Club Emblems and nicknames

[robranisgod]

Norwood were known as the Demons from 1959 until about 1965.

Alan Killigrew brought that in when he came to coach to give Norwood a more fearsome image. And FWIW, I liked the big Eagle too

About 100 years ago, Torrens were known as the "Hindmarsh Men".

Their nickname prior to the Eagles had something to do with the Pug Holes, but I can't remember exactly what.

The argument by Torrens old timers against the Eagle guernsey was that it was "too pretty" and not fearsome enough hence around the traps it was always considered to be "the clown outfit". Most of you would have only been kids when they played in it, perhaps that was the appeal to a couple of you here. Funnily enough the appeal to the kids didn't bring them support compared to the support that had in the 50s. I guess the fact that they never won a final of any description after 1954 was part of the fall off in support as well.

[smithy]

Norwood were known as the Demons from 1959 until about 1965.

Alan Killigrew brought that in when he came to coach to give Norwood a more fearsome image. And FWIW, I liked the big Eagle too

About 100 years ago, Torrens were known as the "Hindmarsh Men".

Their nickname prior to the Eagles had something to do with the Pug Holes, but I can't remember exactly what.

The argument by Torrens old timers against the Eagle guernsey was that it was "too pretty" and not fearsome enough hence around the traps it was always considered to be "the clown outfit". Most of you would have only been kids when they played in it, perhaps that was the appeal to a couple of you here. Funnily enough the appeal to the kids didn't bring them support compared to the support that had in the 50s. I guess the fact that they never won a final of any description after 1954 was part of the fall off in support as well.

That could be true robranisgod.
I've read a few books where they state that Torrens following was second only to Port in the 50's.
Sadly it disappeared over time.

[Leaping Lindner]

Really testing the memory bank here...
In very early days South were referred to as "the freshwaters" and Port Adelaide "the saltwaters"
West use to be known as the bottletops (or similiar) as they were the same colours as West End Beer bottletops. - the painting of the chimney stems from this but that's a story for another time - They later became the Blood and Tars, then The Bloods , The Wolves (one season -1980) , then back to The Bloods ever since (I think).
West Torrens were known as The Butchers BUT I think that's the West Torrens that played in the Suburban Association and isn't related to the Torrens that joined the SAFA in 1897 as they came from The Natives club.

[smithy]

Really testing the memory bank here...
In very early days South were referred to as "the freshwaters" and Port Adelaide "the saltwaters"
West use to be known as the bottletops (or similiar) as they were the same colours as West End Beer bottletops. - the painting of the chimney stems from this but that's a story for another time - They later became the Blood and Tars, then The Bloods , The Wolves (one season -1980) , then back to The Bloods ever since (I think).
West Torrens were known as The Butchers BUT I think that's the West Torrens that played in the Suburban Association and isn't related to the Torrens that joined the SAFA in 1897 as they came from The Natives club.

And the sturt desert peas.

I was sort of hoping for official dates when emblems/nicknames were brought into place but i think this might be harder than 1st thought.

Thanks LL as always for an informative read.

[Ian]

West are now the Bloods.

They used to be called the Blood & Tars.

Did they also use the name "Wolves" at one time?

[CK]

West are now the Bloods.

They used to be called the Blood & Tars.

Did they also use the name "Wolves" at one time?

May stand corrected, but I believe Fos Williams played a major part in them becoming the "Wolves" for a short period, before Neil Kerley's homecoming to the club had them revert back to the "Bloods".

[nickname]

My memory on this is hazy too but I think it was part of the 'revitalisation' of the club under Oberon Pirak's stewardship. The confusion about when we stopped being the Wolves isn't helped by the fact that for a long time we retained the wolf logo but were called the Bloods. We were also the Bloodhounds for a time and I think it was Pirak and co who thought a dopey looking dog wasn't a fearsome enough symbol, hence the change to a wolf.
I think (but I'm not 100%) it was 1974 under Fos that we changed to vertical stripes and Kerley certainly reverted to the red sash in 1981.

[dedja]

Yes, Kerls did like sashes

[spell_check]

In the newspapers even in the 20s, Glenelg were sometimes called the tigers (note with lower case t). I don't know the official date for Tigers becoming the official name.

[spell_check]

Don't know if you can read it properly (why they have quality control checks for these if this stuff is outputted, I don't know), but this is a 1921 reference to the tigers:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... m=+glenelg

[Adelaide Hawk]

I've been doing research as to when the nicknames became official. 1963 could well be the year but I'm going to dig further.

According to former North stalwart and historian the late Colin Walsh, North only officially became the roosters in 1965, when they were granted a liquor licence and operated that arm of the club as the roosters club.

I vividly remember my Dad pinning up in my bedroom the Dan Russell poster of a Rooster standing on top of a strangled demon after the 1960 Grand Final win, so North at least unofficially were the roosters in

For those who were unaware, Dan Russell was a legendary SA cartoonist who produced posters similar to the Weg posters for the Sunday Mail. Also Norwood were known as the Demons from 1959 until about 1965.

