NFC History Committee Annual Report 2020
15 February 2021
The History Committee was unable to hold meetings for most for the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions . However, members continued to work on projects from home and there were several significant achievements during the year.
Redlegs Museum
The website continues to grow and 167 biographical profiles were added to the records of past players bringing the number of biographies to 954 out of a total of 1496 players who have represented the club at a senior level. Records and photographs of the 80 women’s league players who have represented the club are also included on the website.
A considerable amount of research is undertaken into the on-field achievements and in many cases, the careers and exploits of players away from the game which has made the website a valuable resource for family historians. There have been a number of emails from family members who did not realise a forbear played for Norwood until a Google search revealed a link to the Redlegs Museum. Links to the player profiles are also turning up on Wikipedia, several AFL clubs’ history websites and sites such as the Virtual War Memorial Australia .
The committee is endeavouring to locate a photograph of every senior player listed on the website and 80 images were added, bringing the number of photos to 1425. Where a player does not appear in a club photograph, enquiries are made with a variety of sources including family members, school archives, newspapers and the records of other sporting codes to secure at least one image of the player that can be added to his record.
The website is archived on a regular basis by the National Library of Australia’s digital archive PANDORA and is currently the only football history website preserved by the Library.
New publication
A booklet titled A Vision Realised: the Norwood Oval 1900 - 2020 was produced to coincide with the opening of the Wolf Blass Community Centre and the redevelopment of offices and rooms in the Norwood Oval grandstands. The 57 page publication was funded through a grant from the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters Community Grant Scheme (events category). The booklet utilises information and photographs from the club’s archive and draws on material compiled by Wally Miller on the history of the Norwood Oval.
The Collection
Several significant items were acquired for the collection including a gold life member medallion awarded to Harold Page in 1938. Harold played 140 league and eight State games between 1929 and 1939.
An original NFC Annual Report 1934 was acquired for the collection. A number of the early annual reports were lost over the years and missing issues have been replaced with photocopies from the State Library’s collection.
Over the years the club has acquired some unique “novelty” hand-made items, such as scarves, dolls and toys, all of which reflect the depth of feeling that supporters young and old have for the club. This year we were fortunate to obtain a true labour of love in the form of a hand knitted red & blue guernsey celebrating the 1984 “History Makers” premiership. The guernsey includes the names of all the grand final players and coach with references to newspapers, sponsors and TV commentators, all carefully knitted into the garment.
86 items were catalogued and records added to the club’s archival database bringing the total number of items in the collection to 3,581. The database also records digital images of many items and 208 images were added making a total of 1,978.
Digitising the club’s collection of photographs is an ongoing project and the number of player, team and action images is 10,861. All of the league and reserves team photos have been digitised, a process which includes restoring many of the older photos which have been damaged.
Acknowledgments
Once again the committee is grateful for material donated by past players, members and supporters and this year nine donors presented the club with items for the collection making a total of 217 people who have donated material since the History Committee was formed in 2009.
There are many people from within and outside the club who provide assistance and support for the work that the committee undertakes. Dawn and John Eastwood from U-Store-it continue to provide the club with storage units to house the collection and we are grateful for their continued generosity. Wally Miller is great supporter of the group and his knowledge of the club’s history, and his input, is always valued.
Over the course of the year many people, including families and friends of past players, local historians, archivists and librarians, have provided information and photographs for the website biographies and we acknowledge the following:
John Althorn, Scott Barnes, Meredith Blundell, Jillian Buckerfield, Mike Buttfield, Nigel Clarke, Kerry Corrigan, Allan and John Davies, Trevor Deacon, Denis Goodger, Tony Griffin,Trevor Gyss, Chris Halbert, Peta Harries, Denis Hegarty, Lance Heitmann, Ian Hoffman, Peter Hoffmann, Bruce Hogben ,Ken and Mark Horsnell, Peter Lines, Lynda Joyce ,Richard Lines, Gerry Loots, Dennis Lorenz, Andrea McKinnon-Matthews, Brian Matheson, David Matthews, Heather Maynard, Serge Minot, Colin Meagreness, Michael Moran, Meredith Mork, Barbara, Arthur and Adrian Moulds, Kaye O’Connor ,Felicity O’Neil, Garry Osborn, Andrew Pearson, Ben Perry, Aileen Raesler, Di Roberts, John Schulze, Leon Stringer, Laurie Temple, David Turpin, Greg Wardell-Johnson, Colin Wiese, Julie Wright, Julie Zadow.
Wynton Heading
Chairman
History Committee members 2020
Graeme Adams
Reonaldo Cialini
Michael Coligan
Dee Cox
Lindsay Cox
Rob Crompton
Wynton Heading
Stephen Jones
Chris Lane
Trevor Mather
Phil Robins
Bryan Ridge
John Townsend
Marie Walsh
Robert Walsh
Roger Woodcock
<< Back