Norwood in the 1870s

[RustyCage]

From: http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/manning/sa/sport/footy.htm

The Norwood Football Club
It is not my intention to traverse the history of the Norwood Football Club because much has been written and published on its progress since its foundation in 1878. However, in recent times I had the pleasure of reminiscing with two 'old-timers', Joseph Sharp and Harry Leaver, and this is what they had to say to me:

The Reminiscences of Joseph Sharp
'I started playing football in about 1874 as a member of the 'Old Vics' team which played at the foot of Montefiore Hill. In those days there were also the Ports, Woodvilles, South Adelaides and Kensingtons. The "Vics" played with a round ball and were famous for their little marks. We never dreamt of punting a little mark, but drop kicked in order to obviate the charge that the ball had been thrown; there was no pushing behind, but all good square jolting.
'Arthur Diamond, who used to write verse and patter for theatre pantomimes, composed a song to the tune of "Killarney", which the Norwoods sing to this day:

Then we met the sprightly Vics
With their little marks and tricks,
People thought 'twould be a fix,
Too much for the Norwoods.
But like the Souths, the Vics were licked,
Traynor for us one goal kicked.

'Some members of the "Vics" were George Downs (captain), Charlie Warren, H.R.("Plucky") Barry, Alec Frayne, Alf ("Duffy") Miller, Will Knill (one of the finest kicks the football arena ever saw), Bob Poole, "Young'un" Davis, Fred Fiveash, G. Kingsford, Ted Atkinson, Tom Hall, Bill Osborne (a demon to fight), Dick Wills, George B. Bryant (once Mayor of Port Augusta) and others whom I forget.
'When the Norwoods came into the arena they had a hot team culled from the different clubs. A.J. Diamond and J.R. Osborne were the leading spirits, with the powerful patronage of the greatest and most cosmopolitan supporter of athletics I have ever known - Sir Edwin T. Smith - whose generosity in connection with my pet sport, rowing, and other organisations with which I was connected, was remarkable.

'I cannot call to mind many names at the moment but I do recollect A.S. Young, Tom Letchford (who gave me the best "buster" I ever experienced on the Norwood ground on the east Park Lands), L.H. Suhard (who came over with a Melbourne team and remained here), George Giffen (swift, strong and kicked like a horse), Joe Traynor, Julian and Ted Wood, Barrett, Harry Burnett, George Liston, Fred Terrell and Tom Blinman...'

The Reminiscences of Harry O. Leaver
'How my blood tingled with excitement when the "Old Vics" went to Victoria, and how with pride I heard of the doughty deeds of this famous team. Though only in my teens, I well remember the time, and being domiciled in North Adelaide I felt it my bounden duty to give my whole-hearted support to the orange and black guernsey ("Tigers" they were called).
'We boys stood to rise or fall by the dear "Old Vics" and we hated the redlegs. Yet in spite of our hatred they carried all before them. But we knew that their victories were due to the importation of men from Melbourne and that only intensified our bitterness. 'As soon as Arthur Diamond came over to Adelaide as manager of Falk & Co's wholesale jewellery warehouse he associated himself with Norwoods. From that moment success came to their net. Arthur Diamond was instrumental in bringing leading Melbourne footballers over who linked up with the Norwoods. I can run through a list of names such as McShane, "Paddy" Roachock, McMichael, "Billy" Bracken, Joe Pollock, Lou Suhard and last, but not least, that grand old player, Joe Traynor - a more gentlemanly player never stepped into the football arena and the secret of his play was that he neglected the man for the ball. What a grand example for the present-day players to follow.

'In those days there was no gate money; the game was played for the pure love of the sport. Thus, although the Norwoods brought men from Melbourne, there was no monetary consideration attached to it, but positions were found for them... Arthur Diamond had great influence... and the Norwood Cricket Club owed its phenomenal success to that gentleman because many of the footballers he brought over also played for the cricket club.

'Joe Traynor himself was a very fair bowler and 'Topsy' Waldron was a regular stonewaller. Traynor, being a Norwoodite, was the sworn enemy of us boys. Didn't he kick the only goal of the day at Montefiore Hill, the Vic's trysting ground when Norwoods and Vics were playing off for the premiership... That game will always live in my memory. I could go to the spot where Joe placed the ball. It was at a most acute angle, close to the clump of trees on the western boundary and it seemed impossible for the leather to be put between the uprights from such an angle.

