Season 1970 pt1

Anything to do with the history of the SANFL

Season 1970 pt1

Postby FOURTH ESTATE » Sat May 09, 2020 6:25 pm

1970
With no football to go to or watch live and because I am bored with no club magazine to write for my local club, let’s take a trip back 50 years to 1970 and the “Age of Aquarius” and the Dominance of the Sturt Football Club.
Football in South Australia was about to enter the Golden Era of football in the state. While the 60’s had seen South Australia begin to rise to prominence on the main stage the 70’s is where the state really took off.

I was always fascinated even as a Bay Man by Sturt’s dominance in the 1960’s. The Sturt side was built on skill and finesse unlike it’s Port Adelaide counterpart who won 6 Premierships in a row during the 1950’s

The Football landscape changed in the 1970’s with the rise of the “Big Four” Sturt, Port Adelaide, Glenelg & Norwood winning 8 of the 10 premierships between 1970 – 79. North Adelaide whilst winning Back-to-Back flags in 1971 & 72 never seriously challenged again after their 1973 Grand Final appearance with a sole finals appearance in the 1975 Elimination Final. Woodville, Central District, West Adelaide, South Adelaide & West Torrens all put in finals appearances with only South Adelaide playing off in a Grand Final while West Torrens continued their losing streak in finals dating all the way back to the 1954 Preliminary Final.

Following the 1969 Season 3 of the ten clubs changed coaches. Geof Motley finished up at North Adelaide and was replaced by 1967 Richmond premiership player Mike “Swamp Fox” Patterson as Captain/ Coach.
South Adelaide after finishing bottom in 69 replaced Peter Darley with favourite son Jim Deane but it was to no avail as the Panthers again took out the wooden spoon. After their first finals appearance in 6 years West Torrens replaced Essendon premiership rover John Birt who had been at the helm for two years with former Port Adelaide triple premiership player Allen Greer, John Birt stayed on as player. 1970 was also to be the final season for triple Magarey Medallist Lindsay Head finishing with a state record at the time of 327 games. Glenelg also had a slight change in the coaching ranks with Neil Kerley continuing on as a Non-Playing coach following his retirement as a player after the 1969 season and Ken Eustice taking over as captain for the season.

The season opened on the 4th April with 4 - time defending Premier Sturt easily accounting for last year’s preliminary finalist West Adelaide at Richmond Oval by almost 9 goals. Glenelg began the season with a comfortable 9 goal win over Woodville at the Bay in which Fred Phillis continued on with his goal kicking prowess from 1969 to open the season with 12 goals. Central District had a 21pt win over South at Adelaide Oval. North Adelaide under new coach Mike Patterson gave West Torrens a football lesson by 99 pts at Prospect while Norwood which finished in 9th place the previous year accounted for Port Adelaide at Norwood by 26pts.

Round 2 would see the Magpies give a Glenelg at 49pt thumping at the Bay while Last year’s 1st semi-final’s competitors West Adelaide & West Torrens played out a highly entertaining game at Richmond with the Blood’s getting home by 10pts 17.13 to 15.15.

In round 3 North Adelaide suffered their first loss for the season going down to the Magpies at Alberton Oval by 6 goals, while in the Anzac Day Grand Final re-match the Double Blues again proved too strong and defeated the Bays by 28pts at Adelaide Oval to give the Tigers a 1-2 start for the season.

Round 5 would see the West Torrens get their first win for the season with an 18pt win over Norwood at Thebarton. Glenelg almost kicked them-selves out of the game against South at Adelaide Oval kicking 12.25 to 13.15 to win by 4pts.

