My latest publication describes the 1925 premiership season of the Norwood Football Club in 1915. It describes the preseason preparations, the matches of the minor round and finals. A summary of the club and players is included.
This is one of a series of publications that document the history of South Australian football.
Norwood returned as the premiership team after a two year absence. It magnificently achieved its third premiership in four seasons. It won the Grand Final by one point, from the 1924 premiership team, West Torrens. Norwood’s season was enhanced with the Magarey Medal win by its brilliant centreman, Alick Lill.
Norwood’s strength was its hard, physical game, which gave it an advantage over its opponents during the season, particularly in vital games.
Under the new playing rules, some of the followers had less control over the game than previously, because the new rule required followers with pace, good ball handling and kicking.
Norwood returned to premiership success with two close finals wins. From the outset, Norwood began well and it was evident from early in the season that they would feature in the finals. They won four matches in succession and lost its first match to Torrens. They beat South, but in the next game lost to Port at Alberton. In the return game with Sturt, the red and blues were defeated at Unley on July 11. After that they won every game. Although considered not as good as the teams of previous years, Norwood easily went top of the minor premiership round.
The fact that the red and blues won the premiership was no surprise. Throughout the season they proved themselves the most consistent team and owed their position at the head of the list to the individual ability of the players and the fact that they never gave in. At the same time, the game played by them was not as good as in former years, in terms of general understanding and combination.
Their fighting spirit was well displayed in the grand final against Torrens. In the last term they appeared so disorganised that it seemed Torrens would win, but at a critical moment they rallied and a goal from Bent placed the issue beyond doubt. In this game Bent kicked six goals out of the eight scored by his side.
Lill, at centre, practically was always too good for his opponent and his powerful kicking into the forward division had a great deal to do with the success of the team. Bent was a clever and effective forward, who did well when put on to rove. Unselfishness was a feature of his game. Scott was the mainstay of the defence and carried his high standard of play into the interstate engagements. White was not as good as previous seasons, although he was effective on occasions, while his leadership was good. Potts was unusually good in the ruck. In addition to knocking out well, he was above average in high marking and good kicking. Schumacher had a good season. Hepburn did well as a rover and forward. Mutton exhibited plenty of dash and the team was well served on the wings by Heinrich and Symonds. Stephens rose to the occasion when most needed, while Ackland performed well as a goalkeeper. Other consistently good men were Wadham and Whitfield.
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