly marked out and clubs sometimes lacked goal nets. Abuse of referees was sometimes a problem, and often matches did not start on time. That is not to say that some of the SABFA administrators were not up to the task of growing the game. Bob Holiday, a Hindmarsh councilor and chairman of SABFA, resisted an attempt by Australian Rules football to obtain increased access to Hindmarsh Oval. T.T. “Tommy” Thompson, a trade unionist, was a strong administrator for soccer in the Port area. Alderman Frank Moulden, a future Lord Mayor of Adelaide, donated a cup for the league winners in 1914. There were reports of 600 spectators at league games, and more at cup finals. Admission could only be charged at enclosed grounds but the City Parklands, where the majority of games were played, were free public spaces.
The game was well covered in the local papers, often with detailed match reports complete with literary references. Team lists regularly appeared each week. Games would sometimes start with one team a man or two short, with the mysterious A.N. Other then making an appearance.
Hindmarsh Oval was used by soccer as early as 1907. At first it was shared with Australian Rules football, but that code already had doubts about the ground and it was eventually considered too small for their game. Players travelled from the City to the Port or Cheltenham by train, and the designated meeting place for the team to gather would be printed in the newspapers. A distant eastern suburb like Magill was an hour’s journey from the City by horse drawn vehicle, but that was reduced to twenty minutes when electric trams were introduced just before the war.
North Adelaide were the oldest club, claiming 1898 as their foundation date. South Adelaide were probably founded at the same time, as these two clubs played monthly matches against each other until the Association was formed. North played at Park 9 in the north parklands, off McKinnon Parade, whilst South used both the “Hutt Street” and “Wayville” grounds in the south parklands. The Adelaide, Sturt and Cambridge clubs also played in the South parklands. Hindmarsh originally played at a ground near the Brompton railway station before claiming Hindmarsh Oval as their home. In the eastern suburbs Magill played at Murray Park, later the site of Wattle Park Teachers’ College, said to be “the best ground in the league”. St Peters played at a ground on Tenth Avenue, near the river and the present day O-Bahn track. Port Adelaide started up at Woodville, then moved to a ground next to Cheltenham cemetery. By 1910 the Seasiders were playing at Alberton Oval, either on a secondary ground next to the oval, or on the main oval itself, sharing with the Port Adelaide Australian Rules club. A crowd of 1,000 was mentioned in that year for a game between Port and the state team.
Soccer clubs provided a hub of social activity for their members and associates. Cheltenham had broken away from Port Adelaide in 1912, but by 1914 there was dissension in their ranks as some members wanted to reunite with Port. A social evening held at the Port Picture Palace in April 1914 had the intent of reinforcing Cheltenham’s identity. The palace was decorated in Cheltenham’s club colours whilst members and their friends and family watched a silent movie. As was always the case in that era the members themselves then showed admirable talent in singing and performing comical sketches. The Cheltenham club song, composed by a local musician, was sung. Most clubs held these sort of events several times during the season. Both Cheltenham and Port did play as separate entities in the 1914 season, but Bill Sheppard and some other Chelts moved to Port who had a solid season, with Cheltenham finishing bottom. In 1915 Port went into recess and players returned to Cheltenham who then won the league! Such was the fluid state of the game in Adelaide at that time.
The South Adelaide club visited Petersburg in August 1913. This involved a six and a half hours trip by train, leaving Adelaide at 7 pm on Friday and arriving at the northern town at 1.30 am on Saturday morning. The city men were taken to view local sights the next day, and the game was played in the afternoon with the locals winning. In the evening a “smoke social” was held, with toasts being offered to “The King”, “the visitors”, “the Petersburg club”, “the referees”, “kindred sports” and “the Commonwealth and South Australian Associations”. The long trip back was made on the Sunday, with many packs of cards probably produced on the train. On similar trips made by other teams, the city men would comment to the press on the “look of the land”, agricultural conditions, the weather etc. South Australia at this time was essentially an agricultural state.
Syd Monkhouse, a South Australian born building contractor, played for the Cambridge club from 1906 and by 1912 was club secretary. He wrote to The Advertiser asking if there was an Aboriginal name for the Adelaide plains area. The respected daily came up with the name “Tandanya” from the Kaurna dialect, so the “Cantabs” changed their name to something that sounded authentically Australian. Enthusiastic secretary Monkhouse invited the state governor, Sir Day Bosanquet, to attend a league match against Adelaide at Jubilee Oval. Sir Day saw a good match, won 2-1 by Adelaide. The papers commented that all the players were British born, but it was still a proud day for local soccer.
