Phil Matson

Phillip Henry Matson (22 October 1884 – 13 June 1928) was a record-breaking swimmer, and both a highly successful player and coach of Australian rules football in the early 20th century, chiefly in Western Australia.

Phil Matson
Sepia colours posed photograph of young man standing with hands on hips, wearing a dark sleeveless jumper, long white shorts and black boots
Phil Matson circa 1923
Personal information
Full name Phillip Henry Matson
Date of birth (1884-10-22)22 October 1884
Place of birth Port Adelaide, South Australia
Date of death 13 June 1928(1928-06-13) (aged 43)
Place of death Perth, Western Australia
Height 179 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Utility
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1904 West Perth 1 (0)
1904–05 South Bunbury
1906–08 Boulder City
1909–10 Sturt 24 (13)
1911 North Fremantle 13
1912–17 Subiaco 79 (70)
1918–23 East Perth 35 (35)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
1908, 1911, 1914 Western Australia 10
1909–10 South Australia 4
Total 14
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1913–14 Subiaco
1918–24, 1926–28 East Perth
1923, 1926–27 Western Australia
1925 Castlemaine
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1923.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 1914.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1928.
Career highlights

Player

  • 1x South Bunbury premiership player (1904)
  • 2x Boulder City premiership player (1907, 1908)
  • 3x Subiaco premiership player (1912, 1913, 1915)
  • 5x East Perth premiership player (1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923)

Coach

  • 1x Subiaco premiership coach (1913)
  • 7x East Perth premiership coach (1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927)
  • 1x Castlemaine Grand Final losing coach (1925)

Honours

Source: AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of George Thomas Matson (1842-1915),[1][2][3] and his wife Emma (1854-1928),[4] née Duffield, Phillip Henry Matson, was born at Port Adelaide on 22 October 1884.

Matson was educated at state school in Adelaide before moving to Western Australia as a youth.

Lifestyle

Away from football, Matson's working was varied and somewhat inconsistent. He had stints as a miner, a tramway motorman, a farmer, a navvy on the trans-Australian railway, a lumper, a storeman and a 'Spot-Lager' retailer.

Early in his career, he was a teetotaller but eventually became a "social" drinker and was well known for his gambling habit. His unconventional approach to life caused problems within his family, who were sometimes compelled to live in a tent.

Matson offered to enlist during World War I; however, when rejected he opted to live as a licensed Swan River fisherman and involve himself more heavily in gambling. He operated two-up schools at Subiaco and Pelican Point, SP books in some city hotels, and later an illegal gaming house in Perth. For a number of years, he held a trotting bookmaker's licence.

Swimming

He worked as a navvies' water-boy in Western Australia, and began swimming competitively in 1902 and playing Australian football.

He had been encouraged to take up football by his swimming trainer, William Howson (who had, himself, established a world-record in 1904, swimming underwater for 110 yards), to "harden himself" for his swimming.[5]

During his swimming career, he held Western Australian freestyle titles from 100 yards (91 m) to a mile (1.6 km) using the now-obsolete trudgen stroke,[6][7] and won the 220-yard breaststroke at the Australasian championships in three consecutive years (1905, 1906, and 1907).

On 19 February 1908, swimming at the Australian championships, conducted by the West Australian Amateur Swimming Association at Claremont, Western Australia, Matson set a world record time for the 220-yard breaststroke: three minutes and fourteen seconds, winning by a length (having touched equal first at the last turn).[8]

Seven days later, on 26 February 1908, swimming at a swimming carnival in Kalgoorie, Matson broke his own world record by another three and two-fifths seconds, when he swam the distance in three minutes and ten and three-fifths of a second.[9][10] However, because a surveyor's certificate could not be produced that precisely verified the dimensions of the pool (i.e., the exact length of the swim) the governing body, the New South Wales Amateur Swimming Association, refused to ratify the new record.[11]

Because his playing professional football at the same time precluded him from being considered for the Olympic Games, he turned professional for a £20 stake in 1909.

