History
On Saturday afternoon 14 August 1880, a small but inquisitive crowd pressing the touchlines watched twenty two players trot onto Parramatta Common to play a round ball game. Eleven of them were in the colours of the King’s School: they were members of the school’s first XV rugby side. The other players were dressed in blue stockings, knickerbockers that billowed beneath the knee, and white jerseys that sported a southern cross over the left breast. Their name was shortly to become ‘The Wanderers’, and this match is generally accepted as the first match of English rules Football in Australia – and it happened in our back yard!. Soon there would be other teams but it was in the Granville Clyde area that is recognized as the cradle of the game. In 1882 the powerhouse Granville Magpies were formed and they recruited many players from the local factories, especially the Scottish lads from Hudson Bros Engineering, later called Clyde Engineering. By the late 1890s the Magpies were no longer a powerhouse and there was a genuine concern for the game in the district. Inspired by an informal school’s competition playing in Balmain and the need to produce more and better players, in 1900 there were several local businessman and former soccer players affectionately called the Granville “old timers” who were keen to improve the growth of the game in the Granville District. One true gentlemen and visionary was Frederick William Barlow, who was especially responsible for the founding of the GDSFA.
Frederick Barlow, himself a former Granville Magpie player, advertised in the local newspaper, for a Public Meeting “of patrons and supporters of the game…and take steps to form an Association” to be held at the Granville School of Arts on 16 May 1900. In the same publication was a supporting article detailing how he proposed to inaugurate the “the pure game of football” into the local public schools and that he would arrange for the supply of soccer footballs, organise fields and goalposts and provide 11 silver medals for the champion team and 1 gold medal for the manager of the team. After the 1900 competition was deemed a big success, the fledgling Association now had plans to grow its own competitions. Whilst the first year competition was only for schools, in 1901, community teams and clubs were being formed to play in 3 grades of competitions. The A Grade would remain for the under 14 year old school teams. The B Grade for ages between 14 and 16 ½ and the C Grade for over 16 year olds.
IN 1901 OUR CLUB WAS BORN WHEN WE ENTERED A TEAM IN THE B GRADE COMPETITION!
We are the oldest club in the oldest Association in Australia! In our first year, we started the season with a couple of good wins but then struggled to win only a few more and failed to make the finals. So can we claim to be an Association Foundation club member? Perhaps but it is a technical discussion.
Note that for much of our early history, we were simply referred to as the “Waratahs”, however being from north of the rail lines the, in first few years the newspapers also called us “those Parramattans”, “Harris Park Waratah” and even “Pitt Row Waratah”. For decades we did not have a “home ground” and played in many locations. Unfortunately no other clubs exist from these early days, in fact the second oldest club in the GDSFA is the Granville Kewpies who can accurately define and trace its club history to its inception, being in 1919. We have a wonderful rivalry with the Kewpies and it is the oldest soccer Derby in Australia – more than a century old! Traditionally we claim the territory north of the railway lines and the Kewpies claim the south.
On Saturday 8 June 1901 we played our very first competition match against Parramatta at Belmore Park - and WON!
Extract of an end of season report from the Cumberland Argus newspaper 28 September 1901.
Extract reporting our third match from the Cumberland Argus newspaper, 29 June 1901
This is the oldest known photograph of a Waratah Champion team.
Extracted from the local newspaper the Cumberland Argus, August 1932.
The 1946 Champion Under 16’s Granville Waratah team with future Socceroo teammates, Bill Henderson as goalkeeper and on his right Ken Vairy.
The Kewpies can also claim to being a club operating continuously every year since its inception. Whilst we are the oldest club in Western Sydney, unfortunately we cannot make this same claim because there were some years where we did not field a team, most notably during WWI.
With the assistance of researching old local newspapers, mostly the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, digitally on line from the National Library of Australia, it has been very interesting to learn that there was a Granville Waratah Rugby Union Club playing between 1898 and 1902. While excited with the prospects that we are one in the same and that we are even older, after extensive research, unfortunately we have found no evidence, no link for us to make that claim….at least not yet.
After decades of having an all yellow playing shirt, in 1948 we changed to our traditional blue and gold striped uniform. There has been variations over the years, but the blue and gold stripes is our signature uniform.
Over the decades the Mighty Waratah club has enjoyed many successes at both junior and senior levels with the golden period coming between 1965 and 1973 when the All-conquering All-Age Mens Senior Division 1 team won the Challenge Shield (which is the oldest Soccer Shield still in use in Australia since 1901) 8 out of 9 years and the Cottam Cup (which is the oldest Soccer knock out competition in Australia since 1907) for 7 consecutive years. We hold the mantle of having won the prestigious Cottam Cup more than any other club with 12 titles. Note that there is possibly a 13th title in the early 1950’s that has not been recorded but we are still investigating.
In 1973 our Under 21’s won the Champion of Champions and in 1980 our Under 18’s also were crowned state Champion of Champions.
Aside from the many local trophies and awards, the club has produced 3 SOCCEROOS:
BILL HENDERSON
Socceroo Cap 128
BILL HENDERSON played for the club in the mid 1940’s. His under 16 year old team won the competition in 1946 and his team photograph and the trophy are displayed in the clubhouse. Bill played for Australia in the mid 1950’s and was Australia’s first Olyroo as he was the goal keeper for Australia at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
KENNY VAIRY
Socceroo Cap 151
KENNY VAIRY played for the club and with Bill Henderson in the champion 1946 team and played with Bill (and other Granville players) as inside left striker for Australia in 1955 against South Africa.
Enjoy this excellent interview from 2008 with Kenny discussing his football career.
MARK JANKOVICS
Socceroo Cap 252
Mark Jankovics, Socceroo Cap 252: played one season with our Under 14’s in 1970. He scored goals for Australia as a striker in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.