History of the
Glenelg Football Club
affiliated South Australian National Football League

In one of the most intriguing, topsy-turvey and even seasons in SANFL history, eventual Grand Finalists Glenelg and Port were the bottom two sides after 7 rounds of a 17 game season, and Glenelg did not even win a game until round 6.

Glenelg opened the 1934 season with 3 straight losses including a 131-point loss to Port Adelaide in round 3, which was the biggest loss by any team for 31 years. The team bounced back the following round against North, and in a tight game managed to sneak in front by 1-point, until a point by North in the dying seconds levelled the scores, and left Glenelg bottom and winless after 4 rounds.

To make matters worse Glenelg then lost to the 2nd bottom side Sturt in round 5 to leave them 1.5 games clear in bottom spot.
Although it must be said that a draw which had Glenelg playing 4 of their first 5 games on opposition home grounds did them no favours, this was not the start that 2nd year coach Bruce McGregor and captain Jack Owens were looking for after an encouraging first season in 1933.

Despite such a poor start to the season, Glenelg did contain some very high quality players, who were at the peak of their powers, including -- Jack Owens (827 career goals, 10 time Glenelg top goalkicker and 3 time league top goalkicker), Len Sallis (5 time Glenelg best and fairest, 2 time Magarey Medal runner-up), George 'Blue' Johnson (3 time Glenelg best and fairest and 1934 Magarey Medallist), and Mel Brock (2 time Glenelg best and fairest, and 1940 Magarey Medallist). The remarkable achievements of these players, also needs to be put into the context that they were playing in a side that were in the bottom two teams every season apart from 6th in 1931 & 1933 and top in 1934.

Beginning in round 6, Glenelg staged a miraculous turn-around, to win 10 out of 12 matches and finish the minor round in 2nd spot.

Glenelg broke their duck with a 29-point win against South in round 6, followed by a nailbiting 2-point win over Norwood at The Parade. Then a 33-point win over West, finally lifted Glenelg off the bottom of the ladder to be only half a game outside the top-4 after 8 rounds - and leaving Port in bottom spot.

A setback in losing to Torrens at Thebarton was followed by a round 10 win against Port (their last loss until the Grand Final) which was inspired by Jack Owens' 9 goals. This win lifted Glenelg to 5th spot just 1 game outside the top-4.

The next two wins against North and Sturt were critical as they were against sides inside the top-4, and enabled Glenelg to rise into the top-4 for the first time in the season, with a 6-5-1 record after 12 rounds.

Wins against the bottom two sides South and Norwood consolidated Glenelg's place in the top-4, so that with 3 rounds remaining Glenelg were in 3rd place, half a game from top spot, but still only 1 game in front of 5th placed West.

A three point loss to North in round 15, allowed West to draw level with Glenelg on the ladder, and set up a winner takes all clash against West the following week. In a very tight contest, Glenelg had to come from behind in the last quarter to defeat West by 11 points.
With one round remaining, this put Glenelg in 3rd spot with a 9-6-1 record, but there was only 1 win separating Port in 2nd place from West in 6th place, so only top side Torrens were guaranteed a finals birth, and Port 2nd, Glenelg 3rd & Sturt 4th all needed to win to make the finals.

In the last round Port flogged Torrens, and Glenelg defeated Norwood at The Parade, which meant Glenelg moved up to equal top with Port, but 2nd on percentage, and secured the finals double chance.

After a 65 point shellacking at the hands of Port Adelaide in the Second-Semi Final - which was largely attributed to inexperience and the nerves associated with their first ever finals appearance, they faced Sturt in the Preliminary Final.
The Prelimnary Final was a tightly fought contest, with Sturt leading by 4 points, 6-13 to 6-9, at 3/4 time. But in the last quarter, 4 consecutive goals by Glenelg broke the Sturt resistance, and by scoring 6 goals to 3 in the last quarter, Glenelg ran out winners by 13 points.

In the Grand Final, Glenelg led at 3/4 time by 17-points but Port launched a determined comeback and drew level late in the last quarter.
This pulsating last quarter is most remembered for the heroic deeds of 'Blue' Johnston, who took a spectacular one-handed intercept mark to stall Port's momentum during their comeback, followed by a towering mark and goal in the goalsquare to restore Glenelg's lead late in the game, which doubtlessly inspired Glenelg to win their first League Premiership - in just their 14th season and their first finals appearance - see Grand Final details below.

