Despite a deformed back as a legacy of being born with polio, East Fremantle forward Noel Avery was an outstanding junior sportsman, who gave up a promising cricket career in favour of football, only for studies to eventually force him out of competitive sport altogether at the age of twenty four. The son of Popanyinning farmers, Avery played a hundred and fourteen games for the blue and whites and eighteen at Glenelg, in the SANFL.  Initially coming under notice for his cricket skills, Avery was twelfth man for Melville as a sixteen year old. “I fielded for most of the opposition innings and Peter Wishart gave me plenty to chase, as he rattled on a brutal hundred,” Noel told us.  He debuted against Bayswater- Morley as a fast bowler, with Ken McAullay and Bob Massie in the opposition line up. “Ken was as big a headache with the bat as he was on the footy field,” he joked.  Noel was selected in the State colts training squad In the 1973-74 season, he made a comeback to cricket and opened the batting for Melville. “It was the year that Dennis Lillee made his comeback from stress fracture of the back, and I was the first player he bowled to in a pennant match,” Noel recalled. “He was as fiery as hell, but it was the bloke at the other end, Ian King, that got me out.” Despite  much persuasion from the cricket fraternity, including Melville coach, Tony Devitt, Avery decided to concentrate on the winter game. Avery had played with East Fremantle juniors at under twelve, fourteen, and sixteen level, where he was a ruckman. A man who made a lasting impression on him was former star player, Don Gabrielson, one of  the undefeated East Fremantle side of 1946. “Don was coaching, and his son, Ross, was a team mate of mine in the under twelves,” he said. “Tragically, Ross was killed in a work accident in the North West about six years later. Don never got over that.” Avery was rucking for the East Fremantle fourths in 1970, playing a couple of times with the thirds, and was runner up for the fairest and best award. Pigeonholed by caretaker league coach, Harry Neesham, as one of his squad for the 1971 season, Avery's ambitions received a jolt when Neesham was overlooked for the coaching job, with Victorian Alan Joyce taking the reigns.  “Alan Joyce made me as a footballer,” Noel said “He was from the John Kennedy school, preaching physical and mental toughness, and he imparted a tougher approach to the game. I'm the first to admit, it was a bit of a culture shock to a casual bloke like me, and I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new philosophy, but it had the desired effect on the players and the club.” After a solid pre-season, Avery kicked off the home and away games of 1971 in the seconds, with a hamstring injury to ruckman Richard Browne giving him his first league opportunity. “I played in the ruck, at Bassendean, and got my first possession well within scoring distance,” he reminisced. “I passed it to Gary Gibellini, who made no mistake.” Avery went on to play a further nine games for the season, but osteo pubis prevented him from playing in the finals, which ended in heartbreak on preliminary final day, when a Gary Fenner kick that appeared to be spearing goalwards changed course at the end of it's journey, hitting the post, in a three point loss to West Perth. 1972 was Noel Avery's best season.   With another extensive pre season behind him, the six foot three Avery was sent to the forward line by Joyce. An inspired move, it was also a natural one. Avery had been outstanding on the training track, continually dominated the four hundred metre races, plus he had an exceptionally accurate kick, not only at goal but also passing with precision to team mates.   Avery pushed his claims for State selection with a best on ground display on the previous year's Victorian centre half back, Peter Steward, taking twenty two marks in a quality performance. With a State half forward line of Fred Lewis, Ian Miller, and George Young, he could be considered an unlucky omission on form, and his high finish in Lynn Medal voting at the end of the season verified that. East Fremantle were once again eliminated in the finals in 1973, John Todd's first season at the helm. Playing on a half forward flank, Avery enjoyed a solid season, and has a vivid recollection of a semi final clash with East Perth full back Brad Smith. “ I had collected the ball from a pack, and was streaming goalwards, when I got a boot in the chest from Brad. The force sent me into a cartwheel in the goalsquare.” The 1974 season was a premiership one for East Fremantle, a twenty two point win over Perth giving Noel Avery his first taste of premiership glory. It was also the year in which his form was rewarded with State selection, kicking two goals in a seven point loss to Victoria at Subiaco Oval.   