Football
"[Matson] himself was a wonderful footballer. His name has been bracketed with that of the late Albert Thurgood as the best player of all time. Grim, relentless, shrewd, strong as a lion, courageous and trier from start to finish, Matson was a great figure on the field." — The Sporting Globe, 20 July 1928.[12]
"All up, Matson played and/or coached nine clubs and was involved in 13 premiership (five as a player, four as player/coach and four as coach) and four runner-up teams in 25 completed seasons." — Peter Carter.[13]

A fast, vigorous and versatile utility with an ability to take the big mark (despite being only 179 cm), he played at half-back and half-forward and took turns in the ruck.[14] He played for both South Australia (1909–10) and Western Australia (1908, 1911, 1914) and captained the South Australian team at the 1914 interstate carnival.[15]

MR. MOFFAT'S TRIBUTE

                                        Yeoman Services to Game
     "I exceedingly regret to learn of Phil Matson's death", said Mr. A.A. Moffatt,
president of the W.A. Football League and of the Australian Football Council,
this morning. "League football has been deprived of one whose loss will be
difficult to replace. Western Australia has had many fine exponents of Australian
football. With the exception of the late A.J. Thurgood, I cannot recall to mind
another player whom I would place in front of the late Phil Matson as the finest
footballer who has thrilled the public of our State. No position on the field would
find him misplaced. At all times the ball was his objective, not the man. His
judgment was uncanny, and once he placed his hand on the ball it was gripped
as if in a vice. His aerial flights were spectacular and thrilling, and being
possessed of exceptional football brains, the results of his play were often
confounding to opposing teams.
     "Apart from his qualities on the field, he was an outstanding judge of
players, and as a tactician was not surpassed. Over a period of very many
years Phil Matson had rendered yeoman service as a player to the clubs with
which he had been associated on the goldfields and in the metropolitan area.
To his adopted State of Western Australia he gave of his best, and as a
representative in the carnival games, in which he participated, was always one
of the outstanding players. The Sturt Club and the South Australian public had
many appreciative opinions of his exceptional ability as a player during the time
he played in that State.
                                       GREATEST COACH OF ALL.
     "On his retirement from the playing fields he became celebrated as a coach,
not only to his club, but to State and carnival teams. In this he was equally as
successful as he had been as a player, and in my opinion was the greatest
coach the Australian game has known, not excepting even the famed Colling-
wood mentor, Jim M'Hale. Players and others associated with the game will
fully realise the great loss his death means and the difficult gap thereby created.
With the players Phil Matson seemed to be a super-coach, having a personality
which enabled him to extract from those he was handling the best that was
within them. His pre-match and half-time addresses were of such a nature that
players and others privileged to hear them became inspired with the sound
advice he tendered. Words were never wasted, and he always, succeeded in
striking the target at the right spot.
     "The record of successes achieved by him will be a lasting memorial to
his greatness, and, in conjunction with many, others, I deeply deplore the
untimely severance of his connection with the national game in which he
was such an outstanding personality."
     The Daily News, 14 June 1928.[16]

Professional

Matson supported himself playing football during an era when the game was supposedly an amateur sport. He moved clubs frequently, playing outside the main leagues if the price was right. Over 20 seasons he played for:

Coaching career

East Perth

Aged 33, Matson found his calling when he was appointed as coach of East Perth Football Club in 1918. Matson worked on the players' confidence and garnered their respect with a methodical approach to his coaching. He was lauded for his ability to outwit opponents and exploit weaknesses. Matson's dominant personality helped recruit some excellent players and a dynasty was rapidly built. In nine seasons between 1919 and 1927, East Perth won seven premierships and dominated Western Australian football. In total, he played in twelve premiership teams and, in the last ten years of his career, coached teams into nine finals.

WAFL

He was an essential part of the state team,[32] as a selector for the successful 1921 Western Australian interstate carnival team, and as the coach of the 1924,[33] and the 1927 teams[34] that lost narrowly to Victoria. Controversially, he openly criticised Victorian officials in 1924 for encouraging violence against his team. This outburst came back to haunt him.

Castlemaine (BFL)

In 1925, Matson accepted an offer to coach the Castlemaine Football Club, in the Victorian goldfields, in the club's first year in the Bendigo Football League competition. He was cleared as both player (he played in 2 or 3 games) and as coach to Castlemaine in April 1925.[35]

With Matson's coaching, Castlemaine made the 1925 Grand Final, but lost to South Bendigo by 14 Points: 7.12 (54) to 6.4 (40).[36][37][38][39]

Richmond (VFL)

Impressed with his effort in lifting the team into the Grand Final, Richmond officials approached Matson with an offer to succeed Dan Minogue as the Tigers' coach for 1926.[40] Matson accepted and relocated to Melbourne.

However, the Victorian Football League (VFL) refused Matson a permit to take up the job, which incensed both the club and prospective coach.[41] It was variously suggested that the VFL officials had not forgotten Matson's outburst two years earlier, or that they disapproved of his "unconventional" lifestyle.[42]

Western Australia

Matson returned to Perth in time for the football season, and was re-appointed to coach East Perth.[43] He took them to successive premierships. Matson had revenge on the VFL officials by inspiring Western Australia to two "spiteful, vicious, brutal" victories over Victoria in 1926.

