Chapter 5 - Men's Softball

Chapter 5
MEN’S CLUB SOFTBALL

Selectors, scorers, umpires and coaches

Softball had its origins in America as a men’s sport. During World War II it was the preferred sport US servicemen and matches were arranged with local teams in countries where the US troops were based. Reports in the WA newspapers indicate that softball matches were played in conjunction with baseball matches between various US services and WA baseball teams. However, after the war Australian men quickly returned to cricket and baseball leaving softball to women and children but with men helping out as selectors, coaches, scorers and umpires. The first WA State coach was George Wenn who guided the women’s team during its first interstate tour to Adelaide in 1951. Males continued to select and coach the State team through until the appointment of Shirley Roberts in 1966. American Frank Silva was the first male official when he was appointed Official Umpire for 1948-49 season. His interest in a women’s sport was sufficient to warrant a short article and photograph in the Daily News in December 1948.[i]

Administrators

Men’s inroads into the administration of WA softball were slow but steady. During the 1950-51 season J Dore, J Porteous and Bill Wells were the first males elected to the Executive Committee. Gradually, men were allowed more senior/officials roles. Alf Bunting was the first male office bearer when he was elected Treasurer for the 1958-59 season. Max Kitchens was elected Vice President for the following season through until the 1963-64 season. A major break through came in 1964 when the Constitution was changed to allow Colin Smith to become President. Dick Watters followed him from 1968-69 for three seasons. Watters was one of the surf lifesavers who traveled on the same train across the Nullabor as the 1951 State softball team. Tom Touchell was president for just one season, 1975-76. John Claxton presided over WA softball for two seasons after which Reg Page took the helm in 1979. He is the longest serving President with two decades in the position. Phil Matthewson and Kevin Fuller each served until Reg Page returned in 2007. Shirley Schneider is the only woman to have been President since the mid-1960s. She served from 1971-72 until 1976-77 apart from the season Tom Touchell was in charge. Nox Bailey has had stints as Treasurer and Secretary.

This state of affairs seems to have several origins. First and foremost, the WAWSA followed the lead of the AWSC and its constitution which specifically forbade men from either the presidency or the national coach. Most States including WA preferred male coaches. Among the early male supporters were members of the American Club such as Carl Renshaw and Frank Silva. Men became involved in WA when they were recruited by the women because of their baseball acumen. George Wenn, Bill Wells, Ron Featherby and Max Kitchens are prime examples of this. Alf Bunting was an outstanding baseball player. During the 1950s baseball was played in winter and softball in summer so it was easy for the men to embrace both sports. Some women such as Rona Trotter reciprocated by scoring for baseball. When baseball became a summer sport in the 1960s, the input from baseball men declined. They were replaced by males who supported their female family members. Dick Watters became intensely involved in softball when he married Glenyse. Reg Page began his softball career as a spectator watching his girlfriend then wife, Lorraine, play with Hell’s Angels. With the arrival of their children his role expanded to include babysitter for the Page, Schneider, Menner, Roki and numerous other families. Simple steps saw these men progress rapidly from watching to coaching to club and association committees. More recently, the men have ‘been roped in’ to coach their daughters and found themselves taking on more and more tasks. Phil Matthewson and Daryl Mouchemore have followed this path.

Men as players

The idea of WA men playing softball on a regular basis had its origins during the early 1960s. Jim Duncan described himself as the Amateur Softball Organiser and vigorously promoted softball:

In Softball, democracy shines its clearest. Here the only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the Rule Book. Colour is something to distinguish one Team’s uniform from another … We should emphasise its intangible values, its spirit, a builder of good men and women, and as a teacher of the “FAIR GO”!

