Australian Football

Norwood

"a conduit rather than a career"

In Men Of Norwood, his penetrative if brief survey of the history and famous names associated with the Norwood Football Club, Mike Coward makes the sage and telling observation that, following the establishment of the Adelaide Crows in 1991, Norwood had become “a conduit rather than a career for the most talented and ambitious”.[1]

In some ways this could be interpreted as a depressing fall from grace for a club which possessed a pedigree and a reputation every bit as rich and illustrious as that of any other club in Australia. Following the admission to the AFL of Norwood’s arch rivals Port Adelaide in 1997, the profile of the SANFL - and of Norwood by association - wilted still further.

The fact that the Redlegs had been party to a counter bid to that of Port only served to rub proverbial salt into the wounds.[2] Nevertheless, the Norwood club hierarchy remained ambitious and optimistic. The powers that be at the AFL may for the time being have discounted the possibility of any more South Australian-based clubs entering their competition but longer term it would be unwise to bet against the men from the Parade occupying their ‘rightful’ place among the nation’s elite.

The term ‘rightful’ is carefully chosen, and is intended to suggest the invocation of a kind of ‘natural justice’, the realisation - or restoration - of a state of affairs conforming to the natural order. Such an assertion is easy to defend. Right from the beginning, Norwood proved successful. Indeed, the club’s early years brought virtually unparalleled success. Formed at a meeting at the Norfolk Arms Hotel, Rundle Street on 28th February 1878 the club won a premiership in its debut year. With South Australia having only recently adopted the Victorian code [3] the presence in the Norwood side of a preponderance of ex-Victorians obviously contributed to the club’s success, but an astute administration was arguably just as significant. Not only was the team successful at home, in 1880 it became the first South Australian combination to defeat a Victorian side,[4] and over the years, as will emerge later, its record against Victorian opposition was second to none among South Australian clubs.

Tradition is not something which emerges overnight. Nevertheless, the building blocks which go toward creating a tradition can be laid at any time, and in the case of Norwood the process commenced immediately. One of the most identifiable Norwood trademarks was present right from the outset: for its first ever match - a 1-0 defeat of reigning premiers South Adelaide - the players donned distinctive red stockings giving rise to the nickname ‘Redlegs’ which has remained with the club ever since.

As was alluded to earlier, the winning tradition was also swift to emerge. The 1878 flag was followed by five more in succession, and indeed before the turn of the century the club had won no fewer than eleven premierships and never once finished lower than third.

During the early years, Norwood’s sternest opposition was provided by Victorian, with matches between the two sides almost invariably close and hotly contested. Even so, the Redlegs managed to go through the entire 1878 and 1879 seasons unbeaten although when they did finally taste defeat, in 1880, it was, perhaps predictably, at the hands of Victorian.[5]

Football may only have been in its infancy at this time, but its participants and supporters knew how to celebrate. In the wake of a dramatic early win over ‘the Vics’, club patron Arthur Diamond even composed a song (to the tune of ‘Killarney’):

Then we met the sprightly Vics

With their little marks and tricks,

People thought ‘twould be a fix,

Too much for the Norwoods.

But like the Souths, the Vics were licked,

Traynor for us one goal kicked.

Cheer the bonnie red and blue,

Cheer the colours fast and true,

Keep their honour still in view,

Forward men of Norwood.[6]

In 1888, under the captaincy of Alfred ‘Topsy’ Waldron [7] Norwood took on the might of VFA premiers South Melbourne at Kensington [8] in a three-match series ostensibly to determine the championship of Australia. To the surprise of most observers the Redlegs not only won the series they achieved a clean sweep, with scores of 6.12 to 4.10, 6.8 to 2.11, and 6.4 to 4.15.[9] Behinds, although included in the published scores, were not actually counted until 1897.

In 1889, Norwood and South Melbourne again won their respective premierships but attempts to arrange a repeat of the previous year’s championship play offs fell through when the Victorians, who were entitled to home advantage, claimed - conveniently? - that they were unable to find a suitable ground. Championship matches between the Victorian and South Australian premiers continued intermittently after the formation of the VFL in 1897, but the credence accorded the matches tended to vary significantly depending on where you resided.[10]

some early champions

Among the many champions to don the navy and red colours during the club’s first three decades two sets of brothers - the Dalys and the Plunketts - stand out. Rover John ‘Bunny’ Daly was arguably Norwood’s finest player of the nineteenth century, while his brother Anthony (nicknamed ‘Bos’) was a phenomenal spearhead in an era of generally low scores. In a game against South Adelaide during his debut season of 1893 ‘Bos’ managed to split the uprights on no fewer than 23 occasions from 28 attempts, establishing a record which has since been equalled - by Ken Farmer in 1941 - but never bettered.

