1964 - 1990

[FOURTH ESTATE]

Still with no footy and with the Cows & Failures not playing this year in the SANFL I though I would have a look at the Win - Loss records of all clubs when it was a true 10 team comp.

What surprised me was how bad West Torrens record was after finishing Minor Premiers 1963.
The turn around of the Bays after Neil Kerley arrived in 1967. (Another story I am working on)
Each club played 570 Minor Round games between 1964 - 1990

Port Adelaide.......401..164..5...70.35%
Glenelg.................350...215..5...61.40%
Sturt......................348..217..5....61.05%
Norwood..............319..244..7....55.96%
North Adelaide....315..253..2....55.26%
West Adelaide......243..320..7....42.63%
Central District.....235..330..5....41.23%
South Adelaide....234...332..4....41.05%
West Torrens........212..354..4....37.19%
Woodville..............158..408..4....27.72%

It does give rise to the top 4 clubs being known as the Big Four.

I did have a nice graphic showing every seasons win loss record for all clubs but system wouldn't let me upload it said it was too big

7 of the 10 clubs did manage to make the Grand Final in that period with only Central District, Woodville & West Torrens failing to to get there.

Major Round 1964 - 1990

Port Adelaide.......34..25..0...57.63%
Glenelg.................32..25..0...56.14%
Sturt......................23..18..0....56.10%
Norwood..............20..19..0....51.28%
North Adelaide....15..16..0....48.39%
South Adelaide.....6...11..0....35.29%
West Adelaide.......4....7...1....33.33%
Central District......2...11..0...15.38%
Woodville..............2....3...0....40.00%
West Torrens........0....3...1.....0.00%

Grand Final Appearances

Port Adelaide.......15.......7-8
Glenelg.................13.......3-10
Sturt......................10.......7-3
North Adelaide.....7........3-4
Norwood...............5........4-1
South Adelaide....2.........1-1
West Adelaide......1.........1-0
Central District.....0
Woodville..............0
West Torrens........0

While Glenelg did win 3 Premierships in this period with all their success they should have won more.

[mal]

Have to agree that GL should have won more premierships with the players they had in this period
As an example here is a listed 25 man squad for SA in the 1969 Australian Football championship held in Adelaide
1 CAHILL [PA]
2 DARLEY [SA]
3 BIRT [WT]
4 ADCOCK [ST]
5 DAY [WA]
6 HICKS [ST]
7 NYGAARD [NW]
8 PANNENBURG [WA]
9 PATTINSON [GL]
10 ROBRAN [NA]
11 SCHOFF [ST]
12 FORSYTH [WT]
13 KEN EUSTICE [GL]
14 CHESSELL [ST]
15 COLBEY[GL]
16 KERNAHAN [GL]
17 McKELLAR [WD]
18 MARKER [GL]
19 MOLLOY [NW]
20 NELSON [ST]
21 OATEY [NW]
22 PHILLIPS [NA]
23 POPE [WA]
24 PHILLIS F [GL]
25 ELLEWAY [PA]

From each club
CD 1
GL 6
NA 2
NW 3
PA 2
SA 1
ST 4
WA 3
WD 1
WT 2


6 from GL shows they had talent leading into the 1970s , [ and one of their'''defacto'' 1969 GF players lined up for the Vics, Royce Hart ]
2 from NA is well below par as they played finals in almost every year between 1966-1973[ unless they had injuries in June 1969]

GL had a great nucleus of players at this point
Also to have a 3-10 GF record , must mean they have a good ratio of wins in other finals in getting into grand finals

[FOURTH ESTATE]

Second attempt at placing club records 1964 - 1990

MINOR ROUND 1964-1990.jpg (973.49 KiB) Viewed 11648 times

[FOURTH ESTATE]

Major Round Records 1964 - 1990

MAJOR ROUND 1964 -1990.jpg (602.76 KiB) Viewed 11647 times

[FOURTH ESTATE]

Of all the Grand Finals that Glenelg played they should have won more with the talent they had.

1969 - Never going to win that one just totally inexperienced for the Big Day
1970 - Not making the most of opportunities in the first qtr and injuries to Marker & Voigt in the 2nd term and bad 3rd qtr. but fought right to the end
1974 - Losing the toss in the first qtr and the loss of Greg Bennett early didn't help as in 1970 fought to the end but ran out of fresh legs
1975- This is one and 77 & 90 they should have one. Best SANFL side ever to hit the ground stats wise . Nothing went right Grand Final Day
1977 - Matched Port Adelaide all they way and a bit of luck could should have got over the line.
1981 - Damage was done in the Second Semi. Entered the game timid then to lose Caldwell it just all went pear shaped
1982 - Played the Grand Final the week before. Carey, Kernahan both on one leg going into the game plus other players carrying injuries from Prelim
1987 - All over in first 5 minutes you could see it wasn't going to be the Bays day.
1988 - Held Port Adelaide in check till early second quarter then the the run into the finals took it's toll and team faded
1990 - Port Adelaide monkey off the back with Second Semi win but as the same in 1975 & 77 just didn't go right on the day.

[mal]

I reckon about 8 times GL had to win the Prelim Final b4 losing those GFs ?
GL actually have a very good Prelim Final record

So in essence they have done really well to make so many grand finals
Sometimes the effort just to get to those GFs could well have been telling factors

GL won 3 flags
73+85 they won the 2nd semis
86 they won via Prelim Final

GL 3-10 overall
Had it been 5-8 it prob would have been par

[Magellan]

1975- This is one and 77 & 90 they should have one. Best SANFL side ever to hit the ground stats wise . Nothing went right Grand Final Day

Kerley moving Butch Phillis off of Ross Dillon at three-quarter time didn't help.

