Port Adelaide (2)

PORT ADELAIDE - Part Two: 1919 to 1973

When full-scale football resumed in 1919 Port Adelaide found itself in a fairly strong position, with pre-war stalwarts like Jack Ashley, Harold Oliver, Angie Congear, 'Bandy' McFarlane, 'Shine' Hosking, Jack Robertson, and Horrie Pope - all of whom had been members of the 1913-14 premiership teams - still available. Moreover, the district had continued to produce a large number of promising youngsters, notably Charlie Adams, Peter Bampton, Bert Olds, Eric Dewar and Charlie Maywald. All five of these youngsters would be in the next Port team to break through for a flag, in 1921, as would the equally talented Dayman brothers, Clem (ex-North Adelaide) and Leslie (always known as 'Bro'), both of whom made their Magpies debuts that same year. Of the pre-war brigade, however, only Oliver, who skippered the side, Congear and Hosking would remain.

'The Mighty Quinn' - click to enlarge.

Reflecting this 'change of the guard', football itself would alter considerably during the 1920s. Most significantly of all perhaps, by the end of the decade the Victorian Football League would have arrived at a position of unrivalled strength. Whereas prior to the war many of the game's best players had happily and frequently transferred between the three major state competitions (and, indeed, others) and, in so doing, had helped maintain a measure of uniformity of standard between them, the longer the 1920s wore on, the more the player traffic tended to flow in just one direction, towards Melbourne. That this trend had an inimical effect on the standard of football played in South Australia is indisputable, while as far as the Port Adelaide Football Club was concerned there was an inevitable erosion of self-image; after being beyond any reasonable doubt the strongest club in the land in 1914, by the early 1930s it was, in the eyes of some at any rate, merely a breeding ground for VFL players such as Quinn, Dayman, Hender and Waye. Not until the arrival on the scene of one Foster Neil Williams in the 1950s would the inferiority complex which this perceived state of affairs engendered begin to dissipate.

Back in the 1920s, however, Port's 1921 premiership combination lost little in comparison with its pre-war counterparts, although after totally dominating the minor round it did somehow contrive to lose a semi final to Norwood, thereby necessitating a challenge final against the same opposition.

In front of a then SAFL record crowd of 34,800 Port Adelaide duly made amends to secure a 9th title, but only after a dour, tense and strenuous encounter in which the result remained in doubt until late in the final term. Port Adelaide eventually squeezed home by 8 points, 4.8 (32) to 3.6 (24).

The remainder of the 1920s brought something of a roller-coaster ride for Magpies supporters as the team dropped out of the 'four' in 1922 before plunging to an undignified 7th spot on the ladder, ahead only of new boys Glenelg, the following year. For the 1924 Hobart carnival the club was only able to supply a single player - Leslie Dayman - to the South Australian team, the lowest total ever.

From the mid-1920s onwards there was gradual improvement as a number of talented players who had made their debuts in the early part of the decade began to find their feet. Chief among these were Arthur Hoffman, 'Punch' Mucklow, Laurie Hodge, Len Galliford, and future premiership captain Vic Johnson. When these players were joined by accomplished youngsters such as Tom Quinn, Bob and Ken Johnson, and Alan Hender the Magpies were poised for another concerted tilt at the flag. In 1928 the side topped the ladder after the minor round with a 14-3 record, and survived the by now almost traditional 'scare' of a semi final loss to Norwood, before clinching the premiership in style with a 15.14 (104) to 7.14 (56) 'revenge' demolition of the same opponents.

Port's tally of 104 points was the highest ever in a premiership-deciding match, but the record lasted only a year as in the 1929 challenge final Norwood booted 16.14 (110) to overcome the Magpies, who totalled 10.9 (69), by 41 points.

The 1930 season saw the side battle its way through to the grand final from 4th place on the strength of wins over Norwood by 3 points in the 1st semi final, and Sturt by 34 points in the final. However, in a closely fought challenge final minor premier North Adelaide just proved to have the Magpies' measure, edging home by 4 points, 9.13 (67) to 9.9 (63). The onset of the worst economic depression of the twentieth century had an inimical effect on attendances, with a crowd of just 23,609, easily the lowest since the war-affected 1915 season, turning up for the season's decisive match. In 1929, in fact, all four finals matches had attracted larger crowds than the 1930 challenge final.

