Back to Norwood Part 2
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 which 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 instill 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
maneuvre 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 2nd 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 2nd 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 2nd 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. |
The man who arguably sowed the seeds of Norwood's resurgence in the 1970s, Robert Oatey. (Click on the image to see an enlarged version.) |
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Noel Pettingill, who played 133 games for the Redlegs between 1969 and 1976, and who had one of the longest kicks in League football at the time. (Click on the image to see an enlarged version.) |
After a season of high scores and gargantuan winning
margins (see footnote 17) the final 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 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 (see footnote 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 4th in 1976 and 5th 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, Sturt 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 2nd 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." (See footnote 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 (for a detailed, goal by goal account of the game,
click here). 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 2nd 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 3rd 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 Turbil chipped in with 2 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 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 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 champion), 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. |
Norwood's 1978 skipper Michael Taylor holds aloft the 'holy grail' of South Australian football, the Thomas Seymour Hill Cup. |
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.
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 for 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 3rd 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, was best afield in the grand final, with sterling support coming from Turbil, Jenkins, Neagle, Winter, Thiel and Stemper.
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Dual Magarey Medallist Garry McIntosh. |
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 5th place (see footnote 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 4 goals to 1 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 1st 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 5th 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". |
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' (see footnote 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% (see footnote 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 2nd 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 5th 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.
Since then, Norwood has 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, 2007 and 2008 seasons witnessed marginal improvement, but only in the last of those years, when it ultimately finished fourth, was the club able to procure finals participation. A year later the Redlegs suffered a marked decline in form and fortune to finish well out of the premiership running in seventh place.
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.
Where now?
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17. Glenelg's total of 49.23 (317) against Central District on 23 August, for example, remains an Australian record in what used to be referred to as 'first class football'. Return to Main Text
18. Norwood won a controversial and spiteful match 10.9 (69) to 9.7 (61) which gave rise to allegations of 'home town umpiring' from the sandgropers. Return to Main Text
19. Quoted in 'The South Australian Football Budget', volume 53, number 29, 30/9/78. Return to Main Text
20. After 6 games of the 1984 season Norwood languished in 8th spot with just 1 win. Thereafter it made a creditable recovery, winning 12 of its final 16 minor round games, but few of its performances bore the premiership patent. Return to Main Text
21. The official name of the new organisation, which played its home games at Woodville Oval, was the Woodville-West Torrens Football Club. Return to Main Text
22. Port Adelaide's 1914 unbeaten champions of Australia with 67.68% was the only team ever to have recorded a better season's percentage. Return to Main Text
