When Tim Barker fronted up at Bassendean Oval in 1944 for the under nineteen competition they gave him one game then told him he was too small. He went to hockey, but was soon in trouble for being too rough, and that was a lucky thing for Swan Districts Football Club.The kid that was too small went on to play two hundred and thirty nine league games and held the record for number of games played for the black and whites until Billy Walker set a new mark of three hundred and five in the Seventies.With the resumption of open age football after the war, Barker tried his luck again in 1946, having put a few pounds and inches on. Playing on a half forward flank, he was a member of the premiership reserves team that year, but found breaking into the league side a tough assignment. It was 1950 coach Bill Kingsbury who saw a future for Tim as a full back, and the move was a spectacular success. Despite his lack of height at  five foot eleven, Barker took on the top forwards of the day, including Naylor, Scott, Tucker, and Glass, and performed admirably.Runner up for the club fairest and best several times, he won the award in 1952, becoming the only Swans player to win the award while playing at full back, and represented Western Australia on seven occasions from 1953. In 1954 he was in a back pocket alongside Ken Caporn in the game against Victoria at Subiaco, and was best player for Western Australia in the walloping the side received from Victoria on the following Tuesday.  In a game dominated by the visitors to the extent that they led ten goals twelve to nil at quarter time, WA lost by sixty nine points.Barker was in outstanding form in the 1956 Perth Carnival, named in the best players against Tasmania and South Australia. A reliable mark, he used the spoil to great effect against taller opponents, who were often on the end of bullet like passes. He finished fourth with twelve votes in that year’s Sandover Medal count, behind winner Polly Farmer, the recipient of fifteen. He recalled a game at Fremantle when opposed to Bernie Naylor, when he picked up a clod of dirt and threw it as the full forward was taking a shot on goal. “Umpire Freddy Woods told me to cut it out and gave Bernie another kick. From then on the kids behind the goals were throwing rocks at me.”A member of the Fire Brigade, Barker had some great clashes with another firey, Ron Tucker, from Perth. “Ron didn’t appreciate my attention when we crossed the white line,” Tim joked.Captain of Swans in the latter part of 1957 and 1958, Barker retired after the 1959 season, and lined up with Toodyay, joining team mate Bob Sadler. In 1961 new coach Haydn Bunton asked him to consider a return to league football. “ I did the pre season, the team was about to go up, and I suddenly decided not to play. “Leave me out,” I told them.” It’s history now that Swans won a historic premiership that season.Returning to Toodyay, Barker hung the boots up at the end of the 1961 season and served on the Swan Districts committee for eight years. Enjoying retirement these days, he lives by the seaside and enjoys a round of golf, as well as a cruise now and then with wife Enid.      Naylor, Ray Scott, Tucker, and John Gerovich were all tough opponents, while he didn’t like to separate many great players including Duggan Anderson, Denis Carrick, Brian Gray, Keith Slater, Frank Sparrow, Ken Bagley, and Cyril Litterick as best team mates. One of Swan Districts best ever full backs, Tim Barker was deservedly recognised by Swan Districts as a legend of the club in 2005. He was also a great clubman who served his club well.