By Gerry Carman
First published in The Age on May 17, 1983
SA drubs Big V
SOUTH AUST. 6.5 13.8 17.11 26.16 (172)
VICTORIA 2.3 82 13.12 17.14 (116)
ADELAIDE. — South Australian football officials last night claimed that their State’s 56-point defeat of Victoria was proof that a local team should be admitted to the VFL.
It’s been a long time between drinks, 18 years in fact, since SA beat Victoria in Adelaide.
The president of the South Australian National Football League, Max Basheer, told the VFL president, Dr Allen Aylett, and other Victorian officials after the game that South Australia had “said something”.
“We are now worthy of having a team or two involved in the VFL competition,” he said.
But Dr Aylett, who was emphatic that Australian Rules would be a truly national code by the end of the decade, replied that the SANFL “should not get all hung up about getting to play in Victoria in the short term”.
Using a light-hearted tone to deliver a sobering message, he said: “When we get to the stage where we can’t beat you here, we will invite you there (Victoria)… we might even play you in Sydney.”
Dr Aylett predicted that within four years there would be many developments towards making the code national within a decade. He did not elaborate.
The SA side outran and comprehensively outplayed Victoria 26.16 (172) to 17.14 (116) to record its first win over the Big V in 18 years. The winning margin of 56 points was the third highest in 104 years of football competition between the two States (including the VFA). The highest margin was 69 points in 1960, followed by 64 points the last time SA won, in Adelaide, in July 1965.
SA, which had trained together for two weeks, controlled the game from the onset with its runners dominating around the packs and with fast, intelligent handwork and direct long kicking.
The partisan crowd of 42,521 had good reason to cheer wildly during the game and to go slightly wild after the final siren.
The match was won essentially in the first quarter when the lethargic Victorians were outscored by 26 points. Victoria in fact managed to outscore the more tenacious Croweaters in only the third quarter — and then only by a solitary point.
The slender chance of a Victorian revival, sparked by the tireless and flawless skipper Robert Flower and Terry Daniher early in the third quarter, was reduced to a distant memory in the last term.
SA slammed on three goals in the first two minutes and completed the rout with a total of nine goals for the term, as the hapless, leg-weary Victorians succumbed to the pressure.
While Flower was a one-man band for Victoria, the South Australians played as a team, with ruck-rover Michael Aish the greatest among equals.
Aish, who is expected to play with Richmond next season, was aptly described as “the architect of the SA side” by Victorian coach, David Parkin.
The SA forward line functioned smoothly, with Lindner, used judiciously off the bench by coach Bob Hammond, repeatedly soaring for marks, to finish with five goals.
Another exciting player who caused the Victorian backline endless problems was 17-year-old Peter Motley, who has been signed by the Swans. He scored three goals in a memorable performance by one so young, yet talented.
The Victorian side was hit hard by injuries before and during the match but Parkin refused to use that as an excuse. Nor did he use as an excuse the fact that the Victorian players had played for their clubs on Saturday while their SA opponents, apart from three VFL players in their ranks, Greg Phillips, Matt Rendell and Stephen Copping, were rested from their league engagements.
Parkin said the game was won by SA in the first 10 minutes: “The match was all over by then and it had nothing to do with fitness or running ability.”
This was obviously a reference to the South Australians having 5.3 on the scoreboard before Daniher managed to score for Victoria at the 19-minute mark.
“They were extremely desperate… we were outdone by a very disciplined, very competent, very efficient side. Each time we looked like getting up, they were able to respond as a good side does,” Parkin said.
Parkin, who had the misfortune of coaching the Victorian side beaten by Western Australia in 1979, said he felt sad that Robert Flower would be remembered as the captain of a Victorian side that lost by almost 10 goals to SA.
“Flower was absolutely magnificent in a team of no other winners and few triers,” he said.
Parkin said he was not in favour of resting Victorian players before interstate matches, but his personal view was that such matches should be played as a carnival at the end of the season.