Duncan’s business card specifically stated that he was President of the Scarborough Softball Organisation.[ii] Duncan worked at Westfarmers where he shared his passion for softball with co-worker, Nox Bailey. Many chats about softball resulted in Bailey starting a competition for both boys and girls in the Bayswater area while Duncan continued to develop teams at Scarborough. Teams from the two districts played against each other but the relationship deteriorated when Bailey entered his girls’ teams in the WAWSA competition as Gee Bees. Duncan, however, set up a men’s competition which played at Butler Reserve in Scarborough in the mid-1960s. Duncan’s ambitions for the men’s game to become of equal status to the women’s did not eventuate.[iii]

The next move came a decade later and was very social according to Bob McKibbin:

There was a group of us sitting at the Dianella Hotel [after] the final Saturday of Yokine and we’d all got too old to go back to footy or whatever we played … “What are we going to do?” One of the blokes said, “That’s a joke, why don’t we have a game of softball?” Believe it or not, that’s basically how men’s softball started. Blokes like Nox Bailey and Dave Cosson took it on. The first year there were 8 teams, the next year there were 24.[iv]

A social knockout competition was held on 21 March 1976. The excitement it generated lead to a motion at a meeting on 29 March 1976:

Approval was granted for the formation of a Men’s Competition. Moved L Malcolm, seconded J Marsland – to operate under the authority of the WASA. Mr T Touchell and Mr N Bailey were given permission to call a General Meeting and take whatever steps are necessary to get the Competition under way.

Events moved quickly.

… a General Meeting [was held] on 12 April 1976 to discuss the possibility of forming a Mens [sic] Softball Competition. This was decided upon, nominations called for & fixtures were drawn up on the 29^th April 1976. The first games were played on the 9^th May 1976 at YOKINE RESERVE and after four games the venue was changed to the R.A. COOKE RESERVE with ten (10) teams participating. [On 7 June 1976] a … meeting was called for the purpose or otherwise of forming an official Body to control MENS [sic] SOFTBALL in the State of WESTERN AUSTRALIA. It was decided after some discussion to officially form this body to be called THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MENS SOFTBALL LEAGUE INC. [WAMSL] (Emphasis in original)

The first office bearers were Geoff Cameron (President), Reg Page (Vice President), Nox Bailey (Secretary/Treasurer) and Richard Campbell (Registrar). A Board of Management was formed consisting of the office bearers and one person from each club. Initially the League operated under the Rules, Constitution and By Laws of the WA Softball Association with the intention of having own constitution.[v] The WA men aimed to be independent of the WA women. Over the next decade, this became the focus of the office bearers especially Nox Bailey and Richard Campbell who engaged in extensive correspondence seeking information from interstate and overseas.

The rapid establishment of men’s softball generated ambitions that saw the men immediately looking beyond club softball to interstate competitions, national championships and an Australian team in the Men’s World Championships. (See Chapter 12)

Men’s club softball

The foundation clubs of the WAMSL in 1976 were Nollamara (2 teams), Bayswater Morley (2 teams), Bedford, Demons, Eastern Hills, Hellenics, Avengers and Indians.

Although some of the clubs bore the same names as those in the women’s competition most operated independently, for example, Bedford Men’s Softball was independent of Bedford Districts Youth Club which fielded women’s teams, likewise Melville Men’s was distinct from Melville Saints. Nox Bailey noted in a letter to John Reid (NSW) in 1982 that:

Unfortunately, the integration of men and women at club level is not as strong as it was. There are still one or two minor clubs together, but the only major one totally integrated is the one I belong to and it’s working remarkably well and will continue to do so. To be honest I think that integration is on the way out rather than in, but certainly not in my club.[vi]

