STURT FAN STILL HAS THE BLUES

 By Daniel Frangos, Eastern Courier

LONG-time Sturt fan Dorothy Harris (pictured) may be 98 years old, but she still attends almost every home match.
She first went to Unley Oval in 1962 after moving to Adelaide from Cowell and has been a regular at games ever since.
“It’s been a big part of my life,” Mrs Harris says.

“I live at Henley Beach now, so I catch two buses to Unley Oval and two buses back, but it’s something I do because I enjoy it. I still sit in the same spot in the grandstand at Unley with the same people and we’re all big Sturt supporters so it’s all good.”

When Mrs Harris was born in 1913, the Sturt Football Club was only 12 years old and had not won an SANFL premiership.
But since then the Doubles Blues have won 13 league flags and there has been many great players wear the famous light-blue guernsey. Mrs Harris has seen most of them in action.

“Rick Davies was my pin-up boy,” she says with a laugh.
“But now it’s Jade Sheedy.”

Mrs Harris was there through Sturt’s glory years from 1966-76 when the club won seven flags, including five in a row from 1966-70.

She saw the tough times from 1989-96 when the club claimed the wooden spoon eight years in a row and then celebrated the drought-breaking 2002 premiership.

Today, Mrs Harris is just as passionate about her beloved Double Blues, even though they finished bottom this year.
“I support them through thick or thin,” she says.

“The young players are on the rise and we can only go up from here.”