Rick Davies remembers his glory years at Adelaide Oval: ‘They were fantastic days’
STURT legend and Australian Football Hall of Fame member Rick Davies shares his memories of Adelaide Oval.
STURT legend and Australian Football Hall of Fame member Rick Davies shares his memories of Adelaide Oval.
FAVOURITE END TO KICK TO: “The scoreboard end. People over there were having a few drinks and there was always a fair bit of enthusiasm from the hill. The other bonus was that you could see the score being added after you kicked it. The wind also seemed to favour that end, coming in from the south east.’’
BIGGEST CROWD YOU PLAYED IN FRONT OF: “Some of the ANZAC Day games against Port must’ve had more than 50,000 there. They were fantastic days, and if we had a win, you should have seen it at Sturt afterwards.’’
BEST MOMENT ON THE GROUND: “The state game in 1973 had some fantastic players in it: Robram, Ebert, Light, Graham, Cahill and Cornes. But one of my favourite games was against Port Adelaide, and it might have been in one of those ANZAC Day games, when I kicked about eight or nine only to be outdone by (Port Adelaide’s) Tim Evans, who kicked about 12.’’
Rick Davies was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2013 after an outstanding career.
“The Jumbo Prince’’ kicked 818 goals from 370 games for Sturt, South Adelaide, Hawthorn and South Australia.
He was a premiership player for the Double Blues in 1974 and 1976 and held the record for the most goals in an SANFL season after bagging 151 in 1983.
He was the South Australian captain in 1979 and 1980 and the All-Australian captain in 1980. He has a bar named after him in the southern stand of the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.