Alex Hamilton was told he was too small to make it at the top level early in his football career. “I was selected in the East Perth combined under fourteen squad, but my size was given as the reason for my eventual culling from the final twenty,” he recalls.

 

After playing with East Perth's fourths and thirds, he was told the same thing by coach, Mal Brown.

 

Always having belief in his own ability, the five foot seven Hamilton proved them all wrong by playing two hundred and sixteen games of league football. An elusive rover and quick off the mark, he was an accurate kicking player, who worked well with his ruckmen.

 

A member of both the East Perth under sixteen and under eighteen combined sides, the pint sized rover played fourths for the Royals(under Gerry Smithall)in 1970, graduating to the Karl Bearman-coached thirds the following year, before reserves mentor, Alistair McMillan, took him under his wing. Always a rover, Hamilton impressed enough for him to be selected for two league games in 1972.

 

“That first game was an amazing experience, and sticks out in my memory like no other game I played in,” he recalled. “I couldn't believe that I had the opportunity to train with guys I used to watch, such as Chadwick, Pitter, Brown, Tierney, McAullay, and Hayes, let alone play alongside them.”

 

He distinctly remembers his first kick. “I was playing on Jeff Dickinson, of Perth,” he said. “It was a free, and I went back, took my time.......and booted it straight into Jeff. Johnny Hayes came over to me and said: “Forget it, I did the same thing in my first game.”

 

Hamilton became a regular rover in a side that bristled with little men. “I felt a bit better about my size, knowing that I wasn't the shortest one out there. “Flea” Gillespie and Wayne Otway were a touch smaller.

 

After losing the 1976 grand final to Perth, and falling over in the first semi final in 1977, the Royals upset the rampaging Demons to take the flag in 1978. “The advent of Barry Cable was the catalyst for our grand final success, but it was becoming a bit crowded for rovers at Perth Oval. In 1978 there were Barry, Larry Kickett, myself and Wayne Otway, after Hans Verstegen saw the writing on the wall the previous year, although Larry also played in the centre,” Alex said.

 

“I had an approach from Subiaco, who were struggling at the time, and, after realistically weighing up the situation at East Perth, I decided to make the move.”

 

It turned out to be a good decision, on a personal basis, with Hamilton winning Tom Outridge Medals, as best and fairest, in two of the three years he wore the Maroon. But it was a devastating time to wear the Subiaco colours, with the club battling to compete, and there were even calls for them to be dumped from the competition. “I remember the game at Bassendean, in round nineteen, 1979,” he grimaced. “We had been beaten by 124 and 116 points in our other two games against Swans that year, and were determined to get some goals on the board.”

 

“Well, we did. Twenty goals seven, out of which Gary Buckenara kicked seven or eight. The bad news was they got forty goals eleven, which made it a 124 point loss.”

 

At the end of a three year stint at Subiaco, and turning thirty, Hamilton decided to return to East Perth with the aim of playing enough games, in his swansong of league football, to qualify for life membership. Under coaches Greg Brehaut and Grant Dorrington he once again became a regular in the league side, and at the end of the 1983 season had only three games to play to reach the milestone.

 

At the age of thirty two, with a young family, and a teaching career clashing with football commitments, Hamilton surprised team mates and supporters by announcing his retirement from league football.

 

Enjoying a year away from the action, former team mate Brent Levitzke persuaded the rover to join him at Maddington, in the South Suburban Association in 1985. Hamilton was then transferred in his employment to Esperance, where he was quickly grabbed by the Esperance Bulldogs as captain coach, taking them to a premiership in 1988.

 

Returning to Perth, Alex became assistant coach of the Subiaco colts, before taking on the coaching job himself for three years, and was assistant to Tony Solin with the league side.

 

 

He told us about a training camp at Lancelin, where players had to run ten kilometres along the beach. “Our run went under a low bridge, and Brad Smith forgot to duck. The resulting headbutt put the bridge in danger of collapsing.”

 

A special education teacher at Sacred Heart College, Alex Hamilton is still in good condition, and looks like he could still fit nicely into the number ten guernsey he wore as a twenty year old. He is kept busy by his work and football commitments, but spends as much time as possible with wife Kaye, two boys, two girls, and four grandchildren. The young Hamiltons both played Amateurs, one with West Coast Cowan, and the other at North Beach.

 

Hamilton still gets to the football, especially East Perth- Subiaco clashes, and enjoys club reunions.

 

Alex gave nothing away when we tried to get a best player he'd played with out of him. “They were all good players.” But he did tell us that he thought Stephen Curtis was the best he played against, and he did play a lot with Steve as well.

 

Alex Hamilton played a hundred and forty seven games with East Perth and sixty nine at Subiaco. He played in an era blessed with many of the best little men produced in this State, and was competitive against them all. Not bad for a bloke who was told he was too small to play league football.