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BOULDER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB · EST. 1896
Richard Holmes
THE PREMIERSHIP PREDATOR
PLAYER SNAPSHOT
ERA
1970s - 1990s
BCFC
1968 - 1970 Junior Premiership Player
1972 - Best first year player League
Coaching Career
1982 — Under-17 Premiers
1983 — Under-17 Premiers
1984 — Colts Premiers
1985 — Colts Premiers
1986 — Under-13 Premiers
1987 — Reserves Premiers
1988 — Reserves Premiers
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GFL
1991 Kalgoorlie Colts Premiership Coach
1992 Kalgoorlie League Premiership Coach
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OTHER
1995 Waneroo Amateurs C Division Premiership Coach
HONOURS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Explore the honours that shaped Richard Holmes career.
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BOULDER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
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7 Consecutive Seasons
Juniors 1970
OTHER
1991 - 1992
1995
FROM A JUNIOR CAPTAIN TO A PREMIERSHIP ARCHITECT
Two premierships as a player. Ten as a coach. Seven coaching flags at Boulder. A football life that helped shape generations of Tigers.
A Tiger from the beginning
The young captain who led the way Every great football journey begins somewhere. For Richard Holmes, it began in the junior ranks of the Boulder City Football Club, where the foundations were laid for a lifetime in football. Even as a youngster, Holmes was demonstrating the leadership qualities that would eventually define his coaching career. One moment in particular deserves its own place in Tiger history. Richard Holmes was the first player to run onto Kambalda Oval, leading the Boulder Juniors onto the ground as their captain. It was a remarkable distinction for a young footballer, and an early indication of the leadership responsibilities he would carry throughout his football life.
The junior years also brought premiership success. In 1968 and 1970, Holmes was a member of Boulder's junior premiership teams. Two flags before his senior football career had properly begun. And the beginning of something much bigger.
From Junior Champion to league footballer
1972 — A promising young Tiger. By 1972, Richard Holmes had progressed into Boulder's League ranks. His transition to senior football brought immediate recognition when he was named the club's League Best First-Year Player. It was an important milestone. The young captain who had helped lead Boulder Juniors to premiership success was now making his mark at senior level. Yet his greatest contribution to the game would ultimately come from somewhere other than the playing field. It would come through coaching. Through teaching. And through an ability to bring young footballers together and turn them into premiership teams.
A crippling injury finished Holmes League career after only one season where potential of the young Holmes was unlimited.
THE MAKING OF A PREMIERSHIP COACH
1982–1986 — Five consecutive premiership seasons
When Holmes took charge of Boulder's Under-17s, he began one of the most remarkable coaching sequences in the club's history.
The results were extraordinary.
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1982 — Boulder Under-17 Premiers
1983 — Boulder Under-17 Premiers
1984 — Boulder Colts Premiers
1985 — Boulder Colts Premiers
1986 — Boulder Under-13 Premiers
Five consecutive years.
Five premierships.
Different teams, different groups of young players, but a familiar result. Holmes had developed a reputation for building teams that were disciplined, competitive and committed to one another. Among his achievements were undefeated junior champions. But his influence extended beyond the premiership celebrations. He was developing footballers who would progress through the club's ranks, carrying with them the standards and expectations established during their junior years. These were not simply winning teams. They were part of the future of the Boulder City Football Club.
Richard-Holmes
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THE PREMIERSHIP PREDATOR
1987–1988 — Reserves glory
After five consecutive junior premiership seasons, Holmes stepped into another coaching challenge. Boulder's Reserves The transition proved remarkably successful.
1987 — Boulder Reserves Premiers
1988 — Boulder Reserves Premiers Back-to-back premierships.
Seven consecutive coaching flags across the junior and Reserves grades. The 1988 triumph, in particular, produced celebrations that became part of Tigerland folklore. For Holmes, these years represented the culmination of a coaching journey that had begun with young footballers learning the fundamentals of the game. Many of the values remained unchanged.
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Play hard
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Play together
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Respect the jumper
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And never underestimate what a committed group of footballers can achieve
His seven Boulder coaching premierships established an exceptional record. But the story was not finished.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PREMIERSHIPS
Shack Evans, Steven Michaels and the Tiger coaching tradition. Ask Richard Holmes about the people who shaped his football journey and one name stands out. Ted 'Shack' Evans Senior. Holmes readily acknowledged the influence of a man whose own contribution to Boulder football became part of the club's history. It speaks to something fundamental about country football. Great clubs pass their knowledge from one generation to the next.
The lessons are learned on training nights, beside boundary lines, in clubrooms and through the countless conversations that surround a football season. Holmes became part of that tradition. And he helped carry it forward. His memories also include the unforgettable experience of watching Steven Michaels make his first appearance at Boulder Oval in 1986. These are the moments that statistics cannot adequately capture. The arrival of a talented footballer The development of a youngster. The satisfaction of seeing a team come together. And the characters who make a football club much more than the sum of its premierships. For Holmes, the people were always part of the story.
The Holmes Football Legacy
From the Goldfields to the AFL
Richard Holmes' football story also extends into the next generation. His third son, Todd Holmes, born on 4 July 1979, went on to establish an impressive football career of his own. A half-back from Kalgoorlie, Todd reached the highest level of Australian football, making seven senior AFL appearances with the West Coast Eagles.
His career also included significant achievements in the WAFL.
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122 games with Subiaco
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9 games with Claremont
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Subiaco premiership player in 2004 and 2006
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Two senior Western Australian interstate representative appearances
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WA representation at Under-17 and Under-18 level
Two generations of the Holmes family. One built premiership teams from the coaches' box. The other became a dual WAFL premiership player on the field. Different journeys, connected by a shared football heritage.
More than premierships
The lasting legacy of Richard Holmes. The record is impressive. Two Boulder junior premierships as a player. A League Best First-Year Player award.
Seven coaching premierships at Boulder. Three more coaching premierships beyond Tigerland. Twelve premierships in all — ten of them as a coach.
But perhaps the most important measure of Richard Holmes' contribution cannot be found on an honour board. It lives in the footballers he coached.
The young men he encouraged. The teams he helped bring together. And the memories carried by those who shared the journey.
From the young captain leading Boulder Juniors onto Kambalda Oval to the premiership coach celebrating another flag, Richard Holmes' football life is a story of leadership, commitment and an enduring passion for the game. His career took him beyond Boulder.
But his place in Tigerland history was established long ago.
RICHARD HOLMES - The Premiership Predator
Player. Captain. Coach - Teacher. Mentor - Premiership architect.
A Tiger football story worth preserving.
THE ALTERNATIVE TRAIN LINE
A different destination, the same winning formula Football clubs are full of stories that survive long after the details of individual matches have faded. Richard Holmes' career contains one of them. At some point, his journey took an unexpected turn away from Boulder. As the old clubroom saying goes: “The coach took the alternative train line.”
The next chapter of his coaching career unfolded at Kalgoorlie City Football Club. And the premierships continued. 1991 — Kalgoorlie City Colts Premiers, 1992 — Kalgoorlie City League Premiers. The 1992 League premiership was another significant achievement, demonstrating that Holmes' coaching success was not confined to junior football or to one club.
He had now guided teams to premierships at junior, Colts, Reserves and League level. The journey eventually took him beyond the Goldfields.
1995 — Wanneroo Amateurs C Division Premiers It was his tenth coaching premiership. Three clubs. Multiple grades. A remarkable capacity to build winning football teams.
The alternative train line had certainly taken him places.
Past Players
1896 - 2026
Museum
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