IT is the who’s who of South Australian football. More than 8500 treasure pieces that will take people on a remarkable journey back through time.
From classic images from the first SANFL season in 1877 and the 1909 Magarey Medal won by Richard Head to Bill Wedding’s giant football boots and John Halbert’s 1966 lace-up premiership guernsey, the SANFL’s 140-year Anniversary Exhibition has it all.
Fifty-six Magarey Medals, including the record four won by Port Adelaide great Russell Ebert and three by the legendary Barrie Robran, Lindsay Head and Len Fitzgerald, will be on display at the State Library from June 6 to August 13 in what chief organiser Chris Halbert has described as “the greatest State football collection ever assembled’’.
The brainchild of Mrs Halbert — wife of Sturt 1961 Magarey Medal winner and SA Football Hall of Famer John Halbert — the exhibition, titled “In a League of its Own’’, has been three years in the making.
“I knew how much memorabilia John had tucked away and whenever we would go to a Magarey Medal or Hall of Fame function we would catch up with people like Lindsay and Barrie and I’d think to myself that someone has got to do something with all of these fabulous items before they disappear,’’ Mrs Halbert said.
“These three had so many great items that we know about so I thought ‘How much is out there that we don’t know about’?
“I just felt the need to preserve it for future generations to enjoy before it was all lost.’’
So she went to work.
With the backing of the SA Football Commission, Mrs Halbert called on volunteer help and was inundated with support from key SANFL personnel and lovers of the game.
Sixteen volunteers started meeting weekly at AAMI Stadium. They included former star goalkicker Malcolm Greenslade, who kicked 607 goals for Sturt from 1966-77, 255-game SANFL and AFL field umpire Mick Abbott, long-time commentator Roger Wills, media personality Keith Conlon and former West Torrens chairman and Football Park projects manager Murray Richardson.
Mrs Halbert said many other volunteers had put their hands up to help with special projects, such as the exhibition.
Many of the historical items that will be on display for 10 weeks had been hidden away — and some thought lost — in storerooms at the West Lakes facility.
It was quite a process to find them, dig them out, catalogue and store them’’
“It was quite a process to find them, dig them out, catalogue and store them,’’ said Mrs Halbert.
As word got out, priceless items kept coming in.
“(South Adelaide great) Peter Darley has been very supportive and came forward with his memorabilia and Barrie and Lindsay donated their Magarey Medals,’’ said Mrs Halbert.
“As people started to hear about our project, more and more jumped on board and more fantastic items kept coming in.
“We have the most beautiful photos detailing the history of the game in this state, from the start of the SANFL competition, through to the introduction of the Crows in 1991 and Port Adelaide into the AFL (in 1997) to the current day.
“The display of Magarey Medals, which have been donated or loaned by their owners or family members, will be spectacular.’’
Mrs Halbert and her team of volunteers, who now work out of the recently acquired SANFL History Centre at Bowden, of which she is manager, have assembled a wide variety of items, many of which are priceless.
They include photos, footballs, boots, guernseys, blazers, trophies and other collectables.
More than 250 detailed scrapbooks, which include more than 20,000 photos, of some of the SANFL’s greatest players, including Eagles premiership captain Bob Hank, have been digitally catalogued.
As part of preserving the history of SA football, Mrs Halbert’s support cast has assembled countless hours of footage of SANFL games dating back to the 1950s.
“One of our big projects has been to gather film and tapes from the four television channels (Nine, Seven, Ten and Two) and digitalise them,’’ she said.
“There are about 2700 items of film and tapes so it has been an incredibly taxing but enjoyable process. We have sponsorship for this significant project from the SANFL and Clubs SA.”
There is countless footage from SANFL matches and grand finals, including the 1976 clash between Sturt and Port Adelaide when a record 66,987 tickets were sold and thousands more snuck into the game at Football Park and spilt over the fence near the boundary line.
The exhibition will also feature a series of engaging one-on-one interviews, with greats of the game including Robran, Neil Kerley and Graham Cornes.
“I’m so proud of the work and commitment so many people have put in to make this exhibition happen and grateful to the people who have donated items and we’re looking forward to sharing it with the people of South Australia and having them come along and say ‘I remember that’,’’ Mrs Halbert said.
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