Notable Western Australian Aussie Rules Trading Cards

The catalyst for this article was a recent discussion I had with some avid card enthusiasts about the rarity and current collectability of Western Australian related Australian Rules football cards.  The more notable Western Australian football trading cards were issued by cigarette company Sniders & Abrahams, who produced two sets of Western Australian football cards in the early 1900’s, and by the sweet company Plaistowe & Co., which produced a series of eighty (80) black and white trading cards featuring Western Australian footballers in 1932.  Fair to say, cards from these three sets of pre-World War II trading cards are scarce to find and are highly valuable.  

Mobil also produced three series of forty (40) cards featuring WAFL players in 1964, 1965 and 1971 respectively.  In 1981 Ardmona brought out a series Western Australian Football League cards.  This series comprised boxed team sets of each of the eight (8) WAFL teams, each containing thirty-three (33) player cards and ancillary advertising cards.

The first series of Scanlens Australian Rules football cards were produced in 1963.  Cards from this inaugural series are considered by many to be the “Holy Grail” of post-World War football cards. Eighteen players featured in this set, with fifteen VFL players and three “interstate” players.  The three “interstate” players were Ron Evans (who transferred from Essendon to West Perth at the end of the 1962 VFL football season); Haydn Bunton Jnr (Swan Districts) and Len Fitzgerald (Sturt).

In 1966 Scanlens produced a series of 72 trading cards, featuring sixty (60) VFL players and twelve (12) WAFL players. The twelve (12) WAFL players represented in this card series are:

• Graham Heal (Subiaco)
• Brian Sarre (Subiaco)
• John McIntosh (Claremont)
• John Dethridge (Claremont)
• Frank Copeman (Swan Districts)
• Bob Johnson (East Fremantle)
• Barry Cable (Perth)
• Ray Lawrence (Perth),
• Kevin Miller (South Fremantle)
• Colin Hebbard (West Perth)
• Kevin Murray (East Perth)
• Mal Brown (East Perth)

In 1982, Scanlens produced two series of Australian Rules football cards.  A series of 180 cards featuring VFL players was produced for the Victorian market.  The VFL cards were produced with a red coloured border, and they were sold in red wrappers.  An additional series of cards featuring 76 Western Australian players (plus 8 checklist cards) was also produced for the Western Australian market.  The WAFL cards were produced with a blue border and the cards were sold in blue card wrappers. The back of the 1982 Scanlens WAFL cards, except the checklists, make up a jig-saw photo from the 1981 WAFL Grand Final.  

Interestingly, thirty-four (34) of the seventy-six (76) players featured in this dedicated set of WAFL cards produced by Scanlens, either prior to or after 1982, played games with clubs in the then VFL (Victorian Football League).  The thirty-four (34) players are listed as follows:

Wayne Blackwell	Played 112 games with Claremont and 110 games with Carlton.
Warren Ralph	Played 123 games with Claremont and 21 games with Carlton.
Graham Moss	Played 242 games with Claremont and 84 games with Essendon.  Winner of 1976 VFL Brownlow Medal and Australian Football Hall of Fame member.
Steve Malaxos	Played 140 games with Claremont, 9 games with Hawthorn and 21 games with West Coast (Captain 1990)
Barry Beecroft	Played 71 games with South Melbourne (1973-1977 & 1982) and 113 games with Claremont (1979-1981 & 1983-1985).
Michael Aitken	Played 107 games with Claremont and 1 game with Carlton.
Allen Daniels	Played 105 games with Claremont and 32 game with Footscray.
Noel Carter	Played 50 games with Richmond (VFL Premiership Player 1973) and 155 games with South Fremantle.
Phil Cronan	Played 102 games with South Fremantle, 22 games with West Perth, 49 games with St. Kilda and 26 games with Footscray.
Bruce Monteath	Played 118 games with Richmond (1980 VFL Premiership Captain) 117 games with South Fremantle (1972-1974 & 1981-1983) and 28 games with Claremont (1984-1985).
Phil Narkle	Played 178 games with Swan Districts, 48 games with St. Kilda and 18 games with West Coast.
Mike Richardson	Played 144 games with Swan Districts, 60 games with Collingwood, 15 games Essendon, and 81 games Brisbane.
Graham Melrose	Played 114 games with East Fremantle, 111 games with North Melbourne, 71 games with Swan Districts.
Murray Rance	Played 140 games with Swan Districts (1981-1985 & 1990-1992), 40 games with Footscray and 57 games with West Coast.
Bill Valli	Played 147 games with West Perth, 17 games with Collingwood, 1 game with Essendon and games with 37 games with Subiaco.
Laurie Keene	Played 141 games with Subiaco and 36 games with West Coast
Tim Gepp	Played 84 games with Subiaco, 57 games with Richmond, 14 games with Footscray and 18 games with East Fremantle.
Dean Turner	Played 143 games with East Perth, 54 games with Fitzroy and 56 games with West Coast.
Michael Christian	82 games with East Perth and 131 games with Collingwood (1990 AFL Premiership Player)
John Ironmonger	Played 76 games with East Perth, 45 games with Fitzroy and 43 games with Sydney Swans.
Rhett Baynes	Played 78 games with Perth and 13 games with Carlton.
Steve Turner	Played 108 games with Perth, 32 games with Melbourne and 12 games with St. Kilda.
Bryan Cousins	Played 240 games with Perth and 67 games with Geelong.
Allan Montgomery	Played 89 games with Perth (1979-1981 & 1986-1988) and 33 games with Carlton.
Russell Allen	Played 35 games with Essendon and 108 games with West Perth.
Bill Duckworth	Played 51 games with West Perth and 126 games with Essendon (1984 VFL Premiership Player and Norm Smith Medallist).
Shane Fitzsimmons	Played 63 games with Melbourne and 92 games with West Perth.
Ray Holden	Played 102 games with West Perth (1979-1983 & 1987-1989), 3 games with Melbourne and 24 games with Perth (1985-1987).
Andrew Purser	Played 85 games with East Fremantle (1978-1982), 112 games with Footscray and 2 games with West Perth (1988).
Rod Lester-Smith	Played 97 games with East Fremantle (1978-1982), 70 games with Hawthorn and 39 games with Brisbane
Shane Ellis	Played 204 games with East Fremantle and 10 games with West Coast.
Jim Sewell	Played 141 games with East Fremantle and 76 games with Footscray.
Ken Judge	Played 120 games with East Fremantle, 72 games with Hawthorn (1983 VFL Premiership Player) and 17 games with Brisbane. Senior Coach Hawthorn 1996-1999 and West Coast 2000-2001.
Jeff Cassidy	Played 50 games with Geelong and 70 games with East Fremantle.

In terms of rarity, the Western Australian cards issued by Scanlens in 1982 are much harder to acquire in high grade than the Victorian cards issued in the same year.  The consensus among collectors is that there were significantly more cards issued in Victoria than Western Australia, given the difference in population numbers in those two states at the time.