East Perth Football Club life member and volunteer
Barney Solomon has been with the Royals for 45 years and at the age of 86 still
gives his time to the club.
Mr Solomon was a cobbler by trade before he retired – a job which led him to the club.
“I had a little business in Bayswater and a mate said do you want a little side job? East Perth is looking for someone to knock on studs,” he said.
Taking the job in 1964, Mr Solomon would knock sprigs back onto boots as they fell off during games until screw-ins and moulded studs became popular. So in 1980 after 26 years of service to the club he hung up his boots – so to speak.
“I used to spend just about every night there … I’d watch the game with my box of tricks I used to knock the sprigs on with,” he said.
Mr Solomon stayed on with the club volunteering his time and was given a life membership in 1986 in recognition of his hard work.
He said his fondest memories of the club were from the 1972 and 1978 grand finals when East Perth had spent 11 out of 14 seasons finishing in the finals.
“I recall one incident during the 1978 grand final when it was raining cats and dogs where myself, Barry Leslie and President Bookie were sitting on the bench at Subiaco oval and we all leaned forward to see a goal and the bench ended up toppling over sending us into the mud,” he said.
“We had a lot of mud in those days, the footballers would come off the ground with handfuls of mud into the changerooms and throw it at us,” he said.
Club Chief Executive Officer Alex Wilson said volunteers like Mr Solomon were invaluable to the club.
“You couldn’t put a price on them,” he said. “Without them most football clubs would struggle to operate.”
Mr Solomon still helps out with sausage sizzles and cleaning up after games, and outside of the club he acts as a caddy for blind golfers.