• Len Sallis won Glenelg's best & fairest award for a record 5th time.
• 'Blue' Johnston won the 1934 Magarey Medal (becoming only the 2nd Glenelg player to acheive this after Jim Handby in 1928).
• Jack Owens kicked 89 goals to be Glenelg's top goalkicker for the 10th time.
• According to the best players named in the Sunday paper each week, Glenelg's best players in the 1934 season were Arthur Link, 'Blue' Johnston, Len Sallis & Lance Leak.

• List of players used in 1934 (444kb), 1934 Premiership Players Page

1973 was close to the perfect season for Glenelg, as they steamrolled through the minor round, winning 20 out of 21 games, followed by 2 finals wins from 2 games, and claiming their long awaited 2nd premiership - 39 years after their first.

Neil Kerley, in his 7th season as Glenelg coach (and 4th as a non-playing coach), finally became a premiership coach at a record third club, after losing grand finals in 1969 & 1970, and Peter Marker became a premiership captain in his 3rd year in the role.

The season started with six consecutive wins - the narrowest of which was a 32 point win over Sturt - and by round 6 they were already 2 games clear on top with a percentage of 63.79%.
Round 7 provided the only speed-bump for the year with a 27 point loss to North Adelaide at Prospect Oval. After being level at half time, 4-12 to 5-6, Glenelg were weakened in the 2nd half by injuries to Peter Marker and Graham Cornes, and North ran out winners 14-13 to 8-22.

From then on, they won 14 consecutive games to close out the minor round, finishing on top of the ladder with 20 wins - 1 loss, and a percentage of 60.5%, 3 games clear of Sturt in 2nd place.
The highlight of these wins was an incredible 160 point belting of 3rd placed North Adelaide at Glenelg Oval in round 15 - a game in which Peter Carey kicked 11 goals.

Although seemingly unbeatable, Glenelg were challenged during the season:
-- in round 8 against Port at Alberton Oval, they escaped with a narrow 6 point win after being 5 goals up at three quarter time,
-- in round 11 against Sturt at Adelaide Oval, they stormed home to win by 15 points after being 21 points down at half time,
-- in round 19 against Sturt at Unley Oval, they won by 11 points in a closely fought match all day.

In the second semi final against Sturt, after a tight first half, Glenelg overran Sturt in the 2nd half to win comfortably by 57 points - with Fred Phillis kicking 8 goals - but the grand final against North Adelaide was a different story altogether.

In the first half of the grand final, Glenelg and North both had periods of dominance and held leads, but in the second half Glenelg had led for 95% of the time, until North hit the lead again with just 5 minutes remaining in the match.
With just 3 minutes remaining, Graham Cornes took a hanger on the half forward flank, and goaled from 35 metres out to put Glenelg back in front. John Sandland kicked another goal after the final siren to give Glenelg a 7-point victory, and win their 2nd premiership.

• Neil Kerley became Glenelg’s 2nd Premiership Coach (after Bruce McGregor).
• Peter Marker became Glenelg’s 2nd Premiership Captain (after Jack Owens).
• Centreman Kerry Hamilton won the 1973 club best & fairest award.
• Centre-half-forward Peter Carey was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the year with 69 goals, rover Rex Voigt was 2nd with 68 goals, and Fred Phillis was 3rd with 61 goals after spending time at both full-forward and centre-half-back during the year. In a testament to their scoring power and varying avenues to goal, John Sandland and Greg Wickens also kicked over 50 goals for the season.
• According to the best players named in the Sunday paper each week, Glenelg's best players in the 1973 season were Kerry Hamilton, Graham Cornes, Peter Marker, Rex Voigt, Greg Bennett, Peter Carey & Brian Colbey.
• With 3117 points they broke the SANFL record for most points scored in a season, previously held by Glenelg's 1969 team with 2805 pts.
• Harry Kernahan took over as Sectretary of Glenelg Football Club from Ray Curnow after 19 years in the job.
• 1973 was the year when the finals series was expanded to include the top 5 teams (instead of 4), and a centre diamond was trialled to remove congestion at centre bounces.
• Go to 1973 Premiership Players Page

After doing his coaching apprenticeship with South Adelaide in the previous two years, 1985 saw the homecoming of Graham Cornes as coach of Glenelg. Peter Carey continued as captain for a 3rd season, and Stephen Kernahan and Tony McGuinness both deferred any interstate moves, having unfinished business at Glenelg.