Nox (Norris) BAILEY

Life Member: 1979 WAWASA

1987 WA Men’s Softball League

Club

Women: Gee Bees

Men: Bayswater Morley

State Team

Manager Senior Men: 1984

WASA

Committee: 1972-74, 1977-8

Secretary: 1974-77

Canteen Committee: 1981-85

Treasurer: 1986-91

WAMSL

Secretary/Treasurer: 1976

Secretary: 1983-84

Treasurer: 1977-1987

Publicity Officer: 1976-1983

ASF

Convenor Men’s National Championships: 1986

Awards/Honours

Nox Bailey Shield for the Under 19 Men’s National Championship: 1987

Nox Bailey Medal for MVP in Men’s SSL: 1992

Australian Sports Medal: 2000

Nox Bailey is the only Western Australian to have a national trophy named in his honour: the Nox Bailey Shield for the winners of the Under 19 Men’s National  Championship. This honour was bestowed upon Bailey in 1988 and the shield was first presented at the second Under 19 men’s tournament held in Perth in January 1989. In accepting the trophy donated by the WASA, the ASF decided to acknowledge the outstanding contribution Nox had made to the establishment of men’s softball in Australia. Unfortunately, WA did not win the trophy, NSW was the first State to have its name engraved on it. Nox was introduced to softball at Wesfarmers where he worked in the 1960s with Jim Duncan. In the 1950s Duncan had introduced Little League Baseball to Perth on charter from America. Duncan was also passionate about softball, especially for boys and men and believed that success would come from a well-developed community based sports system and established teams in the Scarborough area. With Duncan’s encouragement Nox started a softball competition for boys and girls in the Bayswater area. Over time the teams from each area played a number of matches. When Nox’s girls defeated Duncan’s, Nox realized it was time for the girls to gain more competition and joined the WAWSA leading to a falling out with Duncan. In 1964 Nox founded Gee Bees. Some of the original members of the club were members of the Girls’ Brigade, an Anglican Church youth group, and they used the initials of the Girls’ Brigade – GB – for their softball club. By the 1970-71 season Gee Bees had risen to A grade. For the 1976-77 season they were renamed the Morley Gee Bees. As well as coaching, Nox umpired for both metropolitan and country associations. As was required by the WAWSA Constitution, Nox attended meetings as the delegate for Gee Bees. In September 1972 he was elected to Executive to replace Brian Properjohn who had resigned. In 1974 Nox became Secretary, the first male to hold such a position. He held the position for three seasons with Shirley Schneider and Tom Touchell as presidents. During Nox’s time as Secretary, he attended to the paperwork involved with softball becoming an incorporated body under its new title of WA Softball Association. The word “Women” was deleted from the title to bring WA into line with national changes which had seen the AWSF become the ASF and, in the long term, eased the amalgamation of the women’s and men’s organizations.

Nox was usually involved in some capacity with the annual State Championships and as WASA Secretary he attended meetings with the country affiliates. He helped foster country affiliates such as Williams by attending meetings to help them set up in September 1975 and then followed up with a coaching clinic in October. He also umpired grand finals out of the metropolitan region, for example, in Mandurah in 1977. In the 1977 Annual Report President Shirley Schneider noted ‘Since the inception of the State Championships four years ago the interest shown and the growth of Softball in the country centres is phenominal (sic), and this is largely because of the interest shown by our Secretary, Nox Bailey’. His endeavours were recognized by the presentation of the Nox Bailey trophy to the Grade 3 winners.  In 1981 Nox became Chairman of the Canteen Committee and was instrumental in the construction and fit out of the canteen at Yokine Reserve. He managed the canteen on Saturday afternoons. In the 1981-82 season the canteen profit was $4,000. Funds raised from the canteen provided the WASA with a sound financial base. When Peggy Becket retired after 21 years as Treasurer of the WASA Nox took over in 1986 and continued through until the AGM in 1991. Such was his standing in the WASA that he was given authority to invest considerable sums of money on behalf of the association on his own initiatives. It is a tribute to Nox and Peggy that the WASA had sufficient funds to undertake the massive commitment required for the construction of the State Softball Centre at Mirrabooka.

At the end of the 1975-76 season for women’s softball some of the male coaches and supporters were looking for a way to continue their softball throughout the year. Nox was instrumental in organizing a social knockout competition in March 1976. Eight teams participated and the event was so successful that a regular round robin competition was inaugurated in late April. The first games played on May 9 at Yokine Reserve. However, Yokine Reserve was the domain of hockey players in winter and the ground was not suitable for softball. Nox searched for a suitable venue and through his efforts the City of Bayswater allocated space at the R A Cooke Reserve in June. The WA Men’s Softball League was a reality with 10 teams. Nox was elected Secretary/Treasurer. He held the latter position through until 1987 when it became defunct following a merger with the WASA. He was also Secretary of the men’s association in 1983 and 1984 and Publicity Officer from 1976 to 1983 excluding 1978.[vii] With the merger of the men’s league with the WASA, the men’s competition was designated as the Winter Competition. In 1981 Edna Nash from the NSW association was in Perth for the Under 16 Girls’ national championship and met Nox. They began discussions that would lead him to liaise with John Reid, the organizer of men’s softball in NSW. When Nox was in Sydney for a holiday he made a social call on Reid at his office. Reid contacted Nash who was also a close friend of the ASF President, Esther Deason. Together with Reid, Nash and Pat Rawlings (NSW) Nox helped bring about the first Men’s Open National Championship in February 1984 in Sydney. Reid was honoured with the naming of the trophy after him.[viii] In 1986 WA hosted its first men’s national championship and Nox was the convenor.  John Reid recognized Nox’s contribution in 1995 when he wrote:

