SANFL 1973 Grand Final – Glenelg v North Adelaide: The Stud Gets Up

 

The 1973 SANFL Grand Final was the first time that Glenelg and North Adelaide had played off for a flag. Glenelg had been on the losing end against Sturt in 1969 and 1970, but Neil Kerley’s seventh season with the Bays saw them in unstoppable form after they’d missed the finals in 1971 and 1972.

 

Mike Patterson’s fourth season at Prospect had the Roosters looking to complete a hat trick of premierships.

 

The temporary stands on the eastern side of Adelaide Oval were once again in place, but for the last time as the SANFL was moving to its own headquarters at West Lakes in 1974.

 

It was a tantalizing match-up.

 

The Budget’s early foray into colour photography threw together some uber-70s fonts, some hard to read branding, a curious mix of Peter Marker marking in front of Graham Cornes and a presciently determined cameo of North’s captain Bob Hammond.

 

 

 

An orange Johnnies credit card. Every home had one.

 

 

 

Note the absence of any peripheral entertainment provided by the SANFL. None was needed.

 

KA didn’t update its ad to reflect that there was no need for ‘around the grounds’ today. ‘Woody’s’ was of course, Woodroofe’s, which was South Australian for soft drink.

 

 

The good old ‘Tiser. The not so good old Chesson.

 

 

 

That font persists throughout. The Magarey Medal presentation didn’t quite follow the Budget’s script as Robran’s pre-match preparations took precedence over the proposed presentation. North President John Blunden accepted the medal on Robran’s behalf.

 

Everything went better with Coke back then, including Ouzo, as I would discover in another half a decade.

 

 

 

Not one of Farrant’s better efforts.

 

 

 

Even Kentucky Fried employed the latest in typefaces. Kern-el Sanders anyone?

 

 

 

The doyen of SANFL stats summed up each club’s notable numbers from 1973. A pity that Ern was so fixated with 1907.

 

 

 

Gibbs. Not in the top 10 of pies.

 

Motley and Greer was the latest in a long, long line of SA sports stores. A pity that they referred to Allen Green in the fine print. They moved to larger premises near Trim’s not long after this.

 

 

 

Looks like Nine was tipping the Bays. What a feast of finals footy.

 

 

 

Neil ‘King’ ‘Knuckles’ Kerley was looking for his third coaching premiership at his third club. He’d come close against Jack Oatey’s Sturt in 1969 and 1970.

 

Mike ‘Swamp Fox’ ‘Patto’ Patterson had an enviable record at Prospect so far, but this was to be his last Grand Final.

 

Vale Kerls. Vale Patto.

 

 

 

Yeah, right Caltex.

 

 

 

The time-honoured JD Travers $300 Oil Heater Award. I hope it came with free installation.

 

Gee that bloke’s tie was a bit on the lairy side.

 

 

 

Adidas had the market cornered. I never did find out what Jim Rawson (18 down) was.

 

 

 

If Jimmy’s pub adjacent Norwood Oval was only two miles from Adelaide Oval, I hope he passed his annual visit from Weights and Measures.

 

 

 

The Petrol Wars were fought out on the pages of the Budget, blissfully ignorant of the looming Oil Crisis.

 

 

 

Did Peter and Ern accompany Knuckles aboard the Marco Polo? I didn’t think so either.

 

 

 

This is the creepiest ad in Budget history. After hours 31-5755 is all you need to know about the Channel Nine Football Inquest host’s venture into personal financial services.

 

 

 

Ellers was Glenelg President from 1968-1980. His TV ads were legendary. He was the pioneer of production line reconditioning and witty vehicular ditties.

 

Glenelg’s 1934 flag was followed up with a wooden spoon eighth in 1935, seventh in 1936 then four more consecutive spoons.

 

 

 

Someone forgot to change the heading, didn’t they Kim?

 

North spanked the Tigers early in the season, the only defeat they suffered that year. Super Carey had a huge day in the return bout at Brighton Road.

 

That pinus mulch sounds painful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictorial season review (with that font again) was an excuse to trot out some of the Budget’s favourite photos. Who’s ‘Jesser’? Should Max James’ ten Coca-Cola Cup goals have been counted?

 

 

 

 

Jack Cahill finished his career kicking off the Prelim Final dew, while Big Den played footrest to Neil.

