BY STAFF WRITERS
The FootyTown app is available right now on Google Play and features over 700+ locations and counting.
Enjoy ten locations from the app below including blurbs from the app.
Download and find them.
“WORST RIOT EVER IN SYDNEY”
An exclusive club for African American soldiers on furlough in Sydney during World War II. In ‘Bumper’ Farrell’s book written by Larry Writer reports of a recorded interview Farrell did in his later career and recounts of the “worst riot ever seen in Sydney”.
“There was a black American who escaped from a stockade in Townsville after murdering three other black soldiers. He made his way down to Sydney and the American military police got the tip that he was hiding out in this Booker T. Washington Club. [Colonel] Burroughs came to me and asked for help. He said, ‘This might get a bit nasty tonight, might be a few gunshots…’ and I said, ‘That’ll be alright.”
Farrell and the Darlinghurst coppers were forced to wait outside as American MPs entered the club. According to Farrell in Writer’s book, the American finally dragged the man outside and was ‘about 6 foot 5’.
“Suddenly the murderer broke free and away he went, ran off. Well, bullets went flying everywhere … we chased him and eventually got him down off Marshall Street in Surry Hills and we brought him back to Darlinghurst Police Station.”
Upon arrival, there was a large group of drunken African American soldiers who believed they’d got the wrong bloke.
“Well, this black mass who were sticking by their mate converged on us in Flinders Street and guns were drawn and they had knives and they pulled paling off the fences. Some of our blokes were afraid they were going to get their bloody head cut off. They tried to tip the police car over. It was the worst scene ever I’ve seen in Sydney. Anyway, we beat them off and the escapee was incarcerated and I don’t know what happened to him after that.”
Farrell said years later that its infamous peak, the Booker T. Club could get that wild that ‘Bumper’ saw soldiers whip out knives and slash so deep that he could see the bones.
VICTOR CHANG
Famous cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation in Australia. Chang was also friends with Nick Politis and Kerry Packer, attending Roosters games, and performed bypass surgery on both men in the 1970s. Shockingly, Chang was murdered in 1991 after a bungled kidnapping attempt near his home. There is a memorial and garden dedicated to Chang at this location.
LONG BAY PRISON
At just 16, John Elias was already on other charges when he assaulted a bus driver. Instead of being sent to another juvenile centre, the judge sentenced him to a stint in Australia’s most feared adult prison. In James Phelps’ book ‘Australia’s Hardest Prison, Elias says, “I’d seen c**** shooting up hammer, spewing, and I’d only been there five minutes. It was horrible. I hadn’t been classified yet because I was awaiting trial. And the worst thing about the remand centre was that there could have been anyone in there – murderers, rapists and serial killers.”
The youngster quickly met Neddy Smith who befriended him.
Elias would go on to debut in first grade for Newtown before winning a QLD Cup grand final under Wayne Bennett – also winning man-of-the-match.
He’d then return to Sydney – playing for the Bulldogs, Souths [second stint], Wests and the Balmain Tigers.
With the support of goverment in the early 1990s, visiting sports teams were reintroduced to the prison which included a famous game between the Newtown Jets and the Long Bay Bears and reported by ABC News on national television.
ZIEGFELD CLUB
“There were few places in Sydney during the 1940s and 50s as notorious as Ziegfeld’s Night Club and Cabaret. The venue was established in the 1920s in the cellars of 88 King Street of Sydney’s CBD. The club became known for hosting drag shows long before Kings Cross and Oxford Street were a thing. Deep in the age of sly-grog and razor gangs, Ziegfeld’s was known as a place for late-night debauchery, violent crime and murder” – murdersmostfoul.com.
Ziegfeld’s was a dubious place as late back as the 1920s where other murders linked to the club were hushed over including an American soldier getting away with murder when an Australian woman, who he had spent hours with him at her home in Newtown, was thrown into Sydney Harbour on his way back to his ship.