Death

He died on 13 June 1928,[44] from a fractured skull — an injury he sustained on 11 June 1928 (as the only passenger) in an accident on Hampden Road in Nedlands, when a truck driven by his former team-mate Horrie Bant, careered off the road, crashed through the bush, and collided with a post carrying overhead tram wires. Both men were thrown from the vehicle. Although injured, Bant survived the crash, and died in 1957. Matson struck the post with his head.[45][46][47][48]

Survived by his former wife, their two sons (Glenn and Cliff), and his de facto wife Catherine Thompson, née Owens,[49][50] he was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery on 15 June 1928.[51][52][53][54]

Legacy

He played an important role in the process of making Australian football professional by openly negotiating fees that made him the highest paid Western Australian player and coach of the time.

Matson's paver on St Georges Terrace, Perth

Subiaco Football Club

He was selected at centre half-forward in Subiaco's "Team of the Century".

East Perth Football Club

He was selected as coach of East Perth's (1906-1944) "Team of the Century".

Western Australia Sesquicentennial

In 1979 he was honoured with the bronze tablet for 1926, set into the footpath along St Georges Terrace, Perth as part of the WAY '79 sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebrations of the colonisation of Western Australia by Europeans.

Western Australian Hall of Champions

In 1986, Matson was inducted into the Western Australian Institute of Sport's "Western Australian Hall of Champions".[55]

West Australian Football Hall of Fame

In 2004 he was an inaugural inductee into the WAFL Hall of Fame.

Australian Football Hall of Fame

Inducted into the coaching division of the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004, Matson's citation reads:

Phil Matson, who is revered in Western Australia as one of that state's greatest ever coaches in much the same way Collingwood's Jock McHale is revered in Victoria.

