Bruce loves the nightlife

By DION HAYMAN

There have been few more decorated footballers in South Australia denied the chance to shine in September than Bruce Lindsay.

Perhaps only dual Magarey Medallist Jim Deane has greater claims. Deane never played a final in 157 games across 11 seasons with South Adelaide (or a further 33 games in two years at Richmond).

Lindsay played in losing elimination finals in his first and third seasons with West Torrens but played no more finals in 242 matches and a further six with Woodville-West Torrens. He blew out his knee in the 1980 eliminator against Norwood, without contact, as Greg Turbill evaded him on the outer wing at Football Park. He lost the entire 1981 and 1982 seasons as a result. When he finally resumed in the opening round of 1983, he booted six goals against Woodville.

And on a wet and wintry July night later that year, he came as close as he would to experiencing ultimate team success. While not quite the genuine article, Torrens fans celebrated like it was 1953, as the Eagles won the Escort Cup grand final at Thebarton Oval. They had knocked out North, Norwood and Port to reach the decider, before coming from four goals back to eclipse night specialist South.

“The opportunity to play in something like that was pretty good because I was starved of any sort of team success, which is probably the one thing you miss,” Lindsay said. “It was a long time between drinks for the footy club so I think we celebrated long and hard that night and got flogged (by Norwood) the next week. It was great for the club. But, overall, it was disappointing not to play in some more finals.”

Representative honours came instead. Lindsay played nine times for SA, captaining his State and country in 1987 at International Rules level in Ireland. He was also a member of Adelaide’s first AFL team, one of six games in the tri-colours. Playing against WA in 1984, Lindsay was memorably and inexplicably deemed holding the ball by Sandgroper umpire Mike Ball without taking possession – the ball literally bounced off his chest.

“I’ll swear black and blue I got rid of the ball and was tackled without it,” Lindsay said. “Mike and I laughed about it afterwards. We played another game against them at some point and I reminded him of his poor decision but he said it was okay.”

Perhaps it was the roundabout that always follows the swing. Because on that damp and dim night, when Thebarton Oval’s lights were better suited to a speakeasy than a football match, he was on the right side of an extraordinarily generous decision. By that stage, Torrens was kicking into the teeth of a significant breeze for the second time.

The Eagles trailed 4.3 to 0.4 at quarter-time but quickly regained their footing in the second term, in no small way thanks to man-of-the-match Barry Pilmore, whose left-foot kick from deep in the left forward pocket bounced beyond the waiting pack and through for a goal.

South still led by seven points at half-time. Torrens had lost 55 seconds after a Pilmore behind disappeared into the crowd without retrieval – the first two quarters were a hard 21 minutes with no time-on. That deficit had crept to 12 points when Lee Robson thumped a ball to half-forward that fell from the sky like a dead bird as it succumbed to the wind.

Lindsay read it better than his opponent and, after initially running back towards goal, threw his gears into reverse and dived forward in desperation. He may have had the ball for maybe a quarter of a second – maybe – before it appeared to hit the ground and bounce away. “He’s been paid if not for the mark, certainly for the attempt,” said commentator Bob Hammond who later boldly declared the decision a correct one, albeit under the era’s more lax interpretations.

Lindsay’s kick from 30 metres just cleared the line and Torrens was on its way. With the deficit seven points at the last change, the fiercely pro-Eagles crowd dared to dream. A flying 40-metre effort from Paul Nikoletos and then Ian Hanna’s mark inside the first three minutes gave the Eagles the lead and there was no stopping them.

When the siren confirmed Torrens’ 30 years without silverware had expired, fans armed with blue-and-gold flags stormed the ground, surrounding the dais as SANFL president Max Basheer struggled to be heard above the noise of jubilant fans. “Eagles … Eagles … Eagles,” the chants were relentless. One fan threw a scarf around Basheer’s neck as he announced Torrens had added $15,000 to its kitty for a total of $34,000 prizemoney. Torrens players were pledged a $4000 share of the spoils in return for victory – much of it was spent at Rundle Mall’s Richmond Hotel that night.

“I think Bruce Lindsay and a few of his mates might have stayed there a bit longer than I did,” coach Glenn Elliott recalled. “The West Torrens faithful had a fabulous night. It was a proud, passionate family-based club with all the very best intentions, very caring and very personal. To me the best part was to see people who spent so much of their time and commitment get some return. Pete Barnes was the club doctor and I don’t think I’ve seen so much joy on anyone’s face as I saw on his that night.”

Kym Dillon, who kicked a vital last quarter goal from an ill-directed Graham Brooksby kick-out, echoed Elliott’s sentiments. “I remember David Hookes was up in the old cricket club watching. Something I really noticed was the enjoyment that it gave the long-suffering supporters who hadn’t seen any silverware since ’53. That’s a lifetime. That’s why I feel for South people now. It’s just wrong. You deserve a sugar hit.”

A year later, Lindsay, who grew up a Sturt fan idolising Mick Nunan, was elevated to the captaincy, a post he held until the club’s final game as a solo entity in 1990. He was destined for Collingwood until his knee injury and later spoke with Footscray but never came close to leaving the Eagles for a Victorian or local rival.

“I felt I wanted to stay to see if we could try to build something at our club,” Lindsay said. “The captaincy was important to me. It was unfortunate we couldn’t build anything and that we didn’t have too much team success was one of the disappointments. I’m not sure whether it was the money scenario or not but obviously we were strapped for cash through most of the time I was involved.

”Maybe some of the player choices weren’t great and we did lack a bit of depth. We couldn’t retain a squad for long enough to build something that was competitive. We’d lose the good players to interstate clubs and just couldn’t replace them with like for likes.”

But if he had his time again, he would do nothing differently. “I still believe we played in the best time – and you can’t look backwards.”

WEST TORRENS  0.4  2.8  3.11  7.15  (57)

SOUTH ADELAIDE  4.3  4.3  5.6  5.7  (37)

BEST – West Torrens: Pilmore, Enright, Nikoletos, Kellett, Querzoli, Symonds. South Adelaide: Ivanoff, Bennett, Hawkins, Cilento, Butler.

SCORERS – West Torrens: Pilmore, Dillon 1.2, Lindsay, Hanna, Robson 1.1, Nikoletos, Carter 1.0, K. Hill, Enright, Querzoli 0.1, rushed 0.5. South Adelaide: Slattery 1.1, Butler, Hateley, Miller, Would 1.0, Bennett, G. Hewitt, Tutt, Schneebicher, Cilento 0.1, rushed 0.1.

UMPIRES – Rick Kinnear, Ric Charlesworth.

CROWD – 7996 at Thebarton Oval.