NORTH WHYALLA
Current Affiliation: Whyalla Football League (WFL) since 1939
Club Address: P.O. Box 191, Whyalla 5600, South Australia
Colours: Black and white
Emblem: Magpies
Senior WFL Premierships: 1939, 1941-2-3, 1948, 1950-1, 1954-5, 1966, 1977-8-9, 2008 (14 total)
Mail Medallists: Nil
Whyalla News Medallists: Lyall Kretschmer 1943; Mick Vanvacas 1961; Barrie Robran 1966; Bert Haslam 1967; Rodney Robran 1970; Allan Bongetti 1978; Peter Calliss 1985; Julian Snowden 1992; Trevor Growden 1994 (9 total)
| MINI-BIOGRAPHIES: | Neil Kerley Barrie Robran |
North Whyalla was a founding member in 1939 of the Whyalla Football League and enjoyed considerable success over the ensuing couple of decades.
The club's 1954 and 1955 premiership victories were achieved under the coaching of one of football's all time greats in Neil Kerley, who was then on a brief sabbatical from league football. Kerley won North's best and fairest award in both years, and in 2001 was selected as vice-captain of the official WFL 'Team of the Century'.
Among the other Magpie stars to make that team was Barrie Robran, whom some have rated the most gifted individual ever to play the game. In 1966, Robran helped North Whyalla to its first flag since the Kerley Era, and was a joint winner of the Whyalla News Medal. Barrie's brother Rodney was also a fine footballer: he topped the WFL goal kicking list with 52 goals in 1969, and emulated Barrie by winning the Whyalla News Medal the following year. Both siblings enjoyed highly successful SANFL careers with North Adelaide.
After winning a trifecta of senior flags in the late 1970s the Magpies tended to struggle somewhat for the better part of three decades before breaking through to claim their fourteenth senior flag in 2008. Opposed in the grand final by West Whyalla, North trailed by 13 points at the last change, before coming home with a wet sail to add 4 goals to nil and win by 10 points, 11.7 (73) to 9.9 (63).
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