Alick Lill

(1923 - 1931)

Lucky boy, lucky club

Alick Lill was a lucky boy. Three times as a child he escaped death or crippling injury - by drowning, horsedrawn vehicle accident and scalding - to grow up to become one of Norwood’s finest players and most faithful servants.

Alick was a total-package player of his time, a tall, balanced, high-marking, long-kicking centreman with an exquisite footpass. In only nine seasons before a knee injury finished him on the field, he fulfilled his older teammate Tiger Potts’s trial match prediction that he would go far by winning the 1925 Magarey Medal, three club champion awards and representing his State on a regular basis. This latter achievement made his name well respected in wider Australian football circles, more so when he was a star in the 1930 Carnival in Adelaide.

Talent-spotted at 17 playing for a local side in a curtain-raiser to a league match at Adelaide Oval, Alick went on to coach Norwood in his own right for two years during a difficult period at the Parade. When he wasn’t reappointed for 1935, he quickly forgot his disappointment and contributed to his club for the rest of his life. Yes, Alick was a lucky boy, and Norwood was his lucky club.

Games: 123 Premierships: 1923, 1925
Captain-coach: 1931 Coach: 1933 - 34
Club champion: 1924 -25, 1927
Further honours: Magarey Medal 1925, Norwood Player Life Member, Norwood Team of the Century, SANFL Hall of Fame, SA games 20.

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