Ralph 'ZIP ZAP' Sewer

to my knowledge the only player to play in four decades, i think whether you barracked for Woodville (& Glenelg) or not everyone seemed to 'love Ralph'

what do we remember about Ralph ?

there is a Ralph Sewer garden outside the Woodville Fire Station

i recall a final when he 'got close' to 'Trevor Sorrell' 2 or 3 times

obviously there's a hell of a lot more but i'll leave it at that for now & look forward to reading your memories & stories of Ralph

In 1969 Woodville sent out 2 players to train us at Primary school football practice
One was Ralph Sewer the other one of the Coudraye brothers
Ralph taught me amongst all other things how to drop kick a football !
I revelled in a meeting with League Footballers as a young tacker


This is coincidental
My juniors coach during the Sewer visit was a man called Hawke
Hawke nicknamed me Scrappy !!
Why
Because I had hand me down shorts boots and a jumper that were tattered
I was an untidy lad, hence the name Scrappy

I was a confused lad
I had barracked for West Adelaide from 66-67
Brainwashed to barrack for Norwood in 68-69
And than after Ralph trained me I also wanted to be a Woodville supporter

I followed Ralphs career after that, and was not disappointed

Ralphs off field exploits are almost as good as his on field exploits !

The Sewer Garden outside the fire station might be a tribute of sorts
Ralph was a fireman


Ralph was a good batsman as well

Ralph Sewer, one of the best most gifted SANFL footballers Ive ever seen

Yes, Ralph was a very good player.

I played cricket against him, but I think nearly every cricketer in Adelaide did at some stage

Great player.Bayman you would rememeber his blue at the Bay against Port when he let a few go.I reckon Campbell was coaching that year and Glenelg won easily ,I think Giles was knocked out in that game but by his own teammate ,that was disappointing .

After years of slugging it out in the Green and Gold he missed Woodville's first final appearance in 1979 after having sprained his ankle in a "friendly" match during the week. He later of course made up for it playing a big part in Woodville's 1986 campaign.

Leaping Lindner wrote:After years of slugging it out in the Green and Gold he missed Woodville's first final appearance in 1979 after having sprained his ankle in a "friendly" match during the week. He later of course made up for it playing a big part in Woodville's 1986 campaign.

I stand corrected, LL, but I reakon it was a knee, in the weekly Fire Brigade game. Either way, he tried to get through fitness tests during the week and could barely walk, much less run.

Those older fans on here will remember the magazine sold in Target supermarkets, Football World, in the 1970's to 1980's. I used to get it regularly as a little tacker. One week, there was a great action shot of Sewer flying for a mark, soaring high above a pack. Classic shot. The proofreader must have been having an off day, however.

A, er, appendage was trailing out Sewer's shorts in the breeze and as clearly visible as the football in the photo.

C.K wrote:

Leaping Lindner wrote:After years of slugging it out in the Green and Gold he missed Woodville's first final appearance in 1979 after having sprained his ankle in a "friendly" match during the week. He later of course made up for it playing a big part in Woodville's 1986 campaign.

I stand corrected, LL, but I reakon it was a knee, in the weekly Fire Brigade game. Either way, he tried to get through fitness tests during the week and could barely walk, much less run.

Those older fans on here will remember the magazine sold in Target supermarkets, Football World, in the 1970's to 1980's. I used to get it regularly as a little tacker. One week, there was a great action shot of Sewer flying for a mark, soaring high above a pack. Classic shot. The proofreader must have been having an off day, however.

A, er, appendage was trailing out Sewer's shorts in the breeze and as clearly visible as the football in the photo.

You may well be right CK. It could well have been the knee. I remember it was a Fire Brigade game and the article lamented that Ralph wouldn't be taking his fully restored FJ Holden to the footy park players car park. Apparently Ralph was/is an FJ "nut".

He was quite seriously injured when playing at Port Elliott after his Woodville career.

A little unfortunate that he left Glenelg to go back to Woodville, and missed the 2 flags in mid 80's.

It was a knee but not a weekly firies game but the annual police vs firies match. Also while disappointing for him to miss a premiership I think he loved being part of the warriors finals charge even though they weren't ultimately successful. I'm pretty sure he'd consider himself a Woodville man. As for the FJs last year when I was back home in Adelaide I saw him driving around in one. I remember he had a beautiful chocolate coloured one in the late 80s.

I remember playing 'sunday pub' cricket in the hills a long time ago against 'zip zap' & he smashed us all over the park, he could play! Also I have it in my head that he made 3 consecutive 100's for Woodville in C's, B's & A's!

found this on wiki................


