{xtypo_dropcap}W{/xtypo_dropcap}hen Duggan Anderson lost four fingers from his left hand in a sawmill accident in January, 1947, it appeared likely the twenty two year old, already a star of the game in Western Australia, had played his last game.

Winner of Swan Districts fairest and best award in his second season of league football, and already installed at centre half back in the State side, Anderson’s injury was a major blow, but those who wrote his career off didn’t reckon with the determination of the man to not only continue his career, but become one of the league’s chief defenders.

With the help of surgeon Dr Ben Buttsworth, Duggan resumed training three months later, and, remarkably, played in the opening round of the 1947 season. Formerly a fine aerialist, he was forced to alter his marking style somewhat because of the loss of all left hand fingers at the knuckle, but, while retaining his marking ability, he became more of a spoiling and close checking backman.

It wasn’t only Anderson’s football career that was affected by the accident.

A leading logchopper (brother of Allan Anderson, who won fifteen State Championships at Perth Royal Shows), Duggan was forced to abandon the sport when unable to hold an axe, and he soon discovered that no fingers equalled no job. There was no money in football, and unable to continue as a wood machinist, he had to make a living.{xtypo_quote_left} “When I started playing footy the “Doug” and the “Anderson” got sort of pushed together, and “Doug” became “Duggan.”{/xtypo_quote_left}

Working for a builder in Guildford making bricks, Anderson purchased a truck to cart gravel, then bought another, eventually contract carting logs near Boddington. In 1954, he built a block of shops in Belmont, and still owns a hardware store at the site. He served as President of the Hardware Institute Of Australia, and is now a life member of that organisation.        

Son of “Sonny” Anderson, a leading ruckman at Donnybrook, Anderson had been tipped for stardom as a junior at Midland playing against older opponents, and slotted straight into the centre half  back position at Swan Districts in 1945, the first year of open age league competition following the War. His talents as a junior were not limited to the winter sport, however, he was also a promising wicketkeeper-batsman, but decided to concentrate on football. 

“My name is Doug,” Duggan explained. “When I started playing footy the “Doug” and the “Anderson” got sort of pushed together, and “Doug” became “Duggan.”

 A high marking, long kicking player, he played twice for Western Australia in 1946, alongside Bill Alderman and Don Gabrielson on debut, and “Nugget” Hilsz second up, and had emerged as one of the State’s leading defenders in his second season. 

Duggan Anderson recovered from his injury to add Swan Districts fairest and best awards in 1948 and 1951 to the one he had already won in 1946 , and in the 1951 season was recalled to the State side.

The first Swan Districts player to reach the two hundred game milestone, Anderson retired at the end of the 1956 season, after 216 appearances with the black and whites and six for Western Australia. In his decade of service at Bassendean he had played just the one finals match, the first semi final of 1945, but some compensation was received in 1957, when lining up with Scarborough in the Sunday League, coached by a former Swan Districts team mate, Bob Annesley, Duggan received a best on ground award following a premiership win.

Although unable to contribute to a flag at Swans when on the field, Anderson nevertheless had a lot to do with the eventual premiership breakthrough in 1961, when a key mover behind the signing of Haydn Bunton as coach, which resulted in the memorable hat trick of flags.  A member of the Swan Districts Board of Management from 1957 to 1966, he was vice president of the club for seven years.

Duggan enjoyed a game of golf at Rockingham after his retirement from football. He served as chairman of the House Committee at Royal Perth for four years. Wife Shirley, a champion sportswoman in her own right, having been an outstanding show rider in her younger days, was also a keen golfer until suffering an  while son Peter emulated his father by playing league football for Swan Districts.

Anderson rated South Fremantle pair, Frank “Scranno” Jenkins and Laurie Green as his hardest opponents, while ruckman Jack Murray was the best he played with. He had a word for the umpires of his day. “There was only one of them then, and they’d hang around the centre,” he recalled. “I’m sure they’d give a free if the ball got too far away.”

Duggan Anderson’s outstanding service to Swan Districts was rewarded with life membership in 1955, and his football ability was recognised with selection in their Team of the Century in 2000, with the WAFL recently paying him the highest compliment of induction into the Western Australian Football Hall of Fame. Overcoming serious injury, Duggan Anderson became one of this State’s all time best defenders, and his story should be seen as a lesson in perseverance and dedication for all.