Broadview 1958 - 1963

[FOURTH ESTATE]

Last weekend the club held a 60 reunion for the A & B Grade players. This group of players, officials & members saved the club from folding in 1958 with a brave plan to build a set of clubrooms to ensure the survival of the club and which would eventually see it become a powerhouse of both the
North Adelaide District Football Association & the South Australian Amateur Football League.

This is their story.

Over the course of its journey the Broadview Football Club has been recognised as being a successful and leading club both on and off the field.
While it is best known for its history in the SAAFL and Adelaide Footy League as the second most successful club in the league in Premiership wins, it was also a power club in the North Adelaide District Football Association.

Born out of a meeting in 1927 held by Cec Footer & “Sailor” Myers who had both been involved with the Gaza Football Club, they approached the Jolly Rodgers club with a view to forming a football club at Broadview.
The first meeting of those interested in forming the new club was held at Cec Footer’s residence in Sefton Park and it was agreed to form the Broadview Football Club.

The club began playing in 1928 in the North Adelaide District Football Association and it did not take long to make its mark in the competition. A Grand Final appearance in only its second year of existence and a Premiership in its third year set the tone pre- war, 9 Finals appearances, 5 Grand Finals, 1 Premiership and 3 Association medals before the league suspended play for World War 11. Post war when the league resumed in 1946 the club returned to where it had left off being a regular finals contender. The club only missed the finals once between 1946 & 54 playing in 4 Grand Finals and winning PREMIERSHIPS in 1948 & 54. Following the 1954 Premiership the club was unable to sustain any on field success.

A Seconds “B Grade” side was attempted on several occasions but was forced to withdrawal part way through each season due to a lack of numbers. The lack of facilities was also hampering the club as it had no social base for after game socialising, social functions or appropriate changerooms. So bad was the decline of the on-field performance that the Tigers could only win 30 of the 92 matches that the club played in between 1955 & 1960. The 1957 season would see the club play its home games at Walkerville due to the unavailability of Broadview Oval.
During the 1957 to 1960 seasons many of the former players, who had since retired, were asked to pull on the boots to enable to club to field a side each week to avoid forfeiting games. With only 2 wins in 1958 the club was on the brink of folding

Without a social base it was hard to recruit players and club functions had to held at a Local Hall, Pub, or Players House, with Official Club Functions being held at the North Adelaide Football Club. In 1958 under President Syd Hayter a building committee was formed and an approach to council was favourably received.
The Building Committee of Ted Mason, Bill Footer, Jack Ashton & Jack Tredrea lost no time in proceeding with the formidable task of commencing work on the magnificent new clubrooms which would eventually cost £ 7,000. ($243,500 in 2023)

Many of the members gave a lot of their time and effort into building the new clubrooms and special mention must be made of 2 groups in particular. The Women’s Committee of the club. Led by Rita Footer, was a group of volunteers that were one of the major backbones of the club and their efforts in the fundraising for the new building cannot be underestimated. From organising functions to after match meals for the players, there was no task too big or too small for these dedicated ladies. It was the ladies committee that came up with the initial deposit of £ 500 ($17,385 in 2023) to commence the building of the new clubrooms. We must also be very thankful to those members that mortgaged their homes to go guarantors for the bank loan needed to finance the new building, these include Alan Jacobs. Bill & Rita footer, Alby Johns, Jack Macey, Laurie Pritchard, and Joe Crow.

The Club was incorporated on the 10th of June 1959 and became known as the Broadview Football Club Inc.
Over the next 18 months many fundraising functions were held & raffles were run for tv sets & stereos as well as engaging local Adelaide TV and radio identity Ernie Sigley at some of the functions to raffle Holden Cars to raise the funds for the building.

At the Annual Dinner in 1959 held at the North Adelaide Football Club, Life Membership was awarded for the first time ever with the following Players and Members having this award bestowed upon them.

Cec Footer, Archibald McInnes, Roy Geisler, Keith Geisler, L. Anderson, Bill Footer, Norm Virgin, Allan Howard, Don Richardson, Roy Lapham, Jack Ashton, Allan Jacobs, Jack Sandery, Eric Atkins, Peter Coleman, Robert Ramsay Snr, Jack Mathews, Jack Tredrea & Robert Oliver.

