BACK in 1999 AFL legend Leigh Matthews paid a huge compliment to the Fremantle Dockers when he said watching the pre-game Anzac Day celebration at Subiaco Oval was one of his most memorable football moments. 

“Your Len Hall memorial ceremony was a magnificent Anzac celebration, it was a highlight just to be there, to be part of the occasion, the emotion of it,” he said. 

Matthews’ comments were also a huge compliment to the Dockers’ original event manager, David Zampatti, who died on September 16. 

David was the creative behind the Len Hall game; he dreamed it up, saw the potential and cleverly brought in Freo’s Deckchair Theatre to add the drama and pageantry that made it fly. 

• David Zampatti atop the Anchor at the first ever official Dockers team photo shoot. Photo by Les Everett.

Catalyst

He was the catalyst for so many initiatives that helped get the Dockers going, to build the brand that importantly stamped them locally and nationally as different from their across-town rivals, which was what the WA Football Commission and the AFL wanted to happen, but offered more words than assistance. 

David made the difference by setting new standards in pre-game and half-time entertainment which quickly gave the Dockers ready-made and well-devised traditions, so they felt as much a genuine part of footy culture as the big historic Melbourne teams. 

Initiatives like the mighty rock and anchor that were hauled on to the ground at the start of home games by the heave-ho team from the Navy. 

They quickly became one of the most noticed and photographed national footy icons in the Dockers’ first decade. 

David’s philosophy was always dare to be different and he inserted this into hundreds of game-day, street and community events in his time with the Dockers. He was that rare combination of clever creative with a high IQ and never without a fresh idea. 

His origination and management of the club’s match day presentations won national recognition, including a WA Business and the Arts Award, and the national Australian Business and the Arts Foundation Innovations Award.

He set up and wrote the Dockers newsletter, Direct Line, and was a senior member of the club’s corporate services and media management teams.  

Leading on from the Len Hall Games, Dave was instrumental in getting the Flame of Remembrance established in Kings Park. 

Bar owner

It was an idea he worked up with the Dockers, Alinta Gas and the RSL, engineering the project to coincide with the Queen’s visit in 2000, so she could light it. 

Beyond football, David’s interesting career took in UWA student politics, managing bands – including launching the 50-year career of Dave Warner From the Suburbs – PR consultant, and a bar owner in California. 

For many years he was the West Australian’s theatre critic, a role he enjoyed immensely and took seriously, famously saying he went to every show with the confident expectation it would be the best thing he’d ever seen. 

Many of the tributes that have been made to David mention his generosity with his time and ideas, which he gave in spades, without seeking approval or publicity for himself. 

His passion for the Dockers was shared with a boyhood commitment to West Perth that never wavered. Both will remember Z; he will be missed. 

by CHRIS LEWIS