Sturt Football Club History

1901 - The Sturt Cricket Club decides to form a football club in the Unley area. Their application to join the South Australian Football Association is successful and the Sturt Football Club is born. The club decides to use the two shades of blue of Oxford and Cambridge Universities as Unley Oval is situated on the junction of Oxford Terrace and Cambridge Terrace, hence the nickname of "Double Blues".

1915 - The Sturt Football Club wins its first premiership.

1916-1918 - Football is suspended due to World War 1.

1919 - Football resumes and Sturt wins its second premiership.

1920 - 1924 Despite winning the 1919 premiership, infighting and sackings see the Blues slump to the miss the finals in 1920, finish fourth in 1921 and seventh in 1922. In 1923 and 1924 the Blues, led by Vic Richardson, finish second.

1925 - 1926 Frank Golding takes over the coaches position in 1925 and in 1926 the Blues win the premiership.

1926 Premiership Team

1926 Premiership Team

1932 After a rebuilding period in 1930 and 1931 under new coach Sid White the blues win the 1932 premiership.

1940 Champion full forward P.T. "Bo" Morton is appointed Captain-Coach and leads the Blues to their fifth premiership.

1942 - 1944 With many league footballers serving in the armed forces during World War 2, the SANFL decides to temporarily amalgamate the eight league clubs to form a four team competition. Sturt joins up with South.

1945 - 1951 After the war, the Blues enter a period of mediocrity. Sturt, like all clubs lost many players to the war but fail to rebuild.

1952 - 1955 Champion player and triple Magarey Medallist, Len Fitzgerald becomes Captain-Coach. Sturt's highest position during this period is third, in 1955.

1956 - 1961 A succession of of coaches lead the club, Wally May in 1956, Edward Tilley in 1957 & 1958 and Glynn Williams in 1959 - 1961.The Blues finished bottom twice in this time (1955 & 1961) and the highest position they could manage was fourth in 1959. Despite the club finishing bottom; John Halbert wins the 1961 Magarey Medal.

1962 - Sturt appoints former Norwood player and premiership coach, Jack Oatey to lead the club. Oatey embarks on a rebuilding program for the Double Blues. John Halbert is named Captain and remains in that position until his retirement in 1968. Sturt finish the season in seventh place.

1963 - 1965 After finishing sixth in 1963 and third in 1964, the Blues make it to their first Grand Final in 25 years in 1965. After being down by 35 points midway in the last quarter to Port Adelaide, Sturt narrowly lost the Grand Final by 3 points.

1966 - Sturt again meet Port Adelaide in the Grand Final; this time the Blues are victorious by 56 points, Sturt's first premiership in 26 years, this was the beginning of Sturt's golden era.

1967 - For the third successive year Sturt play Port in the Grand Final. The Blues win back to back premierships with an 11 point victory.

1969 - The Blues meet Glenelg in the Grand Final and win their fourth premiership in a row. The Blues thumped the Tigers by 65 points. Sturt's score of 24.15 is the highest score kicked in an SANFL Grand Final.

1970 - Five premierships in a row as Sturt defeat Glenelg by 21 points in the 1970 Grand Final.

1971 - 1973 - The golden era of Sturt ended in 1971 after the retirement of many of its champion players of the sixties, the Blues finished the season in fourth position. Captain Bob Shearman retires at the end of the 1972 season and is replaced by champion player Paul Bagshaw. Sturt finish fifth and third in 1972 and 1973 respectively.

1974 - Sturt play Glenelg in the first Grand Final at the SANFL's new headquarters of Football Park. Sturt are triumphant by 15 points.

1975 - Sturt made it as far as the first semi-final but injuries took their toll as an undermanned Sturt were easily defeated by Port to finish fourth.

1976 - Despite losing the Qualifying Final to Glenelg, Sturt recover to make it to the Grand Final against the more highly fancied Port Adelaide. Despite being labelled as "too old and too slow" the Blues take control of the game to easily win by 41 points. Ruckman Rick Davies was best on ground and recorded the often quoted statistics of 21 kicks, 21 handballs, 21 hit-outs and 15 marks.

John Murphy celebrates the 1976 Premiership

1977 - 1978 - In 1977 The Blues could not maintain the momentum of 1976 and finished seventh. The 1978 season saw the Blues lose only one minor round game, against the lowly West Adelaide. Sturt went into the Grand Final as red hot favourites against Norwood. Sturt kicked themselves out of the game with a poor conversion rate in front of goal and with Sturt four points up, umpire Des Foster controversially awarded Norwood player Phil Gallagher a free kick. Gallagher goaled and Sturt ended up losing by a solitary point. Adding to the controversy, Foster, 15 years later, admitted he made a mistake which cost Sturt the 1978 premiership.

