Western Australian football icon Steve Marsh will be remembered as a South Fremantle legend, the way he always wanted, after passing away at age 99 on Tuesday.
Marsh, a member of the Australian football Hall of Fame for his titanic WAFL career, joined South Fremantle as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed teenager in 1945.
He would go on to play 226 games of the club, win six premierships, four best and fairests, the 1952 Sandover Medal (Brownlow equivalent) and 1953 Simpson Medal (Norm Smith equivalent).
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The quintessential rover is regarded as one of South’s three greatest players ever, alongside John Todd and Stephen Michael.
For that reason, it rocked the competition in 1956 when Marsh crossed to the Bulldogs’ most fierce rival, East Fremantle, for £300.
Success followed him to Old Easts, where he captain-coached a premiership the very next season.
Marsh retired an East Fremantle player — but, as was his wish, he has died a Bulldog.
In 2014, 89-year-old Marsh asked to be “traded” back to South, who drew up a “contract” to welcome him back to the club with open arms.
Speaking to The Sunday Times 10 years ago, Marsh said being remembered in red and white was important to him.
“I don’t want to make a fuss with all of this, but if it can be arranged, I would like to pass on eventually as a South Fremantle player,” he said at the time.
“I know it sounds stupid that an 89-year-old bloke is asking for a clearance.
“I have a lot of great friends at East Fremantle and I went there as their first-ever outside coach appointment for the money at the time.
“It’s as pure and simple as that, and I know when I kick the bucket that my medals will be going to stay with South.
“I just want to be officially back where it all started for me.
“It would just make what days I have left a lot more comfortable to me as a South Fremantle player, where I did spend the largest part of my career.”
South Fremantle president Peter Christie told SEN on Tuesday the club even paid a fee to make his clearance official.
“He wasn’t travelling all that well health-wise (in 2014) and we all know that he finished his career at East Fremantle (but) he wanted to die a Bulldog,” Christie said.
“We paid East Fremantle a dollar to get him back and he has died a Bulldog.”
Marsh was inducted into the Australian football Hall of Fame in 2006, the same year Tony Lockett, Craig Bradley, Peter Matera and Robert Walls were included.
“Arguably, he is our greatest ever player,” Christie added.
LostWAFL, an X account dedicated to “preserving WAFL football”, said: “Sad to hear of the passing of an Australian football legend in every sense of the word, Steve Marsh. He was 99.
“He played 265 games in the WAFL for South Fremantle (236), East Fremantle (39) between 1945 and 1960 plus 19 for WA.”