Lew Roberts, 179 games for Port and Port-Torrens, mainly as a centreman, between 1937 and 1948. (Click to enlarge.)

The depression had other adverse effects as well. In 1931 and '32, Port Adelaide lost no fewer than four key players -Tom Quinn, Vic Johnson, 'Bro' Dayman and Tommy Waye - to interstate clubs capable of providing them with secure employment. Needless to say, the club's on field performances suffered as a consequence, although it still managed to reach the finals for 3rd and 4th place finishes. Not so in 1933, however, as the Magpies plummeted to 5th place, their lowest finishing position since 1924.

The 1934 season brought a remarkable turn-around though as a new generation of prospective champions began to impose themselves, including one of the game's earliest genuine ruck-rovers, Allan 'Bull' Reval, lanky ruckman Tom Kelleway, brilliant on-baller and centreline player Jack Dermody, and the first in a long line of ruggedly indefatigable full backs to serve the club, Ken Obst (see footnote 11). In addition, Vic Johnson had returned 'home' from a brief Tasmanian sojourn and captained the club for a record 5th season.

Lloyd Zucker marks strongly against North Adelaide. (Click to enlarge.)

It proved to be an extraordinarily closely contested year as Port Adelaide, with just one win more than in 1933, won the minor premiership on percentage from Glenelg. Back in 6th position, West Adelaide managed just two wins fewer than the leading pair, and even wooden spooners South Adelaide boasted a fairly formidable line-up as they proved with a 20.15 (135) to 13.15 (93) trouncing of Port in round 2. Overall, however, most observers regarded the Magpies as the team to beat, an assessment that appeared vindicated when they scored a runaway 65 point 2nd semi final victory over a hapless Glenelg side. Football has a strange habit of smacking you in the teeth when you least expect it, though: two weeks later in the grand final, the Glenelg players somehow found it within themselves to manufacture probably their finest all round performance since the club joined the league, and Port ended up on the end of a shock 9 point reversal. It was yet another reminder, as if one were needed, that grand finals are a game apart, and the quality of a team's minor round and early final performances ultimately have very little bearing on the destiny of the premiership.

Sadly, it was a lesson that had to be rammed home yet again in 1935: the Magpies once more did all the hard work, winning the minor premiership with a 12-5 record, and scoring a comfortable 17.17 (119) to 10.13 (73) 2nd semi final victory over South Adelaide, but in the grand final re-match a fortnight later it was the comparatively unfancied southerners who showed the greater desperation, cohesion and will-to-win to edge home by 8 points.

The 1936 season was one of special significance as it marked the centenary of South Australia's establishment as a British colony. By happy coincidence, there was also a marginal easing of the state's economic difficulties, with a concomitant increase in league attendances. Throughout the off season there had been enormous anticipation down Alberton way with the news that favourite son Sampson 'Shine' Hosking was returning to the club as coach after a successful stint in the same role with West Torrens. Meanwhile Jack Dermody would be replacing Bob Johnson as club skipper.

Prior to the opening round of the season, 'Corinthian', writing in the 'SA Football Budget', suggested that:

as far as it is possible to judge before the combatants have had the acid test applied, there will be none of the eight teams sufficiently powerful to dominate the situation. This ensures a keen fight for the premiership, and for possession of a magnificent cup presented by Mr. J.H. Gosse, a great supporter of our National game, who was one of its most able exponents when he played with Norwood just more than 30 years ago. (See footnote 12)

In predicting 'a keen fight for the premiership', the Budget was right on the mark. With two rounds to play, only Port Adelaide was securely ensconced in the top four, with four teams battling almost neck and neck for the other three places. Moreover, had the Magpies, who had just endured an inconsistent month, gone under in their last two matches they could conceivably have dropped as low as fourth.

Foster Neil Williams - click to enlarge.

In the event, Port scored solid wins over Glenelg and Norwood in the final two rounds, with the latter result in particular no doubt eliciting more than a modicum of pleasure at Alberton, given that it effectively consigned the Redlegs to 5th place on the ladder, and a spectator's role for the finals.

