BIO

In the second half of the 1901 season, Norwood were suffering a mini crisis. Reports like these appeared:  Evening Journal (4/10/1901). “Norwood were palpably stale about the beginning of August.” Register (5/10/1901) ‘Norwood fell away in the end part of the second series.”

The Club saw a need to inject some old and new blood to revive its season. The old came with the re-appearance of W. Plunkett and Frank Hill. The new was required to instil extra speed into its forward line. A speedy forward from the Gawler South Club by the name of Percy Crump came to mind. He had impressed in a game he played for the Gawler Association against the Suburban Association at the Jubilee Oval earlier in the year.

Gawler South was approached and they agreed to his release but permission had to be obtained from the South Australian Association. The Evening Journal (10/9/1901) reported that, “P.J. Crump was granted permission to play with Norwood.”

He debuted against North Adelaide on the 21st September. Despite North being highly favoured to win Norwood turned its form around and North was soundly beaten. As for Crump, the match report said of him, “This player is a valuable acquisition to the ranks of the red and blues and he played a dashing game throughout.”

He consequently retained his place in the side to play Port Adelaide in the grand final. A grand final won by Norwood by just four points. After just two games Percy Crump was a premiership player. Yet it was his last game.

The following season he returned to Gawler South. From Norwood’s perspective Percy’s career might have been short but with a premiership to his credit it was nonetheless productive

B Ridge Dec 2018