Adelaide Rams

[footy75]

Lived in Adelaide at the time and went to most games at Adelaide Oval and Hindmarsh Stadium.

Remember the first home game against the Mariners in front of a a big crowd, getting to sit inside the old scoreboard.

you poor bastard...what was that like?

 

[Red&BlackBear]

It's a shame that Adelaide Rams had a fair share of real mediocre players on their roster, they lost a fair few games by 6 or less. Had they won them games, obviously they wouldve had more confidence goig forward and couldve done/been anything. I guess we can say that for every team though.

 

[Perth Red]

Squads and stats

http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seasons/super-league-1997/adelaide/summary.html

http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seasons/nrl-1998/adelaide/summary.html

 

[Bulldog Force]

Kerrod Walters doing the chicken dance as a try celebration.

Tony Iro running backwards for like 20-30 secs in the final min of the game trying to run it down.....vs Dragons 1998.
Weird moment that one...but funny.

The things I would give to see those 2 moments again...

 

[Spud]

you poor bastard...what was that like?

As a 9yo at the time, it felt like moving to a different country for a brief period.

 

[footy75]

As a 9yo at the time, it felt like moving to a different country for a brief period.

u were 9 doesn't matter then. adelaide is fine if ur a kid or older with a family. if not its the worst city in the world to be.

back on track...would be good to see adelaide get another team. the game needs to grow.

 

[wain]

Too many haters on here
Grew up in qld, still call myself that but been living in radelaide (that's what us locals call it ) for 15yrs.
Seriously, it does grow on you - heaps more chilled than the other capitals. You guys think that Melbourne people are insular when it comes to sport? Seriously, a lot of people down here wouldn't know there are 2 rugbies.
That sucks, but I choose to see it as a positive.
Rams? They sucked and did more harm than good. I really hope any new team wouldn't go near the name.

Southern lighthorsemen, that'd get my vote

 

[footy75]

Too many haters on here
Grew up in qld, still call myself that but been living in radelaide (that's what us locals call it ) for 15yrs.
Seriously, it does grow on you - heaps more chilled than the other capitals. You guys think that Melbourne people are insular when it comes to sport? Seriously, a lot of people down here wouldn't know there are 2 rugbies.
That sucks, but I choose to see it as a positive.
Rams? They sucked and did more harm than good. I really hope any new team wouldn't go near the name.

Southern lighthorsemen, that'd get my vote

grows on you....TRANSLATED...stuck in the Adelaide rut.

only way i can live in adelaide full time is if i am married with kids otherwise...fk that life is too short.

NRL need to start thinking about how to get the game to SA.
i remember rams players getting into trouble with the law a few times..drunken brawls etc

 

[Mr. Sharky]

u were 9 doesn't matter then. adelaide is fine if ur a kid or older with a family. if not its the worst city in the world to be.

back on track...would be good to see adelaide get another team. the game needs to grow.

That's a bit harsh,

I have lived in Sydney all my life and I spent a week in Adelaide and didn't want to come home.

I'd be more than happy to move there. I fell in love with the place pretty quickly.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

Both Adelaide/Perth folded all too easily while the AFL did everything in there power to keep the Sydney Swans/Brisbane lions aflot during there financial hardsips and look at how it paid off.

The self-interest, insular selfish mindset has set rugby league back from developing a national footprint in favor for suburban clubs who for decades have failed time and time again to get there stuff together financially. Yet, they constantly drain the NRL's resources in handouts instead of actual fixing the club themselves.

To think those clubs got bailed out continually from existence while the expansion clubs got immediately shafted now that' s a double standard.

 

[DURRRHURRR]

Both Adelaide/Perth folded all too easily while the AFL did everything in there power to keep the Sydney Swans/Brisbane lions aflot during there financial hardsips and look at how it paid off.

The self-interest, insular selfish mindset has set rugby league back from developing a national footprint in favor for suburban clubs who for decades have failed time and time again to get there stuff together financially. Yet, they constantly drain the NRL's resources in handouts instead of actual fixing the club themselves.

To think those clubs got bailed out continually from existence while the expansion clubs got immediately shafted now that' s a double standard.

But Muh Tradition!!!

As for the Rams I remember Appo killing it, the Iro running backwards and the ensuing whinging from St.George and the first year crowds being really quite good but then the people eventually lost interest cause of how bad the club was going (though I think crowds were still better than some sydney clubs at the time)

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Adelaide came in at a bad period for Rugby League.

If a Adelaide team came in now, it wouldn't be a bad thing, but I think maybe play the odd NRL Game there.