 

 

 

Rupe’s News short-changed itself during the finals as no-one needed to refer to the separate Progress Scores page. Teaser’s columns ran a very distant fourth to Lawrie, Ray and Sheff.

 

 

 

The Thirds (U19s) Grand Final was won by Torrens 17.14.116 to 14.19.103. Number 32 was indeed David Hookes. Future Eagles league players were Scott White, Paul Rivers, Brenton Miller, Alan Green, Garry Wyatt, Mark Pavlich, David Raggatt and Murray Forbes. The Bays had future stars in Kym Hodgeman, Stephen Copping and Paul Weston. Other Tigers who went on to appear in the firsts were Reg Pollard and Glen Todman.

 

 

 

 

The Peckers were too good for the Magpies, winning the Second’s (sic) flag 17.16.118 to 13.13.91. Port’s side was sprinkled with players destined for senior greatness such as Kym Kinnear, Ivan Eckermann and Tony Giles. A very solid ruck lineup of Keith Spencer and Paul Marrett plus Colin Northcott (93 Seconds goals for the season so far) and Trevor Sorrell and Port looked the team to beat on paper. Under veteran Gary Edwards, the young Woodville side got the most out of Lindsay Heaven, Peter Meuret, John Girardi and Ray Buckley (father of Nathan).

 

 

 

 

All but Arch Wilkey made the selected twenty from this fact-filled list of Roosters. North had recruited widely as shown by player origins like North Whyalla, Claremont, Kangaroo Island, Terang via Essendon, Murrayville and Minlaton. David Marsh was worthy of a photo, but little else.

 

 

 

 

Laurie Rosewarne and Colin Anderson were the unlucky members of the Bays roster come match day. No mention was made of Stephen Hywood’s recent time at the VFL’s Tigers. The understated par for Bob Tregenza was on the money. Greg Wickens was a ‘prodigie’ – I thought he looked more like a bodgie.

 

 

 

No-one left Stillwell’s empty-handed or heavier in the wallet after a run-in with the King.

 

 

 

Rosewarne and Osborne watched on. North listed its entire squad.

 

Total Football wasn’t confined to the round ball game according to NWS9.

 

 

 

Note that ‘Direct’ didn’t necessarily mean ‘Live’ at the ABC.

 

 

 

Goals, goals, goals. Names, names, names.

 

I jumped the fence at the Southern End of Elizabeth Oval to give Russell Cropley a hearty pat on the back when he brought up the ton a few weeks before.

 

 

 

The first year of the top five had North narrowly lose the 2 v 3 Qualifying Final against Sturt in the first weeks of the finals.

 

The Roosters reversed this result resoundingly in the Preliminary Final.

 

Fourth placed Port was bundled out by Norwood in the Elimination Final, but the Maggies were given a repechage in the Coca-Cola Cup. Jack Cahill’s final game yielded some minor silverware thanks to Max James’ perfect ten. Barry McKenzie was everywhere in 1973.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Budget kept up its recent nod to history with this comprehensive telling of the previous fifteen Grand Finals. The photo of Bubbles Obst and Wombat Rigney (and their sprigs) is worth the price of the Budget alone.

 

 

 

Sturt was not a very sociable club it seems.

 

 

 

This truly national scoreboard is chock-filled with famous footy names, but my favourite phrase is Sierakowski by R Devenish-Meares.

 

Murray Ducker brought up his hat-trick of Grand Finals.

 

 

 

What a steal $40, plus $30/year.

 

Mick Goreham postillioned Brugan at 4s in the Navy Week Handicap. Asgard into Kildare Pride took out the Daily Double.

 

 

 

What the heck was Virginia?

 

 

 

They should’ve used Munns at the Docklands.

 

 

The lead up

Minor Premier Glenelg was a clear front runner, losing only once (to North at Prospect in Round 7) in its twenty one Minor Round games. Sturt and North took the other double-chance spots, with Port and Norwood filling the Elimination Final berths.

 

The centre diamond was introduced in 1973, resulting in an average of two extra goals per game, 206 points compared with 194 in 1972. When it was re-jigged by 45 degrees as the centre square in 1974, this tweak was accompanied by an extra half a goal per game.

