by LES EVERETT
GIL FRASER RESERVE is one of WA’s best looking football grounds. It sits near the Swan River and is watched over by a stately old grandstand. It’s the home of the North Fremantle Amateur Football Club, a club with a long history currently going through a boom time.

North Fremantle was part of the WAFL (then WANFL) competition from 1901 to 1915 and finished runner-up to East Fremantle in 1911. The club lost a number of players in WW1, was the victim of some shonky club politics post-war and dropped out of WA’s top competition.

Prominent coaches have included WA’s prince of coaches Phil Matson and Sandover Medallists Steve Marsh, Jim Conway and Mark Watson while greats to have pulled on the jumper include South Melbourne’s Albert Franks, St Kilda’s Samuel Gravenell, West Perth’s Max Tetley and South Fremantle and Collingwood tough man Stan Magro even played a couple of games for the North Freo Magpies.