Norwood Football Club legend Wally Miller OAM farewelled at Norwood Oval

A Norwood Football Club legend has been farewelled by friends and family at the club he loved.

Former footballer and administrator Wally Miller (r) with SA politician Vini Ciccarello at opening of Wally Miller Gates at Norwood Redlegs football club 03 Mar 1994. Taken by Phil Hillyard.

Wally Miller OAM played 64 matches for Norwood Football Club before polio cut it short - but not his love for the red and blue.

In his 22 years as club manager, from 1970 to 1992, the Redlegs took out four SANFL premierships, ending a 25-year drought, and recruited star players like Neil Craig, Neil Balme and Michael Taylor.

They and many others were among the 300-plus attendees at his memorial service on Wednesday afternoon at Norwood Oval - where the gates to the entrance bear his name - following the beloved administrator’s death on October 16, aged 88.

Former footballer and administrator Wally Miller was farewelled by 300-plus attendees. Here he is on 25 Jun 1990. Picture: Ray Titus.

Born in the Adelaide Hills, Miller was wheelchair-bound since the age of 24, but his son Tony told mourners that he never thought of his father as being handicapped.

“Even as he struggled to navigate stairs and relied on crutches, dad got things done the way he needed to get the job done,” the younger Miller said.

Friends and colleagues remembered a passionate and intense negotiator, who sometimes quarrelled with the decisions of league managers and the AFL.

Crowd at the Memorial Service for Walter Miller OAM at Norwood Oval. Picture: Kelly Barnes

But Craig, an SA Football Hall of Famer and two-time premiership player under Miller, also remembered a fatherly figure, sharing a story about a club fete for players during the 80s.

“Someone pointed to the stage and said, ‘Isn’t it a pity you didn’t win more premierships with this lot?’” Craig remembered.

“Looking back on the stage, he said, ‘Yeah, a few more premierships would have been good, but just look at the quality of the individuals up there’.

“Of course, winning premierships was the aim, but to Wally, it was the players that meant the most.”

Walter Miller OAM farewelled at Norwood Oval. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The Memorial Service for Walter Miller OAM at Norwood Oval. Picture: Kelly Barnes

According to two-time premier Neil Balme, though Miller never coached, except for his children, “he knew more about footy than any of us did”.

In helping draft the game’s national junior rules, he was directly responsible for the creation of Auskick, the AFL’s introduction program for under-12s.

He was made an AFL Life Member in 2019 and ex-Norwood captain Michael Taylor said his name became synonymous with Norwood’s golden years.

The Memorial Service for Walter Miller OAM at Norwood Oval. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Neil Balme speaks at the Memorial Service for Walter Miller OAM at Norwood Oval. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“Through that period, wherever you went across the country, you said ‘Norwood’ and people go, ‘What, Wally Miller’?” Taylor said.

“If we reflect back on where he started and where he finished his career, the difference he made on so many people inside and outside the club was just amazing.”

Among his many roles, Miller also served on several SANFL committees and was a board director of the Adelaide Football Club from 1997 to 2002.

Originally published as Norwood Football Club legend Wally Miller OAM farewelled at Norwood Oval