'I think Joe must have sent up a fervent prayer for the wind to favour him as he was placing the ball. One could almost hear the proverbial pin drop. Would he do it? After measuring off his ground, Joe turned, ran, and kicked. The ball sailed fair and square in front of the posts, seemed to pause for a moment in mid-air, then the breeze caught it and gently carried it between the sticks. The suspense gave way to excitement; excitement gave way to a roar like thunder. The redlegs were beside themselves with joy. It was a great game.

'I met genial Joe Sharp in the street the other day and asked if he remembered the song composed after they had licked the Vics. There was fire in Joe's eyes as he recalled the game. He began to warble, to the tune of "Killarney", part of the war cry, and on going into his office he put it on paper for me, but could not recall the chorus. To that part of the song I am indebted to Eric Tassie - the following is the chorus:

Cheer the bonnie red and blue,
Cheer the colours fast and true,
Keep their honour still in view,
Forward men of Norwood.

'The fifth verse of the war cry is the poetic effort of "Topsy" Waldron, the popular Norwood skipper in those days. Topsy's enthusiasm so outran all bounds that he stepped in where angels feared to tread and bubbled forth as a poet. Perhaps when Norwoods hear the song as sung by their forbears when they were flushed with victory, it will stimulate them to gain the laurels next year.'

'Topsy' Waldron Remembers
'Topsy' Waldron commenced with Norwood in 1879 and for nine of the 13 years he played for the 'Redlegs' he was entrusted with the leadership of the team, a position he filled with credit. There is probably no footballer in the State whose reign as captain will compare with his, because he filled every position on the field, except that of follower. He came to Adelaide as a backman.
'Topsy' Waldron was an astute leader, a born footballer, while his dodging was phenomenal. It was said that the ball followed him, but the fact was that he had an uncanny judgement as to where the ball was going, and he knew, intuitively, what to do with it the instant he got it. More than that he saw every weak spot in his own side as well as that of the opponents and how to remedy one and take advantage of the other. It has been said that he was brought to South Australia by the Norwood club, but in a recent conversation with Mr Waldron he told me:

It was a toss up whether I went to Sydney or go to Adelaide, but my friend, Alf McMichael persuaded me to travel west. McMichael was one of the wonderful Norwood champions of those days. He could run 100 yards in 10 seconds and follow all day.
I was born at Mornington, Victoria, in 1857, and in my youth moved to Melbourne with my parents and joined a junior football team known as the 'Montagues'. At that time football was more like 'stacks on the mill'. One man would get the ball and the others would try to deprive him of possession. The umpire would be a man chosen from the crowd that had gathered. He would pull off his coat and perform the important role as central umpire.

From the 'Montagues' I went to Albert Park, which was the first team in which I took a keen interest. In course of time I went to Carlton and from there I came to Norwood and played for the easterners in their second year of existence; that was in 1879. Norwood had annexed the premiership in the previous year and did the same for the next five years.

He was thoroughly at home with his new team and his performances did much towards winning nine premierships from 1879 to 1890, the latter being the last premiership side in which he played. Shortly afterwards he gave up the game. He recalled how, in 1890, while playing Fitzroy at the home ground, the arena was flooded and said that the ball floated throughout the match and the players did not worry about changing ends or having spells between quarters.

Comparing the game of today (1910) with that of the period when he played he was a little dubious. Finally, he said :

Our 1888 team was a wonderfully strong side. Of course, there are many good players now, but there is not the same amount of individual effort as we saw from Jack Daly, Jack Woods and Jack Watson. However, the football is not so good as it used to be because there is too much handball now.
A Personal Reminiscence
As I look at the earliest photographs of the 1878 Norwood team, one is struck by the bewhiskered faces of some of the players who were heroes to my children in those bygone days. Harry Thurgaland, a former North Melbourne player, wore a long beard, similar to the cricketer, Dr W.G. Grace. Tom Letchford, perhaps one of the heaviest men ever to have played the game, wore bushy whiskers which gave him a good-tempered benevolent expression, quite in keeping with his kindly nature. Johnny Low, a Victorian, with a fine singing voice, had a peculiar wriggling style of dodging and Tom Blinman also wore beards.
L.C. Shuard was probably the greatest place kick that ever played in South Australia and he was of inestimable value in kicking off. In those days the side that lost the toss, or had a goal kicked against it, kicked off from the centre and he always operated for Norway, landing the ball among the opposing backs.

