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[Caveman]

Was very sad to hear of the recent death of Dr Tony Capes.

Tony Capes was the club doctor before moving through the ranks to becoming President

He was officiating on that day in April 1975 when Laurie Sandilands kicked 8 goals against the yellow shorts wearing Fitzroy. That is hardly recalled about how Laurie had such a great game, because that match is always remembered for it being the Neil Sachse game. As club doctor, this tragedy was especially hard on Tony who was tending to Neil immediately after the disaster


Dr Capes was President throughout most of the 1980's, he took over in 1982 when the club was probably at our (then) lowest ebb- and in this I mean 1883 not 1925.

His rise to the Presidency occurred during a vote- between two candidates- they were Australian Media Legend Personality Ernie Sigley and Tony Capes and it was the doctor who won that battle. This has not happened since at our club- the President has always been handed the role through various means.

My father was in the Ernie Sigley camp at the time because Ernie had mentioned how in his pre election platform that if he took over as President "The coaching position would be reviewed" which we all understood meant that the 'the coach' would be replaced!'

Anyway Dr Capes won that Presidential election, but later in the year, Tony pulled a masterstroke on the following Thursday after a disastrous loss to North Melbourne at the Western Oval, the board took action on our 8 wins from the previous 53 games. He announced that the coach (who Ernie Sigley was going to replace) had not been sacked- he had been demoted- to the role of Coach of the Under 19's. Royce Hart didn't accept this effrontery and thus he was finished as coach of the bulldogs. If you look at Polar opposites- then Norm Smith's sacking in 1965 led to a massive uproar, at the other end of the scales was Royce Hart's forced removal in 1982- this led to rejoicing from most Footscray fans.

"NO HE HASNT BEEN SACKED, HE HAS BEEN DEMOTED"

That is one of the best removal of a coach statement in football history- the club finally showing that we were pro active in doing something after 2 and a half seasons of such ineptitude and giving the public a laugh on the way out for Royce.

Yet in his second year in charge the club rapidly improved in 1983, a season later nearly made the finals in 1984. then we finished 2nd at the end of the 1985 Home and Away season, before the ultimate 3rd position after losing the Preliminary Final to Hawthorn by 10 points.


Dr Capes was probably one of (if perhaps the only) bloke who stood in the area between the John Gent and E.J. Whitten Stands wearing a suit each home game. As President he stood down with the masses, rather than sit up in either of the two above mentioned Grandstands. He was there for all fans to see, cheering on the team, not hidden away hobnobbing upstairs eating and drinking.

We got close in 1985 to the Grand Final and a few near finals misses in 1984,1986 and 1987 where we went in to the last round of the season with the opportunity of gaining a spot in the finals (in those days it was a final 5) So Dr Capes record is pretty good, we had good times under his control especially at home games- the Western Oval was a great place to be at through most of the 1980's. His death occurs at the time the club is now officially destined to play games back at our real home (albeit it as a 'seconds' team on a vastly different place to how it had been)

Thanks Dr Tony Capes for all your efforts.