BIO
Woodville 1877
Woodville 1877
Sidney Young was there from the start. On his 20th birthday he attended the foundation meeting of the Norwood Football Club at the Norfolk Arms Hotel, Rundle Street, Adelaide, on 28 February 1878. More than 44 years later, he was the last survivor of that historic gathering.
Sidney Young was there from the start. On his 20th birthday he attended the foundation meeting of the Norwood Football Club at the Norfolk Arms Hotel, Rundle Street, Adelaide, on 28 February 1878. More than 44 years later, he was the last survivor of that historic gathering.
A son of the educator John Lorenzo Young, Sidney was “a splendid trustworthy backman noted for his strong clearances, fine marking and kicking. Joining Norwood from Woodville he was one of Norwood’s most consistent players for the season and appeared in 11 games for the year”.*
He played in Norwood’s initial game and celebrated the club’s first three premierships. He was an NFC Life Member.
Sidney’s father, J. L. Young, was of Cornish heritage and arrived in Adelaide in the ship Panama on 31 October 1850. On the voyage he became firm friends with fellow passenger W. W. R. Whitridge, whose son William would chair the NFC foundation meeting in 1878 and captain the Norwood second twenty that season.
He played in Norwood’s initial game and celebrated the club’s first three premierships. He was an NFC Life Member.
Sidney’s father, J. L. Young, was of Cornish heritage and arrived in Adelaide in the ship Panama on 31 October 1850. On the voyage he became firm friends with fellow passenger W. W. R. Whitridge, whose son William would chair the NFC foundation meeting in 1878 and captain the Norwood second twenty that season.
J. L. Young founded the Adelaide Educational Institution in Adelaide in 1852. In 1861 he moved to Young Street, Parkside, where his name is memorialized and his last schoolhouse is heritage-listed.
J. L. Young married his first cousin, Martha Paynter Young, and they had 10 children. Sidney, the second child, was born at home in North Terrace, Adelaide, on 28 February 1858. He became a prominent wine and spirit broker. He married Ada Stephens in December 1887 and she bore him three children, Adeline, Sidney Lorenzo and Antony. Ada died in 1917.
Sidney Young was 65 when he died at Torrensville on 5 August 1924. C. S. Hobbs, George Searcy and J. J. Woods represented the old brigade at the graveside. Remembering Sidney as “a gallant worker for the red-and-blue”, ‘Umpire’ in the Saturday Journal of 9 August 1924 said: “He bore an amiable disposition, and was popular in every walk of life. . . . May the sod rest lightly o’er his head.”
* From: Whimpress, B 1878; Norwood’s first year, by B Whimpress, research by M Coligan. Norwood, Norwood Football Club History Group, 2013 p 90
P Robins, D Cox January 2022