At the beginning of the 1960 season, the new coach Tom Kendall faced an extreme shortage of players – and an average of nine players attending training. A plan to field a B Grade team fell through due to a shortage of players. As the season wore on it began increasing difficult to field eighteen players each week for the A Grade team. Former players Bill Footer, Robert Oliver & Ted Mason took the field to make up the numbers.

In this season Barry Callinan lost the A1 medal by 4 votes - after having been forced to sit on the bench for the North Adelaide seconds team for the last two games. Barry Potts who booted North Adelaide to a league premiership later that season played four games earlier in the year for the Tigers.
While the club did see some improvement on the playing field, it was unable to improve it’s win loss record of 1959 and finished the season with only 3 wins. but the change in the clubs’ playing fortunes were on the horizon.

The new clubrooms were completed in time for the 1960 annual dinner and were officially opened in January 1961.

With the new clubrooms now completed and being recognised as one of the best outside of the SANFL, attracting new players was made a lot easier. The A Grade brought their win total up to 9 wins in 1961 and missed the final by 2 premiership points after having been beaten in several games by only 2 – 3 goals. Better kicking in some games might have helped them into the finals as well with scores of 11-18, 3-14, 5-12 & 4-14.

The B Grade became firmly established and ended the season with a 3pt loss in the Preliminary Final after hitting the post after the siren. Wally Turner would win the B Grade Association Medal to become only the third medallist in the club’s history.

1962 would see the club progress even further with a final’s appearance by the A Grade for the first time since 1954, winning the first semi-final against St Dominics by 98pts before losing the Preliminary Final to our old foe Thompson Memorial by 13pts.

The B Grade defeated Woodville North in the first semi-final by 34pts.
The following week they defeated Gepps Cross by 11pts in the Preliminary Final to make the Grand Final only to go down to St Dominic’s by 26pts 10-8 – 6.6.

At the end of the 1962 season and after 3 seasons as A Grade coach, Tom Kendall stood down from the position and the search was on once again for an A Grade Coach. Adverts were placed in the paper on the 18th October with a closing date of November 20th for a Playing / Non - Playing Coach for season 1963. November 20th arrived, and the club committee felt the need to continue advertising for a coach with a closing date of December 4th.

At the General Management Committee meeting held on January 8th 1963, former Norwood footballer Brian Wells was appointed to the position of A Grade Playing Coach and B Grade Coach for the 1963 season for the princely sum of £ 200 ($6950 in 2023) and was introduced to the Members at the 1963 Annual General meeting held on the 7th of March. Back then the club senior coach was in charge of both the A and B grade sides.

Brian played for Norwood from 1954-55 & 1959-60 playing 75 games. Brian played in 2 grand finals, 1955 losing to Port Adelaide and 1960 losing to North Adelaide. Brian returned to Broken Hill for the 1956-58 seasons leading North Broken Hill to the 1957 Premiership as well as winning the Middleton Medal that same year as the Best & Fairest player in the competition. 1961 & 62 would see Brian as playing coach for South Whyalla and leading them to the 1962 Premiership.

The Tigers now had an experienced coach to take them to the next level to become a true force once again in the North Adelaide District Football Association, with moves being made behind the scenes to ensure the club remained a Powerhouse but on a higher level.

For the 1963 season it would see the Tigers go on the biggest recruiting drive in the club’s history. At least 20 new players pulled on the Black & Gold jumper for the first time in Senior ranks with 18 of those players making their A Grade debut for the club. Over 51 players were registered for 1963 season.

Some of the players to make their A Grade debut in 1963 were former Norwood 1960 U19 Premiership player Peter Nygaard, Gilbert Rusalen, Robert Whitehead, Eric Longford &, Robert Tilley.

At the 19th March General Management Committee meeting it was decided that the club would enter 5 teams into the N.A.D.F.A. competition for 1963. A Grade, B Grade, Senior & Junior Colts & Cubs.
Feelings between the Broadview Football Club and the N.A.D.F.A. were becoming strained. The General Management Committee at its 2nd April Meeting was made aware that the league was looking at imposing a levy on all Senior players for each game played in order to cover costs incurred by the Advertiser Shield Competition.
The Advertiser Shield Competition was an inter league game played between the District Leagues each year to determine who was the best local competition. The N.A.D.F.A. had won the competition for the last 7 straight years.

