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| Full Name | Norwood Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname | The Redlegs |
| Strip | Navy blue guernsey with red trim, navy blue shorts and red socks |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Sport | Australian Rules Football |
| League | South Australian National Football League |
| First season | 1878 |
| Ground | Coopers Stadium |
| Club Song | 'It’s a Grand Old Flag' |
| President | Joe Tripodi |
| Coach | Trevor Hill |
| Captain | James Gallagher |
| 2006 | 7th of 9 |
The Norwood Football Club, known as the Redlegs, is an Australian rules football club belonging to the South Australian National Football League in the state of South Australia. Its home ground is Coopers Stadium, often referred to as "The Parade".
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The Norwood Football Club was formed at a meeting held at the Norfolk Arms Hotel in Rundle Street, Adelaide on February 28, 1878.
Norwood’s first home ground was in the east parklands near the tramway and opposite the Kent Town Brewery.
Norwood played their first match at Adelaide oval on May 16, 1878 against South Adelaide, who were the reigning champion at the time. Norwood went on to win the match 1 goal to nil, with internationally acclaimed cricketer, George Giffen, kicking Norwood's first goal.
Norwood won a premiership in its first year of existence and then followed with five more in a row. Only Port Adelaide in the 1950s has managed to repeat the feat of winning 6 premierships in a row. Norwood eventually won 11 'pennants' between 1878 and 1899 and was the most successful team of the 1800s.
In 1883, after winning the pennant for the sixth successive year, Norwood became the first South Australian club to record a win over a Victorian team, when it defeated Essendon. In 1888, Norwood were proclaimed 'Premiers of Australia' when they defeated South Melbourne in three matches at Kensington Oval.
Norwood and Port Adelaide became famous rivals after a particularly tough qualifying finals match in 1894.
Early champions of the club include Alfred 'Topsy' Waldron, who captained the club for 9 years, Alby Green, the first player to win the Magarey Medal for the best and fairest player in the competition in 1898 and Anthony 'Bos' Daly, who kicked 88 goals in 1893 including an astonishing 23 goals in one match. Daly's goal tally would not be surpassed for another 37 years and his tally of 23 goals in one match has only ever been equalled by the great North Adelaide goal shooter, Ken Farmer. Daly was widely regarded as "the greatest South Australian footballer from 1877 to the close of the nineteenth century".
Norwood were proclaimed the Champions of Australia again in 1907 when they defeated the Victorian premier, Carlton, 13.12 to 8.9 after Norwood scored 7 goals in the first 20 minutes of the third quarter.
The Redlegs are one of the two traditional power-houses in the South Australian National Football League, the other team being the Port Adelaide Magpies, although in recent years both teams fortunes have been less than stellar.
The rivalry between the two clubs has always been intense, with those claiming allegiance to Norwood typically coming from the eastern side of Adelaide, which is the higher socio-economic side of town; whereas the Port Adelaide Magpies come from the north-west side, leading to a traditional rich-poor split in the following of the two clubs.
1904 Grand Final: Norwood was down by 35 points at 3/4 time against traditional rival Port Adelaide. Norwood then produced an extraordinary burst of football with a goal by centre half forward Dean Dawson followed by 2 goals each from full forward, Bill Miller and half forward flanker, Stan Robinson. Norwood was only 2 points down with a minute remaining. Tommy Gibbons held a mark on a seemingly impossible angle. His kick sailed through the goal posts to give Norwood a 4 point victory 9.8 to 8.10.
1978 Grand Final: 1978 was Norwood's centenary year. Norwood was 29 points down at 3/4 time against hot favourite, Sturt. Sturt had lost only 1 game for the year and was odds-on favourite to win their 8th flag in 13 years. With sheer determination and will to win, Norwood scored 7 goals to Sturt's 2 in the last quarter to win the premiership by 1 point. Memorable moments in the match include Neil Button's heroic effort in ruck against Sturt's Rick Davies, John Wynne's charge into the Sturt coaches box, Michael Taylor's mark 1 metre out from Sturt's goal with a minute to go, Danny Jenkin's leaping smother of a shot for goal with just seconds left to play, Brian Adamson's 5 goals from centre half forward and Philip Gallagher's match winning goal from half forward flank.
Note: Some players on the list rarely play for Norwood due to being in the starting 22 for their AFL teams almost all the time.
Premierships: 27 - 1878; 1879; 1880; 1881; 1882; 1883; 1887; 1888; 1889; 1891; 1894; 1901; 1904; 1907; 1922; 1923; 1925; 1929; 1941; 1946; 1948; 1950; 1975; 1978; 1982; 1984; 1997.
Norwood 19.12 (126) defeated Port Adelaide 7. 11. (53)[1]
| F: J. West, G. Molloy, S. Cook |
| HF: B. James, A. Pascoe, R. James |
| C: J. Thiessen, A. Jarman, D. Obst |
| HB: T. Davey, L. Bowman, T. Clements |
| B: J. D'Antiochia, D. Fleming, S. Pitt |
| R: S. Eastaugh, A. Harvey(C), J. Cunningham |
| Int: A. Keating, S. Bassett, S. Rowe |
| Coach: P. Rohde |
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The Norwood Football Club's current major sponsor is Fairmont Homes.
| Preceded by South Adelaide Adelaide Port Adelaide South Adelaide North Adelaide Port Adelaide Port Adelaide Port Adelaide West Torrens Port Adelaide Sturt West Torrens West Torrens North Adelaide Sturt Port Adelaide Port Adelaide West Adelaide Port Adelaide |
SANFL Premiers 1878-1883 1887-1889 1891 1894 1901 1904 1907 1922-1923 1925 1929 1941 1946 1948 1950 1975 1978 1982 1984 1997 |
Succeeded by Port Adelaide Port Adelaide South Adelaide South Adelaide North Adelaide North Adelaide West Adelaide West Torrens Sturt North Adelaide West Torrens West Torrens North Adelaide Port Adelaide Sturt Port Adelaide West Adelaide Glenelg Port Adelaide |
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