Club History Before the Crows, there was the Redlegs

[RossFC]

1990
June - AFL officials John Adams and Ian Collins fly to Adelaide and make a full presentation to Norwood about joining the comp. They also spoke to Port and floated the possibility of a merger between the traditional rivals.

Portwood Redpies. lol get stuffed.

 

[chickentendies]

I'd still love to see Norwood in the AFL to be honest. They'd simultaneously be my second team, and biggest rival in the same breath for a while until they gain the potency to properly **** me off. Even then, I'd probably hold a sense of admiration for them from their rich history/success.

I was too young to be around for the huge rivalry but started doing research and by all counts Garry McIntosh is the sort of player I'd absolutely love, but at the same time hate for playing for another team. Played like a ****ing unit.

Also, good to see a couple Norwood supporters in here as well.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I remember a game at Footy Park once where Michael Aish was the boundary rider and I said to him 'You hate the crows just as much as we do, don't you Michael?' and he just smiled at me.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Here is a scan of pages 9 and 8 yes in reverse order, from South Australian Football 1994 Year Book - Official Publication of the South Australian National Football League published in May 1994 several months before the tender was called. Its clear Port always wanted to control its destiny independent of the SANFL and the SANFL made it clear it would have control of the second licence. I have cropped page 9 to make it bigger and easier to read.




last paragraph I cropped out of above page says - football and a priority will be to ensure the
SANFL competition remains strong and viable in order to continue to developing the game at
all levels and nurture its future champions.


page 8

 

[chiwigi]

Here is a scan of pages 9 and 8 yes in reverse order, from South Australian Football 1994 Year Book - Official Publication of the South Australian National Football League published in May 1994 several months before the tender was called. Its clear Port always wanted to control its destiny independent of the SANFL and the SANFL made it clear it would have control of the second licence



View attachment 392231

last paragraph I cropped out of above page says - football and a priority will be to ensure the
SANFL competition remains strong and viable in order to continue to developing the game at
all levels and nurture its future champions.


page 8
View attachment 392232

Wow, the others were truly going for Crows lite and selling their arse for it.

 

[Needs Gravy]

Always wondered if the Glenelg and South contingent kept a straight face when they lodged their application/ expression of interest for the second licence.

 

[Magpiespower]

Bluelegs based in Adelaide, Norwood, Unley and West Lakes, lol...

 

[Portology]

Wow, the others were truly going for Crows lite and selling their arse for it.

I always snorted when I read "The Cartel" back in the day.

F***ing ridiculous set of mob fiefdoms unites in greedery way above their position in the slops trough.

 

[Portology]

Always wondered if the Glenelg and South contingent kept a straight face when they lodged their application/ expression of interest for the second licence.

What do you get if you cross a panther with a tiger? is that a Gluth or a Slenelg? like a tigon or liger? is the offspring fertile?

with a big statue of John Scnheeebichler as their bloody mascot.

even more irrelevant than "The Cartel" that was

 

[Portology]

Bluelegs based in Adelaide, Norwood, Unley and West Lakes, lol...

could have called themselves the Beaumonts because they'd go missing on field.

my humblest apologies for that.

 

[wannabejack]

I'm sure it has been mentioned many times before but if Port didn't get the next licence any of the other options may have had a significant, if not huge, impact on customer numbers for the Crows. If not, and the majority of customers remained with the Crows, where would this non Port side get their customers from?

I couldn't support any other side in this state other than Port. And, if Port weren't in the AFL then, 'No AFL in the SANFL'.

 

[Norwood1878]

I'm sure it has been mentioned many times before but if Port didn't get the next licence any of the other options may have had a significant, if not huge, impact on customer numbers for the Crows. If not, and the majority of customers remained with the Crows, where would this non Port side get their customers from?

I couldn't support any other side in this state other than Port. And, if Port weren't in the AFL then, 'No AFL in the SANFL'.

That's how i've always understood it. The VFL basically used Port to force the SANFL to form the composite side at the same time diminishing any leverage the SANFL had with PA always the favoured second SA side/club as any other club woul've taken supporters away from any future composite side ie the Crows.