The 1985 season began with a round 1 encounter against old foe Port Adelaide at Glenelg Oval. After being 11 points down at half-time, Glenelg kicked 11 goals in each of the last two quarters, on the way to a record score (by any club) against Port Adelaide of 31-18, and an 88 point win.

After a 14 point loss at Norwood Oval, Glenelg then won their next four games, including 2 matches in which Stephen Copping kicked 10 goals in the match - a 71 point win over Sturt, and an 83 point win over Woodville. After 6 rounds, Glenelg were sitting in 2nd spot on the ladder with a 5-1 record.

However, the Bays then suffered a mid-season slump, losing 6 of their next 8 games, putting their finals place in jeopardy with a 7-7 record - and only percentage in front of 6th placed Torrens.

From round 15 onwards Glenelg started to string some wins together, and were on a 7 game winning streak when they reached the top of the ladder with 1 round to go. Unfortunately, after losing the last minor round game to Sturt at Unley Oval, they slipped back to 3rd place on the ladder, and faced Norwood in the qualifying final.

The big question was... which Glenelg would turn up in the finals?
Aside from the 1982 finals series when they won 3 out 4 finals, in every other finals series going back to 1978 they had only won 2 out of 10 finals matches, and since the 1975 grand final, they had lost 5 out of the 6 finals they had played against Norwood - even though they had won 17 out of 27 minor round matches against them over the same period.
But this was a Glenelg team with unfinished business, who were ready to vanquish whatever demons neccessary in order to fulfil their destiny.

They defeated Norwood by 30 points in the qualifying final, North by 14 points in the second semi final (just their 3rd win from 10 second semi finals), and North again in the grand final by 57 points, and claimed their long awaited 3rd premiership (from 11 grand finals).

• Graham Cornes became Glenelg’s 3rd Premiership Coach (following Bruce McGregor & Neil Kerley).
• Peter Carey became Glenelg’s 3rd Premiership Captain (following Jack Owens & Peter Marker).
• Stephen Kernahan won his 3rd straight club best & fairest award.
• Stephen Copping was the club's top goalkicker with 83 goals, followed by Stephen Kernahan with 81 goals, and Tony McGuinness with 58.
• According to the best players named in the Sunday paper each week, Glenelg's best players in the 1985 season were Stephen Kernahan, Chris McDermott, Ross Gibbs, Tony McGuinness, Tony Symonds, Stephen Copping & Peter Maynard.
• Stephen Kernahan won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final - kicking 7 goals.
• Stephen Kernahan was named in the All Australian side for the first time - an honour he repeated another 4 times while playing with Carlton.
• Go to 1985 Premiership Players Page

In 1986 Graham Cornes and Peter Carey continued on as coach and captain, and Glenelg regained the services of Kym Hodgeman who returned home from North Melbourne, but lost Stephen Kernahan to Carlton and Tony McGuinness to Footscray.

Filling the void left by the departures of Kernahan and McGuinness was always going to be a monumental challenge for Glenelg, but Hodgeman was a ready made replacement for McGuinness and Tony Hall stepped up to the challange of filling Kernahan's shoes at centre half forward magnificently - kicking 73 goals for the year and coming 3rd in the best & fairest. John Seebohm was also a revelation, moving from centre-half-back to full-forward to help cover the lost scoring power of Kernahan & McGuinness, and kicking 54 goals.

But it was a difficult start to the year... equal bottom of the ladder after 7 rounds (just as they were in 1934), with 2 wins - 5 losses.
The turning point came in round 10, with a 12-point win over Norwood at Norwood Oval, followed by a 9-point win over Port at Alberton Oval the very next round. These two wins started off a sequence of 9 wins in 10 matches, including another critical 7-point win against top side North at Prospect Oval in round 16.
After a resounding 46-point win against 4th placed Norwood in round 19, Glenlg were sitting in 2nd position with 12 wins - 7 losses.

But two late season losses in a row had Glenelg sitting in 4th place coming in to the last minor round game, and needing other results to go their way in order to get the double chance. Fortunately those last round results did go their way, and they finished the minor round in 2nd position with a 13-7 win-loss record.