In 1951, Australia’s most feared gangstar “Chow” Hayes gunned down Bobby Lee inside the club in front of more than 50 patrons. Infamous copper Ray ‘Gunner’ Kelly arrested Hayes [Hayes pictured left, Kelly right] and said, “You know that I know you killed Lee, and I will tell as many lies as I can to convict you, and you will tell as many lies as you can to beat it. Is that fair enough?”
Hayes was sentenced to death by hanging but eventually commuted to life in prison.
A few years earlier, Newtown Bluebags legend and iconic Aussie copper ‘Bumper’ Farrell helped arrest pimp Turnbull brothers, Johnny and Wally, who sent underage prostitutes into Ziegfeld’s and drove the girls and men back to homes rented by the Turnbull brothers in Bondi and Dover Heights.
“PIG’S ARSE!”
During Wally Lewis’ hugely publisized contract negotiating in 1986, ‘The King’ was in Sydney at Channel 10’s studios for the Dally M Awards. Lewis had offers on the table from the QRL and several Sydney clubs offering huge amounts of money to get the great man to the NSWRL premiership. Lewis and friend Gene Miles were set to sign with Manly-Warringah when the QRL’s Ross Livermore and Ron McAuliffe used the media in a major power play, sending out a press release that the pair had re-signed with the QRL and staying in Brisbane. Channel 10’s David Fordham, live on air, showed Lewis the press release and asked ‘The King’ about re-signing with the QRL. Lewis’ response: “Pig’s Arse!”
During the broadcast, Lewis rang Livermore who told Wally QRL had the extra money required to keep him happy and stay in Brisbane. Lewis was angry and had a major offer from Manly, which he was taking, but not all of the Manly’s contract offer was on the books. Some of it was coming from Kerry Packer. Legally, the QRL only had to match St George and Eastern Suburbs’ offers.
Lewis’ wife had started looking at homes in Manly and was even with the wives of Paul Vautin and Chris Close [Manly players] in Sydney as the drama unfolded on television.
STREET ROYAL COMMISSION
An ABC Four Corners investigation in 1983 saw the downfall of NSW Premier Neville Wran and some of the biggest hitters in Sydney. The program reported outrageous and very serious allegations regarding former Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of NSW, Murray Farquhar. The investigation revealed Farquhar had interfered in a criminal case where NSWRL chairman Kevin Humphreys had stolen $50,000 from his former club, Balmain Tigers in 1977, where the case was mysteriously dismissed. According to the reports, Wran had directly phoned Farquhar. In the case against Humphreys, magistrate Kevin Jones later revealed that Farquhar directed Jones, “The Premier’s contacted me. He wants Kevin Humphreys discharged”. Wran famously stood aside as premier during the commission hearing but was in the gallery every day, sitting alongside the likes of underworld figure George Freeman. The crook and bookie, Freeman, took to the stand himself during proceedings and admitted to being “good friends” with the heavy gambling Humphreys but did not know him in 1977. Freeman says their friendship began when they met at Cronulla Leagues Club three years later. Wran was sacked as NSW Premier and Farquhar was sent to prison.
“From 31 July 1974, Humphreys began, according to later charges, to ‘fraudulently take and apply for his own use and benefit’ moneys from a cash float held by the club. By 11 August 1975, he had left eight vouchers for sums totalling $19 940. On 18 February 1976, a partner of the club’s auditors conducted a cash count at the club in the presence of Humphreys. This disclosed a deficiency of $30 579 not covered by vouchers. A week later, Humphreys told the auditor that ‘he loaned this to a friend who was in financial trouble’ some time in the previous month, and the loan would be repaid within a month. Humphreys later told the Royal Commission he lost the money in various forms of gambling.
“Within the next ten days, Humphreys obtained loans totalling $52 000, in the form of bank cheques, from four people: John Arthur Gibson, professional football coach. $34 000; Ken Arthurson, secretary-manager of the Manly-Warringah Rugby League Football Club, $5000; Norman (Latchem) Robinson, former secretary / manager of the Balmain Leagues Club, $6000; Geoffrey William Gardiner, company director, a sum, presumably the balance of $7000 to make up the $52 000. Humphreys deposited the cheques in the club’s bank account on 4 and 8 March 1976.
