Tigers aim to revisit 1964

All is not lost. Claremont’s league players and diehard club supporters will travel to Joondalup on Saturday full of hope that the side will bounce back to top form and defeat West Perth in a last-ditch bid to qualify for the WAFL finals this year.

History has a strange way of repeating itself --- and if it does the Tigers will beat the Cardinals and march into the finals.

Turn the clock back 51 years and you will discover that Claremont went into the final round of qualifying matches in 1964 needing to leap from fifth place into fourth to qualify to meet Subiaco in the first semi-final. All that was required was a win over West Perth at their home ground of Leederville Oval.

West Perth were in fourth spot, with 44 points and ahead of Claremont (44 points) with a superior percentage.

A massive crowd of 22,446 crammed into Leederville Oval. West Perth led by three goals at quarter-time before Claremont, playing like men possessed, drew a goal in front at half-time and then outgunned the home side in the final term to triumph by three goals.

It is history how the Tigers beat Subiaco by 12 points in the first semi-final and then came from behind to beat Perth by nine points in the preliminary final to earn the right to meet East Fremantle in the grand final.

The grand final was a thriller, with Claremont leading by 25 points at quarter-time and trailing by two points at half-time. The margin in favour of the Tigers at three-quarter time was seven points before Old Easts hit back to take the lead in the final term. A pass from rover John Parkinson was marked by centre-half-forward Ian Brewer in the dying minutes of the contest. Brewer’s goal (his second for the quarter) gave the Tigers the lead and victory by four points.

All it boils down to now is that the Claremont players hold their destiny in their own hands.

To defeat West Perth, the Tigers must buck the odds by becoming the first side to beat the Falcons at home this year, during which they have won all their nine home matches. And West Perth hold a 14-8 advantage over Claremont in the 22 contests between the sides at Joondalup.

However, Joondalup holds no fears for the Tigers, who held a 21-point lead over West Perth at three-quarter time at that venue in a round-18 fixture on July 25. The home side outscored Claremont 5.4 to 0.3 in the last quarter to triumph by ten points. But Claremont were at a severe disadvantage, without the brilliant Francis Watson, who had fractured a leg in two places in the third quarter, and with only one fit man on the interchange bench in the final quarter.

In their previous encounter, in a round-seven fixture on May 2, the Tigers defeated the Falcons by 20 points at the Showgrounds. That was Claremont’s first win of the year and it kick-started their season.

If Claremont win on Saturday, Swan Districts (with a final-round bye) will be relegated to sixth and will miss the finals, leaving the Tigers to clash with East Perth in the elimination final the following weekend. The winner of the elimination final will meet the loser of the qualifying final (between West Perth and Peel) in the first semi-final.