Harold Pearce of South Adelaide was another energetic club secretary. Adelaide born, he had apparently learned to play soccer at school in Western Australia. A keen advocate for the game, he recruited many players to South and defended the code against criticism in the papers. South had been weakened when Adelaide, Cambridge and Sturt were founded, and they pulled out of the league between 1907 and 1909 to “regroup”. Returning in 1910, they entered a reserve team in Second Division in 1912 and Pearce was determined to keep it going, recruiting a large number of players of varying ability. South Reserves team lists published in the papers sometimes contained seventeen names and ended with the words “…and others”. Both South teams finished bottom of their respective leagues in 1913, but improved in 1914.
A training camp was established at Morphettville Racecourse and was open for recruiting by 19th August 1914. The 10th Infantry Battalion was the first South Australian unit to head overseas, sailing on the Ascanius from Outer Harbor for Egypt on 20 October 1914. They would be one of the first units ashore at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. Players who had been reservists in Britain were also among the first to report for enlistment in August 1914. On 9th September a farewell function was held at the King of Hanover Hotel on Rundle Street for 23 of these men. The hotel lost its Germanic name a few months later and was renamed “The Commonwealth”. Some of the British reservists may have set sail for England to join the British Army. Others such as A.G. Towler, Bill Sheppard and Broken Hill’s Reg Rapley, joined the AIF.
Other sports and codes may well have been “having a go” at soccer by this time, as shortly afterwards The Mail’s soccer writer “Penalty” wrote “I am convinced that soccer has given freely of her best for the country’s cause”. Lacrosse had already been boasting of their high percentage of enlisted players.
Like soccer, the SAFL shut down Australian Rules Football between 1916 and 1918. However, a rogue “Patriotic League” played matches which raised money for the war effort. No soccer at all was played in Adelaide between 1916 and 1918. Australian Rules in South Australia has never come up with any accurate figures for enlistments or deaths, so any comparison between the codes is pointless. One amusing sidelight is that Hindmarsh soccer star Henry Bedford Duce is listed amongst Adelaide University Football Club’s war veterans. He played a few games for them in 1913.
Bob Holiday took the Chair for the first SABFA committee meeting in 1915, on 6 March. It was decided to continue with league and cup competitions, but with just seven clubs and no reserve teams. Migrants were apparently still arriving at Outer Harbor, so arrangements were made to inform them about the local soccer competition. A game was planned at the Mount Barker Boys’ Home. Affiliation fees were reduced by 50 per cent, and the City Council was asked to maintain club grounds during the war. Players and officials who had not yet enlisted were advised to join rifle clubs. A plan was formed to promote soccer in schools.
At the next meeting, in April, Harold Pearce turned up in uniform to announce that a soccer competition was underway at the Mitcham training camp. A five-a-side competition was organized for 1915, and it proved to be popular. It had a unique scoring system – five points for a goal and one for a corner. The season ended unhappily. The casualty lists from Gallipoli were causing widespread despondency, and more and more players were enlisting. It was revealed that the Association treasurer Mr. Davis had fled overseas with all the Association’s funds: 15 pounds 3 and 10 pence. Committee members paid for the league winners’ medals out of their own pockets. The last match of the season, the Cambridge Cup final, saw Hindmarsh defeat league champions Cheltenham by four goals to one in a lacklustre game. The decision was made to abandon all competitions until the cessation of hostilities.
On 16 June 1916 The Advertiser published a letter from Harold Pearce which indicated that the soccer community was still touchy about their image with the general public. Pearce wrote “it has been said in various parts of the city that soccer has not done its share in the cause of the empire in this time of war.” He attached a list of 43 South Adelaide players who had joined up. He also provided the figures of 230 enlistments out of 340 players and officials of the Association. It is not clear whether he meant 340 players from the 1914 season. Pearce may have forgotten some when making his count, or missed retired players from years earlier who had reappeared to enlist. Australian enlistments in general decreased significantly in 1917 and 1918. Association Chairman T.T. Thompson, speaking after an exhibition match at Murray Bridge in 1921, gave the figure of 300 enlistments out of 400- an enlistment rate of 75%.
On 21st March 1919 The Journal remarked that soccer competitions would restart, and that the game should be of a good standard because players had kept it going whilst serving overseas. Army football in France and England was well organized with competitions held at all unit levels, plus matches against French, Belgian and English teams. Alderman Moulden was now President of SABFA, with Bob Holiday Chairman and Bill Ashworth secretary. Ashworth refereed the big state games against Canada, China and England in the 1920s, and later became involved with swimming and was on the SA Olympic Council. They managed to get a league competition up and running, but with only five clubs. Players were gradually returning from overseas, but many would not be back until later in the year or even the following year.
The claim was made in the papers at this time that 90 per cent of players and officials had enlisted, but this was surely an over-optimistic guess- Thompson’s figure of 75 per cent quoted in 1921 seems more realistic. An England vs Scotland game in June was refereed by Frank Storr, the first secretary of the association in 1902. A lightning knock out competition was played on the June holiday weekend with matches of 40 minutes duration.