The four Plunkett brothers - Nug, Mick, Olley and Bill - all gave sterling service to the Redlegs around the turn of the century with Nug and Bill both skippering the side. In 1901 Bill managed the rare feat of playing in both the Norwood and West Perth premiership sides, while three years later he was appointed captain of Western Australia’s first ever state team.

In terms of actual premiership success, Norwood found the twentieth century to be considerably less productive than the nineteenth,[11] but there can be no disputing the fact that they remained one of the SANFL’s two most highly renowned clubs (the other being Port Adelaide). Over the years Norwood and Port have engaged in one of football’s most intense rivalries, with the origins probably going back as far as 1884 when the Portonians brought Norwood’s run of six successive premierships to an end. When Norwood downed Port in an at times brutal encounter in 1894 for the right to challenge South Adelaide for the premiership the feeling between the clubs intensified still further.

Prior to 1898 the premiership was normally awarded to the team with the best overall record during the season (although, as in the 1894 instance alluded to above, there were occasional exceptions to this); since the 1898 season, however, the destiny of the flag has been decided on the basis of a single match, whether the challenge final or the grand final. The intense drama that inevitably attended such occasions served to augment specific club rivalries, most notably that between Norwood and Port. In 1901, 1904 and 1907 the two arch-rivals faced one another in the ultimate match of the season with the Redlegs triumphant each time. The 1904 meeting was especially memorable, with Norwood recovering from a 35 point three quarter time deficit - a fairly substantial margin even now, but a huge one then - to win by 4 points.

Norwood’s success against Victorian opposition also resumed in this era. In 1906 the team travelled to Melbourne and, to an unusually generous press evaluation, won all three matches contested against the Ballarat Football Association, Fitzroy (second in that season’s VFL competition) and Essendon (fourth). The following season saw Norwood confront VFL premiers Carlton in Adelaide in a match designated as being for the championship of Australia. After a hard fought and high standard game Norwood proved too strong, winning 13.12 (90) to 8.9 (57) to underline their claims to be the best side in the country at the time.

It was probably the last time the club could make such a claim. In 1908, despite topping the ladder after the minor round, the club could not overcome West Adelaide in either the final or challenge final, while third place in 1909 and fourth the following year represented Norwood’s last involvement in the September action until 1920. Indeed, in the five seasons of league football contested between 1912 and 1919 (the SAFL going into recess between 1916 and 1918) the Redlegs managed just 14 wins from 60 starts, being consigned to the ignominy of the wooden spoon on no fewer than four occasions.

the Sid White era

The arrival of Walter ‘Wacka’ Scott as a player in 1920 is often regarded as the main inspiration behind Norwood’s return as a major force. Scott was one of the best and most influential half back flankers the game has known, rarely performing below par. He was in consistently sterling form in both 1920 and 1921 as the Redlegs ran second, and was a prime architect of the long overdue premiership win in 1922. After entering the finals in pole position the side downed South Adelaide by 11 points in a high standard first semi final before overrunning West Adelaide in the final by 33 points, 9.7 (61) to a lamentable 2.16 (28). Each Norwood player received the princely sum of £4 - rare reward for the time.

The pattern was repeated the following year when South Adelaide (8.10 to 2.9) and North Adelaide (9.12 to 6.4) were vanquished in quick succession, with a South Australian finals record of 37,000 spectators attending the second of these premiership deciders. The Redlegs’ coach in both 1922 and 1923 was former West Adelaide, North Adelaide and state ruckman Tom Leahy.

Norwood finished third in 1924 but were back to premiership-winning form in 1925. It was a real struggle this time though as Sturt in a semi final (7 points) and West Torrens in the final (1 point) offered stern resistance. Norwood was captain-coached on this occasion by veteran centreman Sid White, who before the first world war had twice won the club’s best and fairest award, and in the seasons immediately following its cessation was a regular member of South Australian interstate teams. White was widely regarded as:

" ... an entirely satisfactory leader. Not only (did) he direct the team well ...... he invariably (played) a determined and skilful game, coming through the crushes in great style.”[12]

Not for nothing is the first half of the 1920s often looked back on as ‘the Sid White Era’ (the immensity of Walter Scott’s contribution notwithstanding).

Great Scott!

