Sydney Campbell "Sammy" Clarke (5 April 1914 – 24 January 1945) 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 in the

Western Australian National 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, ...

(WANFL) between 1933 and 1941. 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 ...

in his first two seasons in the competition, making him the first player to win the award in consecutive years. Clarke won a premiership with Claremont in 1939, and also 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 ...

in eight interstate games. He served as a pilot with the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) during World War II, but was killed in action in New Guinea towards the end of the war.

Early life

Clarke was born in West Midland,

, on 5 April 1914. His father, Sydney Clarke Sr., played football for West Adelaide in the

South Australian Football Association The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SAFA) and

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the Goldfields Football Association (GFA). Clarke attended Perth Boys' School and

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to b ...

, and captained the Western Australian schoolboys' side at the 1928 National Carnival in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, and Hale School's First XVIII in 1930. Clarke played for the Pastimes Football Club (now the Carey Park Football Club) in the Bunbury district football competition in 1931,Sydney Clarke (Claremont/Claremont-Cottesloe)
– FullPointsFooty. Retrieved 9 September 2011. before returning to Perth in 1932 to play for Nedlands in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association. He captained the club to the 1932 premiership, and also won the Strempel Medal for the best player in that competition.

WANFL career

Clarke was recruited to for the 1933 season, having been considered one of the best juniors in Western Australia the previous season. Clarke had an outstanding season, winning the

for the

fairest and best 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 ...

player in the competition, despite his club winning the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

that season.Sydney (Sammy) Clarke
– WA Hall of Champions inductees – WAIS. Retrieved 9 September 2011. He again won the medal in 1934, becoming the first back-to-back winner of the award. He missed the 1938 premiership win while undergoing training in England with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF), having worked his way overseas and back on a freighter. During the 1939 season, Clarke played in Claremont's premiership-winning team and also played his 100th game for the club. In the off-season, he purchased a

mercery Mercery (from French , meaning "habderdashery" (goods) or "haberdashery" (a shop trading in textiles and notions) initially referred to silk, linen and fustian textiles among various other piece goods imported to England in the 12th century. ...

business in

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

, and thus did not play in the WANFL in 1940. He returned to Perth prior to the beginning of the 1941 season, with Claremont enlisting his services for one final season. Clarke finished his WANFL career with 133 games and six goals. He also represented

in eight interstate matches, captaining the side against South Australia at

Leederville Oval Leederville Oval (known as Medibank Stadium under a naming rights agreement between 2006 and 2016) is an Australian rules football ground located in Leederville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The ground is used as a home ground by two c ...

in 1934 and playing in the 1937 Australian National Football Carnival, which Perth hosted.

Military career and death

Clarke enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in July 1942, and was posted to the No. 8 Squadron as a flying officer. In January 1945, Clarke was the pilot of a

Bristol Beaufort The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. At l ...

(serial number A9-630), with three other crew on board, which was presumed missing after failing to return from an anti-submarine sweep, his first active mission, near Tadji in the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

. Clarke's name is featured on the

War Memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

Lae Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

. In 1952, the Claremont Football Club established the Sammy Clarke Memorial Medal for the best player in the under-15 district football competition. Clarke was inducted into 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, ...

in 2005, and 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 ...

in 2009.WA Football Hall of Fame inductees
– West Australian Football Commission. Retrieved 27 August 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Sammy 1914 births 1945 deaths Australian military personnel killed in World War II Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Carey Park Football Club players Claremont Football Club players People educated at Hale School Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Sandover Medal winners West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian World War II pilots Missing in action of World War II Royal Australian Air Force officers