The Magpies of 1936 were a strong team all 'round, but with a particularly potent forward line in which full forward Jim Prideaux (86 goals for the year) and centre half forward Albie Hollingsworth (78 goals) excelled. Hollingsworth also won Port's best and fairest trophy in 1936, his second such award in three years. Another key factor in the team's pre-eminence was the uncanny 'team within a team' understanding of the Wightman (or Kelleway)-Reval-Quinn combination. The Quinn in question was Bob, younger brother of Tommy, who had made his league debut for the Magpies as an eighteen year old in 1933, and would go on to become one of Port Adelaide's, and the game's, greatest ever rovers.

In the 2nd semi final, Port's normally prolific forward line let the team down badly, managing just 13 goals from 39 scoring shots against a Sturt team that had rather less of the play, but kicked straighter, and won by 33 points. In the following week's preliminary final the Magpies returned to something approaching their best form as they overcame the challenge of North Adelaide by 6 goals 1, but there was division of opinion over whether their performance would have been good enough to trouble the Double Blues.

Tom Garland kicks truly against West Torrens. (Click to enlarge.)

As befitted the seminal nature of the occasion, the 1936 grand final proved to be one of the greatest ever. For most of the first half, Sturt looked head and shoulders the better team, winning in virtually every position, and leading at the main break by 28 points, 11.6 (72) to 6.8 (44). However, just as in the 2nd semi final, the Magpies lifted their game in the third quarter, with only bad kicking for goal - some of it, admittedly, attributable to the intense pressure brought to bear by the Blues' backmen - preventing them from edging in front by the final change. As it was, 4.8 to 1.2 was enough to bring Port to within 4 points, and the scene was set for a torrid, nail-biting final term, with the Magpies snatching the lead for the first time shortly after the resumption, only for Sturt to fight back and reclaim it shortly afterwards. Fortunes ebbed and flowed throughout the quarter, and with less than a minute remaining, and the scoreboard showing Port in front by just 3 points, Sturt goalsneak, 'Bo' Morton, one of the most accurate kicks for goal in the league, marked within easy scoring range. With the odds emphatically on a Double Blues triumph, Magpie back pocket Bobby Meers proved an unlikely hero as his yell of "Bo, there's something hanging out of your shorts!" put the Sturt champion off to such an extent that his kick slewed off the side of his boot and out of bounds. According to the rules in force at the time, this meant a free kick to Port (see footnote 13), and the Magpies duly retained possession for the final few seconds to clinch arguably the most memorable premiership win in the club's history up to that point. Final scores were Port Adelaide 13.19 (97) to Sturt 14.10 (94).

Under the same Hosking-Dermody leadership pairing the Magpies made it two flags in a row in 1937 after trouncing Norwood by 63 points in the 2nd semi final, and overcoming popular favourites South Adelaide by a comfortable 4 goal margin in the grand final.

The blue and whites had their revenge over Port in 1938, winning the grand final with somewhat unsettling ease by 46 points, but in 1939 the Magpies, despite the loss of coach 'Shine' Hosking, who had returned to West Torrens as coach, were bolstered by the arrival from Norwood of 'big Bob' McLean, as well as other newcomers in Dick Maynard, Reg Schumann, Claude Greening and 'Brick' Hoffman in their line-up, and were back to their best. This season saw the re-introduction of the boundary throw-in, as well as a revised 'holding the ball/holding the man' rule which placed the onus on the player tackled to relinquish the ball, legally, within a split second of being grabbed.

With reigning best and fairest Bob Quinn, who had earlier been refused a clearance to the VFL, installed as coach in place of Hosking, the Magpies journeyed to Thebarton Oval, the home ground of their former mentor's team, West Torrens, for the opening match of the 1939 season, little realising that it would provide a preview of the grand final. After an absorbing tussle, Port's 'machine-like' style, in which ruckman McLean, proto-ruck-rover Reval, and rover Quinn were especially conspicuous, held sway by 5 goals. Thereafter, the Magpies scarcely put a foot wrong, scoring some memorably emphatic wins, and rounding off the minor round with an 89 point annihilation of Torrens. The following day, war was declared.

For the next few weeks, football no longer dominated the news headlines, and, perhaps not surprisingly, attendances at the first three finals were significantly lower than for many years. Nevertheless, as far as possible, Bob Quinn and the Port hierarchy tried to maintain an atmosphere of 'business as usual' ahead of the 2nd semi final clash with reigning premier South Adelaide, a match in which the Magpies did just enough to qualify for their sixth premiership play-off in succession.