Thanks for that robranisgod.
So if 1965 is official for the rooster nickname I'll change it to that.
Was that an official nickname/emblem change for Norwood between 1959-65 ?

I have the 1963 set of coca cola bottle tops, and under NORTH ADELAIDE they have "The Roosters", so I would think it may have been prior to 1965 they became known as such.

As for Norwood, yes, Killigrew changed to the Demons in 1959 in light of the success the Melbourne Demons were having at the time, and Bunton changed it back to the Redlegs in 1965.

[robranisgod]

I've been doing research as to when the nicknames became official. 1963 could well be the year but I'm going to dig further.

According to former North stalwart and historian the late Colin Walsh, North only officially became the roosters in 1965, when they were granted a liquor licence and operated that arm of the club as the roosters club.

I vividly remember my Dad pinning up in my bedroom the Dan Russell poster of a Rooster standing on top of a strangled demon after the 1960 Grand Final win, so North at least unofficially were the roosters in

For those who were unaware, Dan Russell was a legendary SA cartoonist who produced posters similar to the Weg posters for the Sunday Mail. Also Norwood were known as the Demons from 1959 until about 1965.

Thanks for that robranisgod.
So if 1965 is official for the rooster nickname I'll change it to that.
Was that an official nickname/emblem change for Norwood between 1959-65 ?

I have the 1963 set of coca cola bottle tops, and under NORTH ADELAIDE they have "The Roosters", so I would think it may have been prior to 1965 they became known as such.

As for Norwood, yes, Killigrew changed to the Demons in 1959 in light of the success the Melbourne Demons were having at the time, and Bunton changed it back to the Redlegs in 1965.

There is no doubt that North were known as the roosters long before 1965, as I said before they were known as the roosters at the time of the 1960 premiership but according to old timers they only became officially known as the roosters in 1965, a fact recorded in North's rather poor centenary book. As long as I can remember (and I can certainly remember at least back to 1959) North were known as the roosters. I think the whole official argument is bit of a moot point anyway.

[smithy]

Yes, certainly don't want the official dates to become a historical slanging match.
It was more out of interest to try and get a list for all the teams.

[smithy]

I've been doing research as to when the nicknames became official. 1963 could well be the year but I'm going to dig further.

According to former North stalwart and historian the late Colin Walsh, North only officially became the roosters in 1965, when they were granted a liquor licence and operated that arm of the club as the roosters club.

I vividly remember my Dad pinning up in my bedroom the Dan Russell poster of a Rooster standing on top of a strangled demon after the 1960 Grand Final win, so North at least unofficially were the roosters in

For those who were unaware, Dan Russell was a legendary SA cartoonist who produced posters similar to the Weg posters for the Sunday Mail. Also Norwood were known as the Demons from 1959 until about 1965.

Thanks for that robranisgod.
So if 1965 is official for the rooster nickname I'll change it to that.
Was that an official nickname/emblem change for Norwood between 1959-65 ?

I have the 1963 set of coca cola bottle tops, and under NORTH ADELAIDE they have "The Roosters", so I would think it may have been prior to 1965 they became known as such.

As for Norwood, yes, Killigrew changed to the Demons in 1959 in light of the success the Melbourne Demons were having at the time, and Bunton changed it back to the Redlegs in 1965.

Ironically I think Melbourne were known as the redlegs before the demons too.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Ironically I think Melbourne were known as the redlegs before the demons too.

That's correct. They were the Redlegs up to 1933 when Checker Hughes coached them. He implored the team to play like Demons, so they altered their sobriquet to Demons. In 1939, they called themselves the Red Demons for awhile, but it reverted back to Demons soon afterwards.

[Mr66]

Ironically I think Melbourne were known as the redlegs before the demons too.

That's correct. They were the Redlegs up to 1933 when Checker Hughes coached them. He implored the team to play like Demons, so they altered their sobriquet to Demons. In 1939, they called themselves the Red Demons for awhile, but it reverted back to Demons soon afterwards.

I think they were officially known as the Fuschias(some type of flower) but
the Redlegs moniker might have been only semi-official

[baggy8]

AH is right. Melbourne's first nickname was the Redlegs, but for some reason that was changed to the Fuchsias when they entered the VFA in 1877. When the VFL started in 1897, they became the Redlegs again. Presumably the name Fuchsias lingered with some for a while (hard to work out why), just as some people even now still refer to Melbourne as the Redlegs.

[cargo_art]

Never understood why Norwood chose to change the logo in the 1990's, as they had one of the best.

[westcoastpanther]

Don't South get called the Yeos as well?? Ye Ole Freshwaters or something.

Need Blue&White to come on

[Dissident]

For some reason I thought that Westies went from the Blood and Tars, to the Wolves, to the Bloods, and it was "short" for Bloodhounds.

Though I was on crack from age 4 onwards.