Jerry Dolan

John "Jerry" Dolan (25 December 1901 – 26 December 1986) was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) before becoming a politician. He played for as well as coached East Fremantle and was also a coach at East Perth. After leaving football, Dolan served as a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council.[1]

Jerry Dolan
Personal information
Full name John Dolan
Date of birth (1901-12-25)25 December 1901
Place of birth Victoria Park, Perth
Date of death 26 December 1986(1986-12-26) (aged 85)
Original team(s) Kalgoorlie City
Position(s) Forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1923–33 East Fremantle 166 (?)
Coaching career
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1930, 1932–33 East Fremantle
1934–38 East Perth
1941–48, 1950 East Fremantle
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1933.
Source: AustralianFootball.com

Dolan originally played in the Goldfields Football Association with Kalgoorlie City and was recruited to East Fremantle after two seasons. He was used mostly as a centre half forward in his time at East Fremantle and participated in their 1925, 1928, 1929 and 1931 premiership teams. Dolan also played in their 1930 and 1933 premiership sides, as captain-coach.

He represented Western Australia at the 1924 Hobart Carnival and captain-coached his state in the 1933 Sydney Carnival. Once his playing career ended, Dolan coached Western Australia at interstate football, from 1946 to 1949.

As non-playing coach, Dolan steered East Fremantle to a premiership in the 1943 under-age competition and to back to back flags in 1945 and 1946. He also coached East Perth to a premiership in 1936.

His overall coaching win/loss record stood at 68.2% when he retired, bettered only by Phil Matson when comparing it to other long standing coaches in the league. Both East Fremantle and East Perth never failed to play finals when Dolan was coach. In winning the 1946 premiership, Dolan's East Fremantle side went through the season undefeated, the only occasion this has been done by a WAFL team in the 20th century.

As a Labor Party candidate, Dolan was elected into the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1963. He had won the West Province by-election, which came about when sitting member Evan Davies died. Dolan held various portfolios in the Tonkin Ministry. He served as a Minister for Police, Transport and Railways from March 1971 to May 1973. During his stint in parliament, which ended in 1974, he was also briefly the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

In 1986, the year of his death, Dolan was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions, honouring his contribution to Australian rules football.[2] He was named as coach of East Fremantle's Team of the Century in 1997. He was one of the inaugural inductees into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004 and in 2007 was named as coach of the Fremantle Team of Legends. He was an inaugural legend in the East Fremantle Football Club Hall of Fame.[3]

References
  1. Phillips, Harry C. J. Dolan, John (Jerry) (1901–1986), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 19 November 2012.
  2. "WA Hall of Champions Inductee". Archived from the original on 11 April 2013.
  3. "John Dolan (Legend)". Archived from the original on 25 April 2013.
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