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Des Hoare is well remembered by cricket fans as a fiery fast bowler who was one of the best in the land in the late fifties and early sixties, and wore the baggy green in 1961. However, there were many good judges who were of the opinion that if he’d concentrated on the winter game he could have worn the black and gold of Western Australia. A nephew of three time premiership and State player, Dinny Coffey, Hoare played forty six games for East Fremantle as a ruckman or centre half forward, at a time the club boasted big men of the calibre of Jack Clarke, Percy Johnson, Frank Coulson, and Laurie Nugent. Back in the days when you could mix the two sports, Des showed plenty of promise as a junior with Fremantle ex-scholars, alongside other future league players including Con Regan and Ken Holt(East Fremantle) and Brian Collins(South Fremantle) under the coaching of Vic French and Merv Cowan, and was selected for combined sides. He went to East Fremantle Oval in 1955, playing with the seconds, and did enough to earn a couple of league appearances that year. “My first game was at Subiaco Oval, against Perth,” he recalled. “I rucked against Merv McIntosh and went alright.” A solid and fiery competitor, Hoare played in the ruck and at centre half forward in 1956.  In that year Des Hoare was already well established as a fast bowler in the Western Australian cricket side, and football was secondary to his aspirations to play Test cricket.  “I played football because I loved the game,” he said. “While I always played it hard, in the back of my mind I was aware of the danger of an injury to the bowling arm, which wasn’t an ideal approach for a league player.”  No one who played on Des would have agreed with that statement; Hoare was a tough competitor. Cricket took priority over the following four seasons before omission from the touring party for the 1961 Ashes series saw a belated return to Moss Street. Hoare was unlucky to miss selection in the squad, playing in the third Test in Adelaide, not a fast bowler-friendly venue, and taking the wickets  of Conrad Hunte and Frank Worrell in the first innings, plus contributing thirty five in a ninth wicket partnership of eighty five with Richie Benaud.Hoare had much delight in making 133 when opening the Western Australian batting with Bob Simpson when the Australian side played WA at the WACA en route to England. He recalled a match against West Perth in 1961, with the reward for winning a place in the final four. “There were 19,200 people crammed into East Fremantle Oval that day, as we won by thirty eight points,” he said. Unfortunately, Old Easts went down to Subiaco in the first semi final the following week.   1961 proved to be Hoare’s football swansong, as he concentrated on cricket. In a first class career spanning over a decade, Des took two hundred and twenty five first class wickets at 26.91, including “10 wickets in a match” once and “5 wickets in an innings” 12 times.  His best performance was 8 for 98 against a strong NSW side in Perth. During that period he was part of one of WA’s most formidable bowling attacks, with the likes of Ron Gaunt, Ray Strauss, and Hugh Bevan steaming in from the opposite end. In 1965 Des Hoare became East Fremantle’s first full time secretary, before becoming Sales Manager at Swan Brewery. In 1989 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian Cricket Association, a position he held for three years. WA won the Sheffield Shield in his last year at the helm, 1992. A dislocated shoulder in 1965 didn’t stop Hoare from bowling. He switched to spin, and enjoyed another twenty five seasons at the bowling crease before belatedly calling it quits at the age of fifty five. Beginning his career at Fremantle, Des played with Subiaco-Floreat before returning to the Port club, and ended his playing days at East Fremantle, in the Fremantle Mercantile Competition.   Des regards himself as fortunate to play in the same side as Jack Clarke, Ray Sorrell, Norm Rogers, Allan Preen, and many other great stars of the game. On opposition players he modestly commented: “They were all better than me.”Des and Holly Hoare have enjoyed over a half century of marriage, and have a daughter, Debby.Although his first love was cricket, where he became a feared fast bowler for Western Australia, Des Hoare was also a more than capable ruckman/forward, and, despite a relatively short career, was  a consistent contributor for East Fremantle.    

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