Football lost a great player when George Giffen determined to confine his energies to cricket. He would cap brilliant runs that paralysed all opposition with superb kicks, turning in a moment the whole tide of play. Joe Osborn, Norwood's first captain, was handicapped by the loss of an eye in a bow and arrow accident in his youth and was always nervous about any one coming on his blind side. He never spoke about it, and few knew about it. Many spoke of Joe Traynor as the 'Prince of Followers'. Perhaps he was, but he might also have been dubbed the 'Prince of Growlers', for throughout a game he growled and grumbled, but that was all that could be said against him. He was conscious of his shortcomings, but declared that it was only good-natured criticism.

Billy Bracken was the funny man of the team. A fine, tricky player, he was a difficult man to watch, but he was one of the most consistently crooked kicks I ever saw. He would have been a better backman. No one was more conscious of his lack of success as a goal kicker, but he explained it by declaring that his right foot squinted and his left foot was blind! Those were the shining lights of the team, though Joe Pollock, an indefatigable follower of infinite grit, must not be forgotten, nor Arthur Terrell and Fred Letchford, the youngest members of the team, who were brilliant wingmen.

Little marks were a feature of the game then, and it is little wonder that the Football Council abolished them. A player with the ball would put up his foot, as if to kick, and throw the ball to a comrade. Nine times out of ten the foot did not touch the ball. It made a very close scrambling game, which could not be compared with the more scientific passing of today. Handball, one of the most delightful phases of today's game was unknown in the early days.

With the elimination of the little mark, the interminable scrambling on the boundary whenever the ball went out has disappeared from the game. The umpire threw the ball in and it had to touch the ground before it was in play. The followers were all crowded and as soon as a player saw the ball was coming in badly for his side he touched it. If that system had been continued the Australian game would not be as popular as it is today. Another feature of early football was that each side appointed its own goal umpire and it might be taken for granted that when a goal was signalled there was no shadow of a doubt about it!

To me it seems as if some of the old-time players stood out more than the dons of today, but it is a question whether that is not due to the greater all-round excellence of the teams that now go on to the field. It would require a superman to stand out from the talent round him with the surpassing brilliance that characterised such men as Waldron, Traynor and McMichael.

[RustyCage]

As much as Im not a Norwood supporter, this article absolutely fascinated me, reading an interview with someone who played in the 1880s, very special and rare indeed.

[Leaping Lindner]

Excellent find PAFC 1870. Very interesting not just for Norwood fans but football history buffs generally.'Topsy' Waldron must have been something of a football genuis. I've also read a bit about him in "Red and Blue Blooded".

Nice to see someone using the history forum for history

[RustyCage]

I found a huge list of articles on early football in South Australia, and also of the Port Adelaide Football Club, which I will try to find some at the State Library over the next few weeks as Im on holidays from uni.

[Interceptor]

Liked a couple of parts from the Topsy Waldron section:

The umpire would be a man chosen from the crowd that had gathered. He would pull off his coat and perform the important role as central umpire.

We've moved on a little from those days...

Comparing the game of today (1910) with that of the period when he played he was a little dubious. Finally, he said :

Our 1888 team was a wonderfully strong side. Of course, there are many good players now, but there is not the same amount of individual effort as we saw from Jack Daly, Jack Woods and Jack Watson. However, the football is not so good as it used to be because there is too much handball now.

Then again!

[am Bays]

Top stuff PAFC 1870 Shit there is some good stuff there.

[am Bays]

Little marks were a feature of the game then, and it is little wonder that the Football Council abolished them. A player with the ball would put up his foot, as if to kick, and throw the ball to a comrade. Nine times out of ten the foot did not touch the ball. It made a very close scrambling game, which could not be compared with the more scientific passing of today. Handball, one of the most delightful phases of today's game was unknown in the early days.

Seem they had problems with the chip and possession game back then too.....

[spell_check]

This sort of stuff fills in the void that is created when people who post on here who are only old enough (some are) to remember back to the 60s'.

Now if we could only get people in their 80s' to post on here and talk about footy back in the late 30's to 50s'.