No-one can stress too much the tremendous contributions of Nox Bailey in WA, in difficult circumstances against an entrenched anti-men group. From afar, all I could do was to counsel Nox “to hang in there as right will out”. That Nox did stick it out and achieve all he has is remarkable.[ix

Bailey’s club was Bayswater Morley.

From the outset there were small but significant differences between the men’s and women’s approach to organizing competitive softball. The most obvious was the choice of League rather than Association, the distinction being considered necessary to avoid confusion between the two. As the League grew, the teams were organized into divisions comparable to the grades in the women’s competition. Three levels of success were recognized: ‘… the team finishing on top of the Premiership Table would be recognized as Champions, the team winning the final four play off would be called League Premiers. A round robin play off would also take place for the final 6 teams to be called the League Plate’.[x]  A major departure from the women’s centralized approach was that each men’s club had its own home ground in the suburbs. This was because most sports grounds were occupied on Saturdays by various football codes and hockey used Yokine Reserve so the WAMSL played on Sundays. Initially the men played at reserves in the Bayswater Morley area thanks to the lobbying of Nox Bailey. By 1984 the fixture book listed 23 diamonds spread across 13 different reserves and parks with 12 diamonds in Morley, Bedford, Marangaroo, Bayswater and Nollamara while the others were in Girrawheen, Kingsley, Maida Vale, Belmont, East Perth, Attadale and Hilton. Apart from the latter four areas, softball remained concentrated north of the Swan River and towards the northeast suburbs. In 1982 Dale Districts Men’s Softball Association created a viable competition south of the river with its main diamond in Thornlie.

The growth of the men’s competition was quite rapid. In part WA’s success was attributed to the presence of New Zealand softball players especially the pitcher, Lindsay Anderson who played with Hellenics. Bob McKibbin’s description was colourful:

… bloody New Zealanders. I knew there was a lot of them here but I didn’t know they played softball … they all wanted something to do between rugby seasons. It was just an explosion. Blokes like Rodney Byrne … sitting having a beer and skiting because they’d actually fouled Lindsay Anderson off. They had a hit because they actually got the bat on the ball and these are guys that have played top level Australian baseball. This guy was making them look silly …[xi]

This was reiterated by Graeme Rector:

… we were fortunate in getting a few Kiwis that came over and [I’d] say Lindsay Anderson probably had one of the biggest impacts on the men’s league because he had played in the New Zealand national team … all of a sudden we had this guy come over here that threw the ball so quick that no one could even hit it. You had 18 or 19 strike outs in a game … if you hit a foul tip it was like WOW we touched the ball and he just drew people into the game because of the challenge. There was an almighty challenge presented. … so people began looking: where can we get one of these pitchers from? It encouraged other people to learn to pitch.[xii]

Anderson’s domination of the sport is borne out by his winning of the Division 1 Best and Fairest Award six times between 1979 and 1985 (Mario Delpero won it in 1980) and Hellenics’ eight premiership between 1978 and 1987.

An analysis of the available fixture books for the WAMSL (renamed the Winter Competition in 1988) shows steady growth from 10 teams in 1976 to 54 by 1984 to reach a peak of 97 teams in the 1999 season.[xiii] Since then there has been a decline to just 51 teams in 2009 which is less than in the early 1980s. However, the Winter Competition is only one of several men’s competitions in Perth. Dale Districts Men’s Softball Association can boast almost equally strong support. These figures include senior, junior and sub-junior teams with senior numbers far exceeding the other two. A junior division was in place by 1980 and drew seven teams with growth reaching a peak in 1996 with 15 teams. Sub-juniors began in the late 1980s and peaked with 17 teams in 1997 and 1998. Since 2007 there has been no junior division and the sub-juniors have catered for less than 10 teams. Sub-juniors is a mixed competition for boys and girls under 13 (in both Winter and Summer Competitions) while juniors is for boys from 13 to 16. The number of teams is, of course, dependent on the number of clubs. From 1980 to 2004 there were 20 plus clubs with a peak of 29 in 2003.

