By ROBERT LAIDLAW

It didn’t take long for State footy to come to Football Park.

South Australia tackled Western Australia on May 18, 1974 in the third league game at SANFL’s new headquarters at West Lakes.

And there were some legends of the game in action – Barrie Robran, Rick Davies, Graham Cornes, Phil Carman, Russell Ebert, Mike Fitzpatrick and Brian Peake among them – along with a bumper crowd of 32,219.

SA had 10 more scoring shots but it was a hard-fought clash until late in the game when the Croweaters kicked away to win 14.20 to 12.12.

A five goal-to-two first quarter, with North Adelaide champion Robran booting three majors, was a good start but WA led at half-time by three points, before SA worked its way to a 10-point lead at three-quarter time.

“Western Australia dominated the first half of that last quarter, with less than a goal in it,” former Glenelg champion Cornes recalled. “Then we broke through late, as we started to assert our authority.

“Neil Sachse played a great game in defence, Barrie Robran was, well, Barrie Robran, and Peter Vivian was dashing on the wing.”

This was a historic day in more ways than one, with the Labor Party’s Gough Whitlam winning the Federal Election. They were very different times and the footy players of the day had to work for a living away from the game, even the superstars like Cornes.

“I might have missed voting that day because of footy,” Cornes said. “The polling booths closed at 6pm. I worked at a car dealership from 9am to noon, then straight out to the football. I reckon that was the day I was fined for not voting.”

A fortnight after Central District beat North Adelaide in the first league game at Football Park, eight of the combatants from that clash were lining up as teammates for the Croweaters’ big test against WA.

Dean Mobbs, Tony Casserly, Sonny Morey, Peter Vivian and Bill Cochrane were Bulldog State reps, while North stars Robran, Sachse and Terry von Bertouch donned the famous red guernsey – and Roosters boss Mike Patterson was SA coach.

The second game at Football Park had been played the previous week, with Sturt trouncing West Torrens by 79 points. Five Double Blue players also made the team – Ken Whelan, who had booted xx goals against the Eagles, Davies, Colin Casey, Dean Ottens and Michael Graham.