Page 3 - benporter_10clubs

iNTRODUCTiON
In 1959 the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) commission voted to expand the local State football competition. The competition which had grown from humble beginnings in 1877 was becoming larger as the city of Adelaide grew. It was decided that two new clubs would be permitted to join the existing eight. The new clubs were Woodville (a local western district’s suburb with established roots back to the 19th century but officially formed in 1938) and a brand-new northern area club in Central District. They were both introduced into the Reserves competition on a five-year apprenticeship. The two new identities then joined the existing eight clubs in the League to form an exciting new ten-team competition in 1964. The Golden Age of Australian Rules Football in South Australia had begun.
This competition would thrive and grow to a point where it would close the gap on the more prestigious Victorian Football League (VFL) competition. It was through this expansion that the SANFL produced a Golden Age of play, with all ten clubs producing superstars who graced Adelaide’s Suburban grounds. Watched by huge audiences both live and with the help of greater coverage provided by television. It was a competition that had almost 100,000 members and regularly attracted 50,000 patrons on a good weekend. South Australian’s seriously loved their Australian Rules Football.
In Adelaide in 1964 it was the only game in town. The players were idolized, they appeared on bottle tops of soft drink, playing cards, there was even a jigsaw puzzle of the great Russell Ebert. The football season went from early April until late September. The ten-team competition allowed a home and away series of at least eighteen games (teams played each other twice) with the Adelaide Oval hosting the Finals. After the Premier was decided, the Thomas Seymour Hill trophy was presented. Hill had been a football administrator in the SANFL between 1926-63.
This official presentation was accompanied by the more light-hearted unveiling of the West End chimney with the Premier’s colours adorning the top. The Runners Up colours were introduced underneath after Fos Williams wanted to recognize West Adelaide’s brave effort in the
1954 Grand Final. All club supporters have enjoyed driving past and glancing at the chimney’s current colour scheme...
Port’s Ray Huppatz took this screamer against Norwood in 1983.
viii
“is this our year?” The Magarey Medallist (awarded for the competition’s fairest and most brilliant player each season) was displayed on Grand Final day, often paraded on the back of a car. The long bomb, half time sprints and mini league players kicking hard plastic brown footies into the crowd were all a part of the South Aussie product.
There was no fifty-metre arc, no roof, no gloves and no holds barred. The SANFL was as raw and as brutal a spectacle as you were ever likely to see. There was only one team we hated more than our cross town/suburban rivals and that was the Big V. When the SA State side would come together to fight our arch enemy the VFL, they united under the Croweater banner and supporters flocked to see them take it to those arrogant wankers!