Adelaide’s Peace Day celebrations in late July saw a coming together of the Adelaide community, with numerous organizations and sporting bodies putting on displays, processions and events to celebrate the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty. Soccer’s contribution was a match on Jubilee Oval between the “Returned Men”, captained by Bill Sheppard, and the “Rest of League”, captained by George Ardern. The Rest won 3-2 and their side contained plenty of well known pre-war players, perhaps exposing the “90% enlisted” claim as fanciful. Or perhaps the SABFA simply wanted to field two well balanced sides for an exhibition match. Some pre-war players returned to soccer action in the early 1920s, despite the effects of war wounds and gas. Most disappeared from the scene by 1925 when the District System reduced the number of clubs from eighteen to eight.
The unspoken sadness around the game of course was that many good players were dead, and many others, although alive, were no longer able to play because of the effects of wounds and gas. The survivors simply got on with the game and new waves of migrants would arrive in the 1920s.
South Australian Soccer Anzacs (as at 20 October 2025)
An Anzac must have seen overseas service in the Great War. This ranged from front line service to presence at depots in England or Egypt, including hospitals. Even a short stopover in South Africa was considered overseas service. An enlisted man who did not leave the shores of Australia was not considered to be an Anzac.
Soccer credentials mean that they appeared in the list provided by Colin Alagich in the booklet 100 Years of the World Game in Port Adelaide; the list of South Adelaide players submitted to The Advertiser by Harold Pearce on 16 June 1916; or appeared in team lists or match previews and reports found on Trove newspapers.
115 South Australian Soccer Anzacs have been researched. What immediately stands out is the almost complete absence of Catholics – only three appear, although the percentage of Catholics in South Australia in 1914 was about 13%.
There also seems to have been a scarcity of officers amongst the South Australian Soccer Anzacs. Only one man enlisted as an officer, and four others were given officer commissions during the war. South Australia’s middle class elite, from the private schools and the University, finance, land owning and the professions, had been linked with Australian Rules Football for over 30 years and soccer had already become stereotyped as the game of British working class immigrants. Only 18 per cent of the SA Soccer Anzacs were Australian born.
Breakdown of South Australian Soccer Anzacs by number:
Birthplace:
England 68
Scotland 18
Ireland 3
Wales 1
Channel Is. 1
Australia 21 (SA 19, Vic 1, NSW 1)
Netherlands 2
USA 1
Religion:
C of E 68
Various Protestant 44
Catholic 3
Occupation
The most common occupation of the SA Soccer Anzacs was “labourer”, with 17. Carpenter, or wood turner, was second with 12. There were only 8 “clerks” and one teacher. There were no miners at all amongst the SA Soccer Anzacs, unlike other states.
Thousands of Cornish miners had flocked to the state after the establishment of copper mines on the Yorke Peninsula in 1861, but these men belonged to the pre-soccer era. They brought their own sports of cock fighting, wrestling and foot racing. A description of an early game of football at Moonta suggested the most primitive form of embryonic football. It had “no rules and no scoring”. Organized soccer did not come to the Copper Towns until 1926.
South Australia had a significant German population, some of whom still spoke German in 1914. Migration had been at a peak from the 1830s to the 1860s. Like the Cornish, they were from the pre-soccer era as the game was not played at all in Germany until the early 1870s, and then only in colleges and universities. By the time SA soccer pioneer E.C.W. Roeder arrived in Adelaide about 1890 he had been exposed to a more widespread soccer culture in Germany, but the earlier German migrants and their descendants were devotees of Australian Rules. At least three SA Soccer Anzacs had German surnames, but none were Lutheran.
It was the British migration of the early 20th century that gave soccer its momentum in South Australia. Reduction of assisted passages and economic recession had significantly reduced British migration in the 1880s and 1890s, but after the Boer War migrants began to arrive in increasing numbers. Nearly 8000 came between 1912 and 1914. They came from both rural and industrial areas and all had been exposed to the strong soccer culture in England and Scotland. Rugby was unknown and was not played in South Australia until 1932.
Eight of the researched SA Soccer Anzacs were awarded medals for bravery, one also receiving a bar.
32 were killed in action, or died of wounds, sickness or in accidents during the war – representing 28 per cent of the researched Soccer Anzacs.
Two played for Australian XIs after the war, and 17 played for the SA state team before or after the war.
Some of them contributed to the game as administrators for many years after the war – these included Draper, Teague, Waterman, Gus Croger and Roffey. Others, such as Signitz (science), Marques (engineering), Bulbeck (the Church) and Zwollsman (left wing politics) made a significant mark in their careers.
Written by Tony Smith