Ray Schofield is recognised as one of the best fullbacks ever to grace the Western Australian football scene.  He was one of the few to be able to curb the great Bernie Naylor, and in his 23 games for Western Australia he had the measure of most of the top full forwards of his era. Yet Schofield made his debut for West Perth in 1943 and later represented a Western Australia second side  against Essendon in 1947 as a full forward. He topped the West Perth goalkicking twice before the emergence of another star forward in Ray Scott gave the club the opportunity to try Schofield at full back. The move was so successful that he lined up for Western Australia  the following season but at the other end of the ground.Ray had a distinct preference for the defensive position, and it was his for both West Perth and Western Australia for the remainder of his distinguished career.Ray Schofield played his junior football with North Perth, joining the Cardinals in 1943, which was an under age competition due to World War Two. The war also played a hand in delaying his league career a further three years, because of his service in the Air Force until 1946. It didn’t take long for Schofield to make his mark on the competition, playing initially as a forward, and was selected for interstate duties in 1947, the first in a long series of games for the state spanning over a decade. Standing a mere five foot ten and weighing twelve stone four, he was able to match and beat top class opponents up to eight inches taller because of his prowess at spoiling and marking and his relentlessly determined attitude. He was a high leaper and a fine aerialist, with pace and agility, which enabled him to play equally as well in other positions on smaller players for both his club and State. “For his size, he was as good a key position player as I’ve seen in all my years of playing and watching the game”, was the comment on Schofield’s ability as a footballer, made by teammate and star centreman, Don Marinko.West Perth developed into a very good side in the late forties and early fifties, in what has often been described as perhaps the best era of football in this State. They had stars such as Buttsworth, Heal, Scott, Ashdown, Price, London, Trevor Schofield, McNamara, Marinko, Wylde, Humphries, Porter, and Loughridge, and were a permanent fixture in grand finals between 1946 and 1953, with one exception. That only two of those(1949 and 1951) resulted in premierships was due more to the presence of another star studded combination in South Fremantle than any failing of their own.    Full forwards and full backs aren’t renowned for winning fairest and best awards, yet Schofield bucked the trend by winning five, including a hat trick in 1953-54-55, and was runner up on three occasions.  With the aforementioned stars in the side, that was an impressive achievement by any standards.    Schofield hardly ever lowered his colours to any of the plethora of good forwards of the era, including interstate matches. His duels with South Fremantle great Bernie Naylor were keenly anticipated events and were a spectator drawcard. Ray Schofield retired from league football in 1958, after chalking up 277 games with West Perth. When West Perth picked a “Team of the Century” in 2000, he was the logical choice as full back.  Ray Schofield is a legend at West Perth, and rightly so.