1990 SANFL Grand Final

The 1990 SANFL (South Australia National Football League) Grand Final saw the Port Adelaide Magpies defeat the Glenelg Tigers by 15 points. The match was played on Sunday October 7 1990 at Football Park in front of a crowd of 50,589 The Advertiser (Adelaide) newspaper October 8 1990, pages 45,46,53,54] .

Quarter by Quarter Scores

For Port Adelaide, David Hutton had 23 disposals (16 kicks, 7 handballs), followed by Tim Ginever with 22, and George Fiacchi with 21. Scott Hodges took 10 marks.

For Glenelg, Tony Symonds had 33 disposals (20 kicks, 13 handballs), followed by Rod Jameson with 22. Tony Symonds took 8 marks, Michael Murphy took 7.

For Port Adelaide, Rohan Smith and David Brown missed the game due to injury.

Goal Kickers

Port: S. Hodges 6.5, A. Settre 3.0, D. Smith 2.0, G. Wanganeen 2.0, W. Mahney 1.1, S. Williams 1.1, M. Williams 1.0, S. Tregenza 0.2, (Rushed 0.3)

Glenelg: J. Fidge 5.3, M. Murphy 3.0, G. Christie 1.2, M. Liptak 1.2, R. Jameson 1.1, D. Marshall 1.1, S. Salisbury 1.0, N. Chigwidden 0.2, A. Symonds 0.1, C. McDermott 0.1, (Rushed 0.2)

Hodges' 6 goals took his season total to 153 goals, setting a new SANFL record for most goals kicked in a season. The previous record was 151 goals, set by Rick Davies from Sturt in 1983. Hodges also won the Magarey Medal in 1990.

Captains, Coaches, and Umpires

Port Adelaide was captained by Russell Johnston and coached by John Cahill. Glenelg was captained by Chris McDermott and coached by Graham Cornes.

The game was umpired by Rick Kinnear and Mark Mackie.

Jack Oatey Medal

The Jack Oatey Medal for best player in the Grand Final was awarded to George Fiacchi of Port Adelaide.

End of an SANFL Era

1990 marked the last year in which the SANFL existed without an Adelaide-based team in the Australian Football League (AFL), with the Adelaide Crows being formed in 1991.

The formation of the Adelaide Crows was largely due to Port Adelaide's attempts to join the AFL. This met with resistance and outrage from the SANFL and other SANFL teams. The SANFL had resisted entering an Adelaide-based team in the AFL for several years, but Port Adelaide's attempted entry had forced their hand.

The bitterness against Port Adelaide for their AFL entry bid was summed up by Glenelg coach Graham Cornes in his post-match speech to the Port players when he said "You should all enjoy this moment while it lasts. The good times are well and truly over... there's a couple of individuals out there (in the Port Adelaide Football Club) that have a lot to answer for". Cornes was then hastily ushered out amongst jeers from Port players and officials. Ironically, Cornes left Glenelg to coach the Crows in 1991.

The entry of an Adelaide-based team significantly weakend the SANFL competition by taking the best players from each club. From Port Adelaide, the Crows took Hodges, D. Smith, Tregenza, Abernethy, and D. Brown , while Wanganeen joined Essendon, Hynes joined West Coast, and R. Smith joined St Kilda. From Glenelg, the Crows took Murphy, Marshall, Jameson, McDermott, Liptak, and coach Cornes.

While SANFL clubs had been losing star players to AFL teams for several years, the entry of the Adelaide Crows made it more acceptable and even expected for the top SANFL players to join other AFL clubs also.

When Port Adelaide finally entered a team in the AFL in 1997 as Port Adelaide Power, John Cahill was the inaugural coach with Mark Williams as Assistant Coach and Gavin Wanganeen was captain. David Brown and Scott Hodges were also members of the initial playing squad.

External links

* [http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/1990_sanfl_grand_final.htm 1990 SANFL Grand Final at Full Points Footy]
* [http://www.portmagpies.com.au/ Port Adelaide Magpies Official Website]
* [http://www.glenelgfc.com.au/ Glenelg Football Club Official Website]
* [http://www.sanfl.com.au/ SANFL Official Website]

References