Hawthorn showed considerable interest in Avery, signing him on a form four, and making him an attractive offer. After much soulsearching, the forward turned his back on the VFL. “ In the final analysis, I didn't think it would be fair to me or the Hawthorn club if I had gone,” he explained. “The wall to wall mentality of the game there, having to live, eat, and breathe football, didn't suit me.” “I subsequently reviewed my situation in league football,” Avery went on. “I was on a low salary at East Fremantle, and put in a request for more, which was knocked back. That led to approaches from South Fremantle, Claremont, and West Perth. I had no intention of leaving the blue and whites, but I played it out in search of a pay rise.” It was in 1975 that Noel played on a young first gamer from Claremont. “He was as hard as nails, and I got a bath,” he joked. Ken Hunter went on to become a star defender.  Avery's last season in the East Fremantle colours was spent mainly in defence, although he did go forward a few times, a notable occasion being against East Perth, when he kicked four goals on Ross Glendinning. (“It was very early in his career, when he was a bit green,” remarked Noel.) Positional changes saw him take over the full back position, with long term backman Doug Green tried as a forward. Playing the final game of the year on West Perth full forward Colin Northcott, Avery was best on ground, little realising at the time that it was his swansong at East.  Doing a degree at University, Noel was influenced by Professor Dr Ralph Locke, to follow him in his new appointment at Flinders University in South Australia, to finish his masters degree in sociology.  Quickly swooped on by the Glenelg Football Club, Avery spent the 1977 season in the SANFL, at centre half forward. “It was an enjoyable time, playing under the legend, John Nicholls, with one of my boyhood idols, Syd Jackson playing in the last couple of games,” he said.  Initially on a three year contract with Glenelg, Avery retired from league football after just a year, deciding on pursuing a masters degree at North Carolina University in the United States. “It was Michael Jordon's stamping ground, but I wasn't needed for the basketball team,” he laughed. It was during the two year stay that he met wife Pasha, and brought her back to Fremantle in 1979. Getting back into the boots, Avery lined up with Amateur club Melville, and showed he'd lost none of the old touch, finishing second in the club's fairest and best voting. On opening day of the new clubrooms at Melville Recreation Ground, he slotted ten goals.  The Averys then relocated to the United States, where Noel worked for twenty years. In 2001,he turned up for a game in the local Aussie Rules competition with the Boston Demons, but after just five touches and losing the ability to walk without pain for a week, he decided that forty nine was too old to play this game, in whatever standard of competition.  He was soon in demand from the local junior gridiron club as a kicker coach, and also got involved in the skills of junior soccer, with his two sons among the pupils.  Back in Fremantle, Noel Avery became an investor in a shoe import business, and put a company together to import a  plant seed from China to be grown by a farmers co-operative, a venture in which he  had the assistance of a couple of old team mates, “Nookie” Reid and Toby Watson Golf has been added to the Avery repertoire. “In America the handicap was down to eight, but it shot out to 22, but it's 15 these days.” He plays in many Corporate Charity events, as well as East Fremantle Corporate Golf days.  Noel regarded  Ken “Noddy” McAullay as hardest to beat, with Brian Peake, Russell Ebert, Barry Cable, and Graham Cornes best he'd played with.  He shared a story with us about the occasion one night after training that Tony Micale had potassium permanganate thrown over him, and for a fortnight looked like a purple lollipop, while making a mention of a Sunday morning marathon Yanchep run, in which several players snuck in some motocrosse bikes to transport them to appropriate bush cover close to the finish line. No names of course, but it was all in jezt.  Noel Avery graced the Western Australian football scene for only six seasons, but in that time established himself as one of the WANFL's leading forwards, an East Fremantle premiership player, and State representative. Although his career was shorter than most, he is well remembered at East Fremantle as one of their stars of the seventies.