IN 1994, SA football was amid a lengthy and costly bidding process for the second SA-based AFL licence that was won by Port Adelaide.

Actually, there was no race. The AFL always wanted Port Adelaide - and now then AFL chief, Ross Oakley, admits as much in his memoirs, The Phoenix Rises, that were released yesterday.

“It was a little bit, we owe Port Adelaide one,” Oakley told The Advertiser on Tuesday.

This is in reference to the Port Adelaide Football Club breaking the SANFL impasse on VFL expansion in 1990 but not being rewarded with the first SA-based AFL licence.

Norwood spent $150,000 putting together a joint Norwood-Sturt bid to claim the second licence. But in 1994, after Oakley briefed the SANFL delegates at a hotel on North Tce, Norwood director Phil Gallagher left the meeting declaring the bidding process was a farce - the AFL wanted Port Adelaide.

Now he has confirmation in Oakley’s book where the former St Kilda player refers to Port Adelaide’s “journey to join the AFL” as “tortuous with several false starts”.

By 1994, Oakley was ready to end it. He writes: “We told the SANFL at the time the Crows deal was done (in 1990) that a second team would be contemplated in due course and we favoured Port Adelaide to be that team.

“Many in Adelaide felt that Port was the ‘fall guy’ that forced the SANFL to field a team earlier than it had intended to.

“Port Adelaide was our choice. (SANFL president) Max Basheer and (chief executive) Leigh Whicker were aware the AFL Commission would not compromise on this selection, but said they would assist us to find a way to achieve the outcome we wanted.

“In front of a rather hostile meeting of the SANFL clubs (on North Tce), I explained that a ‘traditional’ club with an established supporter base had to be the second club as it would be too hard to build support for another composite club.”

Port Adelaide was the only single club submission before the SA Football Commission that decided on where the second licence would be based. Then club chief executive Brian Cunningham says Port Adelaide was never tipped off and made a genuine and expensive bid for the licence.

Oakley on Tuesday told The Advertiser the tainting of Port Adelaide in 1990 - the club was labelled as treacherous - worked to the AFL agenda of having a second entry to starkly contrast the Crows.

“In the end we knew the SANFL could not do without Port Adelaide after 1990,” Oakley said. “And when there are issues such as these, someone always gets tainted. But it gave us a supporter base for a second team without damaging the Crows.

“Leigh and Max knew the AFL Commission was hell bent on Port Adelaide coming in - and to their credit they worked at making it happen.”

 

[Steve Dore]

... Oakley reveals: “(In 1988) a deputation from Norwood Football Club had announced it was interested in joining (the VFL) ‘at any time in the future’ and ... a private consortium headed by Ken Eustice was interested in grabbing a licence.” ...

Norwood believes it was asked first. Then club president Nerio Ferraro recalls Oakley’s right-hand man Alan Schwab led a three-man VFL delegation to The Parade where they met Ferraro and his Norwood colleagues, Wally Miller and Bob Farnham. ...

As I posted at the start of this thread, Norwood were approached first but didn't have the balls to go through with it.

 

[Established1870]

Reading through it all, seems like they originally wanted Norwood in to be what the Crows are now. I know that with Port it's always been love us or hate us whereas with Norwood I'd say people would be more willing to support them in a national comp.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I wish Port had done what East Perth did in 1980, be it in 1982, or 1986 or 1988 or 1990, ie laid out a well documented vision of how they thought things could work and make it clear that they wanted to enter into a national league and leave no one in doubt of their ambitious.

**** it would have stopped so much bullshit and we wouldn't have had to go thru all those years of being shackled by SANFL control.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

The cartel was a crack up. Who could have taken that bunch of wannabes seriously? Maybe they should have called themselves the Sopranos?

Funnier still was when Glenelg dumped South at the altar when they realised that little marriage of convenience had about as much hope of flying as a St Bernard and jumped aboard the cartel. Said everything about Glenelg you needed to know.

I still remember the story of when clubs were asked to submit their proposals to the sanfl and all the wannabes turned up with a couple of sheets stapled together or a manilla folder with a few pie charts. Port turn up with workers with sack trucks to carry their volumes of documents.

