THEY played together in an undefeated season, and for five of Port Adelaide's 1914 premiership and Champions of Australia team, the battlefield of football would shortly transform into one of war.
Joseph Watson, Roy Drummond, William Boon, Albert Chaplin and John Robertson would all enlist to serve in the Australian Imperial Forces in The Great War following their unbeaten - and unmatched - 1914 football campaign.
Locals of the Port district - four of them living in the famous streets surrounding Alberton Oval - the quintet would fight primarily in the north of France on the Western Front against the Central Powers.
They were part of a 22-strong contingent of former Port Adelaide players to have joined the campaign.
Drummond, as discovered earlier this year,would become Port Adelaide's first Military Medallist for bravery in the field.
Robertson would serve as a gunner with the 8th Field Artillery Brigade.
Chaplin would be the first Port Adelaide soldier to be killed in action in 1916, Boon in 1918, while Watson would die from battle wounds in 1917.
Theirs are stories shared by thousands of other Australians to have fought in numerous armed conflicts since the First World War and reflected on by citizens of the Allied states on today's 96th anniversary of its Armistice.
The Port Adelaide Football Club continues to expand its list of player and official servicemen to have served in Australia's armed forces since 1914, ahead of next year's 100-year commemoration of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, with its current focus on completing a list of 'League' soldiers.
The club will host Hawthorn at the Adelaide Oval on ANZAC Day 2015.
Among almost 100 known servicemen are the eleven known League footballers to have died in armed conflict. They include:
Port Adelaide's known League players to have died in war since 1914
CPL William Irving Boon, WWI
CSM Joseph Charles Watson, WWI
SGT Albert Reginald Victor Chaplin, WWI
LT Lloyd Kitchener Rudd, WWII
LT Maxwell George Carmichael, WWII
CPL George Urban Quinn, WWII
PTE Christopher Isaac Johnston, WWII
LAC Halcombe George Brock, WWII
PTE John Samuel Wade, WWII
Pilot Officer Malcolm Eric McKiggan, WWII
L/CPL Peter Allan Chant, Vietnam
Port Adelaide welcomes further information on any servicemen to have played for the club (including in Reserves and Colts grades) via email to heritage@pafc.com.au.
Drummond, as discovered earlier this year,would become Port Adelaide's first Military Medallist for bravery in the field.
Robertson would serve as a gunner with the 8th Field Artillery Brigade.
Chaplin would be the first Port Adelaide soldier to be killed in action in 1916, Boon in 1918, while Watson would die from battle wounds in 1917.
Theirs are stories shared by thousands of other Australians to have fought in numerous armed conflicts since the First World War and reflected on by citizens of the Allied states on today's 96th anniversary of its Armistice.
The Port Adelaide Football Club continues to expand its list of player and official servicemen to have served in Australia's armed forces since 1914, ahead of next year's 100-year commemoration of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, with its current focus on completing a list of 'League' soldiers.
The club will host Hawthorn at the Adelaide Oval on ANZAC Day 2015.
Among almost 100 known servicemen are the eleven known League footballers to have died in armed conflict. They include:
Port Adelaide's known League players to have died in war since 1914
CPL William Irving Boon, WWI
CSM Joseph Charles Watson, WWI
SGT Albert Reginald Victor Chaplin, WWI
LT Lloyd Kitchener Rudd, WWII
LT Maxwell George Carmichael, WWII
CPL George Urban Quinn, WWII
PTE Christopher Isaac Johnston, WWII
LAC Halcombe George Brock, WWII
PTE John Samuel Wade, WWII
Pilot Officer Malcolm Eric McKiggan, WWII
L/CPL Peter Allan Chant, Vietnam
Port Adelaide welcomes further information on any servicemen to have played for the club (including in Reserves and Colts grades) via email to heritage@pafc.com.au.
