See below article that appeared in Perth Now today of a interview with Ken Bagley. Great to see the media promoting this occasion so well, John Townsend has also been writing articles in the West.
As 21st birthday presents go, helping your football club claim its first premiership against the piping hot favourites is certainly on the upper echelon.For Swan Districts legend and WA Football Hall of Famer Ken Bagley, the Swans’ 1961 flag set him up for life on the day he came of age.Bagley played in all three of the Swans premierships from 1961-63, but 60 years on it is no surprise he remembers the inaugural flag most fondly.A highly-touted East Perth side led by Polly Farmer and Jack Sheedy were put to the sword as the underdog Swans outfit raced out to first quarter lead and kept the Royals at bay for the rest of the game.Bagley said the win, which came just two weeks after East Perth had belted them by 48 points in the semi-final, still meant everything to him six decades on.“It was a wonderful part of my life. You change your attitude towards lots of things in life and it was just a blessing for Swan Districts and all the guys who played in that ‘61 grand final,” he said.“We were the biggest underdogs of all time; we spoiled the party somewhat. When we got back to Bassendean Oval on Saturday night, the fans just went crazy.
“It set me up in life. I got a few offers from the Eastern States. It gave me an opportunity in life as far as work was concerned.”The grand final win represented one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the league’s history, as the Swans went from cellar dwellers the previous year, having lost their last 16 games of the season, to a shock flag against the odds.Bagley said the arrival of Haydn Bunton Jnr as player-coach, coupled with the arrival of several other fresh faces and the emergence of a homegrown nucleus, proved to be the winning formula.“Bunton came across and changed the philosophy of the whole football club. We became a different team, started to handball and play team footy; before, we didn’t do any of that,” he said.“He changed our gameplan, brought a couple of players across from the Eastern States and they were enough to put pressure on the players here.“From thereon in, we really developed and beat East Perth pretty consistently after that.”