Rex Johns - click to enlarge.

For the grand final, in which Port faced a West Torrens team that had played impressively in overcoming South by 35 points a week earlier, the South Australian football-loving public made a determined effort to forget the war, turning up in record numbers (see footnote 14) in anticipation of a thrilling spectacle. Unfortunately for everyone except Port Adelaide supporters, it was scarcely that, as the Magpies racked up a grand final record 44 scoring shots in overcoming a decidedly ineffectual West Torrens side by 47 points. Only Port's characteristic waywardness in front of goal prevented a massacre.

Just as in 1914, the Magpies had arrived at a peak of excellence on the eve of war, and just as in the years after 1914 they would be prevented, by the impact of war, from building on that excellence. Indeed, taken as a whole, the 1940s would prove to be Port Adelaide's most unproductive and frustrating decade of the twentieth century, albeit that the team's under-achievement during this period would contribute directly to the recruitment of the man who would prove to be the architect of not only arguably the greatest era in the club's history, but of the 'modern Magpies' (and Power) ethos itself.

The Magpies' resolute and reliable full back, Ron Elleway, in action against Glenelg. (Click to enlarge.)

While the war was at its peak between 1942 and 1944 the eight SANFL teams formed temporary pairings in order to enable football of league standard to continue to be played despite the drastically reduced numbers of players available. Port Adelaide forged a short-term alliance with West Torrens, winning 72% of all games played, which was comfortably the best overall record of the four teams. However, despite reaching all three grand finals, the alliance managed only one premiership win.

When full-scale league football resumed in 1945, Port Adelaide and West Torrens players found themselves facing a fourth consecutive grand final, although on this occasion they would be adversaries. Having won the minor premiership with 5 wins more than Torrens, and having won both minor round encounters between the sides, the Magpies were warmly favoured to win, and during the early stages of the match they appeared to have everything well under control. At one stage during the 1st half Port led by 32 points, but Torrens refused to give in, and after half time they displayed superior pace, fitness and will-to-win, and but for poor kicking for goal might easily have won by considerably more than the eventual margin of 13 points. The match was watched by a new grand final record crowd of 47,500.

A noteworthy feature of Port's 1945 season was the addition to its ranks of one of the greatest players ever to grace the game, Haydn Bunton senior. Having won three Brownlow Medals with Fitzroy and three Sandovers with Subiaco, Bunton was, and remains, the most decorated individual in top level football history, and although clearly past his best he gave the Magpies solid service in what proved to be his final 16 games of league football.

The remainder of the 1940s saw Port Adelaide's fortunes decline dramatically, 2nd place to Norwood in 1946 being followed by 3rd in 1947, and then the unthinkable indignity of 2nd from last with just 4 wins from 17 games in 1948. Marginal improvement under the coaching of Reg Schumann followed in 1949, but the team still finished 4 wins and a substantial amount of percentage out of the four. Drastic measures were required, but the Port Adelaide committee was confident that it had earmarked just the right man to get the club back on track. That man was champion South Adelaide and state centreman Jim Deane, popularly regarded, along with Bob Hank of West Torrens, as one of the two best footballers in South Australia.

Deane, it emerged, was very interested in the post, and so all that was required to wrap things up was a clearance from his club, but this was much easier said than done. South, perfectly understandably, regarded Deane as indispensable, and would not release him. Consequently, Port was forced to re-advertise its vacancy, plumping in the end, to the astonishment of many observers, for a man with only 54 games of league football under his belt, Foster Williams of West Adelaide. Despite being widely acknowledged as the most damaging rover in the SANFL, Williams had no previous coaching experience, and was not even captain of his club. Nevertheless, to their immense and everlasting credit, the members of the club's management committee discerned something gem-like hidden away beneath Williams' raw, craggy exterior.

