Bob Elix
AM ASM is a former
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 ...
er with
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...
in the
South Australian National Football League (SANFL), a long time official with the
Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) and former longserving member of the
Darwin City Council.
Career
Elix played on the
half-back flank for Port Adelaide when they won the
1965 SANFL Grand Final against
Sturt Football Club
The Sturt Football Club, nicknamed The Double Blues, is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Unley, South Australia, which plays in the South Australian National Football League.
Founded in 1901 by the Stur ...
.
His career as a SANFL player ended when he broke his leg during the
ort Adelaide Football Club - 16 September 2020 - Port Gazette: One Day in October">
His career as a SANFL player ended when he broke his leg during the Anzac Day match.
In June 1969
Elix moved to
Darwin, where he was appointed captain/coach of NTFL club
Darwin for the 1970/71 season.
A knee injury forced his playing retirement, and Elix switched to coaching fellow NTFL club Waratah Football Club">Waratah
Australia’s famous waratah (genus ''Telopea'') is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and Tasmania). The be ...
, taking them to premiers in 1976/77, with Queen Elizabeth II a spectator at the grand final.
[
Elix coached his third NTFL club, Nightcliff Football Club, Nightcliff, from 1977 to 1981, also serving as club president in 1978/79. He was an umpire in the 1979/80 and 1980/81 seasons.][
In 1979 he coached the ]Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
, which competed in Division Two of the National Football Championship Carnival.[ He returned to coach Nightcliff in 1980/81 and served as club president.][
From 1990 to 1994 or 1996 he coached the Northern Territory University "Rats" Football Club, which competed in the Northern Territory Football Association (NTFA), after which he was elected president of the club.][
Elix was elected to the NTFL Board in 1998 and chairman of the ]Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
(AFLNT) from 2000 to 2013. He was chairman and heavily involved in the formation of the Northern Territory Football Club (NTFC), in 2008, which competed in the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL).[
During this time the NTFL grew in influence and financial position, to where it employed 34 full-time employees based around the Northern Territory. Much of this turnaround can be attributed to enlisting the aid of AFL CEO Wayne Jackson, largely credited to Elix.][
]
Recognition
Elix was made a Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
(AM) in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours[ and received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000.][
He was awarded the 2009 Jack Titus Service Award, recognising his four decades of contribution to Australian rules football in the Northern Territory,][
]
Other interests
Elix served the Darwin City Council (DCC) as councillor for 31 years, a record term, retiring in December 2015. He was deputy mayor in 2016.
Elix was a contributor to ''Gods of Thunder'', a history of the AFL in the Territory, by Jessica Webster, a former '' NT News'' journalist.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elix, Bob
Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Port Adelaide Football Club players
Darwin Football Club players