A motion at the meeting was put forward by Jack Tredrea and Seconded by Neil Stallard.
“That the Delegates be directed to oppose such a suggestion.” The Motion was carried.

The Committee met again 2 days later on April 4th at a Special General Meeting at 8.30pm in the clubrooms to discuss the club seeking admission into the SAAFL for season 1964. 25% of the club’s members were in attendance for this important meeting.

The meeting itself was quite fiery with many of the older members wanting to stay in the N.A.D.F.A. while the players and committee wanted to move into the bigger and better SAAFL.
Arguments were put forward by both sides. It was also noted that long-time rivals and former N.A.D.F.A. members Kilburn, Gaza & St Dominics had made the move to the SAAFL in 1958, 1962 & 1963 respectively and had all of them met with instant success, Gaza winning the 1962 A3 premiership the year they joined the SAAFL and Kilburn winning the 1959 A3, 1960 A2 premierships and gaining admittance into A1 for the 1961 season and finishing runners up in the Grand Final to Adelaide University. St Dominics made their way into the A3 Grand Final in their 1st year as well.

The areas of concern were the standard of football in the N.A.D.F.A. competition, and a lack of suitable facilities as most clubs were playing in the parklands with little or no facilities. Each week both the A and B Grade teams could not be guaranteed of playing at the same ground.

Another area of concern was the rule that North Adelaide could pick any player from any club, and they would have to play for North Adelaide that weekend. This would sound good in theory but most of the time they were just making up numbers in the League Seconds and would spend almost the entire game on the reserves bench. (No interchange rule back then) If a player refused, a club would lose all their points for that round of matches.

The players themselves also argued that they wanted to play in the best competition. and could see that the NADFA was dying a slow death.

Senior Coach Brian Wells was one of the players that spoke at the meeting about joining the SAAFL. During his speech to the members, he spoke about being a Big Fish in a little pond and did the club want to test themselves at the highest level on a weekly basis.
One of the qualifying points set down by the SAAFL for the Tigers to join the SAAFL in 1964 was that they had to win or at least make the 1963 Grand Final.

After an hour-long meeting discussing the benefits and disadvantages of remaining in the N.A.D.F.A. or joining the S.A.A.F.L. a motion was put forward at the meeting by Vice Chairman Graeme Fenton and seconded by Dean Mann
“That the Broadview Football Club attempts to join the Amateur League for next season.”
The motion was carried. This was not the first time the club had applied to join the SAAFL as it had previously attempted to join the SAAFL along with Kilburn in 1939

The season began on the 20thApril for the B Grade and the 27th for the A Grade. The B Grade got off to a flying start with a 74pt win at home over Super Elliotts. Former Junior John Lafferty starred for the B Grade with 5 goals as well as being named Best on Ground. The A Grade began their season the following week at home with a comprehensive 72pt win over local neighbour Gepps Cross.

The A Grade over the next two weeks would defeat both North Adelaide Centrals & Wingfield by 100 & 123pts respectively, setting up a round 4 match at against the current reigning and back-to-back premiers Prospect at Prospect’s home ground in the Medindie parklands just by Le Fevre Terrace.

There was ill feeling between the two clubs due to an article that appeared in the local paper “The Standard” during the 1962 season in which the Prospect Football Club accused the Broadview Football Club of un-sportsman like behaviour in which it singled out one player, by accusing him of a “hard and deliberate kick in the head” it also suggested that a certain Prospect player was targeted.
“Was always one step in front of his would-be attackers”. The club was rather incensed by these comments and at the committee meeting held on 11th September 1962 the club put forward the motion that the A Grade Coach respond to these accusations by reply letter.

A Grade coach Tom Kendall replied to “The Standard” advising
“The Committee of the club have discussed with indignation, a report which appeared in your columns recently and that My Committee have expressed amazement at some of the remarks made in this report and indignation such inaccurate misleading statements should have appeared in the pages of a reputable newspaper”. He further wrote “Surely such a wild statement should be backed up by fact since it was obviously upsetting to the player concerned in an accidental incident.”

