The 1987 SANFL Grand Final was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

game contested between the

North Adelaide Football Club The North Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Roosters, is an Australian rules football club affiliated with the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and SANFL Women's League (SANFLW). The club plays its home games at Prospect ...

and the

Glenelg Football Club The Glenelg Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or the Bays, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the South Australian National Football League. Their home ground is Stratarama Stadium (formerly Glenelg Oval), located in the so ...

, held at

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian N ...

on 3 October 1987. It was the 70th annual grand final of the South Australian National Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1987 SANFL season. The match, attended by 50,617 spectators, was won by North Adelaide by a margin of 82 points, marking that club's 12th premiership victory.

Background

This was the third consecutive year that North coached by Michael Nunan and Glenelg coached by

Graham Cornes Graham Studley Cornes OAM (born 31 March 1948 in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, as well as a media personality. From 1995 until early 2013, Cornes co-hosted a weekday drivetime sports program that he ho ...

met in the grand final. It gave Nunan his first success as a coach, and Cornes the first of 3 losses in 4 years. The Jack Oatey Medal was won by North Adelaide ruckman Michael Parsons who top scored with 6 goals and 1 behind.

Teams

Glenelg: F: Craig Woodlands, John Seebohm, Robin Kidney HF: Alan Stringer, Tony Hall, Geoff Winton C: Mark Hewett, David Marshall, David Kernahan HB: Wayne Stringer, Michael Murphy, David Grenvold B: Max Kruse, Jim West, Scott Salisbury R: Peter Carey, Peter Maynard, Chris McDermott Int: Ross Gibbs, Mark Donovan Coach: Graham Cornes

Match summary

The match was played in superb conditions. Besides North Adelaide's crushing victory, this game would later become known for

Ricky May Richard Ernest May (22 November 19431 June 1988) was a New Zealand–born Australian jazz singer and musician, best known for singing cover versions of numerous pop songs or jazz standards. He moved to Australia in 1962 where he worked mainly in ...

's terrible performance of the national anthem before the game, forgetting the lyrics and falling out of tempo with the backing track.

Second quarter

Third quarter

Fourth quarter

Scorecard

References

South Australian National Football League Grand Finals SANFL Grand Final, 1987 {{AFL-competition-stub