Space does not permit an in-depth analysis of Fos Williams' coaching style, nor a detailed account of his many successes. Those interested in such things will find them in John Wood's excellent account of the history of the Port Adelaide Football Club between 1939 and 1990, Bound For Glory, as well as in the more recent Dynasty by Michaelangelo Rucci. Some key facts are worth highlighting, however. In the first place, Williams, unlike his great rival Jack Oatey, was no purist. Football, for him, was essentially a simple game, in which the most desirable qualities were energy, strength, leg power, stamina and courage - courage, indeed, most of all. Without these qualities a player possessing the combined skill of 'Polly' Farmer, Barrie Robran, Robbie Flower, Gary Ablett and Darrel Baldock would, if let loose in league company, be left floundering like a fish out of water. Williams saw the truth of this matter graphically emphasised almost every time South Australia took the field against the VFL. The South Australians could kick, mark and handle the ball every bit as well as their opponents - until the pressure was applied, after which they tended to perform like fumbling schoolboys. As coach of both Port Adelaide and South Australia, Williams would make it a personal crusade to try to ensure that all of his players took to the field with a mindset which maximised rather than masked their capabilities; in this, he was only partially successful, especially in the interstate arena, but the successes which he did achieve had an enormous impact on raising expectations and standards, as well as on rendering the sport of Australian football in South Australia more overtly 'professional'.

Bob Clayton looks set to fire off a handpass. (Click to enlarge.)

Williams' impact on a somewhat demoralised and under-achieving Port Adelaide side was immediate and pronounced. In his first season in charge the Magpies reached the preliminary final, and the following year saw them impose themselves on the competition in redoubtable fashion. A 2 goal loss to West Torrens at Thebarton in round 9 proved to be the side's only reversal for the year. In the finals, North Adelaide was comfortably accounted for twice, and Port Adelaide had secured one of the most comprehensive premiership triumphs in league history. Half back flanker Alan Greer, renowned for his exhilarating downfield dashes, was best afield in the grand final, with centre half back Ted Whelan not far behind. Future Magarey Medallist Davey Boyd, just twenty-one years of age, gave a veteran's performance in the centre, while second year Victorian import John Abley gave a hint of what was to come with a miserly performance on the last line of defence.

A week later, Port met VFL premier Geelong in a challenge match on the Adelaide Oval, but poor kicking for goal ruined an otherwise commendable display, and the visitors won by 8 points.

Port's 1967 Magarey Medallist, Trevor Obst, is reluctantly led from the fray. (Click to enlarge.)

During the remainder of the decade, Port Adelaide contested every grand final bar that of 1952. It lost by 7 points against West Torrens in 1953, and then embarked on a remarkable, if not quite unprecedented, sequence of six consecutive wins. Equally remarkably, the side won minor premierships in 1953-4-5-6-7 and '59, emphatically and repeatedly demonstrating that it was head and shoulders above every other team in the state. This is not to suggest that it was never seriously challenged: indeed, all bar one of its winning grand finals - that of 1955, against Norwood - were closely contested, with only the Magpies' trademark desperation and desire, coupled on occasion with a morsel or two of luck, standing between them and defeat.

Fos Williams actually left Port at the end of the 1958 season, handing the coaching reins over to Geof Motley, but it would be extremely difficult to attribute the club's 1959 premiership success to anything other than the residual effects of the Williams influence. Once this had worn off, a Port team with essentially the same group of players dropped to 3rd place in 1960 and '61, but on Williams' return in 1962 the Magpies immediately rediscovered their accustomed pre-eminence with flags in 1962-3, a runners-up berth in 1964, and another flag - Williams' 9th as coach - in 1965.

Among the surfeit of stars to don the famous black and white during the 1950s and '60s were triple All Australian full back John Abley, Magarey Medallists Geof Motley, Trevor Obst, Russell Ebert, Peter Woite, and the aforementioned Dave Boyd, wingman or centreman John Cahill, whom many regard as the finest SANFL player not to win a Magarey Medal, champion rovers Ray Whitaker and Jeff Potter - not to mention Williams himself, of course, full forwards Rex Johns, Wally Dittmar, Neil Hawke and Eric Freeman, ruckmen Lloyd Zucker and Ted Whelan, defenders Dick Russell, Roger Clift, Neville 'Chicken' Hayes, Ron Elleway and Dennis Errey - the list could go on and on.