Blight's Squad of Champions[edit]
Looking back over his coaching career, Blight nominated in June 2012 a team of the greatest 22 players that he had coached, plus four emergencies.[12] This was how the team looked:

Malcolm Blight's Squad of Champions
B: Ben Hart (Adelaide) David Dench (North Melbourne) Mark Bickley (Adelaide)
HB: Andrew McLeod (Adelaide) Ross Glendinning (North Melbourne) Nigel Smart {Adelaide}
C: Keith Greig (North Melbourne) Paul Couch (Geelong) Mark Bairstow (Geelong) HF: Wayne Schimmelbusch
(North Melbourne) Barry Stoneham (Geelong) Ralph Sewer (Woodville)
F: Darren Jarman (Adelaide) Gary Ablett, Sr. (Geelong) Robert Harvey (St Kilda)
Foll: Shaun Rehn (Adelaide) Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide) Garry Hocking (Geelong)
Int: Ken Hinkley (Geelong) David Pittman (Adelaide) Simon Goodwin (Adelaide) Tyson Edwards (Adelaide)
Coach: Malcolm Blight

The four emergencies named were: Peter Caven (Adelaide), Kane Johnson (Adelaide), Peter Riccardi (Geelong) and Tony Modra (Adelaide).

So Pittman wasn't so "pathetic" after all.

Fair team - He certainly had the fortune of coaching some of the greatest players of their time and some of all-time.

If i remember rightly, Blight moved Modra on who ended up at Fremantle.

Not sure if Blight moved him on, or if Modra was looking to move as he didn't fit Blight's philosophies (mainly that a player needs to be capable of playing multiple positions)?

I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that Ralph turns 65 today.

waddayamean wrote:Great player.Bayman you would rememeber his blue at the Bay against Port when he let a few go.I reckon Campbell was coaching that year and Glenelg won easily ,I think Giles was knocked out in that game   but by his own teammate ,that was disappointing .

It wasn't his own teammate who knocked Giles out. David Holst collected him with a classic hip and shoulder which was deemed fair at the time but would earn an 8 week suspension now.

definitely was Holst, a younger Glenelg player at the time told me Holst said ''get up Gilsey your not hurt''

this can be seen on YouTube

& rr is correct it'd be a lengthy spell on the sidelines today

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it is the game when Graham Campbell gave his ''famous'' (to us bay supporters) half time speech

bayman wrote:definitely was Holst, a younger Glenelg player at the time told me Holst said ''get up Gilsey your not hurt''

this can be seen on YouTube

& rr is correct it'd be a lengthy spell on the sidelines today

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it is the game when Graham Campbell gave his ''famous'' (to us bay supporters) half time speech

In the same game Danny Hughes knocked out Stephen Kernahan in a ruck duel. Hughes received the free kick, but was reported I think by a boundary or goal umpire. Hughes also would get 8 games today but I doubt he got more than a couple then.

Also Dwayne Russell hit Peter Carey and would get 3 or 4 games these days.

I am sure there were other incidents.

Remember this was less than 12 months after the infamous "Granger" preliminary final. Glenelg and Port really hated each other at that stage.

rocket_rooster wrote:

bayman wrote:definitely was Holst, a younger Glenelg player at the time told me Holst said ''get up Gilsey your not hurt''

this can be seen on YouTube

& rr is correct it'd be a lengthy spell on the sidelines today

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

it is the game when Graham Campbell gave his ''famous'' (to us bay supporters) half time speech

In the same game Danny Hughes knocked out Stephen Kernahan in a ruck duel. Hughes received the free kick, but was reported I think by a boundary or goal umpire. Hughes also would get 8 games today but I doubt he got more than a couple then.

Also Dwayne Russell hit Peter Carey and would get 3 or 4 games these days.

I am sure there were other incidents.

Remember this was less than 12 months after the infamous "Granger" preliminary final. Glenelg and Port really hated each other at that stage.

I'm not sure that the feeling has lessened much, well not for us long time Bay supporters anyway.

Uncle Huey the Port we all 'hated' doesn't exist anymore

bayman wrote:Uncle Huey the Port we all 'hated' doesn't exist anymore

I don't know, the Port supporters insist it is one club. And the behaviour hasn't changed all that much.

UncleHuey wrote:

bayman wrote:Uncle Huey the Port we all 'hated' doesn't exist anymore

I don't know, the Port supporters insist it is one club. And the behaviour hasn't changed all that much.  

off course they will, however it is clearly now just another afl franchised team, one day they want the creed, the next day they distance themselves from it to generate new supporters....they are only a franchise using the Port name, yes i ''hated'' Port as much as anyone but i don't ''hate'' the franchise

I'm in two minds about Port........

RODH2 wrote: I'm in two minds about Port........

i have to pay that...