I think last they played there it was at Adelaide Oval, so Hindmarsh Stadium, which is rectangular has probably been shafted for future games.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

But Muh Tradition!!!

As for the Rams I remember Appo killing it, the Iro running backwards and the ensuing whinging from St.George and the first year crowds being really quite good but then the people eventually lost interest cause of how bad the club was going (though I think crowds were still better than some sydney clubs at the time)

The lowest crowd that year was about 3,700 when Souths played the Warriors at the SFS.

There were some other bad crowds that year under 5,000. I think Adelaide took a game to Whyalla which attracted just over 5,000.

 

[Snappy]

Well that's a f**king random bump

 

[Haynzy]

Hindmarsh Stadium was great. I've never been to a game where you were so close to the action.

I loved the game when they smashed the Tigers 52-0. It was so loud and the crowd was really giving it to Sirro.

Some of the nights back at the Heritage Hotel after games were pretty epic. I think the boys enjoyed the anonymity.

 

[alien]

hindmarsh stadium looks like a nice stadium but only holds 17,000. if they could make the side stand taller (the one with no cover) and make the stands go right around (so the seats go right up in the corners) then the capacity would be large enough for an nrl side. i cant believe the nrl still don't have a team in adelaide and perth. i think a couple of clubs from sydney should relocate to adelaide and perth because when you have 9 clubs in sydney its going to be hard to have the comp truly national when there are only a certain amount of quality players going around

 

[Perth Red]

Looks to be a good steep pitch on those stands. Extend the main left hand stand at the two ends and replace the right hand stand with modern day corporate facilities and Hindmarsh would be a very nice 25k rectangular stadium. If only we'd won the World Cup bid!

 

[alien]

i just read that they had qualifying soccer matches there for 2000 olympics. they had 3,000 extra temporary seats in the corners

 

[undertaker]

The things I would give to see those 2 moments again...

Very good news for you, Bulldog Force.

Haven't been able to find footage of that iconic moment involving Tony Iro (was shown on Boots N All many years ago), but DID manage to find the Kerrod Walter chicken dance post-try celebration. I just happened to stumble upon it by chance skimming some YouTube videos of old RL games, and came across the Adelaide vs Salford 1997 World Club Challenge match:


Go to about 1:20:25 in the video, where Walters scores the last try. John McCoy and the late-Peter Jackson were in stitches.

 

[undertaker]

In addition to that '97 WCC match vs Salford (which is the only full match replay of the Rams on YouTube), here's what remains of other Adelaide Rams highlights on YouTube:


I wonder if anyone knows who that caller is for the Rams matches (excluding the Storm match, as you can clearly see in that match it's ground footage with one camera mounted in the grandstand and the presence of in-goal touch judges (with someone adding commentary to some highlights))?

I do remember Ch9 in Adelaide broadcasting Adelaide Rams home matches in 1998 (distinctly remember that scoreboard-type clock they had on screen in the top left when highlights were replayed on the late-night sports bulletin), but stopped doing it when they moved from Adelaide Oval to Hindmarsh Stadium. Ch9 Adelaide was the only area in Australia that got to see those matches, as Fox Sports/Optus never replayed them. I would LOVE to see the match vs St George again when Fox Sports gets their own NRL channel next year.

The 4 stand-out match memories of Adelaide Rams matches that I remember at the time (since I was only 11 when they folded) were:

- their debut game v Hunter Mariners infront of a sell-out crowd at Adelaide Oval in 1997. I know Adelaide is a strong-hold AFL city, but it's such a shame that teams stopped played the odd game there a few years ago. There's definitely potential for an NRL team one day, but it would have to be in the second expansion (from 18 to 20 teams), as Perth and Brisbane 2 are the favourites for admission in the next expansion. So, it will easily be another 10+ years before an Adelaide franchise is on the cards.

- that match vs St George, only for the Tony Iro incident at the end

- when they hammered Balmain 52-0 in their first home game at Hindmarsh Stadium, the club's largest ever win. I remember Fatty and Sterlo bagging the crap out of Blocker on the first Thursday night Footy Show after that round, showing brief highlights of Adelaide's tries (only ground footage).

- their final game vs Newcastle. Adelaide unbelievably led 20-4 after 36 minutes before the Knights scored 30 unanswered points to win 34-20. Andrew Johns scoring the match-winning try with 10 minutes to go.

I believe they had quite a high club membership at the time, around 7000 or so members (maybe someone can verify this). This was a decade before the NRL started the club membership drive in the Centenary year.