Obviously a well-meaning amateur “happy-snap”, this photo is believed to be the Preston Soccer Club circa 1954-55s, the goal-keeper in the distinctive uniform possibly one George Peak or Peake.
Other than the club playing in the “B” Division of the Victorian Soccer Association and appearing in the Dockerty Cup (a knockout competition for clubs in all Divisions in similar fashion to the English F.A. Cup), nothing else is really known.
The uniform is obviously two colours, but excluding white – there is a possibility that it could be blue and yellow, the official colours at the time of the City of Preston.
The location of where the team played is equally uncertain – prior to the Second World War, a Preston Soccer Club played in Bell Park opposite the later P.A.N.C.H. site, sharing the ground with the Preston Ladies Cricket Club, but my recollections from the mid-1950s is that this reserve was set aside for women’s sport – I lived around 75 yards from the park and can remember ladies hockey, cricket and some athletics, but never hairy-legged footballers!
(A Preston Soccer Club in the mid-sixties played on a ground in Collier Street behind South Preston State School, but it is uncertain whether this had its origins in the pre-War team, or in that in the picture above.
Forr the record, some of Peak/Peakes compatriots noted in team lists published in The Argus included Grix, Williams, Heron, Sadler, Becker, Moat, Carnegie, Barnes, Dyer, Turner and Page.
Other than scores and perhaps a few lines on the Division One match of the day, Melbourne newspapers didn’t carry much news of soccer – the Preston Post may have had reports on the local club , but sadly there are no surviving copies from that era, the State Library instead maintaining the Northcote Leader.
For the record, in 1954, Preston’s rivals in Division 2 where South Yarra, South Melbourne, Yallourn, Maccabi, George Cross, Sunshine United, Sunshine City and Geelong; George Cross was largely Maltese-based and went on to Division One for many years; Maccabi, Jewish.
Division 1 comprised Juventus (Italian), Hakoah (Greek) , J.U.S.T. (Jugoslavian United Soccer Team), Polonia (Polish), Footscray City, Prahran, Moreland and Brighton.
Update : January, 2017 Predictably, the request for further information brought little response, but I did post the image on a “Preston In History” Facebook site and got the following response from a lady of Polish descent …
“My Husband is in that Photo, it was about 1954. I know he played for Polonia, but I think this was a Preston Team. The Coach was named Joe, I think Leopold, I am not sure, it was so long ago. another of the Players was Paul Nugent, he was an apprentice woodcarver working with Joe who was also a Wood Carver. Do you remember who sent you the Photo?. I am interested in the Preston History posts, quite a few of my Ancestors lived in Preston from about 1870`s onwards. Many of them worked at the Tanneries and also the Brickworks”
(Polonia were the Polish-based team of the time)
Rather than the usual OZSPORTSHISTORY article, this is as much as anything a plea for any further information! Feedback
The 1953 VASFA Yearbook has a Preston Technical School Old Boys club playing in the Second Division, at a ground at the rear of the school on St Georges Rd. Colours listed as Maroon and Gold Shirts, White Shorts, Maroon and Gold Stockings.
In 1954 Preston (listed in the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association year book as Preston T.S.O.B.) played at the rear of Preston Technical School in St. George’s Road. The Secretary was A. Clark and the team colours were Maroon with Gold Sleeves & gold socks, white shorts. That’s all I can assist you with.