The size of the clubs has varied considerably with some clubs only fielding one team but others like Fremantle Rebels and Morley Eagles having eight or nine. With such fluctuations the Winter Competition has had to grapple with the best way to set up the divisions to ensure fair and worthwhile matches. Having the same number of teams in each division has been problematic apart from 1984 when there were nine teams in each division. Division 1 has been the most challenging. In the early 1980s Division 1 and Division 1 Reserve had the same number of teams from identical clubs. Since 1998 when only three teams were considered to be of the required standard. This resulted in Divisions 1 and 2 being rostered together for the qualifying round robin matches and then separated for the finals. The angst caused by this was seen in Dave Searle’s comments in the WASA 2002-03 Annual Report:

Unfortunately we have moved into an unsettling area where legal action has been threatened over the grading process. As usual, any form of a Division 1 has caused many hours of discussion and ongoing problems. This has not been through any fault of players but rather the players who are not in the competition. Many of the Winter Competition clubs actively seek to reach this division but are unable to recruit players to this grade. It has been a number of years since our competition had a true Division 1 competition. Year after year we have struggled through a season with 3 or 4 teams. This is no longer a feasible option. However, any solution needs to be measured against the effect it may have on the grades below. There is much thought going into a solution and any possibility will be considered.

Slow pitch

In addition to club softball the men experimented with different versions of softball especially slow pitch which is numerically stronger in America than fast pitch. The WAMSL claimed ‘the first Slow Pitch game ever played in Australia took place under lights at Houghton [sic] Park in Morley on the 20^th November 1978’.[xiv] Until 1982 the fixtures of WAMSL devoted a page to slow pitch with a very brief description of its major features noting ‘… restrictions are placed on the pitcher in that the ball must be pitched in an arc and rise above the batters [sic] head at some time during its trajectory. Ten players form a team in slow pitch instead of nine as in ordinary softball and players are not permitted to steal bases’. Five teams contested the 1978 season: Apache, Bedford, Demons, Hellenics and Morley. Slow pitch was played at night under lights from October to February. In 1980 a mixed division was added with each team consisting of five men and five women. Seven teams participated in an 11-week competition 1980 at McGilvray Reserve in Morley:

The sport was formed with the family in mind. Mum, Dad and Children aged over ten can play in the same team. It is ideal for people who want to get a little physical exercise and enjoy themselves at the same time. The spirit of the game also demands that the relationship among opposing players, coaches and umpires be friendly and relaxed.^[xv]

Interested persons were invited to contact Karl Rosenow who was associated with the Bedford club.

Super League

Another initiative of the men was the establishment of a Super League in 1989 with five teams: Bayswater Morley, Bedford, Morley Wind- mills, Perth Outlaws and West Stirling. The latter team merged with Hellenics to gain Super League status. The competition was held over summer as a means of providing matches for players preparing for State teams. The Under 19 Men’s team participated in 1990 and 1991. The Super League demanded a lot of time from the players and officials with matches played on Saturdays and Sundays with each team also hosting a mid-season tournament. At the end of the qualifying rounds the second and third teams played a best of three matches to earn the right to challenge the top qualifier to a best of three final.

Junior softball and equal opportunity

In its compliance with the National Junior Sport Policy, the WASA provided competitions for single sex teams for youngsters 13 years old and above thus precluding mixed teams after sub-juniors. In February 1995 it was clearly noted in the Minutes of the Winter Competition that ‘Under 16 Women players are not allowed to play under any circumstances in 1995 Winter Competition. Female players are permitted to play in Under 13 Sub-Junior competition’. The gender composition of junior division was challenged in 1998. The WASA was taken to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal by Lisa Jernakoff (through her parents). In 1997 Jernakoff was the only girl playing in a sub-junior team in the Winter Competition but when it was realized that three boys in the team were too old for sub-juniors, Northern Districts Men’s Softball Club decided to keep the team intact and enter it in the junior (Under 16) division. After two matches in 1997 Jernakoff was banned from the junior division and she also sat out the 1998 season. Northern Districts had been represented at the meeting in February 1995 and knew the ruling. The Equal Opportunity Tribunal found that while Jernakoff had been discriminated against on the basis of her gender, the WASA had acted appropriately because after the age of 12 speed, strength and stamina were issues which favoured males. The WASA was  supported by Dr Tim Ackland from the Department of Human Movement at the University of Western Australia. He was an expert in human growth and development and its relevance to physical activity.[xvi] Jernakoff played in the Summer Competition in both seasons. In a Press Release the WASA’s legal advisers, Gibson & Gibson, noted the ‘irony that a sport which opened its doors to male participants should be accused of discrimination’. While the legal action taxed the WASA’s budget, there was relief throughout the WA sports community with the WA Sports Federation noting ‘in what was probably seen as a test case, it was a common sense decision and a good result for sport’. The WA Lacrosse Association saw fit to publish the whole press release in its bimonthly magazine.

A new status quo

There was not, however, a complete gender division of WA softball. Many men took the opportunity to play in the Winter Competition while continuing their traditional roles in the Summer Competition. For many seasons the Summer Competition relied on Laurie Prior and Don Brooks as Convenor and Deputy Convenor. Reg Page continued to coach Demons’ women, Laurie Prior coached a variety of women’s teams, Graeme Rector coached Bedford Youth Club A Reserve team. Fewer women took leading roles in men’s softball although secretarial duties in clubs often fell to women. Overall men’s and women’s clubs and teams bore identical names but they tended to operate as distinct entities. The introduction of men’s softball into Western Australia in the mid-1970s added another dimension to softball but the men were not pioneers like the women in the 1940s and 1950s. This does not diminish the fact that the men faced considerable challenges. First and foremost, in the 1970’s softball was a traditional women’s sport. Some women did not consider softball a suitable sport from men and there were men who held similar views. The men were also going against the tide as the women of the ‘seventies embraced the second wave of feminism and were intent on making inroads into men’s sport, not vice versa. There was increasing awareness of how women’s sports at the elite – national and international - level were subject to men’s control as coaches and officials. In this context to have a major trend in the opposite direction, that is, men wanting to play a women’s sport, was both novel and suspicious. It is understandable that there was tension between the WASA and the WAMSL with the latter attempting to forge its identity and be in control of its participants. The stage had not been reached whereby the sport could rise above such issues. That men’s softball succeeded is a credit to those like Nox Bailey, Richard Campbell and Graeme Rector who understood the broader agenda. In a letter to the NSWSA in 1981 Campbell wrote:

Although on the administrative side of softball we are not affiliated, most of the clubs and players are associated with both men [sic] and womens [sic] softball. Also because of the [men’s] competition running during winter their [sic] is no conflict and everyone can enjoy softball for 12 months of the year.[xvii]

This vision was not readily shared by the softball community and in his submission in 1987 to the ASF’s long-range plan Softball Towards 2000, John Reid noted that there was still ‘existence of pockets of anti-men prejudice. Male participation is seen only in terms of mature players who appear as a threat to petty power bases. Grudging acknowledgement of existence is only in terms of how this may advance girls [sic] softball … not softball as a whole’. A decade later, Reid noted that these comments were aimed ‘solely and directly at the WA situation. It was all I could say on record, but I followed through with intensive lobbying of ASF officers and prayed that it could help Nox’.[xviii] State League Softball showed much promise when it commenced in 1992 with clubs required to field both a women’s and a men’s team but this floundered in less than a decade. (See Chapter 6) There has only been limited sharing of expertise with Reg Page one of the few coaches of male State teams willing to play practice matches against the Senior women’s team. However, the single most influential factor maintaining the dominance of women’s softball was well beyond the control of the WASA. As Australian softball men were working to gain national credibility, the ISF was reaching the culmination of 50 years of hard lobbying to have women’s softball accepted as an Olympic sport. At almost the same time as softball became part of the programme of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Sydney won its bid to host the 2000 Summer Games. Funding of softball by the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Olympic Committee determined that the ASF would focus on the women’s game.