1979 - 1982 - The Blues slumped to finish ninth in 1979, its lowest position under Jack Oatey. In 1980 the Blues recovered to narrowly miss the 1980 Grand Final, after losing the Preliminary Final to Norwood, finishing third. In 1981 the Blues missed the finals and finished sixth. In 1982 after 7 premierships and a record 21 years at the helm, coach Jack Oatey announced his retirement. Sturt made the finals in 1982 after spending ten weeks mid season in top position, but failed in the finals to lose the Qualifying final to Norwood and the First Semi-Final to Glenelg. The Oatey era was over.

1983 - 1984 - Former Sturt champion and Magarey Medallist, John Halbert, returns to Unley after coaching Glenelg to lead Sturt to the Grand Final in his first season as coach. The Blues lose the Grand Final to West Adelaide. In 1984 the Blues, after starting the season as premiership favourites finish in seventh position. The Sturt Football Club board decide not to reappoint John Halbert.

1985 - 1988 - Sturt appoints former Richmond player, Mervyn Keane. Keane takes on the role of playing coach in his first season and and takes the Blues into the finals, Sturt lose the Elimination Final to West and finish in fifth position. In 1986 the Sturt Football Club under the SANFL's ground rationalisation, move from their traditional home of Unley Oval to Adelaide Oval. Merv Keane embarks on a rebuilding program for the club after many player retirements and Sturt finish the year in eighth place. In 1987, despite the club falling to ninth, the signs are there for the future as Keane assembles a nucleus of talented young players. The 1988 season began disastrously as the Blues suffered a couple of thrashings and rumours of Keanes demise abounded. The Blues then came out and won 10 of its next 13 games, Sturt made the Elimination Final but bowed out after losing to Glenelg. Captain Greg Whittlesea wins the Margarey Medal. The Sturt board decides not to reappoint Merv Keane, a move which split the club, especially after a meeting of members which presented a no confidence vote against club president Bill Kutcher was narrowly defeated. The wounds caused by this split would take years to heal.

1989 - 1994 - Former Sturt champion Rick Davies is appointed coach and the events of the previous year and the disunity caused by it make Davies' job impossible and the Blues plummet to tenth, the first time Sturt have finished in this position. In 1990 Sturt appoint former Geelong player, Kevin Higgins, Sturt again finish bottom and after just one season, Higgins is sacked. Former Central District and North Adelaide player Stephen Trigg is appointed league coach for 1991 and 1992, Sturt finish bottom in both seasons. 1993 saw the appointment of former South Adelaide and WAFL premiership coach, Hadyn Bunton. Sturt finish bottom in 1993. 1994 begins in promising fashion with victories in the opening two minor round games and a narrow loss to the previous years premiers, Woodville-West Torrens, but the Blues season is again a failure as the wooden spoon is taken out for a sixth consecutive year. At the end of 1994 the Sturt board embark on an ambitious plan to amalgamate with Norwood with the view to enter a second Adelaide based club in the AFL, the move fails as Port is granted the second AFL licence.

1995 - 1996 - Phil Carman is appointed league coach in 1995 and for only the second time in its history, Sturt went through the season without a win. At the end of 1995 the Sturt Football Club was in a precarious financial position and unless $250,000 was raised the club was doomed. The board opted to seek out a merger with North Adelaide, but supporters opposed this and at a special meeting at Unley Oval, a resurgence group, led by former Sturt premiership player Phil Sanders was formed with the view to increasing membership and saving the club. The move was successful and the Blues were saved, membership increased to over 2000 and Sturt was second only to Port Adelaide in the amount of members it had. In 1996 the Blues improved with some excellent recruiting but still failed to get off the bottom.

1997 - The work of the previous two seasons brought results as the Sturt Football Club finally lifted itself of bottom place to make the finals for the first time since 1988. Sturt finished the minor round in fourth position and only one premiership point away from second position, however inexperience cost Sturt in the Elimination Final as they lost to North Adelaide. Sturt rover Brodie Atkinson ties with Norwood's Andrew Jarman to win the 1997 Magarey Medal. Negotiations with the Unley City Council regarding a return to Unley Oval to play league football are successful as the council agrees to Sturt playing 4 games there from 1998. Coach Phil Carman is reappointed for two more seasons.

