Russell Ebert

Russell Frank Ebert (22 June 1949 – 5 November 2021) was an Australian rules footballer and coach.

He is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Australian rules football in South Australia.

Ebert is the only player to have won four Magarey Medals, which are awarded to the best and fairest player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).

He is one of four Australian rules footballers to have a statue at Adelaide Oval, the others being Ken Farmer, Malcolm Blight and Barrie Robran.

Football historian John Devaney described Ebert as coming "as close as any player in history to exhibiting complete mastery over all the essential skills of the game," and he is widely regarded as the Port Adelaide Football Club's greatest-ever player.

Russell's father Albert was a footballer with the Alawoona Football Club and captain coached the team to a premiership in 1953.

At eight years old Ebert was in the crowd when Port Adelaide defeated Norwood in the 1957 SANFL Grand Final.

Russell's family moved to Loxton during his high-school years and the town was home to his junior football club, the Loxton Football Club, where he played with his brothers.

As a teenager, Ebert gained employment with the Bank of Loxton.

He was subsequently transferred to the Savings Bank at Waikerie.

Ebert joined the Waikerie Football Club and played alongside Bruce Light, who eventually played for Port Adelaide with him.

Before Ebert agreed to join Port Adelaide, six other SANFL clubs (North Adelaide, Central District, Woodville, Norwood, Glenelg and South Adelaide) approached Ebert about joining their clubs.

In an interview with John Wood about this period in time, Ebert said he was set on joining North Adelaide but their representative "never came back".

In 1968, Eric Freeman, Port Adelaide's full-forward, was selected to play for the Australian cricket team for the upcoming Ashes series.

The absence of Freeman provided Ebert the opportunity, as an 18-year-old, to claim the full-forward position in the team.

Ebert made his debut in the first round of the 1968 SANFL season against Glenelg on Alberton Oval.

Ebert remained in Waikerie during 1968, driving back and forth between the Riverland and Adelaide for training and match day.

During that season, Ebert kicked six goals in a game against both North Adelaide and Sturt.

He played all but one senior game for Port Adelaide in his first season.

In his first season of league football, Ebert benefited from experienced Port Adelaide premiership players such as John Cahill, Trevor Obst, Peter Obst, Ronald Elleway and Eric Freeman after his return from playing test cricket in England.

In Ebert's first season with Port Adelaide the club qualified for the 1968 SANFL Grand Final against Sturt, reigning premiers for the past two seasons.

Sturt won the match by 27 points.

At the end of year Ebert was the recipient of Port Adelaide's leading goal-kicker award in his debut season after kicking 44 goals.

He was also awarded the club's best first year player award.

In 1969, Ebert moved from the forward line to the centre and consolidated the position as his own in the Port Adelaide line up.

It was during the 1969 SANFL season that members of Port Adelaide's golden era were retiring from football en masse, resulting in Fos Williams providing league debuts to 15 first-year players.

As a result of this influx of junior players the club finished sixth, winning 9 of 20 games.

In 1970, Ebert was selected for the South Australian state football team for the first time.

Port Adelaide finished the 1970 SANFL season as minor premiers for the first time since the club won the 1965 SANFL Grand Final.

They would lose both finals to eventual 1970 SANFL Grand Finalists Glenelg and Sturt, the latter recording their fifth straight premiership.

At the end of the season, Port Adelaide recognised Ebert as the club's best player during their finals series.

During the 1971 pre-season, Port Adelaide defeated South Melbourne in a trial match in Victoria.

On 26 June 1971 the publication Inside Football reported that Carlton had approached Port Adelaide with the intention of freeing Ebert from his contract to play for them in the VFL.

Ebert confirmed that he returned to Melbourne, after South Australia played Victoria in that state earlier in the year, to meet Carlton officials but that nothing came of it, saying, "I haven't heard from Carlton since I went over after the State game. It was during this year that Ebert won his first Magarey Medal, awarded to the fairest and most brilliant player in the SANFL, receiving 21 votes from the league umpires, one more vote than runner up Peter Marker and Phil Haughan, who both received 20 votes each. In 1971 Ebert was also awarded his first Port Adelaide best and fairest. Port Adelaide reached the 1971 SANFL Grand Final but lost to minor premiers North Adelaide by 20 points.

In 1972, Port Adelaide again reached the SANFL Grand Final and again lost to North Adelaide, this time by 56 points.

North Adelaide went on to win the 1972 Championship of Australia defeating Carlton.

At the end of the season Ebert was awarded his second club best and fairest.

Aside from his 392 games at Port Adelaide, Ebert played 25 games for in the 1979 VFL season and collected over 500 possessions as a midfielder for the club, which reached the preliminary final.

Ebert was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, and he was posthumously elevated to Legend status in June 2022, the highest honour that can be bestowed onto an Australian footballer.

The fourth of six children of Doreen and Albert Ebert, Russell was born in the South Australian river town of Berri.