Vale Rochford Devenish-Meares

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Rochford “Roch” Devenish-Meares, a member of our 1973 Subiaco Premiership team, who passed away on Wednesday August 19, aged 78, after a 21 year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Roch played 43 games for Subiaco Football Club between 1973 and 1978.

He passed away peacefully at home, in bed, surrounded by his wife Caroline and their daughters Rachel and Ranin. His grandchildren, son-in-law Carl, his brother Brett and sister Mandi were also with him. The family had been playing his favourite music, and he took his last breath while Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly” was playing. He was at peace, without stress or drugs.

Roch will be cremated, and his final resting place will be in Kununurra with his son Leycester.

A Celebration of Life for Roch will be held at the SAS Barracks in Swanbourne on October 24th, from 1pm to 5pm.

On behalf of the Subiaco Football Club, our thoughts are with Caroline and her wider family at this time.

A Tribute from the 1973 Subiaco Premiership Captain-Coach, Ross Smith

It is with sadness that I write this for a former teammate and one of our Subiaco 1973 Premiership players.

In 1973 when I began my Subiaco playing and coaching role, I was pleased to welcome Roch to our club as he had the potential to be a very good player for us: he was tall, athletic and with good skills. He made his way into the team and was ultimately selected to play in the Grand Final.

When selecting the players in that last week of September 1973, we needed to have on our bench, players who were versatile and capable of playing in multiple positions. Unfortunately, the closeness of the game did not allow me the opportunity to bring Roch onto the ground but nevertheless, he joined us in being a Premiership player.

Roch was a valued member of our club, his skills on field were of a high standard and his demeanour off field made him a popular teammate. Post football, he lived with an illness that limited his lifestyle but it did not minimise the character within and we were pleased to see him in 2023 for our 50 year Premiership anniversary.

On behalf of my teammates and our Club, our thoughts are with Caroline and her wider family.

RIP Roch.

Ross Smith
Captain-Coach
Subiaco Premiership 1973