Ronald James Alexander (born 10 December 1950) is a former

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 the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) and for the

East Perth Football Club The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club based in Leederville, Western Australia, current playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Formed in 1902 as the Union Football Club, the club ...

and

East Fremantle Football Club The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team's home ground is East Fremantle Oval. East Fremantle are the ...

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 served as captain-coach of East Fremantle and was also the inaugural senior coach of the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

Playing career

During his career he represented

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 ...

13 times,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

twice, and was awarded a

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pla ...

for a match against Victoria in 1974.

WANFL career

He began his career with

where from 1971 to 1975 he played 98 games and kicked 49 goals. He was a big, strong muscular ruckman, weighing 115 kg and standing at 198 cm tall. He was a member of their 1972 premiership team and won the club's fairest and best award in 1974.

VFL career

He then crossed over to

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

in 1976. He was their captain from 1979–80, and in 1981 won their

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

, finishing ahead of that season's

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

list

Bernie Quinlan Bernard Francis Quinlan (born 21 July 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). One of a handful of players to have won a Brownlow ...

by nine votes. In total he played 133 games and booted 30 goals for the Roys. While in Melbourne he gained a degree in

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

and for a time was president of the VFL Players Association. He went back to Perth after the 1981 season.

Coaching career

He returned to Western Australia in 1982 and took on the role of captain/coach at

East Fremantle 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 Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

taking them to the grand final in 1984, 1985 and 1986, winning the 1985 Premiership. In 1986, after 76 games for East Fremantle, he stepped down as a player, but as coach he once again took his side the grand final and like 1984 they were again runners-up.

West Coast Eagles

In 1987, he was picked to be the inaugural senior coach of the

. He was controversially sacked and replaced by John Todd at the end of the 1987 season, despite 11 wins and being close to taking his side to the finals in their first year.

After football

From 1999 to 2017, he was the Director-General of the Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation. (DSR). Over the decade commencing from 2000 the DSR achieved recognition and success with multiple Premier Awards and in 2016 received a Commendation from the Western Australian Public Sector Commissioner for outstanding results in climate and culture surveys. DSR was also named on occasion in the WA Auditor Generals annual reports as a better practice agency. In 2017 the WA Government decided to merge the Department with the Departments of Local Government, Culture and Arts, Racing Gaming and Liquor, some services from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Office of Muliticultural Interests. In the Queen's Birthday 2019 Honours List, Alexander was made a Member of the Order of Australia "for significant service to sport and recreation, and to public administration." In October 2021, Alexander was elected to the North Ward of the

City of Vincent The City of Vincent is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately in metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and lies about 3 km from the Perth CBD. The City of Vincent maintains 139&nbs ...

References

External links

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Profile
at WA Football Hall of Fame 1950 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia East Perth Football Club players East Fremantle Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club players West Coast Eagles coaches East Fremantle Football Club coaches Mitchell Medal winners Western Australian State of Origin players All-Australian coaches West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Western Australian local councillors {{AFL-bio-1950s-stub