Walter Scott took over coaching responsibilities from Sid White in 1926 and the club’s position at the forefront of South Australian football was maintained. With Scott himself at the peak of his playing prowess,[13] aided and abetted by players of the ilk of centreman Alick Lill (123 games and three club champion awards between 1923 and 1931, plus the 1925 Magarey Medal) and resolute full back Syd Ackland (133 games in ten seasons) the side enjoyed a 61% success rate over the next five seasons, playing off for the premiership on two occasions. The 1928 season brought a magnificent 8.13 (61) to 3.2 (20) semi final win over minor premiers Port Adelaide but when the pressure intensified a fortnight later in the challenge final re-match the Redlegs, inexplicably, were found wanting. A year later, however, it was Norwood’s turn to benefit from the challenge system when it thrashed the Magpies 16.14 (110) to 10.9 (69) before 35,504 spectators in the premiership decider having earlier succumbed by just 2 points to West Adelaide in a semi final.

The image of Norwood as a stable, family club does not withstand much scrutiny when one examines its record during the 1930s. During the ten year period between 1931 and 1940 the club used no fewer than ten different coaches, including four in a single season in 1935. Despite this, its on field record was not bad: it qualified for the finals in all bar two seasons, and while there were no further premierships, and indeed only one grand final appearance,[14] the side was almost always competitive. Among the champion players to don the navy blue and red during this era were centreman Albert ‘Pongo’ Sawley, the McCallum brothers -1936 Magarey Medallist Bill (who played all over the ground during his eleven season league career, but won the Medal as a centreman) and ruckman Perc, and forwards Tom Warhurst and Bruce Schultz, the latter of whom, in 1941, became the first ever Norwood player to register 100 goals in a season.

Schultz’s emergence, and the arrival at the Parade in 1940 of a young rover from Maitland by the name of Jack Oatey, coincided with something of a resurrection in Norwood’s fortunes. Jack Oatey is probably best remembered for his achievements as a coach but he was also a footballer of the highest order, polished, purposeful and precise. He won Norwood’s best and fairest award in his debut season, and repeated the achievement the following year when he was also runner-up (by three votes) to Glenelg’s Marcus Boyall in the Magarey Medal.

Norwood would retain its position as South Australia’s premier football club for another three seasons, but only because the SANFL’s administration felt impelled, by the exigencies of war, to place its full scale senior competition into recess. Between 1942 and 1944 a restricted competition took place which involved the eight league clubs pairing off on broadly geographical lines. Norwood joined forces with North Adelaide during this period and the Norwood-North Adelaide combination, decked out in the red and white playing uniforms of the northerners, proved to be the most successful of the four temporary partnerships, with premierships in 1943 and 1944. On this basis, and taking into account the comparatively weak pre- and post-war showings of North Adelaide, a reasonably strong case could be concocted for Norwood being the SANFL club most injuriously affected by the intervention of war. Not that such facile conjecture affords anything more than the most minuscule consolation to the club’s supporters.

Oatey's impact

Jack Oatey, having fine-tuned his tactical knowledge during a wartime stint with South Melbourne in the VFL, was appointed Norwood’s captain-coach in 1945. Aged just twenty-four, Oatey was not greeted with universal acclaim by his team mates, and indeed throughout his coaching tenure at the Parade there were some who persisted in viewing him with distrust. In part this was because Oatey was an immensely self-confident, forthright young man who was constitutionally antipathetic to the ‘politics of consensus’ by means of which most Australian football clubs of the time tended to operate. Paradoxically, this same forthrightness, when applied to the coaching sphere, was one of Oatey’s strengths, and a primary reason for his success.

After spending his first season, during which Norwood finished third, tightening his autocratic grip on team affairs, Oatey in 1946 spearheaded his charges to an emphatically memorable premiership. The team lost only three times all season, and in both the second semi final and grand final was much too strong for perennial arch rivals and reigning premiers, Port Adelaide. On grand final day, with a record crowd of 53,473 in attendance, the Redlegs never remotely looked in any danger after notching 4 opening term goals to nil. With centreman Blackmore, centre half back Holliday, five-goal ruckman Dalwood, and the irrepressible Oatey himself all prominent Norwood eventually won by 28 points, 13.14 (92) to 9.10 (64).

