Long-time football staff member Barrie Downs has been inducted into Adelaide’s Hall of Fame.
Barrie ‘BJ’ Downs joined the new Adelaide Football Club as its first team manager and worked at more than 500 consecutive AFL games, home and away.
Downs had served SANFL club West Adelaide for 22 years and was head-hunted by Adelaide’s football manager Neil Kerley in time to be on deck for the squad’s first training session at Football Park in late October, 1990.
He also worked in the printing industry alongside his Crows duties but became Adelaide’s full-time football administration officer in 1998. The property steward duties were added to his role when another original staff member, Rex Leahy, retired in 2006.
Downs continued in versions of this role for 23 years and was the only Club person to attend (and work) at the team’s first 500 AFL games. This extraordinary milestone was reached in 2012.
Inaugural Crows captain Chris McDermott said Downs was crucial to the Club’s foundation and growth.
“He’s one of the glue a football club needs if it is to be successful,” McDermott said.
“He has this knack of making each individual feel special, feel part of a team, feel part of a club, feel part of something bigger.
“All those players that were a part of BJ’s life at the Crows, for a short time or a long time, will say they loved him. There is a genuine love for that man.”
Downs was renowned for his meticulous record-keeping of match details, player and Club statistics and staff information. His attention to detail extended to his work organising team travel and co-ordinating the interchange bench on match day.
After finishing his AFL duties in 2013, he was the Club’s State League team manager from 2014-2017.
Downs was awarded Crows Life Membership in 2009, recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the AFL Coaches Association Awards in 2010 and also received the AFL’s 2013 Jack Titus Award for outstanding service at club level.
His involvement in South Australian football stretched back to 1952 when he started playing for the South Adelaide Football Club. He later served South at committee level before joining West Adelaide, then the Crows.
