West Coast Cowan club legend Dale Rakich will play his 300th game for the club this weekend when the mighty Tigers host Swan Athletic at City Beach Oval

The revitalised 34-year-old is back where he belongs - in the league side - after helping with the development of the up and comers in the reserves side over recent seasons.

A multiple Premiership player, Rakich had the honour of the club's League Best & Fairest Award named after him.

Cowan club President Isaak Dury said Dale was a bloody hero, and an inspiration to many.

"The guy has the skills and fitness and so forth, but he's also a strong leader, a terrific role model and a great mate to all the lads here."

Rakich's old sparring partner at the bar Sam Birmingham, had this to say:

"He's the spiritual leader at the club - he told me I'd done the right thing when I got into that fight when I was a runner, even though the committee suspended me," Sammy B said.

The tributes have flowed in recent days:

"Every club needs a pretty boy who seagulls for kicks in the back half. Since we have Darcy to do that, Dale has been able to continue winning the hard ball and doing the 1%'s to make sure the seagulls stay pretty," one anonymous player ruminated.

West Coast Cowan is proud to be associated with other successful clubs both locally, interstate and abroad. The hope of these affiliations is mutual benefits with players, coaches and administrative staff seeing how other clubs and codes do things plus allowing players to travel interstate and abroad knowing they have a sister club they are welcome at.

West Coast Junior FC

The ties with the Junior West Coast Club get stronger every year with more and more players graduating from the junior club into the senior Tigers squad.

West Coast Junior FC are one of the biggest junior clubs in Western Australia and a strong breeding ground for future talent. Both West Coast clubs have similar aspirations and ideas about the development of their football clubs which is proving a successful formula for the future.

www.westcoastjfc.asn.au

Claremont FC

It was formed as the amateur Cottesloe Beach Football Club in 1906, and joined the peak amateur competition, the Western Australian Football Association the following year. The club dominated the WAFA from the outset, winning premierships from 1907-1910, and in 1908 it beat WAFL club Subiaco in a challenge match.

Applications by the club to join the WAFL were rejected for many years. In 1919, the Cottesloe Beach club merged with a consortium from Claremont which was also attempting to gain entry to the WAFL and had no contracted players, but claimed to have secured use of the Claremont Showgrounds, as a home ground. In 1921, the club was admitted to the WAFL "B" Grade competition, as Claremont-Cottesloe, using the same blue and gold colours as the local swimming club. It was finally admitted to the senior league in 1926.

West Coast Cowan continues to have a strong affiliation with the Claremont FC with many Colts playing for both sides in their development.

http://www.claremontfc.com.au/

Collegians FC

Collegians Football Club is the oldest club in Amateur football; indeed, it is older than the VAFA, of which it is a member. In 1891, L.A.Adamson established an Old Boys’ XVIII. In the following year, that club formally became Collegians Football Club.

L.A.Adamson, who was for thirty years the Headmaster of Wesley College, was the President of the Club for its first forty years. In 1892, Adamson established the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (of which he was President for thirty-seven years), which in 1932 became the Victorian Amateur Football Association. The ‘A’ Section Grand Final Cup is known as the ‘L.A.Adamson’ Cup. Adamson was driven by his religiously held conviction that games could generate loyalty and character. These noble principles were never more true than today.

The Club has been Premiers of the M.J.F.A. in 1892, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1902 and 1904; of the V.A.F.A. ‘A’ Section in 1936, 1937, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1986, 1992 and 1993; and of ‘B’ Section in 1926, 1956 and 2006, 18 Premierships all told. Collegians is the only founding Club of the M.J.F.A./V.A.F.A. still in existence. It is a unique club with an enviable long and proud history and tradition that one can read about in Laurie Humphries superb magnum opus, "The History of a Great Football Club".

From modest beginnings over 100 years ago, Collegians continues to fill a unique place in the history of Australian football. Collegians can look forward to the next 100 years with pride in the past and enthusiasm for the future. Throughout its history, it has welcomed into its ranks not only Old Wesley Collegians, but all who wish to play amateur football under the gold and purple flag. Humphries says that "It is certainly not unreal to expect that Collegians will flourish in its second hundred years, not simply as the winner of another fifteen or more premierships but as an import social organisation. For Collegians has a life-preserving tradition and a living ethos. Its most outstanding characteristics are those of "endurance" and "fellowship", with a strong devotion to the ideals of amateur games. Given the cycles that operate in all of life, including sport, there will be lean years, but the collective wisdom that has guided the Club through its eventful history should endure: Sapere Aude!"

www.collegiansfc.com

City of Perth Surf Club, City Beach

The City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club traces its origins to the early 1920s, a time when Perth was expanding and the beaches were becoming more accessible and popular.

Clubs had already been established at Cottesloe and North Cottesloe, and in December 1924 members of the City of Perth Amateur Swimming Club formed Western Australia's third Surf Life Saving Club at City Beach.

Early conditions for club members were a long way removed from what they are today - surf boats so heavy that the entire club was required to carry them to and from the water, and clubrooms consisting of little more than a shack in the dunes.

In 1938 more substantial accomodation was built, and 30 years later those clubrooms in turn were replaced by today's facility in time for the club to host the 1971 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships.

A commitment to excellence in patrolling City Beach has always been the cornerstone of the club, which has won Surf Life Saving Western Australia's Patrol Efficiency championship a record 23 times.

By the 1970s, the club was also emerging as a force in interclub competition, and set another record in the 80s by winning the State Championship pointscore 11 times in succession, as well as producing champions in national and world championships.

The members of the 1920s would barely recognise the City of Perth club of the 21st century. There are now over 700 members ranging from the very young to the very old, and facilities including a clubrooms with a magnificent view overlooking the beach, thousands of dollars worth of lifesaving and competition equipment, a well-equipped gymnasium, a bar and social facilities, and an army of people helping to run the place.

One thing they would recognise, however, is the club spirit and camaraderie, and the club still belongs to those original members as much as it does to the members of today.

West Coast Cowan's home of City Beach oval is walking distance from the surf club and as such has always had a cross pollination of players and supporters frequenting between both clubs.

www.citysurf.asn.au

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