As far as most folk at the Parade were concerned, the 1947 season ought to have brought successive flags. Certainly the Redlegs were by some measure the most impressive team during the minor round, which they ended with a 15-2 record, 2 wins ahead of Port Adelaide, and 5 clear of both Sturt and West Adelaide. A 3 point second semi final defeat of the Magpies was hard work, but it engendered that all important week’s rest, and did nothing to diminish Norwood’s favouritism in most people’s eyes. Surprisingly, however, it was not Port Adelaide which qualified to meet the Redlegs in the grand final a fortnight later, but the largely unheralded West Adelaide, which had not participated in the ultimate game of the season for twenty years. Having already achieved finals wins over Sturt (by 59 points) and Port (by 38 points) the westerners felt they had nothing to fear, and on a rain-soaked afternoon they seized the initiative from the start and never allowed their more highly feted opponents leeway to respond. At the final siren the scoreboard showed West victorious by a margin of 5 straight goals, 10.15 (75) to 5.15 (45), and while no one at Norwood begrudged their opponents victory (at least not openly), there was a universal feeling that this was one flag which ought never to have been let slip. Jack Oatey in particular did not react well.

"There was no worse company than Jack after we’d lost a grand final," observed Redlegs centreman Sam Gallagher, "and no better when we won." [15]

Oatey was good company twelve months later after the Redlegs overwhelmed West Torrens by 57 points in the 1948 grand final, thereby avenging a 3 point second semi final reversal, and ‘coming of age’ by securing the twenty-first premiership in their history. Norwood led by 4 goals at quarter time only for Torrens to mount a strong, if somewhat wayward, comeback in the second term to move within 9 points at the long break. It looked to be anybody’s game but Oatey rallied his charges during the half time interval and the second half brought almost constant one way traffic with Norwood adding 10.10 to 3.7 to win with consummate ease. Centre half forward Ron Williams, who booted four goals, was most people’s selection as best afield in an even team display by the Redlegs.

Torrens achieved a measure of revenge by ousting Norwood from premiership contention at the preliminary final stage the following year but 1950 brought the inevitable Oatey backlash inspiring the Redlegs to pole position prior to the finals. One of the SANFL’s perennial underachievers up to that point in the shape of Glenelg had provided Norwood with its sternest challenge for most of the season, ultimately finishing just two points adrift of the Redlegs in second spot. Then, in the second semi final, with the stakes at their highest for the season, it looked for long periods as though the Tigers were going to advance straight to the grand final at Norwood’s expense. Ultimately, however, it was the Redlegs’ greater experience which told as they edged home - scarcely deservedly according to many in the media - by 5 points.

A fortnight later a completely different scenario unfolded as Norwood had a goal on the board within ten seconds of the start and thereafter there was only one team in it. With full back Ron Reimann keeping Glenelg’s century goalkicker Colin Churchett to just 1.3 for the afternoon the Bays’ major avenue to goal was blocked off, and elsewhere on the ground players like Tilbrook, Olds, Oatey, Blackmore and Marriott were in imposing touch. By quarter time Norwood led 7.5 to 2.2 and thereafter it was only a question of how great the Redlegs’ eventual margin of victory would be. In the end it was 47 points, but the really important statistic was that this was yet another premiership to add to the club’s already impressive record.

Few people leaving the Adelaide Oval late that grand final afternoon could conceivably have guessed that they had just witnessed Norwood’s last successful tilt at the premiership for a quarter of a century. Not that the demise was a precipitous one. Over the course of the next decade Norwood failed on only two occasions to contest the finals, and went within a game of the flag in 1952, 1955, 1957 and 1960. Overall, the side’s success rate of 53% was bettered only by Port Adelaide (which won no fewer than seven of the ten premierships on offer), and West Adelaide. However, increasingly there was a feeling that the side lacked the desperation, toughness and ferocity which had always been synonymous with flag success in Victoria, and which were becoming increasingly vital ingredients in South Australia as well. In hindsight, it is also feasible to suggest that Jack Oatey’s departure at the end of the 1956 season represented a body blow from which the club would need a good deal of time to recover. Oatey went to West Adelaide, where he achieved much (though not, alas, a premiership) with limited resources, and thence to Sturt where he eked out a reputation as arguably the greatest South Australian coach of the twentieth century.

a decade of decline .....

The 1960s would witness a further decline, and indeed would constitute arguably the club’s most inauspicious era. In the ten year period between 1961 and 1970 the Redlegs contested just one grand final, and were September protagonists on only two other occasions. In 1968 they ended up last in what by this stage was a ten team competition, arguably the club’s most ignominious return in more than 120 seasons of League and Association football.

