Norm Kelly : In his playing days
Flashback – Norm Kelly ; Note I wrote this for the Southern Gazette in 2009.
Norm Kelly began his soccer career in 1956 at the age of 17. His career was one to be respected by many as he dominated
the game of soccer year after year.
He was an invaluable member of the St. Lawrence Soccer Team who was known for his ‘bullet’ shot and dominant
play at midfield. Kelly is regarded by many as one of the top Laurentians of all time.
Norm
was inducted into the St. Lawrence Soccer Hall of Fame in 1982, the
Burin Peninsula Soccer Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Newfoundland Soccer
Hall of Fame in 1989 and, in 2003 he was inducted into Sport
Newfoundland and Labrador Hall of Fame. Here are a few questions I asked
Norm:
1. What is the biggest change in soccer you have seen in the last 50 years?
The biggest change I have seen in soccer in the past 50 years has to be the skill and
fitness
of the young players. It seems with the improvements to the regulation
size soccer fields, the players have a lot more room to move about with
greater ball control and accuracy, thus exercising their skills, speed
and knowledge of the game.The small fields created congestion and
therefore allowed the game to be very chippy.
The
Eastern Representative of CSFA, Jim Andrews, who has held that position
for the past 13 years, predicts bigger fields are needed to boost
soccer calibre. These fields are a must for every soccer-playing town in
the province in order for the standard of soccer to improve.
2. You must have some great memories of playing soccer. Would you mind sharing a few of those stories with us?
I
do have some great memories of playing soccer. One of these was in 1968
when we played the London Lions of St. John’s in a home-home series for
the Provincial title.
It was a
carry-over from 1967, when we defeated London Lions to go to the
Challenge Cup in Toronto. It was the toughest game we ever had to play.
There were no
cheap shots – everyone dished it out and everyone took their knocks.
The next morning our local doctor, Dr. Hollywood, was a busy man as about two-thirds of the
London Lions were at his office in the hospital getting patched up. Believe it or not we won both the game and war.
3. Tell us what the games were actually like between St. Lawrence and Grand Bank back in the 60s and 70s?
The
soccer games between St. Lawrence and Grand Bank were always highly
competitive, and both players and fans looked forward to them with great
enthusiasm.
Rivalry was the name of
the game when it came to Grand Bank games and that always led to very
tense, competitive games. There was a lot of animosity on the field but
when the game was over, we all socialized and had great fun.
One
of my most memorable soccer games against Grand Bank was in 1961. A
riot broke out on the field; players and fans alike were all involved. I
was not dressed for the game as I had been injured, but as the tempers
flared, Theo Etchegary and I jumped onto the field to help out our
players, to get them off the field.
All
I could hear from the fans was ‘Get Kelly’. Theo and I stood back to
back and kept some of the fans away from us. The Town Cop from Grand
Bank finally got us into the dressing room as we were surrounded by
fans. I just couldn’t believe what was happening as Grand Bank was
leading 3-0.
I had a new Volkswagen so I
threw the keys to my wife to go and start the car so we could make an
early exit with the Town Cop escorting us off the field. I jumped into
the car and took off with rocks bouncing off my new car. They chased my
car, pelting rocks at me until I got to the welcome sign outside Grand
Bank. Needless to say, we did not finish the 1961 season.
4. You have always been a great supporter of the St. Lawrence Laurentians.
Realistically, how much longer can St. Lawrence continue to survive as a dominant force at both provincial and national soccer?
I
think our Laurentians will continue to dominate for another year or two
on the provincial level, and hopefully hold our own at the national
level. At some point though we will have to start rebuilding, as there
are still quite a number of potentially great soccer players in our
town.
Hopefully, the economy in our
town will pick up and we can go back to all our players practicing and
living in our town. As it stands now the majority of our players, while
they are from our town, are employed elsewhere and thus their practices,
etc. go ahead in St. John’s. It must be very challenging for coaches
and players.
This practice also has
an effect on our fans because, as you know, many of them thoroughly
enjoyed watching the practice sessions every evening and they miss this
very much.
5. Name three of the greatest players that you ever played with?
Three of the greatest players I ever played with were Reg Farrell, Wils Molloy and Frank Tobin.
6. Name three of the greatest players that you ever played against?
Three
of the greatest players I ever played against were Bo Collier
(Fortune), Tom Rose (Grand Bank) and Bernie Bennett (St. John’s).
7. What’s does the future hold for Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer?
I
feel the future of NLSA soccer is still bright, as interest in the game
continues to grow and more and more kids are joining our minor leagues.
My
concern has to be the number of games played in our season compared to
the other provinces. This is very evident each year when we enter the
Nationals.
I realize money is the
bottom line in any sport and money is needed to have exhibition games
with top teams both here and other provinces during our regular season.
I’m not sure what we can do to change this but, if we are to compete
nationally and be successful, I feel we need a lot more competitions
leading up to this event. I think this is one thing the President of
NLSA could look at in the future.
Norm’s Picture
I
can’t help but share this Norm Kelly and wife Betty story with you. In
2004, I was president of the St. Lawrence Soccer Association and I
invited Gene Tsartolias from the Quebec Provincial Champion Panellinios
Soccer Club to come to St. Lawrence and be guest speaker at our annual
Soccer Association Awards Banquet.
When
Gene arrived, I went to buy a renowned photo of a soccer ball and the
pair of boots from a local photographer, Cynthia Farrell. My plans were
to present this famous photo to Gene for coming to St. Lawrence and
being our guest speaker.
When I checked
with Cynthia about getting one of these pictures, she informed me she
had neither one of these pictures left, but Norm Kelly bought one some
time ago.
I then went over to Norm’s
home and marched right in their home and explained to them about Gene
being in town and that they had a picture I would like to have. Norm and
Betty took the picture off the living room wall and gave it to me to be
present to Mr. Tartilios.
Betty, I can remember you wiping of the picture while myself and Norm just stood there laughing.
