PORT ADELAIDE has a rich and deep connection with the Australian Defence Forces, with many who have represented the club also serving their nation on the horrific fields of war.
Among those brave souls, and perhaps the most decorated, is the fabled Bob Quinn, who matched his lauded exploits on the football field with fearless dedication in the treacherous conditions of World War II.
Geof Motley, himself a legendary figure at Alberton with nine premierships to his name, remembers Quinn as a humble man with an awe-inspiring toughness about him.
“Bob Quinn was one of the most modest blokes you ever struck in all your life, he wasn’t all about himself,” Mr Motley recalled.
“(He) won a Magarey Medal before the war, went to the war, got a medal for his performance in the war for bravery.
“He trod on a landmine and was about to have his leg taken off. He wouldn’t let them take his leg off and he came back six or seven years (later) played football again and won another Magarey Medal.”
Quinn was a hero of seven-time premiership player Tim Ginever and the two formed a tight bond during Ginver’s time as captain of Port Adelaide.
Ginever remembers the tale of how the doctor who saved his idol’s leg could not believe he could possibly return to compete on the football field, let alone at the highest level.
“He told me about the first state game that they played post-war – at the MCG, Victoria vs South Australia about 1947,” Ginever said.
“He was captain-coach and they were getting thrashed at halftime, nearly 10 goal down, and he reckons he gave it to the boys – ‘Don’t bother coming out unless you’re prepared to put your body on the line!’
“(They) went out on the MCG, fought back and drew the game.
“In the rooms afterwards he saw a tall man with a hat at the door who said, ‘Are you the man that served in Tobruk?’
“He said ‘Yes, I am, and I know who you are doctor’.”
The doctor, who lived in Geelong and did not follow football, had noticed Quinn’s name on the team sheet for South Australia in the paper and had to travel to Melbourne to see for himself if this was the man who’s leg he had nearly amputated.
Quinn got up on a table in the rooms and showed him his surgically repaired leg, declaring, ‘You did a good job, Doc’.
Bob’s son Greg remembers his father as a ferocious competitor that embodied the Anzac Spirit and the Port Adelaide way.
“What person would have your leg blown off, your arm shot up and your face scarred up and things and want to go and play football again?” he pondered about his father’s toughness.
“To come back (to Port Adelaide) and want to play again and to do so well again.”
Port Adelaide has identified more than 125 players and officials enlist to serve abroad in the defence of empire and nation. Click here to view the full list of the club’s servicemen.
The club continues to support the defence community through programs such as the Power to be Positive program that engages with ADF families and their children.