That said, the Parade was still home to many prodigious talents. Defender Ron Kneebone (1966) won a Magarey Medal, while high-flying Graham Molloy became, in 1969, the first South Australian state representative to land a Tassie Medal. Other notable players to don the navy and red included 1961 All Australian ruckman ‘Big Bill’ Wedding, who won the club champion award five times in succession, ebullient rover Haydn Bunton junior, livewire wingman and triple club best and fairest Doug Olds, the elegant and versatile Peter Aish (father of 1981 Magarey Medallist, Michael), former Collingwood goalsneak Ian Brewer, highly skilled but often underrated wingmen Denis Modra and Peter Vertudaches, and Robert Oatey who, like his father, was a tenacious and highly skilled rover. Even in the club’s darkest hours during the late 1960s crowds still flocked to watch Norwood in action; indeed, the club’s record verifiable crowd of 20,280 was set in 1971,[16] which would prove to be the sixth season in succession that the Redlegs failed to contest the finals series.

..... followed by a period of resurgence

The following season, however, brought the first step out of the mire. Norwood qualified for the finals in fourth place, and although the first semi final against Central District was lost, it would be another twenty seasons before the Redlegs again failed to participate in the major round. During that twenty year period only Port Adelaide would win more premierships and enjoy a better overall success rate.

The foundations of Norwood’s return to pre-eminence were laid by Robert Oatey, who coached the club, for an ostensibly miserly return of just two finals appearances, between 1968 and 1973. Like his father, Jack, Robert Oatey placed the onus clearly and irrevocably on skill. Players spent long hours at training ironing out perceived deficiencies, ensuring that they could dispose of the ball equally well with both feet (and, indeed, with both hands), and performing drills aimed at augmenting teamwork rather than self-reliance. The result was a gradual, season by season improvement which meant that, when former North Adelaide champion Bob Hammond took over from Oatey as senior coach in 1974, he inherited a squad with genuine premiership credentials. If there was a missing ingredient, at least according to the popular contemporary perception, it was that the players, despite their undoubted skill, were mentally weak, and exhibited a concomitant tendency to crumble under pressure. What they needed was a mentor with personal experience of coping successfully with the type and level of pressure that confronted teams at finals time. Enter the aforementioned Bob Hammond, a triple premiership player with North Adelaide and arguably one of the toughest players in the state over the preceding decade and a half, to instil that ‘missing something’ into the mix, transforming a team of ‘bridesmaids’ into ‘brides’ in the process.

Superficially persuasive as this viewpoint might seem the truth was probably a trifle more mundane. In players like Phil Carman, Ross Dillon, Jim Michalanney, John Wynne, Neil Button, Roger Woodcock and Mike Poulter Norwood already had the nucleus of a flag-winning combination. In 1975, the increased maturity of these players, coupled with the arrival of two highly talented defenders in the shape of Rodney Pope (from West Adelaide) and Stephen Kerley (from Melbourne) gave the side the final necessary impetus to maneuver it from the status of contenders to that of bona fide champions.

Despite Norwood’s finishing the 1975 minor round at the head of the ladder with only 2 defeats it was Glenelg, which during the season had scored a large number of substantial victories, that was widely favoured for the flag. This favouritism was reinforced following a high quality second semi final which saw the Bays move straight into the grand final after comprehensively defeating the Redlegs by 29 points, 21.9 (135) to 16.10 (106).

Losing in the second semi final has often been seen in hindsight as affording a much needed impetus to eventual premiership-winning combinations (although it could equally be argued that the team which wins the second semi final tends to accord an exaggerated degree of significance to the achievement which spawns complacency a fortnight later). Whatever the reason, Norwood in 1975 quickly recovered from its disappointment by outclassing Port Adelaide 11.19 (85) to 8.7 (55) in the preliminary final, giving the pundits considerable pause for thought before the grand final re-match with Glenelg.

After a season of high scores and gargantuan winning margins [17] the ultimate game of the year was atypical in the extreme. In front of 53,283 spectators Norwood and Glenelg waged an all out war of attrition with neither side able to establish a decisive break at any juncture. Overall, however, the Redlegs appeared to have the edge in both desperation and incisiveness; they led for most of the afternoon, and when the final siren sounded the scoreboard showed a difference of two straight kicks between the sides, in Norwood’s favour. Scarcely a classic grand final, it was, nevertheless, as far as the navy and red fraternity was concerned, an extremely memorable one, ending as it did an unprecedented period of a quarter of a century in the football wilderness. Final scores showed Norwood 9.10 (64); Glenelg 7.10 (52), with ruckmen Neil Button and Michael Gregg, centreman Rod Seekamp, wingman Glen Rosser, and half backs Rodney Pope and Stephen Kerley among the leading lights for the victors. For Redlegs coach Bob Hammond it must have been difficult to decide which was the overriding emotion, elation or relief. Among the 3,000 or so Norwood aficionados who converged on the Parade later that evening were many who, two years earlier, had openly and vociferously questioned Hammond’s appointment, but dissenting voices now were conspicuous by their absence.