Seriously funny times. You wondered why they all bothered.

 

[chiwigi]

The cartel was a crack up. Who could have taken that bunch of wannabes seriously? Maybe they should have called themselves the Sopranos?

Funnier still was when Glenelg dumped South at the altar when they realised that little marriage of convenience had about as much hope of flying as a St Bernard and jumped aboard the cartel. Said everything about Glenelg you needed to know.

I still remember the story of when clubs were asked to submit their proposals to the sanfl and all the wannabes turned up with a couple of sheets stapled together or a manilla folder with a few pie charts. Port turn up with workers with sack trucks to carry their volumes of documents.

Seriously funny times. You wondered why they all bothered.

Save face, but looked even dafter.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Glenelg/South pulled out before the tender lodgement date closed. According to Bucky. (Ex Port CEO for GremioPower), the cartel lodged a manilla folder worth of documents, Nowood/Sturt a briefcase, and Port two suitcases. The AFL might have wanted Port, they might have indicated to everyone that Port was their preferred candidate, they had the final say but that didn't mean Port didnt get off their arse and spent $250k preparing their bid. They had been screwed by the AFL once before so they weren't going to get caught out again.

One of my oldest mates,I've known him since primary school, is a Norwood man and ended up in Sydney in the early 90's and a few year later worked for one of the guys on the independent panel set up by the AFL and Sanfl to assess the bids. I think there were 9 on the panel. My mate started working for him in late 1996 and it wasn't long before they chatted about footy. Jim told my mate he was on the panel and he said that the other two bids they assessed weren't even close to Port's. He said everyone on the panel voted for Port. 20 years later my mate is a Swans supporter with his son doing well at footy and demanding they go watch the Swans every home game.

 

[wannabejack]

..........
One of my oldest mates,I've known him since primary school, is a Norwood man and ended up in Sydney in the early 90's......
20 years later my mate is a Swans supporter with his son doing well at footy and demanding they go watch the Swans every home game.

Would be a strange feeling for him when he and his son sing the Swan's club song after a win.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Would be a strange feeling for him when he and his son sing the Swan's club song after a win.

He's fine with singing the Notre Dame fight song which South Melbourne pinched off them after WWII and Big Bob pinched off the swans in 1971 or 72. The bango in the middle makes all the difference.

 

[raptalia]

Norwood were always claiming they were a great club yet they had to go in with Sturt in their AFL bid. As soon as they did that I saw it as an own goal. A strong club should not need the support of others it should be able to show that it could stand on it's own two feet on the national stage.

Norwood's big mistake was made in 1990. Had they been up front and supported our bid they would have had a real crack at the second licence. Between them Port and Norwood had the lion's share of the football supporting public. That amount of support and two pronged attack would have been hard for the SANFL to counter.

The net result is that the Norwood Football Club are exactly where they deserve to be, namely a feeder club for the big league. I respect them as a club but I have absolutely no sympathy for them.

 

[El_Scorcho]

From the later interviews with Oakley etc, it's clear the AFL wanted at least 1 composite side.

However, I think if Norwood had had a little foresight and backed Port, they would have been very difficult to ignore for the 2nd licence.

The other question I have is, why did the AFL need the SANFL if the SANFL was so resistant to entering a team? Just go around them. Speak to some Adelaide businessmen and lure some good footy administrators out of the SANFL to form a standalone club playing out of Adelaide Oval. The fact that the AFL bothered to deal with the SANFL despite their resistance has been a terrible thing for South Australian football IMO.

 

[bomberclifford]

23 June - Glenelg and South get in on the act, too.

9 August - Glenelg walk out on South.

lol. So Glenelg.

 

[bomberclifford]

Funnier still was when Glenelg dumped South at the altar when they realised that little marriage of convenience had about as much hope of flying as a St Bernard and jumped aboard the cartel. Said everything about Glenelg you needed to know.

Hilariously reminiscent of the Bays social scene of the 80s and 90s.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Hilariously reminiscent of the Bays social scene of the 80s and 90s.

Bay disco car park where men were bay players and women were teammates' wives.