BIO

Aboriginal activist Geoff Clark was a very strong utility/forward who played three senior games in Norwood's centenary year but could not cement a place in the league premiership team.

He did, however, employ his football skills to good effect by kicking 35 goals in the seconds in that 1978 season, including three  in the grand final won by Norwood, 24.15 to West Adelaide's 18.11.



Born in western Victoria in August 1952, Geoff exploited his natural pugnacity as a  boxer in Jimmy Sharman's tent at  Warrnambool.  At 20, he moved to Western Australia and played senior football for Claremont and Subiaco before moving back to the eastern states by way of Norwood.

Geoff made his name as an Aboriginal politician and activist.

He was elected to the Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Commission in 1996 and was chairman from December 1999 until the body was disbanded in 2004.

He was embroiled in many battles - in Canberra, in the courts and in the media - but according to the Warrnambool Standard of 14  October 2014 "through a combination of cunning, belligerence and self-belief has emerged battered but well and truly unbowed".

P Robins May 2015