Memories of first Football Park grand final flow as Sturt’s 1974 premiership side revisits past glories and football folklore in celebrations | Cornes

50 years on after the historic win over Glenelg, the 1974 Sturt premiership team will reunite to celebrate their magnificent feat writes Graham Cornes.

Before this afternoon’s Sturt/Glenelg match at Unley Oval, a group of old Sturt footballers will gather at the Cremorne Hotel for lunch.

It is Sturt heartland, the appropriate place to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their grand final victory over Glenelg in 1974.

They move slowly these days, old injuries slowing them down. The hair, if they still have any is slowly turning grey and there are a few extra kilograms around the midriff, but they still have the carriage and the aura of the champions they were.

They had also gathered last night at the Edinburgh Hotel. You need more than a Sunday lunch for a premiership reunion.

Footballer Kym Hodgeman dives on the ball. Glenelg vs Sturt Grand Final match at Football Park 28 Sep 1974.

This was not just any grand final. It was the first one played at the newly developed Football Park. Under the old final five system, Sturt had finished the season on top of the premiership ladder, albeit by the smallest margin.

Port Adelaide was half a game away, courtesy of a drawn match against ninth placed Woodville in round eight. Sturt had beaten Glenelg in all three games they had played that season with an average winning margin of 28 points.

In the hard-fought second semi-final, they beat Port by five points and progressed straight through to the grand final. Then they watched and waited for the others to battle it out.

It had not been a great year for Glenelg after the 1973 triumph. Having lost five of the last six games of the minor round, their form coming into the finals was terrible. But September brought a new resolve and the Bays charged through the finals, beating West Torrens in the elimination final, then Norwood in the first semi-final.

Despite the unresolved animosity between the SANFL and the SACA, both those games were played at Adelaide Oval. It had been a bitter separation and subsequent divorce as the SANFL clamoured for a greater, more equitable share of the revenue generated by football at Adelaide Oval.

Footballer Jack Oatey jumping out of the coach's box. The first Grand Final at Football Park 28 Sep 1974.

But the SACA, hugely influenced by the great Sir Donald Bradman, would not yield. So the SANFL went looking for another location to develop its own oval. The undeveloped swamp-lands at West Lakes seemed such an unlikely place to build a new sports arena, but slowly, between 1971 and the beginning of the 1974 season, the stadium took shape.

However, the divorce was not completely final as football was still played at Adelaide Oval. Thankfully.

We hated Football Park. A desolate and windswept concrete amphitheatre, it held no history, no tradition - none of the heritage or mystique of Adelaide Oval. And it always seemed cold. There was just the one grandstand on the western side of the Oval.

The rest of the Oval was exposed to the weather – a bitter, unromantic place. However, the turf was good. It has always been good. The surface drained quickly. Only a tropical downpour, of which there were very few at West Lakes, would leave surface water. In time, however, we would learn to love the ground. State of Origin matches in particular brought home the passion.

So the preliminary and grand final were played at Football Park. Port Adelaide had also beaten Glenelg in the three times they had met in the 1974 minor round, but in an amazing reversal of form, Glenelg beat them by 49 points in the preliminary final. It was a season highlight, but Sturt was waiting.

The 1974 grand final was played on the 28th September in front of 58,042 fans! The weather was deplorable - even worse than in the infamous one in 1990 when North Adelaide could only manage one goal against Port Adelaide.

With dark skies indicating rain was imminent and a strong wind from the south, winning the toss was vital. Glenelg coach, Neil Kerley, never a stickler for the rules, had instructed our captain Peter Marker, how to win the toss, even if it meant cheating. Marker, who had a legal reputation to protect, ignored those instructions and subsequently lost the toss.

With the aid of the breeze Sturt kicked six goals five behinds in the first quarter and held Glenelg to a solidary point. Then the in the second quarter when Glenelg had the breeze, the rain came. We’ve always blamed the rain. Sturt led by 12 points at halftime.

The third quarter was a slog with neither team scoring a goal. Sturt, despite not scoring a goal in the second and third quarters, led at three quarter time, 6.12 to 6.7 with Glenelg to come home with the breeze.

Now this is where football folklore intervenes. Sturt captain, the great Paul Bagshaw recalls the over-exuberant confidence and belligerent attitude of a certain Glenelg player at the three-quarter time break and how it steeled his and his team’s resolve to hold on for victory. In fact, they did more than hold on. They extended the winning margin and at the final siren Sturt had triumphed by 15 points.

SA footballer Robert Oatey celebrating with captain Paul Bagshaw after premiership win. Sep 1974.

As in any grand final there are heroes. It takes a total team effort and Sturt had good players all over the ground, but there is always someone special.

Michael Nunan’s last quarter effort should be recorded in the annals of great grand final performances. The Sturt faithful will remember, but the wider football public should be reminded how he inspired his team to victory on that day.

Thankfully, there is vision, albeit in black and white, although it’s hardly high-fidelity.

It doesn’t give much of an indication of how tough the conditions were on the day, but it does record how Michael Nunan picked his team up and carried it to victory. Of course Rick Davies, as he has told the world, starred and it’s been mentioned before in this column how big an impact Robbie Barton had when he came off the bench. He always played well against Glenelg.

So those old Sturt players will reminisce and quietly celebrate. Quietly - for there is sadness. Six of them are no longer with us.

Brendon Howard, Robert Oatey (who waited so long to play in a premiership), Ken Whelan, Tony Lloyd, Greg Wild and Brenton Miels have all passed away.

I feel the connection. Brenton Miels and I were at the same school: and Greg Wild and I played together at Central Whyalla.

We called him “Carrots” a nickname that I’m sure he hated, but he was a great teammate and a respectful opponent.

There is an interesting postscript to this match. Three months later, on Christmas Eve 1974, Cyclone Tracy ripped through Darwin, flattening the city.

Footballer Brenton Adcock (l) with footballers (l-r) Robert Oatey and Phillip "Sandy" Nelson hold trophy aloft while celebrating their premiership win at Football Park 28 Sep 1974.

The city was evacuated except for the essential services personnel that remained to clean-up and start the rebuild. Maybe it was the Michael Graham connection, but Sturt, the reigning premiers, and Glenelg, the runners-up were flown to Darwin to put on an exhibition match as entertainment, or perhaps it was distraction, for the people who were left.

Played in worse conditions than the SANFL grand final and with an ever-darkening sky I’m not sure how entertaining it would have been but it was memorable.

Neil Kerley came on to make his last appearance in a Glenelg jumper and seeing the devastation in Darwin, three weeks after the Cyclone, was an unforgettable experience.

Glenelg and Sturt are never regarded as traditional rivals in the vein of the Port/Norwood or Port/Sturt rivalries but that grand final and that Darwin experience cemented the rivalry.

After 50 years it must be remembered and it deserves to be celebrated.