By the end of Round 6 both Sturt & Port Adelaide were showing that they were a cut above the rest of the league with their records 6-0 & 5-1 respectively North Adelaide after their fast 4-1 start went on a 3 game losing streak from rounds 6-8 losing to Woodville, West Adelaide & Sturt before getting back in the winners list with a 14pt over Glenelg at the Bay.
The Boy’s from the Parade were having their own problems with form. After defeating West Adelaide & Woodville in consecutive weeks the Redlegs succumbed to the Tigers at the Parade by 6 goals in a rare win for the Tigers at Norwood Oval. At the top end of the table Sturt and Port were taking on all before them. Following their first round loss to the Redlegs the Magpies had won 7 in a row before travelling to Unley in round 9 for the clash of the season against the unbeaten Double Blues.
Port Adelaide started out strongly with a 6 goal first quarter to lead by 16 pts at quarter time. Not to be outdone Jack Oatey’s Blues kicked 5 goals in the 2nd qtr to be only down by 4pts at ½ time 9.6 – 8.8.
The Double Blues continued on in the second half kicking 10.8 to the Magpies 3.5 to run out comfortable winners by 41pts. After been down by 36 pts at 3/4 time against North Adelaide, Glenelg stormed home in the last quarter kicking 7.3 to the Roosters 3.5 but it was not enough as the Tigers fell short by 14pts. West Torrens put in one of their best efforts for the year beating South by 19 Goals & Woodville beat West Adelaide who were looking nothing like the team that finished 3rd in 1969 by 7 goals.

Round 10 was played over the June Long-weekend with several highly contested games. Sturt outlasted Norwood at the Parade in a high scoring game to run out winners by 22pts. Norwood’s Mike Coligan did his best to help the Redlegs in their match against Sturt by kicking 10 goals. Woodville defeated Central District by 2 goals at Woodville, while Glenelg took the fight up to Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval. Leading by 4pts at half time 7.6 – 5.14 The Tigers slowly wilted under the Magpie pressure and were swamped in the last quarter as the Magpies piled on 7.4 – 2.4 to run out winners by 34 pts.

On the holiday Monday the Roosters handed the Panthers another big loss by 91pts while West Torrens won their 4th game of the year to only be 2 games outside of the four and thoughts of another run similar to 1969 in which they stormed into the finals seemed possible. At the half way point of the season the eight of the ten teams were in the running for a spot in the finals. The four teams out side of the four were in touch with 4th place Glenelg but were going to need to build some percentage as fifth side Norwood & sixth side Woodville both 1 game out of the four were some 3.25% behind the Tigers.

Premiership Table after round 10

Sturt 10-0
Port 8-2
North 6-4
Glenelg 6-4
Norwood 5-5
Woodville 5-5
West Torrens 4-6
West Adelaide 4-6
Central District 2-8
South Adelaide 2-8
2017, 2019 & 2020 PREMIERS
RICHMOND, RICHMOND, RICHMOND.


Let that be a lesson to you Sturt. You don't beat Glenelg 3 times in a row in Grand Finals and get away with it.
User avatar
FOURTH ESTATE
Veteran
 
 
Posts: 3665
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:08 pm
Location: Front Row in the "Black Hole" of Allegiant Stadium
Has liked: 4 times
Been liked: 128 times
Grassroots Team: Broadview

Re: Season 1970 pt1

Postby rd » Sat May 09, 2020 11:18 pm

Birt was still coaching Torrens in 1970. Greer coached them in 71 and 72 before the Bill Barrot era.
User avatar
rd
Under 18s
 
 
Posts: 715
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 2:07 pm
Location: Double Blue Heaven.
Has liked: 0 time
Been liked: 26 times

Re: Season 1970 pt1

Postby FOURTH ESTATE » Sun May 10, 2020 1:14 am

I stand corrected, John Birt did coach in 1970. Went back and checked my history. The one I picked up first only had him coaching in 68-69. Then checked my others books and they say 68-70.
2017, 2019 & 2020 PREMIERS
RICHMOND, RICHMOND, RICHMOND.


Let that be a lesson to you Sturt. You don't beat Glenelg 3 times in a row in Grand Finals and get away with it.
User avatar
FOURTH ESTATE
Veteran
 
 
Posts: 3665
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:08 pm
Location: Front Row in the "Black Hole" of Allegiant Stadium
Has liked: 4 times
Been liked: 128 times
Grassroots Team: Broadview


Board index   Football  SANFL History Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests

Around the place

Competitions   SANFL Official Site | Country Footy SA | Southern Football League | VFL Footy
Club Forums   Snouts Louts | The Roost | Redlegs Forum |