• The deliberate 'blue' that turned Freo purple

In the Fremantle Dockers’ 25^th year, club physiotherapist Dr Jeffrey Boyle takes us back through the club’s history with the podcast ‘Bleeding Purple’. 

Listen to episode one here, featuring Fremantle’s inaugural chairman Ross Kelly.

Boyle has worked for Fremantle since 1 November 1994 and has been involved in every single one of Fremantle's 543 games to date.

As soon as the AFL announced the formation of a Fremantle-based AFL team in 1993, conjecture began about the club’s nickname.

There was no doubting that the name should feature something related to Fremantle’s link with the port and the sea, with suggestions ranging from the Mariners, Dolphins, Seagulls, Vikings, Sailors and Stingrays. 

Fremantle’s inaugural chairman Ross Kelly had his heart set on another idea, the Fremantle Dockers, and explained on the podcast Bleeding Purple how he needed to bend some truths to get it over the line.

Kelly said his insistence on the Dockers came from the name’s strength and its ability to represent the people of Fremantle.

“If you looked at the 15 teams that were in the AFL at that stage and looked at their nicknames, you would have thought it was a zoo rather than a football competition,” Kelly said.

“There were only four of the sides that weren’t named after an animal. We thought, as the board, that Fremantle was all about its people so we thought that the name of the club should reflect something with the people of Fremantle.”

There was one snag to the name: the link between the then Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union, which was de-registered in 1993 following a criminal investigation. 

With the help of inaugural CEO David Hatt, Kelly utilised a myth around a common vernacular term in WA to get the name across the line. 

“David was very resourceful, and he allayed the board’s fears that effectively the name didn’t come from the docks at all, it came from the famous sea breeze, the Fremantle Doctor, which according to David, used to be called the ‘Fremantle Docker’ as it used to blow the sailing ships into Fremantle harbour,” Kelly said.

“Our board members bought that and then at the opening of the club at the Fremantle Passenger Terminal, Bruce McAvaney asked me where our name came from.

“I tongue in cheek told Bruce the yarn from David, and with Bruce’s help, David’s fib became actual ‘fact’.

“Now if you read Wikipedia, there it is loud and clear, we were named after the Fremantle Doctor. I don’t even know if the see breeze was ever called the Fremantle Docker but I know for sure the Fremantle Dockers weren’t named after it.”