Ross Kelly is known to most football followers as the inaugural chairman of the Fremantle Football Club. An inaugural Fremantle Life Member, Kelly was the chairman of Fremantle’s Interim Board in 1994 and the inaugural Chairman of the Fremantle Board from 1995 to 1998, before becoming Chairman of the Fremantle Football Club Foundation in 1999. He was a West Australian Football Commissioner from 2002-2009 and has been the Chairman of the Clontarf Foundation since 1999.Ross Kelly is not only an excellent administrator but was a very good footballer in his own right.A West Perth premiership player in 1960, he played ten games for Western Australia, debuting for the State after just ten games of league football, and was runner up for his club’s fairest and best award in 1958.Playing his junior football with Inglewood and Maylands in the Metropolitan Juniors, Kelly also lined up in a strong Perth Modern School combination that had others of the ilk of Rod Newton, Mike Pethick, Mel Whinnen, and John Vukman wearing their colours. Frank Bird, Ben Cook, and Eric Strauss were some of the mentors that helped shape his game.And the coaching must have been alright, because the youngster exploded onto the league football scene.  His was a reluctant entry to the highest level. Spending a year with Collegians Amateurs, Ross Kelly was cajoled to West Perth by vice president Col Cavanagh, who got wind of his ability through Ross Ayre’s dad, Jack, a workmate of Kelly’s father. Cavanagh paid the boy a visit, telling him he’d like him to train with West Perth. “When?” was the response, to which Cavanagh replied: “jump in my car.”Kelly was in the West Perth side for the first game of the season, on Saturday the nineteenth of April, 1958, against East Perth, playing on speedster Tony Bellos. “I was nervous before the game, but lining up on Tony helped, because I’d been opposed to him in juniors and done alright,” he recalled. On Saturday the second of July, after just ten games, Kelly was on the Lake Oval, playing against South Australia in the Australian Football Carnival. In his ten games, performances on Kevin Clune, Neil Hawke, and Percy Johnson had convinced the State selectors of his class.  He was to go on to play ten games for Western Australia, all on the half back line, even though he was later playing in the ruck at West Perth.Ross’s performances in 1959 confirmed his earlier promise, and the half back finished fifth in Sandover Medal voting behind team mate Brian Foley. In 1960, Kelly was part of a West Perth premiership, then announced his unavailability for the following season, after receiving a scholarship in England. The Cardinals missed his services in 1961, finishing outside the four, but his return saw them back in the finals. It was in a new role that Ross rejoined the action, playing in the ruck.A quick player for his size, Kelly was a good high mark and dependable on the ground, and was able to play on the smalls and the talls. He was also a professional runner, winning the Pingrup Gift over a hundred and thirty yards, and was part of a Western Australian four that won the 1958 Carnival Relay. He played on players such as Ron Barassi, Bob Davis, Lindsay Head, Ted Whitten, Darryl Baldock, and Len Fitzgerald. After a hundred and thirty two games, Ross retired from league football at the age of twenty seven following the first semi final of 1965, which West Perth lost to East Fremantle. “I had a professional life to consider, there wasn’t any money in the game, so there was really no choice,” he said.  He served on the committee at West Perth before moving overseas.An engineer, he worked in Singapore for some years before the advent of the Fremantle Dockers saw him thrust into a far different football role. “The years with Fremantle along with the 1960 premiership were the highlights of my football life,” he said. “To be involved in a new club was a rare honour, and it was an exciting time for all of us. It is also an honour to be part of Gerard Neesham’s work with the Clontarf Foundation, where we have the opportunity to use football to help aboriginal youths have better lives. There are now two and a half thousand boys involved in the scheme, with a hundred and six full time staff.” Ross Kelly combines his business prowess with his enthusiasm for football to help lead young Indigenous men realise their potential and take hold of their life direction.  He has been Chairman of the Clontarf Foundation since 1999 and in these years has been part of a team that has seen the number of boys involved in the Foundation grow exponentially. Ross is still a busy man, chairman of Imdex, which provides technology to gas and mineral exploration companies, Wood and Grieve, who specialize in engineering design, as well as his involvement with Clontarf. A football legacy (hip replacement) put paid to a burgeoning golf career, but it hasn’t stopped the fishing at Lancelin, while he is a regular at Dockers games as well as some West Perth matches. “My wife, Leith, is the football expert in this house,” he said. Leith Kelly has a football background, uncles, Les and Jack Clements are former Claremont players, and grandfather, Albert, was a foundation vice president of the Tigers.  Ross’s dad, Bill, played forty five games with West Perth as a defender between 1923 and 1927.     Of the many good players he played on, Kelly gave the toughest to beat to Don Langdon. “A good mark, very clever player, we always had a great tussle,” he said. “John Gerovich was a tough assignment, you had to play him close. If he had a couple of steps to project himself for a mark you’d be wearing his sprigs.”  Of team mates, Ross is an admirer of Don Marinko. “Don was a very under rated player,” he maintained. “He was a superb footballer, after the style of Mel Whinnen, but had other dimensions. He needed fewer steps than anyone I have seen to get on balance. Great overhead and a wonderful kick.” Brian Foley was another for whom Kelly had a high regard.He recalled an old team mate who possessed plenty of ability but never reached his potential. “Robin Flemming was a great bloke, a rascal who loved a beer on a Friday night. One day he played the best game I’d seen him put in, against Subiaco at Subiaco Oval. He almost single handedly kept us in the game, playing like a man inspired, with his head bashed in and an ear hanging off. At three quarter time he started to walk off the ground. “Where are you off to?” was the coach’s understandable enquiry, to which Rob replied: “I’ve done enough, it’s time some of you b……s pulled your weight!”Ross Kelly’s work with Fremantle Football Club and the Western Australian Football Commission has been recognised with life membership of both organizations. West Perth have been well served by many fine defenders, such as Ray Schofield, Brian France, Wally and Fred Buttsworth, Ken Ashdown, Wally Price, Harold Boyd, Ted Flemming, Leon O’Dwyer, George Michaljzyk, and Peter Steward.The name of Ross Kelly fits nicely into that esteemed group.