SANFL: Autumn in the Jungle

 

Glenelg v North Adelaide

2:40pm, Saturday May 13

Glenelg Oval

 

 

Saturday was one of those days when autumn gives you a wink and says, ‘You are welcome’.

 

Riding along the tram line is pure pleasure. Through crimson leaves dusting the bike path, over the miserable congestion of South Road, past Morphettville with the rhythmic clopping of horseshoes and onto The Bay. All accompanied by birdsong in air so clear you can see the Gulf approaching.

 

I chain the treadly up and enter Glenelg Oval via the bomb shelter gate just in time to see the 1973 Premiership team being introduced. They walk on stiff knees in a cloud of grandchildren.

 

‘It is fifty years, fifty years,’ says Graham Cornes in a way that implies the question, where has half a century gone?

 

The Bays are playing North Adelaide to celebrate the anniversary. The oval is perfectly lit by the sun and framed by white pickets. The old time clock that counted down so many memorable matches has gone along with the old manual scoreboard that was operated by a volunteer wearing a dust coat.

 

In its place is a digital screen that fires into life blaring Guns N’ Roses’ Welcome To The Jungle, at which point an animated tiger (with a hint of Shere Khan from the Disney version of The Jungle Book) rolls its shoulders and lets out a roar. Then a rooster charges across its gaze and a pursuit begins and ends with feathers everywhere.

 

It is not 1973 anymore.

 

On the hill, the old boys settle in to sign autographs and pose for photos. A couple behind me are swept up in nostalgia and begin a thorough discussion of the legacy of the Whitlam government.

 

On the field, the Tigers more or less re-enacted the scoreboard graphic by eliminating the Roosters.

 

At one stage they booted about seven unanswered goals. Some beautiful patterns of passing that ended with a leading forward marking the ball in outstretched arms. The crowd purred as the kick arrows through. Then a centre bursts out of the middle and drops the ball onto his shin, sending a helicopter kick that lands on the chest of an unsuspecting forward flanker. He too goals. It is that kind of day.

 

When North kicks a goal to start the final quarter a group of Prospect loyalists let out a chorus of rooster crows that is strangely affecting. They receive a nod of approval from opposition fans. When they have two more shots on goal the nods disappear. Then Liam McBean kicks his fifth and there is a mutter ‘We needed that settler.’ The lead is 50 points.

 

As the sun floats toward the Eyre Peninsula the shadows begin creeping and the first hint of crispness starts in the air. A cry ‘Yes the Bloods,’ tells all that West Adelaide has upset Norwood at Port Lincoln. Improbably, last year’s premiers are winless after six rounds. A question is raised as to what will happen when Glenelg meets Norwood – will the animated scoreboard tiger shred a pair of red socks?

 

 

GLENELG      16.14.110

NORTH ADELAIDE   8.5.53

 

 

 

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