One of vibrant and colourful South Adelaide characters of the 1960s, Mick Rivers is just one step away from Panthers football immortality.
He was 21st man, the first emergency for the 1964 South Adelaide premiership team.
It seems that his football journey has endured a number of bumps along the way.
The second oldest of the nine Rivers children, Mick developed two major passions, sport, specifically football and teaching.
His A-Grade football career in Broken Hill started as a 15-year-old, by was halted after just one game by his mother.
“She organised a coup, ringing the club President, and succeeded in getting me dropped to C-Grade,” Rivers explained in an interview with Tony Shaw at the 50-year reunion of the Panthers ’64 SANFL flag.
“At Mum’s first league game attendance for years she witnessed my eldest brother’s best friend break an ankle.
“It frightened her.
“Mum saw the size of some of players who were underground miners. When I was 18 and finally playing A-Grade, I always stood 6’4” (193cm), centre half forwards who were underground miners, so that was a quite challenge.
“I did love having to find out how to beat them.”
He was recruited by Richmond, after a trip by plane to Melbourne for the 1961 VFL Grand Final, along being asked by Norwood, West Torrens and West Adelaide to come to Adelaide and play SANFL footy.
While he actually signed with the VFL Tigers, a week before he was going to move, Rivers changed his mind.
In 1962 Rivers played in a Broken Hill representative side against a combined South Australian Seconds team, he stood and performing well against Central District’s Gary Window and Bob Simunsen from Woodville.
It was South Adelaide’s long-term secretary and former 1930 premiership player Max Murdy who arrived at the Rivers household as secured his signature.
“Max Murdy just turned up on the doorstep and made the offer,” Rivers continued.
“I’d hated accountancy for three years and was failing it terribly. Often I left the night lecture at half time, went to the movies with a Centrals mate also doing accountancy.
“At 8.30 every morning I looked at the clock, saying ‘Shit, what am I doing here, I hate this job, I hate accountancy’.
“So, when Murdy turned up, I decided to get out and accepted South’s offer on one condition.
“For two years previously, I had applied for Teachers College Scholarships, received and refused them each time.
“Thinking I might not get accepted a third time, I said to Murdy, ‘I’d like to teach so if you can help me get a Teachers’ Scholarship, I’ll go’. He agreed, so I signed.
“After I’d signed with South, one week later, the bridge fell on me.”
Rivers explained a footbridge fell on his head he was hospitalised for a period.
“Initially I didn’t know it had damaged me apart from the stitches in my scalp,” he explained.
“I had 42 stitches put in the head and went to bed for two days.
“While I hadn’t trained, they picked me in the Central Magpies side, so my head pain must have gone.
“I played, couldn’t last five minutes. I felt sick and puzzled. Ten minutes later I was leaning 45 degrees to the side, so they carried me off on a stretcher. Everyone (my family, masseurs and myself) believed it happened in the footy game.
“This was because for the 3-4 days after the accident, I didn’t move much and hadn’t felt any spinal pain or difficulty with spinal movement.
“After 10 minutes of the game, my body was twisted and enveloped with sharp and chronic pain (sitting, walking and lying in bed). Hospitalised, I still couldn’t walk, lie, or sit without excruciating pain.
“For the next six to eight months, severe debilitating pain plagued my life the rest of the 1962 year and a couple of months into 1963.”
Rivers, despite losing his natural leap of his youth due to the accident, made his SANFL League debut in round six, 1963, coming off the bench against Port Adelaide and playing four games, all as either the 19th or 20th man that year.
He would also win the Brown’s Cup as the Best and Fairest South Adelaide reserves player in the 1963 campaign.
In South’s fairy-tale premiership year of ‘64 Rivers played 13 senior games.
Many teammates believe his best performance was in the post season champions of Australia match against VFL premiers Melbourne, where he stood and beat the legendary Ron Barassi.
From 1965 to 1967 Rivers was a regular player in the Panthers league team.
He had played for a SA seconds XVIII side in Broken Hill in 1963, much to the surprise of his parents and the medical people of the Silver City.
In 1967 Rivers also played in a SA state team that played an Australian Aboriginal team, along with captaining the Panthers in a game, when Peter Darley was away with the interstate team.
In his final full season of SANFL footy Rivers was runner-up in the 1967 Knuckey Cup, South Adelaide Best and Fairest award won by the original “Jumbo Prince” Darley, a seven-time winner.
He played the opening two rounds of ’68, before he was lost to the game. He participated in 77 SANFL league matches in total, but there will always be the question about how good he could have been!
Mick’s younger brother Peter would play in Central Broken Hill Magpies premierships under Jeff Potter before moving to Port Augusta.
He also played a handful of league games with West Torrens in the 1970s.
He coached the South Augusta Bulldogs to the 2000 Spencer Gulf League flag, which included his two teenage sons, 17-year-old Jesse and Jared, who was 15 at the time.
Jared Rivers, would play SANFL the following year at 16, and represent North Adelaide in 20 league matches before being recruited by the Melbourne Demons. Collected with pick 26, at the 2002 AFL National Draft, Rivers played 150 games for the Dees, and secured the acclaimed AFL Rising Star Rookie of the Year title in 2004.
He moved to Geelong in 2014 and played another 44 matches with the Cats.
Jared Rivers followed in his father’s footsteps and moved into coaching himself after that.
Sadly, Mick Rivers passed away peacefully on 15th November 2023, aged 80 years.
