He conducted stints as a miner, a tramway motorman, a farmer, a navvy on the trans-Australian railway, a lumper, a store clerk and a 'Spot-Lager' retailer.

He operated two-up schools at Subiaco and Pelican Point, SP books in some city hotels, and later an illegal gaming house in Perth.

[5] During his swimming career, he held Western Australian freestyle titles from 100 yards (91 m) to a mile (1.6 km) using the now-obsolete trudgen stroke,[6][7].

A fast, vigorous and versatile utility with an ability to take the big mark (despite being only 179 cm), he played at half-back and half-forward and took turns in the ruck.

Thurgood, I cannot recall to mind another player whom I would place in front of the late Phil Matson as the finest footballer who has thrilled the public of our State.

His aerial flights were spectacular and thrilling, and being possessed of exceptional football brains, the results of his play were often confounding to opposing teams.

Over a period of very many years Phil Matson had rendered yeoman service as a player to the clubs with which he had been associated on the goldfields and in the metropolitan area.

The Sturt Club and the South Australian public had many appreciative opinions of his exceptional ability as a player during the time he played in that State.

In this he was equally as successful as he had been as a player, and in my opinion was the greatest coach the Australian game has known, not excepting even the famed Colling- wood mentor, Jim M'Hale.

"The record of successes achieved by him will be a lasting memorial to his greatness, and, in conjunction with many, others, I deeply deplore the untimely severance of his connection with the national game in which he was such an outstanding personality."

Over 20 seasons he played for: Aged 33, Matson found his calling when he was appointed as coach of East Perth Football Club in 1918.

[36][37][38][39] Impressed with his effort in lifting the team into the Grand Final, Richmond officials approached Matson with an offer to succeed Dan Minogue as the Tigers' coach for 1926.

However, the Victorian Football League (VFL) refused Matson a permit to take up the job, which incensed both the club and prospective coach.

Matson had revenge on the VFL officials by inspiring Western Australia to two "spiteful, vicious, brutal" victories over Victoria in 1926.

In 1979 he was honoured with the bronze tablet for 1926, set into the footpath along St Georges Terrace, Perth as part of the WAY '79 sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebrations of the colonisation of Western Australia by Europeans.