Sammy Clarke
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West Midland, Western Australia
near Tadji, Territory of New Guinea
| Sammy Clarke | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Sydney Campbell Clarke | ||
| Born |
5 April 1914 West Midland, Western Australia | ||
| Died |
24 January 1945 (aged 30) near Tadji, Territory of New Guinea | ||
| Original team | Hale School | ||
| Height | 187 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1] | ||
| Positions | Centre half-back, half-back flanker | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1933–1941 | Claremont | 133 (6) | |
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 1934–1937 | Western Australia | 8 (0) | |
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
Sydney Campbell "Sammy" Clarke (5 April 1914 – 24 January 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Claremont in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL) between 1933 and 1941. He won the Sandover Medal in his first two seasons in the competition, making him the first player to win the award in consecutive years. Clarke won a premiership with Claremont in 1939, and also represented Western Australia in eight interstate games. He served as a pilot with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II, but was killed in action in New Guinea towards the end of the war.
Clarke was born in West Midland, Western Australia, on 5 April 1914. His father, Sydney Clarke Sr., played football for West Adelaide in the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) and Railways in the Goldfields Football Association (GFA).[2] Clarke attended Perth Boys' School and Hale School,[3] and captained the Western Australian schoolboys' side at the 1928 National Carnival in Brisbane, and Hale School's First XVIII in 1930. Clarke played for the Pastimes Football Club (now the Carey Park Football Club) in the Bunbury district football competition in 1931,[4] before returning to Perth in 1932 to play for Nedlands in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association. He captained the club to the 1932 premiership, and also won the Strempel Medal for the best player in that competition.[5]
