Basil’s West End Chimney Memories

By PETER ARGENT 

Here’s a part of South Australia’s football history holding on to an iconic slice of our great sporting heritage.

Basil Jaggard played on a half-forward flank in Port Adelaide’s 1954 grand final win against West Adelaide, the year the colours of the premiership team were first painted on top of the West End brewery chimney – originally in Hindley St – in what has become one of sport’s most celebrated traditions.

Here is the 91-year-old at Alberton holding on to the Magpies’ chimney replica, in the year SANFL and West End are proudly celebrating their remarkable 70-year partnership.

At the suggestion of Port captain-coach Fos Williams in 1954, the runner-up would also have its colours on the chimney – just below the winners.

“Yes, I was at that initial chimney painting,” Jaggard recalled. “That was a long time ago. ‘Mots’ (Geof Motley) and I would joke with Fos that he only let the West Adelaide colours be painted on the chimney because that was where he came from.

“Naturally, it was a privilege to play for Port Adelaide during that special era. It was an honour to don the Port Adelaide guernsey.  We enjoyed a lot of success and Fos was uncompromising in his desire to win.”

Jaggard and Motley were close friends from the start, entering league football under Williams within a year of each other in 1952-53 and remaining close until Motley sadly passed away last September. “Mots and I were good mates across our entire lives,” Jaggard said. “Like all young men we had a bit of fun. We would train hard and often run together at the beach. We caught up with him last year before he passed and we got him to laugh a little.”

From the Port Adelaide side of the Henley Beach railway line in the beachside suburb of Grange, Jaggard had been a member of the Magpies outfit that narrowly lost the 1953 grand final to West Torrens. This was a catalyst for a stunningly successful era which shaped Port Adelaide’s creed and traditions, reaping the next six premierships in succession. But it wasn’t easy.

The 1954 grand final has been etched in SANFL folklore as, just before half-time, with West looking in control, Bloods centre half-back Brian Faeshe cleaned up Dave Boyd in a brutal physical clash. A skirmish followed along with the half-time bell. “I remember it took us forever to get back through the crowd,” Jaggard said. “By the time we got through the spectators to the changerooms it was time to come back out. There was plenty of pushing and shoving and spectators involved. After that grand final they built an underground tunnel for players to enter onto Adelaide Oval.”

Back then the tunnel onto the ground came from the members’ western grandstands. Now Port Adelaide’s AFL side runs onto Adelaide Oval from the southern end through the Geof Motley Race, named after the nine-time Magpies premiership great.

Jaggard said, “after losing to Torrens the previous season, it was important to get over the line in this grand final” and the Magpies came from 25 points down at half-time to beat West by three points, earning the colours on top of the chimney.

In a review titled PREMIERSHIP STORY for the Port Adelaide Messenger on October 7, 1954, Reg Schuman wrote:

Motley’s second half was a match winner.

Jaggard was a shining light in the Port attack before being forced to retire with a leg injury. Abley and Coldwell, at opposite ends of the ground, were effective without being spectacular.

Jaggard, who debuted when he was still a teenager, played 98 league games, kicking 124 goals and also represented SA at State level.

Between injury setbacks, which included a broken jaw, he played a variety of roles across half-forward, on a wing, or as a rover and occasionally in the centre, noted for his speed and strong skill set. He was 19th man in Port’s 1958 grand final win, also against West and also by less than a kick.