1998 - Sturt's preparations for the 1998 season begin well as no league players have left the club and selective recruiting increases the club's depth. The Blues resurgence continues as Sturt end the minor round on top of the ladder, winning 16 of their 20 games, it is Sturt's first minor premiership since 1978. The first league game at Unley since 1985 is played before a sell out crowd on Easter Saturday, the Blues end up winning all four Unley home games. Sturt march into their first grand final since 1983 with an emphatic victory over West Adelaide in the second-semi final, however the fairytale was not to be as Port Adelaide beats Sturt by 9 points.

General Manager Matt Benson & Club President Steve Chapman (Planning Sturt's return to Unley in 1998)

1999 - The club starts the season without some of its champions; Simon Feast, Brodie Atkinson, Adam Lange and Barnaby French are lost to AFL clubs in the AFL draft. The Blues recruit well to cover these loses picking up Damian Squire, Dean Woosnam and Sean Tasker from other SANFL clubs. Aarob Bishop, Stuart Graham, Adam Klun, Alistair McEwin, Stephen Prescott and Daniel Wicks make their debuts. The Sturt Football Club gets a bigger foothold back at Unley with 6 home games to be played there. John Richter plays his 258th and final game. Burton, with 62 goals wins Rick Davies Medal for top goal kicker for second successive year and passes 200 goal mark for the club, while White edges past 100.

2000 - Sturt qualifies for the finals for the fourth successive year for the first time since 1973 to 1976. After winning just two of their first eight games they play superb football to challenge for a premiership in their one hundredth year. Blues beat Port at Alberton for the first time since 1983 and Norwood at The Parade for the first time since 1986. Beat Port Adelaide three times - at Unley, Alberton and Football Park - and knock out Norwood and Port in successive weeks in the finals. Sturt wins inaugural RO Shearman Testimonial Trophy by beating the Eagles but loses to them in the preliminary final to finish third. Squire wins second successive Magarey Medal. Burton and Weatherald play their 100th games. Centenary Ball and Team of the Century dinners big hits, with Oatey named coach of the Team of the Century. Lennon collects his second Morton Medal.

2001 - Birthday time for the Blues but, unfortunately, they are pipped out by Norwood in the centenary rematch at The Parade before 13,745 fans. Captain Chris Thredgold, Brodie Atkinson and Bruce Lennon play their 200th league games as the Blues play some good football after a slow start to the season, a 55-point hammering of Port Adelaide at Alberton an unforgettable highlight. Sturt is left stranded in sixth spot in its centenary season but a few youngsters including Paul Magarey, Adam Klun, Michael Curtis, Martin Mattner, Rhyse Schulz and Jade Sheedy are really making their mark. Sturt embarks on an exciting new era as North Adelaide's 1993 Magarey Medallist Brenton Phillips is appointed coach.

2002 - It had been 26 years since the Club had won a premiership Simon Feast and Matthew Dent returned to the Club after playing in the AFL. Cameron Roberts moved from North Adelaide and Matthew Cooper decided to have a go at SANFL and Ben Nelson returned to the Adelaide Crows allowing him to play for Sturt when not playing for the Crows. Everything focused on the first game. Norwood had been installed as the early flag favourites along with reigning premiers Central District. On a balmy March night at Norwood Oval the new look Double Blues, playing in a new guernsey as the SANFL had outlawed the famous lace-up, showed us what was to come, Brenton Phillips style of football was quick and skillful and there was something exciting about the team. The Advertiser ran a headline "BLUES SLAUGHTER", with a 55 point win season 2002 was underway. During the season we defeated all comers with the exception of Central District, however, the season took its toll with a number of serious injuries that did not allow us to field our best 21 at any stage. Magary Medals are not unknown to the Club but what a sensation when Jade Sheedy and Tim Weatherald became joint winners of the League’s most prestigious award. This would mean that Sturt would boast a total of five medallists sharing six medals (including the Coach) representing the Club in the finals. Finishing third at the end of the minor round we entered the finals knowing that we had beaten every other team and that we had not met Centrals with a full side. A win in the Qualifying Final over Norwood set up a Second Semi Final clash against Centrals in which we just fell short of a win. History may record this as one of the best losses in SANFL history. A Preliminary Final at Adelaide Oval against Norwood was our next assignment, a 49 point win sent us to the Grand Final full of confidence and ready to write a new chapter in the history of our proud Club. Grand Final day will live long in the hearts of Sturt supporters, we were simply too good and after 26 long years the TS Seymour Hill trophy was finally back at Unley. 35 players represented the Club at senior level during 2002 and for all time these 35 players will be known as the "2002 Legends" The Club celebrated long and hard but no one could imagine the tragedy that was only days away. A terrorist bomb in Bali turned what was the Club’s greatest moment into one of absolute despair and sorrow. We lost two members of our family, Bob Marshall and Josh Deegan never returned from what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime. In the midst of the tragedy the Club found new strength. Our Club has enjoyed the heights of success and suffered the depths of despair during 2002 but through it all we have shown great dignity and courage. 2002 will forever be remembered in the history of our great Club not only for our success but also for the strength shown in the face of adversity.