“A week after the last deposit, the executive committee of the NSW Rugby League, of which Arthurson was a member, recommended that Humphreys be appointed to a ten-year contract as full-time executive director of the NSWRL. The general committee approved the recommendation. Humphreys negotiated a loan of $36 000 from the NSWRL. Seven years later, in May 1983, it was revealed that he had paid $6000 off the loan, and still owed the NSWRL, $29 000.
“On 24 March 1976, The Sun reported that the Balmain Leagues Club’s annual report contained details of an unauthorised loan of $19 000 Humphreys had made from club funds. Next day, licensing police questioned Humphreys about the newspaper report. He told them the money he took from the club was used for Rugby League purposes, ‘it was not paid to any particular individual’. He said the money had been repaid and the vouchers destroyed” – from http://netk.net.au/Whitton/Worms16.asp
ALAN BOND
One of business tycoon Alan Bond’s former homes. A former Australian of the Year for his backing of Australia’s America’s Cup historic victory, Bond bought Channel Nine from Kerry Packer in 1987 for $1billion but eventually sold it back at a fraction of the price. The English-born Western Australia was declared bankrupt in 1992 and spent several stints in prison for corporate fraud. Apart from his links to Packer and Channel Nine, Bond is also linked to the NRL’s current ARLC chairman Peter V’landys. In Channel 10’s miniseries ‘House of Bond’, V’landys appeared in two episodes as a banker.
MICK POTTER
From Gorden Tallis’ book, ‘Raging Bull’ ahead of the 1993 Grand Final:
“There was one moment I’ll never forget, though, and it happened the day before the game. We went out to the SFS for our last training session and Brian [Smith] had us all pumped up. When we got off the bus at the start of the long pathway leading to the entrance gates there was this groundsman driving around in a little golf cart. He stopped and offered us a ride. Mick Potter jumped in and off they went, up the path and back. As they headed down towards us Scottie Gourley yelled out, ‘Hey, you’ll need this’ and threw a ball to them. Well the driver tried to be a smartarse and catch the ball one-handed, but he lost control of the cart and it smashed into one of the trees that lined the path. Mick Potter flew out of his seat, went straight over the front, did a somersault and landed flat on his back. Fair dinkum, we all fell on the ground we were laughing so hard. Brian was absolutely spitting chips.
KEITH BARNES
Welsh-born Keith “Golden Boots” Barnes was drafted to Holsworthy army camp to serve in the 12 Battalion in 1954. Months earlier, 19-year-old Barnes was selected for Country at halfback to play the touring Lions. Then Barnes’ club side Wollongong qualified for the finals. There was only one problem, the army wouldn’t approve Barnes playing in Wollongong’s semi against Port Kembla. In Brian Surtees’ book ‘Yarns from the Sideline’, Surtees [future broadcaster and journalist who was also stationed at Holsworthy] reveals that Wollongong officials cooked up a plan to get Barnes to play in the semi-final which involved Barnes and Surtees heading off on long runs in the days leading toward the match. On the morning of the match, Barnes headed for the bushes, scrambling under barbed wire and a waiting car filled with Wollongong officials. Surtees paced the barbed wire fencing that night. Finally at 9pm, Surtees heard Barnes’ voice who had to fight his way back through the barbed wire with a badly injured shoulder. Wollongong had lost the match 10-2. Barnes signed with Balmain the following year and the rest, as they say, is history.
MARK GRAHAM
Despite leading the powerhouse Bulldogs at half-time one afternoon at North Sydney Oval, Bears coach ‘Cranky’ Frank Stanton was in a shocker of a mood. Stanton ripped into his team and especially skipper Mark Graham who was having a huge game. As Stanton was abusing the Kiwi legend, Graham began to smile. A bemused Stanton asked his captain what he was smiling at. Graham’s response was brutal. Graham replied, “I was thinking about getting up and punching you in the chin and I was wondering what you’d look like after that.” The Bears ran back out and won the game.