Perhaps the individual best placed to come up with a definitive list of the finest Port players of the Fos Williams era would be the great man himself, and fortunately we have just such a list, for in the late 1990s he selected the following as his 'Best Port Adelaide Team 1950-73':

Forwards:	Paul Marrett	Rex Johns	Jeff Potter
Half Forwards:	Geof Motley	Ian Hannaford	Dave Boyd
Centres:	John Cahill	Russell Ebert	Bruce Light
Half Backs:	Neville Hayes	Roger Clift	Peter Woite
Backs:	Doug Spiers	John Abley	Dick Russell
1st Ruck:	Lloyd Zucker	Ted Whelan	Fos Williams
Interchange:	Brian Luke	Harold McDonald	Ray Whitaker
Interchange:	Peter Marrett	(See footnote 15)

On the eve of Fos Williams' final match in a Port jumper, the 1958 grand final, the 'Football Budget' paid glowing tribute to a man it described as a 'football fanatic':

For any footballer whose initial attempt to get into football was rebuffed by Sturt 18 years ago , to retain still the enthusiasm of a raw recruit is amazing. But that's Fos Williams. At 36, and with 202 games behind him, he could now be expected to show a little less interest in the game than before. Not him. Watch him when he picks up the ball for a few handpasses or little kicks in the dressing room before a game. His fingers stretch in anticipation, he grins almost fiendishly, his eyes fairly blaze with excitement.

Williams, carefully chosen to be their playing coach nine seasons ago, when he was a star with West, must become a legend in Port's history. Tales about him are already in the history books of Port gossip. For instance, at the first players' night after he had been appointed coach, an official whispered to him, "We want you to address the team". Williams was aghast. "I've never addressed a crowd before," he replied. That left the official aghast. Between them, they cooked up an address of sorts, which Fos stumblingly got across.

There's no stumbling or halting now. Nor has there been for years. When he likes, he can blister the paint off the clubrooms. He gives himself away, though, when things are going well, and he doesn't want the team to think he is TOO pleased with them, by the tell-tale quiver at the corners of the mouth as he tries to stop smiling.

Perhaps he has had good players to work with. However, the nine years (1950-58) cannot fail to go down in Port's history as the 'Foster Williams Era'. There can be no finer tribute. (See footnote 16)

The 'Foster Williams Era' would last a good deal longer, of course. After his three year 'sabbatical' from 1959-61, which included a season as coach of South Adelaide, Williams would spend another twelve seasons at Alberton. However, the point about 'good players' is well made, and would be reinforced during the club's unprecedented 'barren spell' between 1966 and 1976 (see footnote 17), when clubs which emulated, to an extent, the Port Adelaide style, and which were blessed at the time with better players, put the Magpies temporarily on the back foot. Chief among these clubs were North Adelaide under Mike Patterson, and Neil Kerley's Glenelg. Kerley, a former West Adelaide player and coach, had suffered as much as anyone at the hands of Williams' supreme 1950s and early '60s combinations, and although his own teams were generally regarded as playing with rather more 'science' than the Magpies, they were every bit as aggressive, determined and wholeheartedly committed to the 'one per cent' aspects of the game.

Fos Williams congratulates North Adelaide captain Bob Hammond after the Roosters' victory over Port in the 1972 grand final.

Fortunately, Port Adelaide had a man who also recognised the importance, in the context of a modern game which allowed for greater meticulousness of preparation, of superimposing tactical astuteness and intelligence on the trademark attributes of 'pressure' football. His name was John Cahill, and he would go on to have an overall impact on the club every bit as extensive, pronounced and, one ventures to imagine, lasting as that of his mentor.

Where now?

Go to Port Adelaide Part 3

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Footnotes

11. Ken Obst's sons, Peter and Trevor, later also represented the Magpies with distinction, amassing an overall total of 591 SANFL games, which included Peter's 51 with Woodville. Return to Main Text

12. 'The SA Football Budget', 2/5/36, page 5. Return to Main Text

13. Unlike today's rule, the ball did not need to travel out of bounds on the full. Return to Main Text

14. The official crowd figure was given as 44,885, which was 585 more than the previous record, set in 1924. Return to Main Text

15. Dynasty by Michaelangelo Rucci, page 301. Return to Main Text

16. 'SA Football Budget', 27/9/58, page 6. Return to Main Text

17. Technically, the eleven year gap between the 1965 and 1977 premierships only equalled the record established between 1939 and 1951. However, full-scale league football was not played between 1942 and '44, and, in any case, the combined Port Adelaide-West Torrens team was successful in procuring the 1942 premiership. Return to Main Text