2003 - Sturt opened the 2003 season with three brilliant victories including the 93 point thrashing of South Adelaide at Encounter Bay. Despite losing their next two matches the Blues remained in third place after beating North at Unley by 60 points in front of 3100 fans. Three losses followed but a return to their early season form mid-season saw the Blues win 9 of their next eleven matches to finish the minor round in third place. Many in Adelaide believed that the Blues would play in the Grand Final but their season came to a halt when they were beaten by 25 points by the Eagles in the first semi-final. Despite the loss, the season contained many highlights including the Under 17’s premiership victory, the club topping the SANFL attendances with an average of 4016 spectators during the home and away games – 434 more per game than second placed Norwood, Damian Squire captained the State team to a 60 point victory over Western Australia while Ben Nelson won the PT Morton Medal and finished second in the Magarey Medal. The club farewelled Seamus Maloney who went to Mildura for work while Mark Conway and Matthew Dent retired.

2004 - Sturt opened the season in style thrashing Norwood at the Parade by 57 points in front of 6207 spectators. One victory became two at the Bay where the Blues recorded a 35 point victory. Three losses followed before the ‘winning touch’ returned and Sturt won 9 of their next 10 games. Among those brilliant victories was the thrashing of the Bulldogs by 41 points on Friday June 4. A crowd of 4229 braved the cold conditions to witness one of the Club’s best victories in a minor round match in the first decade of this century. Despite losing the next three matches the Blues finished the minor round by thrashing South at Noarlunga by 70 points. Again, the Eagles ended Sturt’s season in the preliminary final by 55 points. Among the farewells were Graeme Dunstan who went to the Adelaide Crows after 8 years at Unley, Matthew Powell retired while Jade Sheedy won the Morton Medal and Stuart Totham arrived as Dunstan’s replacement.

2005 - The Blues got off to a flying start winning 6 of their first 8 games, however serious injuries to Jade Sheedy, James Begley and Matthew Smith and indifferent form, saw only five victories from the next 12 matches.
Finishing fifth, the Blues lost the elimination final to North Adelaide by 7 points. Despite losing the close encounter there were numerous highlights during the winter. Damian Squire won his second PT Morton Medal, new recruits at Unley included Michael Bratton, Ben Colreavy, Evan Hurse, Luke Jarjoura while Jace Bode and Martin Wilson made their debuts. Besides the new players a number of senior players achieved game milestones – Tim Weatherald 200, Simon Feast 150 while Andrew Whiteman, Brant Chambers and Michael Curtis played their 100 games for the club. Another to reach an important milestone was the brilliant Squire who played his 250th SANFL game.

2006 - Easily the two major highlights for the Blues in 2006 were the opening of BarZaar at 166 Unley Rd, Unley and the gaining of the lease for the Castle Tavern at Edwardstown. Both these venues are important as they secured the financial future of the club.

After five years at Unley, Brenton Phillips farewelled the Blues as coach. Phillips will always be remembered as he led the club to the 2002 premiership and in his time the Blues played in four final series. Replacing him for the last four games of the winter was Brodie Atkinson while former Central Districts premiership player Rick Macgowan was appointed for the 2007 season. Along with Macgowan came assistant coaches Luke Norman and Donald Dickie who played 4 league games for the club in 1993.

The winter of 2006 also saw the retirement of Damian Squire(145 Sturt games), Michael Curtis(129), Daniel Wicks(103) and Andrew Beveridge(49). Seventeen players – Tom Anderson, Greg Bentley, Luke Button, Shaun Childs, Leigh Davies, Craig Evans, Ryan Herring, Tom Hurley, Joel Kay, Angus Kurtze, Sam Miles, Sean O’Keefe, Wil Paley, Tom Rischbieth, Nicholas Smith, Craig Taylor and Nicholas Wark – made their debuts.

Jade Sheedy won the PT Morton Medal, the club finished 8th with only 3 wins while Brant Chambers who was named in The Advertiser Team of the Year and also won the Rick Davies Medal kicking 69 goals, passing the 300 goal mark and finishing with 321 goals for the year.

Of all the functions held during the winter the biggest was at AAMI Stadium in July when the club celebrated the premierships of 1926, 1966 and 1976 at a special reunion dinner. Many legends were on hand, autographs were collected and stories were told as the club celebrated its glorious history.