The match would turn out to be a one-sided affair with the A Grade winning by 148pts. 27.17 (179) – 4.7 (31) Coach Brian Wells with 6 goals motivated his side in the second quarter after the team only kicking 1 goal in the first quarter to run riot over a hapless Prospect team. Milton Farmer also chipped in with 7 goals along with 6 from Ken Cooper. Brian would also be named Best on Ground along with Vice-Captain Laurie Moon, Kevin Hutchin, Don Reedy, Barry Callinan & Peter Nygaard also being named in the best players.
1963 would prove to be the penultimate season for the Purple & Whites of Prospect as they disbanded at the end of the 1964 season. The Prospect Football Club one of the oldest clubs in South Australia joined the N.A.D.F.A. in the league’s second year of operation in 1922 and would win 7 premierships before disbanding.

The concerns that were raised at the April meeting about the lack of competition in the league at all senior levels were proving to be accurate. Both teams would continue to play dominant football leading up to the inter association game and would be 6-0 by the June long weekend. Five players from the club would represent the league as the N.A.D.F.A. easily defeated the Central District Football Association by 70pts. 15.17 (107) – 5.7 (37). Laurie Moon would be named amongst the best players while Brian Dew & Geoff Ashman both kicked 1 goal each.

During this period leading up to the Association game the A Grade would have a combined score of 105 Goals – 89 Behinds and score on average 17.14 (116) per game while it’s opposition could only manage 18 goals – 26 Behinds for an average score of only 3.8 (24) The only team to cause any problems for the Tigers were old foes and long-time finals nemesis Thompson Memorial who managed to hold the Tigers to only 9 goals in their round 5 clash at Broadview Oval.

The B Grade while not scoring as heavily as the A Grade would only be really challenged once as well during the first 6 rounds by the Modbury Football Club. Modbury along with Tea Tree Gully played in one of the first ever recorded matches when it played Adelaide in 1862 at Modbury Oval. The club disbanded during the years 1938-46, 1951-53 and once again 1959-62. They reformed again for the 1963 season and entered a side in the A2 competition of the league. Two other clubs Royal Park & Super Elliotts would also have their A Grade sides play in the A2 competition for season 1963. In the Round 5 A2 match against Thompson Memorial at Broadview Oval, Danny Turner would kick 10 goals out of the teams 16 in an outstanding display of football. While records are sketchy at best the times of the club history in the N.A.D.F.A. it is believed that this was the first time a Broadview player had kicked 10 goals or more in a game since Bill Footer kicked a club record 23 goals in 1938 against Prospect.

The A Grade continued to rack up the wins after the Association game leading up to the bye round on August 3rd. Woodville Gardens would be the first team to be held goalless for the season in which it only managed 3pts against the Tigers at Broadview. Their last ever visit to Broadview in round 16 would be even worse when they only scored 1 point. Gepps Cross, North Adelaide Centrals, Wingfield & Prospect would also be on the receiving end of the Tigers path of destruction. The real test came in Round 13 when the team would make the short trip down to Robe Terrace at Thompson Memorial’s home ground to take on the Red & White’s. Thompsons had caused the Tigers much heart ache over the years since joining the competition in 1947. The Tigers found themselves in the unusual position of chasing jumpers as the Red & Whites jumped the Tigers who found themselves 6 goals down at quarter time. In a thrilling finish the Tigers struck back to slowly overhaul the oppositions to win a thriller by 4pts 9.9 – 9.5 and remain undefeated.

The B Grade over this period suffered a slight drop in form. They won the first 4 games after the June Long weekend bye but played some sloppy football in the next four weeks by drawing with Thompson Memorial. ,
then After having a hard-fought win over Super Elliotts, they lost the next two games, their first of the season, to Gepps Cross & Modbury at home. The match against Modbury was quite a fiery game with players from both sides involved in several dustups. At one point in the last quarter Modbury captain D. Cormack chased a ball over the boundary line in which he was confronted by several Broadview players and spectators in which he was allegedly pushed and kicked. The Broadview players and Spectators were in turn spoken to by umpire Scott regarding their actions.

