It was a night to remember commemorating one of the WAFL’s great grand finals between Claremont and East Fremantle.
Old foes were best friends as they re-lived the thrilling Grand Final with new vision commentated by Denis Cometti and admired the colourisation of 25 photos of that October day.
Claremont won the Grand Final by four points when the late Ian Brewer kicked two quick goals in the dying minutes.
The colourised photos by Frenchman Benoit Vienne have also been built into a magnificent montage by graphic artist Toby Wilkinson.
Claremont’s 64 Grand Final ruckman Allen Mycock was in awe of the work.
“I cannot believe what he (Benoit Vienne) has done, it is magnificent,” Mycock said.
The team's cult hero full-forward Wayne “Boomer” Harvey was quite overwhelmed by the colourisation work.
“It is just stunning, Benoit has done an extraordinary job,” Harvey said.
The Claremont team was represented by Wayne Harvey, Allen Mycock, Les Mumme, John Parkinson, Jeffrey Mann, Ian Fisher, Dale Edwards and Mort Kuhlman.
The event was attended by three East Fremantle players - Darryl Cormack, Ken Lally, and Laurie Watson - and they were each presented with a colourised picture of their 1965 premiership-wining team.
“It is fabulous to get together with the Claremont players. It was an amazing Grand Final and they were the better team on the day, they just kept coming at us,” Watson said.
Ken Lally felt that some of his teammates might have been overconfident as East Fremantle were red hot favourites to win, beating Claremont easily in the home and away games that year.
“Yes some were possibly a little too confident - but I wasn’t. You just couldn’t relax with Claremont.”
John “Buzz” Parkinson, who at 19 was the youngest on the ground, recalled he was given a good bump by an East Fremantle player after kicking the first goal of the game and told, “don’t do that again you little s..t”.
Luckily for Claremont, he ignored that fatherly advice and kicked another plus several assists including a critical one that resulted in the first of Brewer’s two matching winning gaols.
Parkinson would go on to win a Sandover Medal in 1967 in a tie with Swan Districts Billy Walker.
Centre-man Dale Edwards reflecting on the game said it was very different from today.
“Back then, the player going for the ball was always protected. You simply had to be in front,” Edwards said.
And Edwards was in front when he scooped up a spilt ball to spear a pass to Brewer for his match-winning goal in the last minute of the game.
The collection of 25 photos and the montage is available to view online and purchase at West Pix.
That collection will also include the colourised 1965 East Fremantle premiership team.
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