Football recruiting in Western Australia has thrown up many anecdotes over the years regarding how players end up at whatever club, with the story of Steve Marsh walking into the wrong change room at Fremantle Oval in 1945 achieving folklore status. In another quirk of the game, Kellerberrin ruckman Ray McAuliffe was signed, sealed and delivered to the Bulldogs four years later but ended up at Subiaco, in what was virtually a chocolates to boiled lollies changeover, with the Port side an imposing combination at the time, while the Maroons were at the other end of the ladder and struggling.The nineteen year old McAuliffe was spotted by South Fremantle in 1949 when playing with the strong Unions side at Northam, and president Frank Fuhrmann was quickly in touch with a job offer at Metters in Wembley and accommodation at Leighton. Fired up in the new surroundings, Ray’s appetite was whetted by an end of season trip to Geraldton with his new club. But a severe illness suffered by his mother during the summer saw McAuliffe back in Kellerberrin before the opening match of 1950. Ray lined up with the local side that year, all thoughts of the league scene forgotten, but he continued to excel.Selection in a Wheatbelt combined side to play Subiaco at Merredin that year was to set the WANFL wheels in motion once again, when the youngster took on State star Bill Alderman, and performed well enough to be awarded the trophy as best for his side. “I had a few enquiries from the Subiaco contingent after the game, but partly because of my mum’s health situation, advised them I wasn’t interested,” Ray recalled. Then, out of the blue, came a letter from Alderman. “Bill said that if I came down and dedicated myself I could end up playing for Western Australia,”  Ray went on. “He added that although Subiaco were struggling, they were rebuilding, and being part of that would be a challenge as well.”  “I’d been working from the age of thirteen, so wasn’t fazed by the hard yards, the rest of the family gave me the all clear to give it a go, so off I went.”The red headed, six foot McAuliffe went straight into the Subiaco side in 1951, and was never to play anywhere else but league. He made up for his lack of height against players such as McIntosh, McClements, Clarke, and Perry with superb timing, and he provided added value as a follower with skills of the highest order. Nicknamed “Cowboy” because of his bandy legged running style, Ray quickly became a leading ruckman in the WANFL and a leader at Subiaco. It didn’t take long for the new boy’s dedication to be tested.Playing under a permit, McAuliffe would catch a bus to the city on Friday afternoons. After a heavy round six loss to West Perth, leaving the club with one win out of six, coach Jack Sweet sat down alongside Ray. “Good game, son,” he began. “You’ve got a tough task next week, on Ray Perry at Perth Oval. You can earn your stripes against him.” Remembering his sister’s wedding, the ruckman replied: “Sorry, Jack, but I can’t play next week, my sister’s getting married.”   Then working with WA Government Railways as a porter at Kellerberrin, McAuliffe received an urgent telegram early in the week with the message: “Want you next week,” from Sweet. After last minute apologies and changes of plans for the big occasion, Ray arrived at Perth Oval on the Saturday to find his name listed as nineteenth man on the board. His initial reaction  was understandable, but a surprise win to the club sweetened the day, and McAuliffe regained his spot the following week. 1953 was the year of the twelfth Australian Football Carnival, and Ray McAuliffe was among most critic’s contenders for a berth in Western Australia’s contingent. On the two weekends before the side was selected, McAuliffe had been the winner of the five pounds “player of the round,” then followed up with a fine performance on West Perth’s State player, Kevin Clarke.On the night the side was to be announced at Subiaco Oval, Subiaco president Arthur Young invited rover Don Carter and McAuliffe to his house(across the road from the WAFL). The trio then decided to mosey over to the rooms for the State team selections, and enjoyed a beer at the bar. When the list was finally posted, without the name of McAuliffe, the normally unflappable Young gave the selectors a burst. “Calm down a moment,” was the reply. “Why do you think it took us so long? We know it was hard to leave him out, but we just couldn’t fit him in.”Ruckmen selected in the Carnival side that year were Merv McIntosh, Norm Smith, Jack Clarke, Kevin Clarke, and Laurie McNamara. As a consolation, McAuliffe was picked for the State second side, which played against North Melbourne at Subiaco on the same day the WA number one team fronted the carnival hosts, South Australia on Adelaide Oval. “After playing in a side that had won two games for a season, lining up with the WA second combination was similar to going from a Morris Minor to a Mercedes,” Ray said. Disaster struck when a broken ankle ended his day early, but his work impressed the North Melbourne camp, who extended an invitation to Arden Street. It was another injury, albeit much more serious, that virtually ended the ruckman’s burgeoning WANFL career.In a game at Claremont Oval, McAuliffe was on the receiving end of a sickening charge from burly Tigers ruckman Noah “Dixie” Lee, which burst the bones of his ears. ABC radio commentator Dick Buchanan, broadcasting from the boundary within metres of the clash, was shouting for the game to be stopped. “There’s blood everywhere,” he yelled. Claremont official, Sonny Maffina whisked the player into the clubrooms, attempting to stem the flow of blood before the ambulance arrived. “I don’t reckon he’ll make it,” was his sombre comment as Ray was rushed to Fremantle Hospital. McAuliffe spent a week in hospital, and was subsequently advised by specialists not to consider any ideas of returning to the football arena. A special headguard was proposed by the Subiaco Football Club, and Ray spent many hours running around the streets of Subiaco. Despite the concerns of wife Gwen, family, friends, and doctors, he committed himself to try a comeback.It was a Subiaco committeeman who was the catalyst for McAuliffe’s eventual somewhat disillusioned retirement. “I was doing laps wearing the guard at Subiaco Oval one night in front of the old club rooms, when a committeeman sitting on the fence called me over. I said “how are you,” and his reply was: “you’ll never get a game here while you’re wearing that.” A vice captain of the club and selector at the time, I advised him that I’d be in the maroon and gold again.”“The bloke stood up and pointedly affirmed: “No you won’t. I’ll see to that.”“At that I took the headgear off, put it on his lap, and left the club.”Ray McAuliffe had played fifty six games in just four seasons at Subiaco, and at the age of twenty four, just approaching his prime, was a big loss to Subiaco in particular and football in general. In a thoughtless act from a committeeman that could be seen as summarising the reasons for the plight of the club in those days a highly promising player was lost to the game. It was to be another five years before the recruitment of several topliners including coach Charlie Tyson lifted them to a grand final, but the wait for a flag would last another fourteen years.McAuliffe took up umpiring after the premature end to his playing days, and was soon a leading umpire in the Amateur Competition. He officiated in the first game of football ever televised in this State, an Amateur match between Wembley and East Perth at Leederville, with Jim Fitzmaurice calling the shots for Channel Two, and also was selected to umpire an Australian Carnival. Ray’s brother Jock had a run with Swan Districts, but he is adamant that another brother, Phil, could have been a star if he’d applied himself. “Don Glass always maintained that Phil could have been anything with more dedication,” Ray said. “Back in those days we all had mortgages to pay off.”East Perth’s Ray Perry was the man Ray considered hardest to beat, while Don Carter and Peter Amaranti ranked high among team mates.The WANFL has been blessed with many fine ruckmen over the years, among them out and out champions. There have been many others who but for adversity could well have joined that elite group. The name of Ray McAuliffe is a forgotten one these days, and one that may well have reached greater heights but for a horrific on field incident.