August 3rd would be the last Association game in which the players would represent the N.A.D.F.A
The Grand Final for the Advertiser Shield would see the N.A.D.F.A matched up against the Glenelg – South West Districts, which was played as the curtain raiser before the league match between South Adelaide & West Adelaide at Adelaide Oval. Attempting to win their 8th straight championship as the best association in the metropolitan area. The Northerners started slowly failing to score in the first quarter but took command in the second quarter to lead by 2 goals at ½ time. 7 goals to 5 after ½ time would see the Northerns take complete control of the game to run out winners by 25pts 12.15 (87) to 8.14 (62) Brian Dew kicked two goals while Geoff Ashman & Laurie Moon both kicked 1 each. Both Geoff Ashman & Brian Dew were also named in the best players

After the Association round in August the A Grade played some very ruthless football over the last 5 weeks of the minor round. Hope Valley & North Adelaide Centrals both failed to score against the Tigers while Woodville Gardens could only manage 1pt. Wingfield did a little better on their home ground managing 2 goals, but this did little to stem the might of the Tigers. Hope Valley was on the wrong end of a 235-point belting by the Tigers.
Hope Valley had earlier in the season withdrawn their B Grade from the A2 competition due to a lack of numbers. Ken Cooper would be the second player this season to kick over 10 goals in a game when he managed 11 against the Demons at Broadview. Brian Wells also kept the scoreboard attendants busy as well with 7 goals as the Tigers amassed a score of 37.13 (235) to Hope Valleys 0.0 (0) which would be the A Grade’s highest score since 1938 when they amassed a score of 41.22 (268) to Prospect’s 4.4 (28)

The round 18 match at Home against Thompson Memorial would once again put the Tigers to the test. A hard-fought win by 14pts would see the Tigers end the Minor round as Minor Premiers and for the first time ever they would finish the minor round undefeated. A record of 18-0 was new ground for the Tigers and confidence was high going into the finals in a weeks-time against Thompson Memorial in the Second Semi Final and a win would give them direct entry in to the 1963 Grand Final.

The B Grade’s form would continue to be patchy over the last 4 weeks of the season. They received forfeits from Wingfield and North Adelaide Centrals in rounds 15 & 17. A round 16 win over Gepps Cross at home was followed by a draw in round 18 against Royal Park at home, their second for the year. The B Grade would finish the minor round with a record of 12-2-2 and would also finish as Minor Premiers.

1963 would also see the SAAFL and District competitions receive some unfriendly advice from Port Adelaide Coach Foster Williams when he stated in a television interview “That a place in Amateur League was for those who felt the game was getting too tough”. These comments were not well received by the Directors of the SAAFL or other Associations who thought that his comments were unfair, unjust, and completely in bad taste.

It was suggested that “Williams is entitled to his own opinions, and he can adopt what methods he likes. He can settle for brawn if that’s what he wants, but he would be very advised to give a little more thought to some of the statements he makes”. Wrote “Amateurite” in conjunction with “Centre Bounce” of the “The Standard”. They further stated “In Williams own club alone, it would be interesting to list the names of all the players who have come from this body and those who have seen fit to return to it.” “Add to this all those who have found their way into other League clubs, and it would be a substantial number. Most of these will never forget their old clubs and many are furious at Mr Williams’ remarks.”

September 14th arrived, and the Finals began. The B Grade re-found their form that they had been missing for several weeks as they triumphed over second place Royal Park by 52pts after only haven played out a draw against them the previous week.

Confidence was high in the A Grade having defeated Thompson Memorial 3 times during the Minor Round. Thompsons had long been a thorn in the side of the Tigers having won 4 of the 6 finals matches between the two clubs including the 1947 & 1951 Grand Finals. Since entering the Competition in 1947 the Red & Whites had won 6 premierships including a hat trick in 1950 – 52.

Thompson’s who defeated the Tigers in the 1962 Preliminary Final caused a boil over in the second semi to inflict the Tigers with their first loss for the season by 15pts 8.15 (63) to 6.12 (48) the Red & Whites played the perfect game in which they dried up the Tigers avenue to goal and held them to their lowest score for the year.

The B Grade’s opponent for the 1963 Grand Final would take a bit longer to be decided as Modbury & Royal Park fought out a draw in the Preliminary Final pushing the A2 Grand Final now out to the 5th October, the same weekend as the SANFL Grand Final. In the Preliminary Final rematch Modbury would eventually get the upper hand over Royal Park to set up a meeting with the Tigers for the A2 flag.

