Bobby Skilton and Ron Barassi played there in 1972 both missed a lot of games through injury.
Skilton just missed winning the JJ Liston medal I think he was runner-up and only played 10 games at the most. Ian Collins ex number 2 in the AFL was captain coach.
Footscray v South Melbourne R8 1968 Western Oval. Lots of nostalgia! South won the match.
FNWB.com.au - 1968: Round 8, Footscray vs South Melbourne - YouTube
Russell Cooke no.17 had huge feet, so much so that he had to have his boots especially made for him. Graeme John no.7 was as weak as water. Played centre half forward and continually dropped his head in a marking contest. Didn't know how to tackle.
Can't recall why Magee left us but was a handy player for us. Doubt it was money back in those days. Probably had a blue with a committee member who were rapped up in their own importance and had too much influence. Eric Sarich came from WA and was handy for us. His brother invented the orbital engine. Too technical for me but was a big deal back then. I think the car industry bought the patent and shelved it. Pretty much didn't run on petrol. Google it for the story. Quite a few of the players on that day played in the 1970 semi final. Peter Bedford was only new to the club that year and subsequently wore no.11, worn previously by Max Papley.
Boy how the game has changed.
with no neafl, maybe Swans and GWS, and GC and Brisbane should combine their reserves and go into the VFL. Having separate teams or aligning with a current VFL team would be difficult , not enough teams that are separate. Need to reseolve coaching but I am sure that could be worked out. Colours for ysdney and gws could be the Blue of nsw and the qld could be the colours of Qld.
Another player that can be added to the Port/Swans connection was the younger brother of Norm Goss, Paul. He played a handful of games for South. He was nowhere the player that Norm was though. I can recall the Swans teams of the 1970s being renowned for possessing a good bunch of small players such as Bedford, Goss, Hoffman and Brice but lacking in the Ruck and key positions.
I can recall being at the South Ground to see the debut of a new recruit from Footscray in 1976 to address our deficiencies in the big man department. He looked hopeless that day. He could not even manage to kick the ball off the ground in the goal square at one point. We had paid a transfer fee of $25,000 to get him. We went home thinking we had recruited a dud. His name was Barry Round and would go on to win a Brownlow and be the Club's first Captain in Sydney.
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