BIO

At the turn of the 20th Century football in South Australia was in a parlous state. Its popularity was declining due greatly to an increase in violent incidents. Other pastimes, especially horse racing were proving more popular and the continued dominance of three clubs over the rest was causing frustration.

The electorate system was brought in as an attempt to even up the competition whereby players could only play for the side in whose state electorate they lived. The press reported that no club suffered more than Norwood with the introduction of this system and the Redlegs went in search of new recruits.

As part of this a match was organised against Rose Park on 27 April 1901. Unfortunately the game could not go ahead as Rose Park had insufficient numbers but a vigorous training session took its place and Llewellyn showed very good form and was seen as a valuable back player.

He had to be enticed to Norwood but only featured in six games. Twice he was named in the best players and after his fourth game against North Adelaide a report said he had the makings of very fine player.

His last two games saw Norwood endure heavy losses and a 10 goal loss to South Adelaide was viewed by some as the worst loss in the club’s history.

Llewellyn played no further games and was not part of the Norwood resurgence that resulted in a grand final win over Port Adelaide.

B Ridge September 2022