Albert George Percy "Staunch" Owens (20 August 1900 – 7 October 1986) was 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 ...

er who played for

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WAFL). He was a seven-time WAFL premiership player with East Perth and was on the losing side of a grand final three times. After turning to umpiring he was involved in a further five grand finals, a total of 15 as a player and umpire.

Playing career

Born in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, Owens moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

as a child, and played in a combined Perth schools team that toured the Goldfields in 1911. He made his debut for the East Perth team in the Ex-Scholars' league at the age of 14, and two years later made his debut for East Perth's senior team in the WAFL."STAUNCH" OWENS LOOKS BACK ON FAMOUS OCCASION
– '' The Daily News''. Published 25 June 1936. Retrieved 17 July 2012. Owens was with East Perth during a golden period for the club and played in seven premiership team, including five in a row from 1919 to 1923. He was generally a ruckman but could often play as a centre half-forward. In 1925 he won the

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant and be ...

, receiving four votes. Owens finished his career with 195 WAFL games for East Perth. He was also a regular Western Australian interstate representative and appeared for his state in both the 1924 Hobart and 1927 Melbourne carnivals. In all he represented his state on 17 occasions.

Umpiring career

Following his retirement he became an umpire, beginning in 1934 in the

Public Schools Association Established in 1905 the Public Schools Association, or the PSA, is an association of seven independent boys schools in Perth, Western Australia. The descriptor 'public school' references the historical usage of the term and the model of the Brit ...

(PSA). After umpiring PSA finals in his first year, he became a WANFLThe WAFL became known as the Western Australian National Football League in 1930 umpire the following year. He officiated in the league grand final in his first year as a WANFL umpire. He later controlled the 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1941 grand finals. In all he officiated in 135 league games between 1935 and 1941.

Honours

In 2004 inducted into the

Western Australian Hall of Champions In 1983, the Sportswriters' Association of Western Australia proposed a Western Australian Hall of Champions to honour past athletes from the state who had made a significant impact in their sport. The Government of Western Australia asked the th ...

and the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, George 1900 births 1986 deaths Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia West Australian Football League umpires East Perth Football Club players Sandover Medal winners West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Kalgoorlie

Playing career

Umpiring career

Honours

See also

Footnotes

External links