[gadj1976]

Grand Final Appearances

Port Adelaide.......15.......7-8
Glenelg.................13.......3-10
Sturt......................10.......7-3
North Adelaide.....7........3-4
Norwood...............5........4-1
South Adelaide....2.........1-1
West Adelaide......1.........1-0
Central District.....0
Woodville..............0
West Torrens........0

It was fantastic to see this in statistical form. Thanks Fourth!

The above stat freaked me out. For a proud club and big four club (as you mention) this is a very surprising stat. I'm imagining many a boardroom meeting happening over the journey to rectify the situation.

[am Bays]

Of all the Grand Finals that Glenelg played they should have won more with the talent they had.


1975- This is one and 77 & 90 they should have one. Best SANFL side ever to hit the ground stats wise . Nothing went right Grand Final Day
the unmentionable year - Port Adelaide monkey off the back with Second Semi win but as the same in 1975 & 77 just didn't go right on the day.

These are the two that should be in cabinet at Brighton Rd

77 would've been one we pinched that given Ports dominance of the season - If Holst had stayed on Ebert when Russel got shifted to HF at 3/4 time and If Marker wasn't in the stands....
81, we stopped playing in August...

74, 82, 87 and 88 we showed what a good finals side we actually were in that era, coming from the Elimination
On that year, spotted this at last years GF @Booney....

[mal]

BIG 4
Im after some clarification as to what actually constituted the BIG4

The period of time of the BIG4 was first mooted was about mid 70s , but Im not sure when it lost status
My underStanding was it was 'coined' because GL/NW/PA/ST were doing well financially and thus performing as well

Mr West Adelaide, the great man Doug Thomas, often referred to Westies premiership side as being the only side outside of the BIG5 to win a flag since SA in 1964
I have a vivid recollection that Doug had mentioned a BIG5 rather than a BIG4 on TV in the 1980s
I was a massive massive Doug Thomas fan , anything the man dubbed The Mouth said I would listen to intently

So in essence what Doug Thomas meant by a BIG5 is that NA should be the other team in a BIG5
Dougs perception was probably for on field success rather than finances , if that makes 'cents'

So what exactly was the BIG4 ?

[JK]

1975- This is one and 77 & 90 they should have one. Best SANFL side ever to hit the ground stats wise . Nothing went right Grand Final Day

Kerley moving Butch Phillis off of Ross Dillon at three-quarter time didn't help.

Yes id did

[JK]

Grand Final Appearances

Port Adelaide.......15.......7-8
Glenelg.................13.......3-10
Sturt......................10.......7-3
North Adelaide.....7........3-4
Norwood...............5........4-1
South Adelaide....2.........1-1
West Adelaide......1.........1-0
Central District.....0
Woodville..............0
West Torrens........0

It was fantastic to see this in statistical form. Thanks Fourth!

The above stat freaked me out. For a proud club and big four club (as you mention) this is a very surprising stat. I'm imagining many a boardroom meeting happening over the journey to rectify the situation.

Norwood's 25 years in the wilderness had such a marked effect on our standing. Most people think Port have always been the most successful club in the competition, but it was only some time in the 1960's that they overtook Norwood. Obviously that doesn't take into account Norwood's pre-1907 flags which were arguably easier won with less rivals and under different conditions.

[Magellan]

On that year, spotted this at last years GF @Booney....

Obviously that T-shirt is named after the hit song that came out that year. The irony is that it was sung by Mark Williams.

[Magellan]

So what exactly was the BIG4 ?

The four most successful sides (Port, Norwood, Sturt, and Glenelg) from about 1974 to 1985. That's about it.

[Spargo]

So what exactly was the BIG4 ?

The four most successful sides (Port, Norwood, Sturt, and Glenelg) from about 1973 to 1986. That's about it.

EFA

[Magellan]

So what exactly was the BIG4 ?

The four most successful sides (Port, Norwood, Sturt, and Glenelg) from about 1973 to 1986. That's about it.

EFA

Good one. The Bays were still a successful side in terms of finals appearances until about 1994.

I chose 1985 because that was Sturt's last hurrah (excepting 1988) before entering the doldrums. At this point they're replaced by North, and who probably were replaced by Norwood from around 1974.

[robranisgod]

I have always wondered why no one referred to the Big 3 between 1985 and 1992 inclusive. In those 8 seasons, one of Port, Glenelg and North played in every Grand Final, one of the 3 won every Grand Final and two of the three played in 7 of the 8 Grand Finals. West's appearance in 1991 was the only time that any of the other 7 clubs made a GF.
Another damning statistic is that until Central played the Eagles in the 2000 Grand Final, one of Port, Norwood, North or Sturt had appeared in every Grand Final for over 100 years, despite what Warren Partland might write in the newspaper.

[FOURTH ESTATE]

1969 Was the first time ever that both Port & Norwood missed the finals since 1907

It has only happened 5 times since 2003, 04, 07, 09, 16

2003 was only due the league playing Final Four that year and Port finished 5th 11-9 one game behind WWT and with a better %

[mal]

There was another BIG3 of the times
Bay Disco
Peckers Club
Sams

They were nightclubs aligned to the football clubs
Bay Disco[GL] Wednesdays + Sundays
Peckers Club[WDV] Thursdays
Sams [NW]Saturdays

Did any other SANFL football clubs have a nightclub/disco set up ?
Was there a connection with the Reepham Hotel and NA ?

Thanks posters for the BIG4 explanations

[DOC]

The Big 4 were dubbed so as they had the largest attendances and thus $$$$

Thursday night was always the Panthers Disco at St Marys , especially with Brenton Roberts aka the Gary Numan show.

Fun Fact: A mate worked at South behind the bar and upon opening the club on a Friday morning discoverd one Grenville Dietrich under the 8 ball table (early 80's) . A natural talent if ever there was one.