The greatest winning streak

(1902 – 1903)

For some years now records have indicated that North Adelaide’s greatest winning run was 12 straight wins during the 1952 season (Round 8 14/6/52 – Grand Final 4/10/52). Recent research into early match results of the Club have demonstrated that this is in fact our second best winning streak.

From May 24th 1902 to July 4th 1903 the North Adelaide team did not lose a game, giving them an impressive 19 straight wins.  The reason that this string of victories has not been widely recognised was that North did "lose" one game in this time, which has often been reported as a final but was in fact a scratch match.

North were scheduled to play West Torrens in a final on Saturday 30 August and the Port-South final was to be played on Monday 1 September (a public holiday), following a match between Yorke Peninsular and a combined18.  North won their final comfortably, 6.9 to 1.3.  But in a sensational development, Port refused to play under the appointed umpire (Mr Kneebone).  This was first announced on Saturday afternoon, but only confirmed on the morning of the match.  When it was apparent that the game would not go ahead, North were approached to play an exhibition game against South.  To their enormous credit, despite the extremely short notice and the absence of several of their best players, North managed to field a team of 18 and put in a creditable performance.  The issue of the forfeit was discussed at length at the Association meeting on the following Wednesday and Port were disqualified from the finals.  It was agreed that South and North would meet in the grand final on the following Saturday, with North prevailing easily.  Here are the details of those 19 victories:

1902
Round 4: May 24th    North Adelaide 14.8 (92) d West Adelaide 5.6 (36)     (Adelaide)
Round 5: May 31st    Bye
Round 6: June 7th    North Adelaide 8.11 (59) d Sturt 1.3 (9)     (Unley)
Round 7: June 9th    North Adelaide 4.8 (32) d South Adelaide 2.4 (16)     (Adelaide)
Round 8: June 28th    North Adelaide 5.13 (43) d Port Adelaide 5.9 (39)     (Adelaide)
Round 9: July 5th    North Adelaide 12.11 (88) d Norwood 2.8 (20)     (Norwood)
Round 10: July 12th    North Adelaide 9.10 (64) d West Torrens 2.2 (14)     (Jubilee)
Round 11: July 19th    North Adelaide 9.14 (68) d West Adelaide 5.11 (41)     (Jubilee)
Round 12: July 26th    Bye (Intra State Game – 1st 18 vs 2nd 18)
Round 13: Aug 2nd    North Adelaide 3.9 (27) d South Adelaide  2.2 (14)     (Adelaide)
Round 14: Aug 9th    Bye (Fitzroy vs SA 2nd 18)
Round 15: Aug: 16th    North Adelaide 7.7 (49) d Sturt 2.4 (16)     (Unley)
Round 16: Aug: 23rd    Bye
Semi Final: Aug: 30th    North Adelaide 6.9 (45) d West Torrens 1.3 (9)     (Adelaide)
Grand Final:Sep:6th    North Adelaide 9.14(68) d South Adelaide 4.7 (31)     (Adelaide)

1903
Round 1: May 2th    North Adelaide 11.7 (73) d Sturt 3.5 (23)         (Unley)
Round 2: May 9th    North Adelaide 11.13 (83) d West Torrens 2.4 (16)             (Adelaide)
Round 3: May16th    North Adelaide 10.6 (66) d Port Adelaide 6.14 (50)         (Alberton)
Round 4: May 23rd    North Adelaide 12.10 (82) d West Adelaide 5.7 (37)         (Adelaide)
Round 5: May 30th    Bye
Round 6: June 8th    North Adelaide 6.5 (41) d South Adelaide 4.6 (30)         (Adelaide)
Round 7: June 13th    North Adelaide 6.11 (47) d Norwood 7.4 (46)         (Adelaide)
Round 8: June 20th    North Adelaide 9.11 (65) d Sturt 3.7 (25)        (Unley)
Round 9: July 4th    North Adelaide 23.14 (152) d West Torrens 7.5 (47)         (Jubilee)

In 1902 North had a poor start to the season, losing their first three games (to Port by 28 points, Norwood by 3 points, and Torrens by 20 points) but didn’t lose another match after that, ending the season with a 39 point victory over South in the Grand Final.  By contrast, North began the 1903 season in scintillating form, winning eight consecutive matches before the streak came to end on July 18th when North lost to Port by 4 points.

    Officials in those seasons were:

Patrons  - C. Nitschke &  L. Cohen; President - H.R. Dixson; Secretary - B.G. Lamprell; Treasurer - H.T. Ward; Captain – J.C. Reedman

The Best & Fairest award was shared between John Earl & Norman Claxton in 1902 and won by Lionel Hill in 1903, while the leading goalkicker in both seasons was Anthony “Bos” Daly.

The 1902 premiership team