Glenelg faced Port Adelaide in the qualifying final, a team they had lost 7 of their last 8 finals against since 1976 - with their only win being the 1 point victory in the 1982 preliminary final when David Granger was running amok. But just as they had vanquished their Norwood finals demons in 1985, they vanquished their Port finals deomns in 1986 with a resounding win over Port Adelaide to the tune of 47 points.

Against North Adelaide in the second semi final, Glenelg trailed by just 4 points at 3/4 time, before North ran over the top of them in the last quarter to win by 24 points.

In the preliminary final, Glenelg overcame a revitalised Woodville - who were on a crusade to win their first ever league premiership - by 21 points.

In the Grand Final, Glenelg had a surprisingly comfortable all the way win of 48 points over North Adelaide to win their first ever back to back premierships

Back to Back, Take That!

• Chris McDermott won the club's best & fairest award.
• Tony Hall was the club's top goalkicker with 73 goals, followed by Stephen Copping with 63, and John Seebohm with 54.
• According to the best players named in the Sunday paper each week, Glenelg's best players in the 1986 season were Chris McDermott, Tony Hall, Peter Maynard, Peter Carey, Tony Symonds & Ross Gibbs.
• Tony Hall won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final - kicking 6 goals.
• Chris McDermott was named in the All Australian side.
• The 1986 premiership had a number of eerie similarities to Glenelg's first premiership in 1934. In both seasons Glenelg came from equal bottom of the ladder after 7 rounds with just 2 wins, to rise to 2nd on the ladder after round 17 with 10 wins (after winning 7 out of 8 games starting from round 10), and then went on to win the premiership.
• Go to 1986 Premiership Players Page

Mark Stone continued as coach, and Chris Curran continued as the sole captain in 2019, and the six game winning streak at the end of the previous season created an expectation that 2019 would be the season when Glenelg returned to finals football.

Whilst Glenelg did not get off to the greatest of starts - 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw in the first 3 rounds - they only lost one more game between round 1 and round 18 (which was a dead match for the Bays). Their only losses for the entire minor round were by 5 points at Norwood Oval in round 1, 4 points at Noarlunga Oval in round 10, and 12 points at Unley Oval in round 18 - and they were undefeated at Glenelg Oval.

During the season Glenelg won their first match at Elizabeth Oval since 2008 (breaking an 11 match losing sequence), and won their first match at Woodville Oval since 2012 (breaking a 6 match losing sequence).

Glenelg won their 6th minor premiership with a 13 win, 3 loss, 2 draw record, but went into the finals series on a six match finals losing streak dating back to the 2008 grand final - and a 4 point loss to Port in the second semi final extended this losing streak to 7. In fact after this second semi final loss, Glenelg had won just 2 out of their last 17 finals matches dating back to the 1992 grand final.

So the niggling question in the back of every Glenelg supporter's mind was whether the finals fade outs would continue or whether the preliminary final against Adelaide could kick start the beginning of a new era?
Thankfully they broke their finals drought against Adelaide with a 27 point win, but now they faced Port in the grand final, to whom they had lost 5 grand finals in a row (in 1977, 1981, 1988, 1990, 1992). Whilst they had defeated Port quite comfortably twice in the minor round, Glenelg's history shows that this minor round superiority is meaningless come finals time.

In the grand final, Glenelg got out to an early lead and Port were never really able to close the gap. Glenelg ran out winners by 28 points to claim their 5th premiership, and had finally translated their minor round dominance into credible finals performances - which thay had failed to do in 1980, 2009 & 2010

• Mark Stone became Glenelg’s 4th Premiership Coach (following Bruce McGregor, Neil Kerley & Graham Cornes).
• Chris Curran became Glenelg’s 4th Premiership Captain (following Jack Owens, Peter Marker & Peter Carey).
• Jesse White won the club's best & fairest award.
• Liam McBean (for the 2nd time) and Luke Reynolds tied as the club's top goalkicker with 53 goals each.
• Liam McBean won the Ken Farmer medal for the league's top goalkicker during the minor round.
• Luke Partington won the Magarey medal for the league's fairest & most brilliant player - the 10th Glenelg player to do so.
• Matthew Snook won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final.
• According to the best players named in the newspaper each week, Glenelg's best players in the 2019 season were Luke Partington, Matthew Snook, Chris Curran, Brad Agnew, Liam McBean & Marlon Motlop.
• Glenelg won their fourth Under 16s premiership in a row.
• Go to 2019 Premiership Players Page