South Adelaide: The Kerley Years 1964-1966
The 1960s generally was a time of social change; in the SANFL it was notable for the introduction of the Central District and Woodville teams to the senior SANFL competition, the rise of the Sturt club as a powerhouse and the bottom–to-top South Adelaide premiership under Neil Kerley.
The South Adelaide Football Club, established in 1876, had periods of success in the early years of the competition and again in the 1930s, but after World War II it languished at the bottom of the SANFL premiership table. There was a series of unsuccessful coaches, including legendary Port Adelaide player and coach Fos Williams. In 1957 South adopted the panther as its emblem but this did nothing to improve its performances. In 1963 the Club once again finished bottom in the eight-team SANFL competition, winning only two games.
But the talent was there, it just needed to be harnessed.
Neil Kerley had been the captain coach of West Adelaide grand final teams and had established a reputation as a tough and skilful footballer with a fanatical desire to win. At the end of the 1962 season he lost the captain-coach position as a result of a disagreement with the West hierarchy. He played on with Westies in 1963 but was restless and disillusioned.
So in 1964, Kerley was enticed to the role of playing coach with South Adelaide. He was not cleared to play until round seven but quickly stamped his mark on the team which had some very good players including young star ruckman Peter Darley, David Kantilla, Lindsay Backman, Bob Schmidt and the speedy Alf Skuse.
Kerley instilled discipline, professionalism and above all, physical fitness into a team which had been essentially a relaxed social club where frequent losses were shrugged off. In all these areas Kerley led by example.
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His tactics were simple but effective. Darley in ruck would feed the ball to rovers Ian Day and Alan White, and his field marking was outstanding. Skuse played on a half forward flank rather than rover, which allowing him to use his pace to ‘burn off ‘opponents and kick goals. Centreman Lindsay Backman was encouraged to roam forward and kick goals while tall, high-marking Tiwi-Islander David Kantilla was a back-up ruckman to Darley, resting in a forward pocket where he could contribute valuable scores. The defence, led by Dick Jackson and Bob Schmidt and Graham Durbridge was tight and tough.
South won five of its first six games, then defeated the mighty Port Adelaide in front of a record crowd at Adelaide Oval, with Kerley finally cleared to play. Kerley could now add his own playing talents and on-field leadership to the strength of the team.
South finished the 1964 minor round with seventeen wins, second on percentage to Port Adelaide which was the powerhouse of the competition.
After narrowly losing the second semi final to Port Adelaide it easily defeated Sturt in the preliminary final to set up the memorable 1964 Grand Final, in front of 56,000 at the Adelaide Oval.
South were never headed and won 9.15 to 6.12, with Kantilla, Day and Skuse its best. This was a triumph for Kerley, and heralded a new era in the SANFL with Port’s dominance ending and with South, then Sturt dominating the remainder of the decade
Five days after the Grand Final, South played VFL premier Melbourne under lights at Norwood Oval, losing narrowly in a stirring clash. The Neil Kerley-Ron Barassi clash alone was worth the price of admission.
South was now the darling of the press and Darley, Kerley, and Kantilla the pin-up boys. A bottom-to-top premiership had only been achieved once before in the SANFL, also by South Adelaide in 1935 under ex-Port player Vic Johnson.
In 1965 Darley injured his knee in a pre season trial game and missed the whole season, a major blow for Kerley’s Panthers. Kerley replaced him with fledgling ruckman, Brian Roberts who was to go on to a highly successful football career in three states. Kerley played splendidly, eventually to be runner-up for the Magarey Medal. Despite Darley’s absence South was still the team to beat and once again finished second to Port at the end of the minor round.
The Second Semi Final against Port is notorious amongst South supporters. Port won by five points with a goal after the siren, when spectators streamed on to the ground and prevented the South players from spoiling the ball. After this heartbreaking loss South lost the Preliminary Final narrowly to the emerging Sturt team, and its season was over. This controversial semi final loss, and Darley’s absence, almost certainly cost it a second successive premiership in 1965.
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Injuries in 1966 also greatly affected the team fortunes. Darley returned mid-season, but Lindsay Backman missed the whole season with a knee injury and his silky skills were hard to replace. However, the team performed well to finish third at the end of the minor round. Tigerish rover Alan White sustained a life-threatening and season-ending ruptured spleen in the last minor round game against Port, on which second place and the double chance in the finals rested. (Sturt had secured the minor premiership).