See also

Footnotes
  1. Personal Items, The Kalgoorlie Miner, (Saturday, 23 January 1915), p.4.
  2. Obituary: Mr. George Matson, The Southern Argus and Wagin-Arthur Express, (Saturday, 30 January 1915), p.5.
  3. Peeps at People, The (Perth) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 31 January 1915), p.20.
  4. Death: Matson, The (Perth) Daily News, (Saturday, 4 August 1928), p.1.
  5. Matson's Early Helper Dies, The West Australian, (Wednesday, 21 April 1954), p.19.
  6. Chats with Stars: Phil Matson of Sooby: First Swimmer, Then Footballer, The Westralian Worker, (Friday, 28 May 1915), p.7.
  7. 'Onlooker', "Football: Matson's Early Days: Chance Entry into Football", The West Australian, (Wednesday, 20 June 1928), p.4.
  8. Matson broke the previous world record for the distance by three and two-fifths of a second; the second place-getter, Trevor Richardson, also broke the previous world record for the distance (by two and two fifths of a second): Swimming, The West Australian, (Thursday, 20 February 1908), p.5.
  9. Note that, because the timing was made in units of fifths of a second, Matson's time can not be represented as 3min 10.6secs.
  10. 'Crawl', "Swimming Notes", The (Fremantle) Evening Mail, (Friday, 28 February 1908), p.4.
  11. 'Diver', "Swimming", The West Australian, (Saturday, 21 March 1908), p.14.
  12. Phil Mason's Death, The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 20 July 1928), p.9.
  13. Carter, Peter (2019), "The Royal mastermind", at australianfootball.com.
  14. Gay, Tasman,"Phil Matson is Remembered, The Western Mail, (Thursday, 12 June 1952), p.21.
  15. Famous Footballer Passes: Death of Phil Matson, The Westralian Worker, (Friday, 22 June 1928), p.10.
  16. Mr. Moffatt's Tribute, The (Perth) Daily News, (Thursday, 14 June 1928), p.5.
  17. Sporting, The Kalgoorlie Miner, (Friday, 4 May 1906), p.2.
  18. The Boulder City Football Team, The (Perth) Truth, (Saturday, 5 October 1907), p.8.
  19. Goldfields Representatives of W.A Football Team. Shortly Visiting the Eastern States, The Kalgoorlie Western Argus, (Tuesday, 28 July 1908), p.25.
  20. Jubilee of Australian Football — The Inter-State Teams: The Western Australian Team, The Leader, (Saturday, 29 August 1908), p.29.
  21. Goldfields Football League, The Kalgoorlie Miner, (Tuesday, 30 March 1909), p.8.
  22. South Australian Team: Interstate Football, The (Adelaide) Critic, (Wednesday, 23 June 1909), p.10.
  23. The Sturt Team, The (Adelaide) Critic, (Wednesday, 30 June 1909), p.12.
  24. Interstate Football in Melbourne: The South Australian Football League team, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Saturday, 14 August 1909), p.31.
  25. The Sturt Football Team—Minor Premiers, The (Adelaide) Express and Telegraph, (Friday, 16 September 1910), p.6.
  26. Interstate Football Carnival: Western Australia, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Saturday 12 August 1911), p.31
  27. Phil Matson (Subiaco F.B.C.), The (Perth) Truth, (Saturday, 7 June 1913), p.12.
  28. East Perth Football Club: State Premiers 1920, The (Perth) Mirror, (Saturday, 28 May 1921), p.4.
  29. Phil Matson: Champion Footballer and a State Selector, The (Perth) Mirror, (Saturday, 2 July 1921), p.1.
  30. "Phil" Matson; Again in Adelaide: Interesting Reminiscences, The (Adelaide) Express and Telegraph, (Thursday, 31 August 1922), p.8.
  31. A Champion Retiring, The (Adelaide) Express and Telegraph, (Thursday, 31 August 1922), p.8.
  32. Phil Matson: The Man Behind the Team, The (Perth) Mirror, (Saturday, 28 July 1923), p.9.
  33. Off to the Tasmanian Football Carnival: Western Australia's Representatives, The Western Mail, (Thursday, 24 July 1924), p.21.
  34. Will They Maintain Western Australia's Premiership?: The State's Representatives in the Football Carnival in Melbourne This Month, The Western Mail, (Thursday, 4 Aug 1927), p.6.
  35. Football, The Western Mail, (Thursday, 23 April 1925), p.25.
  36. Country Matches: Bendigo Grand Final: South Bendigo Win Premiership, The Age, (Monday, 5 October 1925), p.7.
  37. Bendigo Matches: South Bendigo Premiers, The Argus, (Monday, 5 October 1925), p.17.
  38. 'Half-Forward', "In the Presence of 12,000 Spectators, South Bendigo Win Premiership of Bendigo League", The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 10 October 1925), p.88.
  39. Bendigo League Premiership Won by South Bendigo, The Australasian, (Saturday, 10 October 1925), p.37.
  40. 'Kickeroo', "Football Coaches; Phil Matson for Richmond", The Herald, (Wednesday, 3 March 1926), p.8.
  41. Matson Refused Clearance: May Return to Perth, The (Adelaide) News, (Thursday, 8 April 1926), p.9.
  42. As Geelong would do later with George Goninon, when they dropped him (the club's leading goal-kicker) before the 1953 Grand Final, on the grounds that they had become aware of his adultery — see: Piesse, Ken, "Stray Cat lifts lid on Grand Final dumping", Sunday Herald Sun, (Sunday, 23 September 2007).
  43. Phil Matson Returns to the West: Clearance for Richmond Refused by Vic. League: "Hottest Thing Ever", The (Perth) Daily News, (Monday, 12 April 1926, p.1.
  44. Deaths: Matson, The West Australian, (Friday, 15 June 1928), p.1.
  45. The Westralian Worker, (Friday, 15 June 1928), p.16.
  46. Phil Matson's Tragic Death, The (Perth) Mirror, (Saturday, 16 June 1928), p.4.
  47. Philip Matson's Death,: Truck Driver's Negligence, The West Australian, (Tuesday, 31 July 1928), p.9.
  48. Gay, Tasman, "Phil Matson is Remembered: Star footballer and outstanding football personality, his accidental death was a great blow to his many friends and admirers", The Westen Mail, (Thursday, 12 June 1952), p.21.
  49. Bereavement Notices, The West Australian, (Wednesday, 20 June 1928), p.1.
  50. Public Notices: Re the Late Philip H. Matson, The West Australian, (Saturday, 18 August 1928), p.13.
  51. The Late Mr. P. Matson: Burial at Karrakatta, The West Australian, (Saturday, 16 June 1928), p.22.
  52. The Last Tribute: A Scene from Yesterday's Funeral (of Phil Matson), The (Perth) Mirror, (Saturday, 16 June 1928), p.4.
  53. No Headstone for Phil Matson, The (Perth) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 13 June 1948), p.6.
  54. Harry Kneebone's World of Sport: Unmarked, The (Adelaide) Advertiser, (Friday, 25 June 1948), p.8.
  55. WA Hall of Champions: Phil Matson.

References
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