The A Grade would meet local neighbor Gepps Cross in the Preliminary Final. Just like their round 8 meeting the match would be a hard-fought affair with the Tigers eventually proving to be too strong winning by 20 pts 7.12 (54) – 3.16 (34) This would be the last meeting between these two clubs for 40 years until they met in round 4 of the 2003 season at Broadview Oval in which the Tigers triumphed 14.23 (107) to 12.4 (76). Just like in 1963 the two clubs would also meet 40 years later in the 2003 Preliminary Final in a very tight game in which the Tigers would storm home with a five-goal last quarter to win by 10pts.

The scene was now set as the 2 best teams in the A Grade competition, the Broadview Football Club, and the Thompson Memorial Football Club, would now meet in the 1963 Grand Final as well as playing against each other for the very last time.

Strange things can happen in Grand Final week and 1963 was no different. Making your debut in a Grand Final is very rare, it has only happened about 3 times at VFL / AFL level. Coach Brian Wells made one change to the winning Preliminary Final team bringing in a young 17-year-old for his A Grade debut in Robert Tilley. Robert at that stage was only 17 years old and played 4 B Grade games earlier in the season for the club but had spent most of the season at North Adelaide in the U17’s & U19’s. Always keeping an eye out for up-and-coming talent Brian asked Robert to join in training with the A Grade. Robert impressed Brian so much with his attitude and ability that he was named in the team for the Grand Final. The decision to select Robert would turn out to be a masterstroke later in the game.

The club’s final A Grade appearance in the NADFA took place on the 28th September 1963 at Prospect Oval in rather pleasant conditions with the temperature of 68-Fahrenheit - (20 Celsius). The Tigers were the best team during the minor round, but their opponent Thompson Memorial were proven finals performers and were somewhat of a bogey side for the Men from Broadview when it came to finals. As in previous matches between the clubs it was a hard and bruising affair in which neither side could gain an upper hand with many lead changes during the game.

Thompson Memorial’s backline was once again having a stranglehold on the Broadview forward line and did not allow the Broadview players such as Brian Wells, Ken Cooper & Brian Dew to have their usual goal scoring influence on the game. Up until the Grand Final these three players had kicked over 100 goals for the season between them.

During a tense last quarter with Thompson leading by less than a goal with not much time left on the clock and looking to upset the Tigers season once again the decision by Coach Brian Wells to play Robert Tilley proved to be the turning point in the game. Playing across the half-forward-line Robert rose above the pack to take a telling mark, he then calmly kicked the goal that would put the Tigers back in front. Sensing victory the Tigers continued to attack ferociously and further extended their lead to 14pts by the time the siren rang out. The Tigers had captured the 1963 Premiership Flag, the 4th in their history and their last in North Adelaide District Football Association as well securing their entry into the South Australian Amateur Football League for season 1964.

Broadview 13.8 (86) defeated Thompson Memorial 10.12 (72)

Goal Kickers: Ken Cooper, Geoff Ashman, Stan Simpson, Robert Wakefield, Brian Williamson 2, Brian Wells,
Brian Dew & Robert Tilley 1

Best Players: All Played Well

The excitement of winning the premiership was not lost on the players and members and celebrations back at the club were in full swing. It is believed that 39 – 18-gallon kegs of beer were consumed and one Thompson Memorial player who turned up to the club and made a somewhat nuisance of himself, so much so that he and his car were promptly dealt with by one of the players. Senior Coach Brian Wells also won the 1963 Medal as the Best Player in the NADFA, giving the club now 5 medals from 4 players.

The season was not yet completely over as the B Grade would take on Modbury in the Grand Final the following week. The game was also played at Prospect Oval in very hot stifling conditions. As in previous games between the clubs during the season it was also a tough and bruising affair. Unlike the A grade the B Grade fell short against Modbury’s A Grade team and lost by 18pts 9.10 (64) – 6.10 (46) thus denying the club the Premiership Double.

The Premiership success of 1963 was the culmination of a 6-year plan that began back in 1958. The club was now well established in both senior and junior ranks and ready to begin its journey in the SAAFL where it would go on to become one of the most successful clubs in the competition, second to only Adelaide University in total premierships.

[Footy Chick]

Excellent post FE

It's remarkable that only two of the 1963 premiership team have passed on and you almost had a full contingent.

Great history.

[FOURTH ESTATE]

No we have lost quite a few. Since the meeting in December last year when we first started planning the day we lost John Brooks and the Coach Brian Wells. Brian the day after the first meeting.