Port coach Fos Williams’ tactics were to rough up the South team and stop Darley and White from dominating. Port won, leaving South to play the elimination First Semi Final against North Adelaide.
After a tough and depleting game against Port, the South players were ‘flat’ for this game. Darley and Kerley were below par and the North rucks dominated, with North leading from start to finish. South’s season was over and it was not to contest finals again for a decade.
Sturt went on easily to win the Grand Final against Port and begin its run of five premierships.
During the 1966 season, some South officials had questioned Kerley’s tactics, team placements and game plans. Kerley always was open to opinion but believed that final decisions in these areas rested with him, and was not impressed.
He was made a lucrative offer to coach bottom team Glenelg for the 1967 season, and since he did not have a written contract with South was free to go. He left reluctantly as he had formed a strong bond with the playing group which he retains to this day .
The group still meets for annual reunions, including the milestone 50th held in 2014 at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval. Kerley describes his time at South as ‘pretty special” and ranks South’s bottom-to-top premiership in 1964 as his greatest achievement.
Kerley was to take Glenelg to its second ever premiership while South languished for a decade after he left, and is still yet to win another flag.
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To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the last Panthers’ SANFL League premiership, Randal Williams has released The Kerley Years 1964-1966. This recounts the famous bottom-to-top 1964 season under new captain-coach Neil Kerley, and the 1965 and 1966 seasons with the drama and controversy of the 1965 second semi-final, and the injuries and disappointment of 1966 prior to Kerley’s departure for Glenelg. He draws on Club and SANFL records, media articles and player interviews and recollections to depict the most successful period in the post-War history of the Club. The book is illustrated with photographs and memorabilia of the period. Copies were presented to the premiership players at their recent fifty-year reunion at the Adelaide Oval.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Randal Williams is a semi-retired surgeon who began supporting South Adelaide in 1964, and has been on its club doctor panel over many years. With South having only fleeting success since 1964 he became fascinated with that period when Neil Kerley captain- coached the club to its most successful period since World War II and decide that this unique achievement needed to be analysed and recorded.
Copies available from the South Adelaide Football Club for $15.00 (incl. GST) with all proceeds to the Club.
Comments
Julien Peter Benney 19 October 2014
I’ve been very interested in the history of South Adelaide, partly because of their age as a club and the lack of information or books in local libraries that have quite a bit of good information about football clubs, so this is very revealing.
It would be great to go back a bit further at least – to the beginning of the 1960s – to see how South Adelaide were developing in the early 1960s when the ‘Full Points Footy’ biography said they did “everything but win” in many matches during 1963. ‘The Advertiser’ took a measured response to South Adelaide’s success in 1964, but took more notice and seemed more surprised that was ‘The West Australian’ when Swan Districts – whose winning percentage between 1946 and 1960 was only marginally higher than South Adelaide’s between 1945 and 1963 – jumped suddenly to the top in 1961. Like South Adelaide, who finished last in 1969 after losing their last sixteen matches, Swan Districts had a fall as abrupt as their earlier-decade rise – in 1968 Swan Districts were exceedingly lucky not to suffer a winless season.
It was certainly exceptionally common for football clubs to have sudden changes of fortune in the 1960s than it is now – perhaps because there was no influence from a national league preventing a club suddenly building up strength, perhaps because a cooler and wetter (in Perth) climate made for a relatively larger potential talent pool since shorter people were not useless as they are now. Also, there was more movement between clubs than in earlier decades, and in SA and WA a more effective zoning system.
Randal Williams 9 November 2014
Thanks Julien. I agree that the period leading up to 1964 for South Adelaide needs closer examination, and in retrospect could have been part of 'The Kerley Years 1964-1966" . Certainly if I get a chance to do a second edition of the book it is one of the things I will add. Once you see a book in print you can think of a lot of ways to improve it! I agree that the advent of salary caps means that it is less likely we will see these bottom -to -top turnarounds in Football Clubs. Remember that North Melbourne "bought' a premiership in the mid 1970's with players like Malcolm Blight, Gary Dempsey, Barry Davis and Barry Cable imported into the Club.You can't do that now. Thanks for your input. One day we might see the full history of South Adelaide in print!
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