The 1937 Perth Carnival was the ninth edition of the Australian National Football Carnival, an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

competition.

Overview

Just like in the Perth Carnival of 1921 only South Australia and Victoria took a team to Western Australia. Only one of the games was a blowout, with Western Australia handing South Australia their worst ever carnival loss, in a 116-point win.

George Doig George Ronald Doig (25 May 1913 – 27 November 2006) was an Australian rules footballer who played for and later coached the East Fremantle Football Club in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). A member of the Doig sport ...

kicked seven goals for the home side. In the second game, South Australia came close to upsetting Victoria and got within two points at the final siren. The last four scoring shots of the game were all behinds to South Australia inside the final two minutes of the game. The final game of the carnival would decide the overall winner and after going into the game as underdogs Victoria hung on against Western Australia at Subiaco Oval to win by eight points. The win was thanks largely to Victorian full-back

Jack Regan John Vincent Regan (12 September 1912 – 11 August 1988) was an Australian rules footballer who represented Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1930s and 1940s. Playing career Recruited from Northcote, Regan str ...

restricting Doig to just three goals. Other Victorian stars who took part in the carnival included Haydn Bunton,

Jack Dyer John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM (15 November 1913 – 23 August 2003), nicknamed Captain Blood, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1931 and 1949. One of the ga ...

Les Hardiman Leslie Francis Hardiman (1 April 1911 – 29 June 1962) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian Nati ...

Dick Harris Richard M. Harris (born September 6, 1944) is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2015 and sat as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was previously member of the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadi ...

and

Keith Shea Keith Sylvester Shea (10 August 1914 – 27 February 1951) was an Australian rules footballer who played at high levels in both Victoria and Western Australia. His senior VFL playing career spanned from 1932 to 1945, although it was interrupte ...

. An enormous crowd estimated to be 40,000 people (38,022 who paid admission, plus members and guests) witnessed the final match between Victoria and Western Australia. The crowd set a new record for the highest crowd in Western Australian sporting history, exceeding by a considerable margin the previous record of 27,273 set at an interstate match in 1929. Considerable damage was suffered by facilities at Subiaco Oval, including the partial collapse of the fence around the arena, due to its inability to accommodate such a large crowd. The crowd of 23,263 to Western Australia's first match was also one of the highest in the state's history, and was drawn in spite of heavy rain which forced the traditional parade of teams to be cancelled.

Results

Tassie Medal

The inaugural

Tassie Medal The Tassie Medal was awarded to the outstanding player at each Australian rules football Interstate matches in Australian rules football, Interstate Carnival or Interstate matches in Australian rules football, Australian interstate championship se ...

was awarded to Mick Cronin (Western Australia), who polled 13 votes. Ned Hender (South Australia) was second with 9 votes, and J. Hooper (Western Australia) and

(Victoria) were equal third with 7 votes each.

References

1937 Perth Carnival page on Full Points Footy
{{Interstate matches in Australian rules football Australian rules interstate football Perth Carnival, 1937 August 1937 sports events