 

Norwood disposed of Port by six goals in the Elimination Final, which was played at the Redlegs’ home ground. Sturt edged out North by six behinds at Adelaide Oval in the Qualifying Final.

 

The Parade was also the venue for the First Semi-Final, which North won by five points in a bobbing finish over the home side. Glenelg was untroubled by Sturt and swept into its third Neil Kerley-helmed decider by almost ten goals.

 

The Roosters unexpectedly mauled the Blues in the Preliminary Final by a whopping 93 points, 25.18.168 to 9.21.75. Goals galore from Dennis Sachse (six goals), Rodney Robran (six) and Barry Hearl (five) finished off the brilliant teamwork of Charlie Payne, John ‘Sticks’ Phillips and Barrie Robran. Sturt’s star-studded best player list of Nelson, Bagshaw, Nunan, Davies, Burgan and Adcock hinted at the 1974 season’s outcome.

 

While North had been the only side to toss the Bays during the season, Glenelg’s 160 point win in the return bout at Brighton Road was fairly described in the Budget as a massacre.

 

Although North appeared to strike form at the right time, the consensus was that Glenelg would add to its solitary 1934 flag win.

 

 

The Match

Was this the greatest ever SANFL Grand Final? The last Adelaide Oval decider prior to the Football Park era remains the highest scoring. The margin was a single point when Murray Ducker raised both arms for the final time (future North Adelaide player John Sandland added a goal after the siren).

 

The frenetic final quarter had everything – Glenelg led by eight points at the final break. The Tigers and Roosters traded goals, until Kerry ‘Bomber’ Hamilton’s simple shot from a free made the margin fifteen points. Successive majors from Rebbeck (his fourth), Dennis Sachse (his season’s 105^th) and the reliable Plummer (who was actually a butcher) gave the Roosters a five point lead and hope of North’s first ever back-to-back-to-back flags.

 

Despite 29 minutes having elapsed, there was still time enough for Graham Cornes to etch himself into SANFL immortality, with a mark that wasn’t as spectacular as it sounded on the radio call in faraway Elizabeth South. The resultant goal, threaded from a tricky angle at the end of an exhausting game, returned the lead to Glenelg. The Bays negotiated the final minute and a half of the 35 minute final quarter before Sandland iced the cake that had been baking since 1934.

 

Cornes may have kicked the most famous of match-winners, but Glenelg’s best players overall were Peter Carey (19 kicks, 12 marks, 6 goals from CHF), Bob Tregenza (who defeated Garry Sporn and John Spry, rucking virtually solo for three quarters after Bob Tardif was injured), the ultra-determined Hamilton and rover Rex Voigt (seven goals plus a last quarter goal that was overturned).

 

For the valiant losers, Captain Bob Hammond kept his side in the game at full-back, especially in the last relentless quarter and held Bay spearhead Fred Phillis goalless. It was Hammond’s final game for the club as he took over the coaching reins at Norwood in 1974. Rover David Marsh racked up 23 kicks and two goals and Alan Howard ably supported Hammond in defence.

 

The performance of field umpire Murray Ducker was in fitting with the match itself.

 

 

Video

There are a few videos available of this game of varying quality and coverage. This one is a clever overlay of 5KA’s radio commentary on top of the traditional cigarette company Grand Final film, thanks to Youtuber ‘Footy Film SA’.

 

 

 

 

The Wash Up

Thanks to the wonderful site gfchistory.com, the local media response to this historic day can be found HERE

 

 

The match has been relived in many Grand Final Budgets, including this one from 1987.

 

 

The late doyen of Australian Football history John Devaney covered the match extensively HERE

 

Mike Coward graphically had this to say about the post-game ‘celebrations’ at Brighton Road.

 

Finally, for a young Peter Jakobsen, it truly was the ‘Greatest Game of Football Ever Played’ read more HERE.

 

 

 

The Next Week

Glenelg’s win meant another week of footy, in the Champions of Australia. HERE is how I saw that weekend.

 

The Future

Glenelg reverted to type over the next decade, making but losing Grand Finals in 1974, 1975, 1977, 1981 and 1982. North’s fifth place in 1975 was the best that it could muster until these clubs faced off again in the 1985, 1986 and 1987 Grand Finals. The Tigers won the first two of those, before the Roosters turned the tables in 1987.

 

 

 

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