BIRTHDAY MILESTONE FOR SFFC GREAT

Our Premier Family Club sends best Birthday Wishes to our Hall of Famer Laurie Green who turned 96 years of age on Saturday, 25^th November 2023 - a fantastic achievement.

Laurie came to South Fremantle from the wheatbelt town of Koorda in 1948 and after playing his first 6 games in the Reserves (the League Side was in good form having lost only one game), Laurie headed home after Thursday night training convinced he would not be able to break into the team. He arrived home Friday morning after an overnight train trip only to be advised by his father that he had been selected in the League side to play West Perth on the upcoming Saturday. Laurie caught the next train back to Perth Friday evening and arrived mid morning on Saturday game day. Not an ideal preparation, but it had no effect on his performance as he put in a sterling effort against the State Centre Half Back Fred Buttsworth.

Laurie quickly developed into a champion Centre Half Forward and in 1949 he won the AW Walker-Fairest & Best Medal in his 2^nd Year of League footy. Laurie was a key contributor to South Fremantle’s Golden Years and a Premiership Player in 1948, 1950 and 1953. He represented the State in 1949. Sadly, Laurie’s career was cut short on 99 games when he suffered a serious kidney injury which required it’s removal.  He returned home to the farm where he coached his home town football club and when his team needed a lift he played a couple of games at full forward kicking 10 goals in the second game at the age of 47.

Laurie was an inaugural inductee into the South Fremantle Hall of Fame in 2011 and was also awarded Life Membership of the Club the same year.

After Footy, Laurie became a gun shearer and some records of his shearing ability at the Dennis family farm in Cunderdin show that in 1956 Laurie’s percentage of the sheep shorn was 42.8%, while the other members of the shearing team managed 31.6% and 25.6% respectively.  Two members of the Dennis family played League Footy for South – John & Norm. Norm was a Premiership player in 1970.

Laurie remains an icon of our great club, a champion of our game, and a respected member of his community.  

Happy 96^th Birthday to you Laurie and the Bulldog Family look forward to enjoying your very pleasant company for years to come.