The weekend after the grand final saw the last ever Australian club championships with the premiers of South Australia, the VFL and Western Australia together with the Tasmanian state champions competing in a knock-out series at Football Park. Drawn to play Glenorchy in their opening match the Redlegs failed to impress, allowing their opponents to move within 10 points during the final term before scratching out a tentative 12.20 (92) to 8.11 (59) victory. Their performance against North Melbourne in the final was even worse: after a closely fought opening term the Kangaroos went on to annihilate Norwood, with the hefty final margin of 76 points, if anything, flattering the losers. Norwood’s hard won kudos had been seriously tarnished.

The team’s reputation in the national sphere would improve somewhat over the next couple of years, however. In 1976 the National Football League introduced a championship series involving leading VFL, SANFL and WAFL clubs, and Norwood made an immediate impact by consigning VFL heavyweight Carlton to its heaviest ever senior grade defeat up to that point (106 points) en route to a semi final ‘revenge’ meeting with North Melbourne. Once again, the Kangaroos emerged victorious, but this time the margin was just 18 points, and Norwood exited the competition with dignity intact. Many of the NFL matches, including Norwood’s clashes with both Carlton and North Melbourne, were played at Norwood Oval, under lights.

In 1977, in a competition which admittedly had been devalued somewhat by the defection of the VFL contingent, the Redlegs went all the way with wins against an ACT Combined Team, Port Melbourne, Sturt and, in the grand final, East Perth [18] to secure prize money to the value of $50,000.

Satisfying as Norwood’s achievements on the national stage were there was a feeling, promulgated by Bob Hammond among others, that they represented something of an undesirable distraction from the club’s primary objective, which as always was the winning of the SANFL premiership. After seeing his side finish fourth in 1976 and fifth in 1977 Hammond was determined that, in 1978 - Norwood’s centenary year - the players’ assault on football’s ‘holy grail’ should be absolute, exhaustless and unswerving.

It was. Indeed, a Hollywood script writer could not have concocted a more heroic scenario than that which unravelled over the concluding weeks of the 1978 SANFL season. Having sustained just 1 loss for the year, and having won most of its games by substantial margins, an irrepressible Sturt team was almost unbackable for the flag. Norwood, which had lost 7 times, figured in few pundits’ post-season calculations, and when it succumbed ‘inevitably’ to Sturt in the second semi final (having earlier played well in the qualifying final to overcome Glenelg) no one other than the most ardent, one-eyed Redleg barracker would have given more than a few cents for the team’s chances of taking out the ‘78 premiership.

Just as three years earlier Norwood faced arch rivals Port Adelaide in the preliminary final, and despite falling behind early on it ultimately emerged victorious by 34 points. Bob Loveday, skipper of the West Adelaide team which had inflicted the Double Blues’ only defeat of the season, felt he had seen enough in the Redlegs’ display to prompt him to ‘go against the tide’ in tipping the destiny of the flag:

".... I think Norwood’s win over Port last week will be a real confidence booster for them. It was such an efficient win. They were about five goals down at one stage but they didn’t panic. They methodically put their game together and the players have obviously got a lot of confidence in each other. Man for man, Norwood can match Sturt. The only deficiency in Norwood’s team as I see it is a spearhead. But they’ve got more overall experience ..... enough experience to win the grand final." [19]

The 1978 SANFL grand final, played in front of 50,867 spectators, was one of the most dramatic, emotional and exciting games in Australian football history. With the aid of a strong breeze Sturt comprehensively dominated affairs in the opening term but poor kicking for goal meant that it led by ‘only’ 28 points at the first change, 5.9 to 1.5. The Redlegs rallied somewhat in the second quarter, adding 4.5 to 3.6, but the Double Blues still looked to be in charge, and although they continued to kick poorly in the third term (adding 4.6 to 4 straight goals) there was nothing in the general pattern of play to suggest that Norwood, trailing as they did by 29 points at lemon time, and having managed just 19 scoring shots compared with 33, could turn things ‘round in the final term.

