Robert Allen Hammond (16 February 1942 – 30 May 2020) 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

and Norwood in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) during the 1960s and early 1970s. He later served as coach of the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). Hammond played his early football at Kilburn before being recruited to North Adelaide. He took a while to break into the senior side but when he did in 1960 he was a member of their premiership team. A key defender, he also participated in North Adelaide's premiership years of 1971/72 and played in the club's 1972

Championship of Australia The Championship of Australia was an Australian rules football tournament which was contested between football clubs from the Victorian, South Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian football leagues. The Championship took place three ti ...

win. While at North Adelaide he represented

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

at interstate level in a win over

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1963, one of eight times that he would appear for his state. Norwood lured Hammond to their club in 1974 as captain-coach and he went on to have success. After retiring as a player at the end of his initial season, Hammond steered them to premierships in 1975 and 1978. His coaching career continued at interstate level and he was in charge of the South Australian team which defeated Victoria for the first time at

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

level, in 1983. The following year he coached the Sydney Swans in eight games during the

1984 VFL season The 1984 VFL season was the 88th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 31 March until 29 September, and comprised a ...

after

Ricky Quade Ricky Quade (born 26 August 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Quade later became better known as the inaugural coach of the Sydney Swans, when South Melbourne ...

resigned and Tony Franklin was caretaker coach for a single game. From 1991 to 2000, Hammond served as the chairman of the

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

, a tenure in which they won two premierships. In 2001 he was named as a

back pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

in North Adelaide's official Team of the Century, then in 2002 was inducted into the

South Australian Football Hall of Fame The South Australian Football Hall of Fame enshrines those who have made a most significant contribution to the game of Australian Football. The Hall of Fame was established in 2002 when 114 outstanding individuals became inaugural inductees. S ...

, followed by the AFL Hall of Fame in 2015. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2003.

References

"Swan Songs"
– sydneyswans.com.au

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, Bob 1942 births 2020 deaths Sydney Swans coaches North Adelaide Football Club players Norwood Football Club players Norwood Football Club coaches Adelaide Football Club administrators Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Australian rules footballers from South Australia South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal