Preston Football Club – 1939 Team Photo (taken at Preston)

Back row: Jack Norman, Bill Seedsman, Ken Watkins, Joe Beagley, Alf Roach, Jack Clarke, Rex Job, Jack Robertson, Don Stewart

Middle row: Wally Gray, Stan Lawler, Frank Dowling, Alby Morrison, Ernie Dunham, Arthur Sleith, Bill Lowenthal

Front row: Les Ross, Wally Miller, Phil Dunstone

1939 Preston Football Club photo, taken at Preston during Round 9, 10 June 1939, courtesy of Australian Sports Museum

Preston 14-6-90 def by Williamstown 18-17-125

Game Details and players –The VFA Project

The journey began in 2020, to try and identify as many of the faces standing alongside my Grandfather, Alf Roach, in the only two team photos that I had at the time, which was one from 1938, along with a 1939 photo taken at Prahran.

Subsequent photos came to my attention along the way, including this one, which was also taken in 1939, but this time at Preston’s home ground.

After much searching, many findings, the occasional contact with actual direct descendants, as well as a mistaken belief or two corrected, the identifications currently appear as above.

As always, happy to hear of any corrections, confirmations, or absolutely anything of interest in relation to the photo, and the people pictured in it.

While this post has been completely updated (as at March 2026), a bit of a history of how all this began, as well as how it unfolded, can still be found in these posts –

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

John ‘Jack’ Norman – 2-8-1909 – 23-3-1994*. Preston 1939-41, 1945-46 (66 games^). Fitzroy 1938 (1 game).

*Date of death found on ‘Australian Football.com’ site.

^On the VFA Project, Jack’s brother, Ingwald (Ingy), is credited with Jack’s 1939 games at Preston. Ingy didn’t arrive at Preston until 1940. With two brothers being there at the same time, there could be other discrepancies in their game tallies.

Back row, far left.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston), and 1940 Preston team photos.

1941 Preston team photo, and enlistment photo.

William James ‘Bill’ Seedsman – 18-9-1914 – 10-10-2001. Preston 1939-41, 1945 (60 games). Hawthorn 1936 (1 game). Collingwood 1942 (1 game).

Back row, second from left.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston) team photos.

1940 and 1941 Preston team photos.

Kenneth Charles ‘Ken’ Watkins – 17-8-1919 – 18-4-1984. Preston 1939-41 (34 games). North Melbourne 1944 (5 games).

Back row, third from left.

1939 (at Preston) and 1940 Preston team photos, and enlistment photo.

Rupert Arthur ‘Joe’ Beagley – 30-4-1912 – 22-10-1995. Preston 1936-40 (64 games).

Back row, fourth from left.

1937, 1938 and 1939 (taken at Prahran) Preston team photos.

1939 (taken at Preston) Preston team photo, and 1940 Coburg team photo.

Alfred Dennis Stephen ‘Alf’ Roach – 22-4-1918 – 25-8-2012. Preston 1938-41 (60 games).

Back row, fifth from left.

1938 and 1939 (at Prahran and Preston) Preston team photos.

1940 Preston team photo, and caricature from a 1940 VFA Recorder.

Jack Clark – 18-11-1911 – 27-12-1980. Preston 1935-41 (104 games).

Back row, fourth from right.

1938, and 1939 (at Prahran and Preston), Preston team photos.

1940 and 1941 Preston team photos.

1933 South Gambier team photo and enlistment photo.

Rexford Frederick ‘Rex’ Job – 9-8-1910 – 24-5-1999. Preston 1937-39 (44 games). Carlton 1931 (1 game).

Back row, third from right.

1938 and 1939 (at Prahran) Preston team photos, and 1935 Carlton seconds team photo.

Jack Robertson* – Preston 1937-39 (22 games).

*While conclusive proof is yet to be found, there is a reasonable possibility that Robertson’s more complete details look like this –

Jack Scott Robertson – 3-3-1911 – 3-10-1992. Preston 1937-39 (22 games).

Back row, second from right.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston) team photos.

Donald Miller ‘Don’ Stewart – 5-2-1913 – 28-12-1995. Preston 1939 (9 games).

Back row, far right.

1939 (at Preston) Preston team photo, enlistment photo.

Walter William ‘Wally’ Gray – 12-12-1909 – 17-7-1950. Preston 1927, 1930-31, 1939-40 (~60* games). Richmond 1931-32 (3 games). Fitzroy 1932-38 (87 games).

*Some discrepancy on total played.

Middle row, far left.

1930 and 1939 (at Preston) Preston team photos.

1935 and 1936 Fitzroy team photos.

Fitzroy c1932-38, and 1933 cigarette trading card.

Stanley Merton ‘Stan’ ‘Snowy’ Lawler – 19-11-1909 – 26-3-1958. Preston 1939 (8 games). South Melbourne 1930-31 (2 games). Essendon 1933 (3 games).

Middle row, second from left.

1939 (at Preston) Preston team photo, enlistment photo, and newspaper photo, with typo, from 2 August 1937.

Francis John ‘Frank’ or ‘Dickie’ Dowling – 6*-6-1911 – 9-4-1991. Preston 1931-1941 (160 games).

*There is some confusion on the exact date, with it being either 6 June, or 7 June.

Middle row, third from left.

1931, 1932, 1933, and 1934 Preston team photos.

1937, 1938, and 1939 (at Prahran) Preston team photos.

1939 (at Preston), 1940 and 1941 Preston team photos.

Albert George Henry ‘Alby’ Morrison – Preston 1939-40 (39 games). Footscray 1928-38, 1941-42, 1946 (224 games).

Middle row, fourth from left.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston), and 1940 Preston team photos.

1929 Victorian team photo, 1942 Footscray team photo, and enlistment photo.

Ernest Frederick ‘Ernie’ Dunham – 29-1-1916 – 22-6-1998. Preston 1939-41 (33 games).

Middle row, third from right.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston) team photos, and a newspaper photo from The Age, 8 April, 1950.

Arthur Joseph Sleith – 22-12-1917 – 17-12-2008. Preston 1937-41, 1946 (57 games). Carlton 1942-43 (5 games).

Middle row, second from right.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston), and 1940 Preston team photos.

1942 RAAF team photo, and enlistment photo.

William Marcus ‘Bill’ Lowenthal – 23-9-1909 – 13*-7-1989. Preston 1938-41 (42 games). Essendon 1930-37 (73 games). Fitzroy 1937 (132 games).

*Wikipedia states 13 July as the date of death, however Births, Deaths and Marriages Queensland, as well as a death notice from the Gold Coast Bulletin, published 18 July 1989, states 14 July.

Middle row, far right.