In the opening five minutes of the last quarter, however, Norwood exploded into life. Goals by Craig, Gallagher and Adamson gave notice that the game was far from over, and when Greg Turbill chipped in with a couple more to bring the Redlegs within a single straight kick of their opponents’ score Football Park was at fever pitch. Minutes later John Wynne, who earlier in the match had careered into the Sturt coaching box and attempted to intimidate opposition coach - and former Redleg hero - Jack Oatey, booted the goal which put the Redlegs in front. From here on a game which hitherto had flowed freely suddenly became tense and tight, with scoring at a premium. Tony Burgan’s goal after twenty-four minutes finally broke the deadlock, propelling Sturt back into the lead, but five minutes later Phil Gallagher kicked what proved to be the final - and winning - goal of the game after being somewhat fortuitously awarded a mark by umpire Des Foster. The game dragged on for another four minutes during which the Double Blues threw everything they had at the Norwood defence, but with backline players like Danny Jenkins and Michael Taylor performing heroically, there was no addition to the score. Impossibly, seemingly against all the odds, Norwood had won by the narrowest of margins, 16.15 (111) to 14.26 (110). Best for the Redlegs was young skipper Michael Taylor, with other fine performances coming from Neil Craig, Brian Adamson, Mick Nunan (ironically, a former Sturt star), Neil Button and Glen Rosser. For coach Bob Hammond and the 5,000 or so supporters who gathered at Norwood Oval on the evening of the match the celebratory champagne probably never tasted better.

The Norwood Football Club was now incontrovertibly a member of what was widely perceived as South Australian football’s ‘Big Four’, along with Glenelg, Port Adelaide and Sturt. Between them these four clubs won every SANFL premiership between 1974 and 1982 and occupied 17 out of 18 grand final places, with the Redlegs’ record during that period second only to Port Adelaide's.

Balme's impact

It was Port Adelaide which stood in Norwood’s way when the Redlegs, now coached by former Richmond identity Neil Balme, were next involved in the grand final action in 1980, and, despite a tenacious effort over the first three quarters by the men from the Parade, it was ultimately the Magpies who prevailed.

It was a different story in 1982. With Neil Balme still at the helm, and having qualified for the major round in third spot, Norwood enjoyed an uninterrupted procession to the flag with finals wins over Sturt (by 8 points), Port Adelaide (by 19 points) and, in an anti-climactic grand final, Glenelg (by 62 points). The win against the Tigers was closely fought for much of the first half but after the long break the Redlegs outscored their opponents 13.8 to 6.10. Garry McIntosh, a player who would develop into one of Norwood’s greatest ever servants (and games record holder with 371), was best afield in the grand final, with sterling support coming from Turbill, Jenkins, Neagle, Winter, Thiel and Stemper.

The 1984 season brought yet another chapter in one of football’s longest-running and most intense rivalries when minor premiers and warm pre-match favourites Port Adelaide fronted up against rank outsiders Norwood, which had qualified for the finals in fifth place,[20] in the SANFL grand final before 50,271 diehard fans at Football Park. South Australian football has undoubtedly produced better and more exciting matches, but few as bruising or intense. Norwood outplayed Port in the opening term to rattle on four goals to one but after that it became an evenly matched game and by the final change it was the Magpies who narrowly held sway (by 3 points) and who looked to be playing marginally the better football. However, if Norwood in 1984 possessed one quality above all others it was a never-say-die spirit. On one occasion during the minor round it had trailed West Torrens by 41 points at three quarter time and got up to win, while in both the first semi final (against Central District) and the preliminary final (against Glenelg) it had recovered from decidedly uncomfortable positions to edge home to victory. It would be no different in the grand final as Norwood raised the last quarter pressure to a level of intensity with which the Magpies could not cope, adding 4.2 to 2.2 to claim the flag by 9 points. Keith Thomas was best afield, with Neville Roberts (6 goals, taking his season’s tally to 106), Craig Balme, Michael Aish and Bruce Winter also prominent. In taking out the premiership from fifth position in a competition with a ‘final five’ system of playing finals Norwood established a record which still stands. After the grand final, coach Neil Balme, when making his traditional post-match visit to the opposition dressing room, told the Magpie players that “playing Port was the reason Norwood won”.

continuing to enhance the tradition

Despite near perennial finals participation there would be no further grand final appearances for Norwood until 1993, by which time the entire football landscape had changed significantly. Besides the arrival on the scene of the Adelaide Crows, the SANFL competition itself had seen changes, not least of which was the amalgamation at the end of the 1990 season of the Woodville and West Torrens Football Clubs. This new combination, popularly referred to simply as ‘the Eagles’ ,[21] proved to be a power from the start, and in the 1993 grand final they contemptuously brushed aside the challenge of Neil Craig’s Redlegs by 73 points. Not since 1952, when it lost to North Adelaide by a record 108 points, had Norwood succumbed in a grand final by anything like so discomforting a margin.

