The Roll of Honour (Pic 1) recording the names of the Williamstown Football Club members who served in the Great War (1914 – 1918) includes three players who were members of the 2007 Premiership team. This was the first premiership in Williamstown’s history.

Those three players were F. Worrall, Ted Alley and Arthur Caldwell.

1907 Premiership Team (Pic 2)
Back Row: Mathew Outen, Jamieson, Bob Monar, Bliss, Jim Addison, Percy Garbutt, Bob Briggs, Howard Lewis
Centre: Worrall, Bert Reitman, Wynum Outen, Robert Ferguson (President), Ted Alley (Captain), W. Jones, W. Hall, Pilkington
Front Row: O’Shea, Arthur Caldwell, Bobby Gibbs, Lambert, Jim Caldwell, Richard McKay

Edwin John (Ted) Alley (Pic 3) was born in St Arnaud, Victoria on 30 July 1881, and became an engineer. At 20 years 277 days of age in 1902, he played his first game for South Melbourne in the VFL competition. Alley appeared in 15 of South Melbourne 17 games in the 1902 VFL season, but played just once the following year, and kicked two goals in total.

He crossed to Williamstown in 1905 and became a key contributor to the club’s gradual emergence as a power in the VFA. After qualifying for the finals for the first time in 1905, the Villagers contested their first premiership decider two years later in 1907. Reigning premier West Melbourne provided the opposition, but Williamstown, which had finished the season as minor premier, proved too strong.

A key reason for this was the display of Alley who, in the absence of regular captain Paddy Noonan, was skippering the side. In those days, a club’s captain was tantamount to a coach, and Alley made all the right moves in masterminding an opening term burst by his charges that effectively finished the game as a contest. The Villagers led 4.4 to 0.2 at the first change, and went on to win by 18 points, with Alley’s place in history, as Williamstown’s first ever premiership captain, thereby secured. (Pic 4)

When the First World War began, Ted Alley enlisted on March 20, 1916. He was 34 years and 6 months of age. Alley, who made his living as an engineer, was attached to the 3rd Pioneer Battalion.

Trained as infantrymen, the Pioneers were also tasked with some engineer functions, with a large number of personnel possessing trade qualifications from civilian life. A total of five pioneer battalions were raised by the AIF at this time, with one being assigned to each of the five infantry divisions that the Australians deployed to the battlefield in France and Belgium. Tasked with digging trenches, labouring, constructing strong points and light railways, and undertaking battlefield clearance, the troops assigned to the Pioneers required construction and engineering experience in addition to basic soldiering skills.

Ted Alley travelled overseas on June 6, 1916 with his Battalion, on the ship “Wandilla”. Arriving in England on July 26, 2016, Ted Alley was one of the notable players of the day who played in the most famous game of Australian Football during the war, which was held at the Queen’s Club in London. In October 1916, the Third Australian Divisional team (who played with a large map of Australia on their blue guernsey) (Pic 5) battled it out against the Australian Training Units team (who played in a red guernsey emblazoned with a white kangaroo).

Soon after the game, on November 24 1916, Ted was transferred to the battlefields of France, where he served until May 10, 1918, when he was accidentally injured. Suffering a fractured kneecap, he was transferred to England, and then back to Melbourne on the ship “Suevic”, arriving home on January 5, 1919. He was found to be suffering “inflammation of the right knee joint” and was discharged as “Permanently Unfit” in February 1919.

He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal (Pic 6)

1914–15 Star
The 1914–15 Star is a campaign medal of the British Empire that was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who served in any theatre of World War I against the Central European Powers during 1914 and 1915. The medal was never awarded singly and recipients were also awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
British War Medal
The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the British Empire that was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in World War I.
Victory Medal
The Victory Medal (also called the Inter-Allied Victory Medal) is a First World War campaign medal of Britain and her then colonies and dominions (e.g. Canada, Australia, New Zealand). The dates of the war on the medals of the British Empire were given as 1914 to 1919.
The medal was issued to all those who received the 1914 Star or the 1914-15 Star, and to most of those who were awarded the British War Medal – it was never awarded singly. These three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.

In 1920, Ted Alley was appointed Captain-coach of Hawthorn in the time when the club was in the VFA. He stood down as captain midway through his only season at the club. It could be assumed that his war injury had a significant impact on his ability to play football.

Ted Alley died in Camberwell on July 18 1949, aged 67.

“Lest We Forget”

Online sources: National Archives of Australia, Australian War Memorial, Williamstown Football Club, Wikipedia, Australianfootball.com

Location

Williamstown 3016