



Polly Farmer, trailblazer


Patrick Bartley

Polly Farmer with West Coast youngster Nic Naitanui and Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands.

Polly Farmer with West Coast youngster Nic Naitanui and Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands. Photo: Tony Ashby

JACK Clarke was one of Western Australia's finest ruckman. He was a boy from the bush who drove to the big smoke each week to play football for East Fremantle in the WAFL.

He never came to Melbourne to show just how good he was but represented WA as a co-ruckman with Graham ''Polly'' Farmer when the Sandgropers famously beat Victoria in the 1961 interstate carnival in Brisbane. Clarke won four All-Australian guernseys in a stellar career.

In the west, his clashes with Farmer were legendary. One of the most famous press photos is of Farmer sitting on Clarke's shoulder and taking the ball in a ruck contest. They were fierce rivals and two of the best to have played the game. What the fans didn't know was that, on the ground, Clarke often resorted to racial vilification of Farmer, an Aborigine. Back then it was commonplace for indigenous players to be abused. It was part of the game.

A few years later Clarke met up with Farmer in a coffee shop in South Perth, where Polly and wife Marlene were running a motel, to ask Polly for forgiveness. Citing ignorance and white-line fever Clarke pleaded with ''the big Cat'' to absolve him.

Six hours later they had become close friends and remained so until Clarke's death.

Sitting in his dining room at his home in Perth's northern suburbs, Farmer, carefully prods and pokes at his memory for highlights of a decorated career that largely reinvented the game of football.

A little greyer and a touch quieter these days, he makes a point with his big hands outstretched, those same powerful mitts that changed the face of handball and ruckwork in the 1960s when he was at Geelong.

At 75, Farmer sits with Marlene at his side, and they listen to the news from the east. Foremost is Geelong's continued success, however the subject of who inherited the great man's No. 5 jumper is of particular interest.

They have watched Travis Varcoe from afar in his five years at Skilled Stadium. The obvious is not lost on Polly or Marlene. Varcoe is a gifted Aborigine who has brought his talents to Melbourne from interstate, just as Farmer did in 1962.

The subject of racial prejudice bubbles to the surface. Marlene looks away as Polly explains how cruel the football ground can be when you are black.

Marlene interjects and recalls when Polly would come home of a Saturday night hurt by the constant jibes about his race. ''He would never tell me or any other member of our family the foul abuse he had to contend with,'' she said.

''He would say what I'm called on the field is so disgusting no one in my family should be exposed to it. But Polly found a way around it. And I think indigenous footballers like Travis would all be so grateful he did.'' As a young player, Farmer shrugged off the abuse, saying: "If an opponent was resorting to those tactics I knew that I was getting under his skin. I let my actions do the talking."

Varcoe is from the working-class suburb of Elizabeth in Adelaide, the one-time heartbeat of motor car assembly plants in the country.

Varcoe grew up with all of the healthy dynamics of a strong family. It was in stark contrast to Farmer who was orphaned at the age of 20 months and remaining in a home until he was 14.

''I have read a great deal about Polly Farmer since I got his number," said Varcoe. "I read that we were both Aboriginal and what he had done for the game.''

Varcoe says that growing up in Adelaide there were times when he would be called names because of his colour. "But as I progressed more and more in football the taunts became less and less.

''I'm not saying [racism] has gone completely but it's going. And what Polly says is right. The best way to silence those people is by your actions out on the ground. As a young Aboriginal I have got to thank Polly for taking a stand and then to people like Michael Long for keeping up the stand.

''As young Aborigines we must be so proud that those blokes did what they did. Let's hope in 10 or 15 years all the prejudice is gone, whatever nationality you are.''

However, Farmer, a member of the Stolen Generation, said he was never really exposed to prejudice until he turned 15. "I was in an orphanage with 60 other Aborigines," he said. "So we didn't have any problems as we were all the same.''

Farmer was reared in Sister Kate's orphanage in Perth. Sister Kate was a Methodist nun whom her church had deemed ready for retirement after she reached 79.

Believing her pastoral calling had much more to give, the English nun created her own home for Aboriginal children, who she believed needed more help.

''Sister Kate made it clear to us all about life," Farmer recalled. "She taught us right from wrong and that's stood me in great stead during my life in good times and in bad times.'' Farmer said.

Still recognised as the greatest player produced in the West, Farmer's use of handball at stoppages revolutionised the game.

He says his tactic in leaping above opposing ruckmen, taking the ball in mid-air and handballing out to a teammate in the clear had been well thought out. "I couldn't see the point in tapping the ball to a rover standing flat-footed. I wanted to get it to a player who was already in the clear and on the move."

Hence the famous footage of him spearing a handpass to Bill Goggin, who was already streaming towards Geelong's goal.

Despite his quiet demeanour - he neither drank nor smoked - those who played with or against him said his mild manner off the field belied his toughness once he crossed the line.

It's said that Geelong coach Bob Davis once sent the runner out to tell Farmer to come off the ground (some believed it was a show of strength by the coach who wanted to send a message to his struggling team). "Woofa wants you to come off," the runner said. Farmer replied: "Tell him to find someone else."

Former St Kilda wingman George Young recalled this week just how brave Farmer was. ''I was playing for the West against Victoria in 1970. We were sitting on a bit of canvas and sucking on oranges at three-quarter-time looking up at Polly, who was captain-coach. He was so exhausted he couldn't give us a speech. His knee was stuffed, and he had blokes like [John] Nichols running into him all day. And still we only went down by a goal. No, there were none better than Pol.''


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