The Redlegs enjoyed near consummate supremacy in 1997 losing only twice during the minor round and finishing with a club record percentage of 66.93%.[22] On occasions, such as in their 122 point ANZAC Day annihilation of Port Adelaide, the Redlegs produced football of near AFL quality but then, as so often seems to happen, they received a peremptory wake up call in the second semi final, which they somehow contrived to lose to the Magpies by 22 points. A scratchy 11 point win over Central District in the preliminary final the following week intensified the doubters’ murmurings, but on the day that really mattered, grand final day, with a large crowd of 44,161 looking on, Norwood played with irresistible cohesion, purpose and skill to record a runaway victory.

With midfielders like Anthony Harvey (Jack Oatey Medallist), John Cunningham and Andrew Jarman in radiant touch the Redlegs had their Magpie opponents chasing shadows all afternoon as they chiselled out a win by precisely the margin with which they had lost in 1993, 73 points. The final scoreline of 19.12 (126) to 7.11 (53) in Norwood’s favour represented Port Adelaide’s heaviest ever grand final defeat and, coming as it did in the very season that Port’s controversial bid to enter a team in the AFL had come to fruition, the satisfaction it generated among the ‘red and blue army’ was, understandably, almost illimitable.

Things were much less satisfactory two years later, however, when Norwood, having - in an echo of 1984 - just scraped into the major round in fifth place, next qualified for the grand final. Once again the opposition was provided by Port Adelaide, but on this occasion the premiership cup was destined for Alberton. The Redlegs battled hard, despite being comparatively undermanned, but in the vital closing moments it was the Magpies who steadied to eke out a narrow but warranted 14.17 (101) to 14.9 (93) victory.

Following the 1999 grand final, Norwood endured an unaccustomedly hard time, even succumbing to a rare wooden spoon in 2004 (only the sixth in the club's history, and the first since 1968). The 2006 and 2007 seasons witnessed marginal improvement, but in neither year was the club sufficiently consistent to mount a realistic bid for finals participation. The Redlegs eventually reached the finals for the first time in six seasons in 2008, finishing fourth, but this was followed by a disappointing slump to seventh place in 2009. Since then, however, the club has reassumed its customary place as a league pace-setter. In 2010, the Redlegs qualified for the grand final for the first time in the twenty-first century, and came within a single straight kick of upsetting warm pre-match favourite Central District, a club which was contesting its eleventh consecutive premiership decider. A drop to third place followed in 2011 but in 2012, '13 and '14 the Redlegs were far and away the competition’s most powerful side, scoring comfortable grand final wins over West Adelaide and North Adelaide before just edging out Port Magpies. This was the first time since the nineteenth century that Norwood had achieved three consecutive senior grade premierships. As intimated, the triumph against Port was easily the toughest of the three with the Redlegs scraping home by just 4 points, 12.10 (82) to 11.12 (78). It was arguably also the most meritorious in that the club had had to rebuild almost from scratch after losing a swathe of players from the 2013 flag-winning combination.

Results over the past couple of seasons have been somewhat disappointing. In 2015 the Redlegs qualified for the finals in fourth place only to suffer a hefty reversal at the hands of Central District in the cut-thoat elimination final. The team fared even worse in 2016 when it won just a third of its minor round fixtures to slump to eighth place on the premiership ladder. The 2017 season brought a modicum of improvement as the Redlegs at least managed to return to the finals fray, but their involvement was fleeting as they lost their elimination final clash with Central District by 48 points. A year later they produced an excellent campaign which saw them claim the minor premiership before cruising into the grand final on the strength of a 9.15 (69) to 7.10 (52) second semi final defeat of Woodville West Torrens. However, when the heat was on during their grand final clash with North Adelaide it was the Roosters who responded, and who went on to eke out a deserved 19 point victory.

Despite its barely tolerable status as a ‘conduit’, the Norwood Football Club remains one of Australia’s proudest and most famous. Indeed, it could be argued that being a large fish in a medium-sized pond is preferable to being a minnow in the mighty ocean of the AFL - or, to put it another way, there is probably more chance of Norwood still being around in ten or a dozen years time than there is of the AFL still having its present complement of ten Victorian-based clubs.