| Eric Norman |
 Eric Norman was born on Wednesday, 7th August, 1946, in Alva, Clackmannanshire. The forward signed for Willie Thornton's Thistle on Tuesday, 9th October, 1962, having most recently been with Sauchie. Aged 17, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 12th October, 1963, in a 1-0 win at home to Dundee United in the SFL First Division. There were no goals for Eric during his spell with Thistle. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 23rd October, 1965, in a 4-3 defeat away to Dunfermline Athletic in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 5 occasions. Eric's club-list included Sauchie Juveniles, Sauchie, Hibernian, Partick Thistle, Adelaide Juventus and Campbelltown Budapest. |
 This youngster came through in the juveniles grade at Sauchie, from where he had a few months at Hibs in the middle of season 1961-62. Thistle signed him from Sauchie in October 1962, and the 17-year-old got his first taste of senior first team football that very same month, playing in three consecutive top-flight games; a 1-0 win at home to Dundee United, a 0-0 draw away to Dunfermline and a 1-0 defeat away to East Stirlingshire. The latter signalled a long 2-year-spell with the reserves, but he returned in October 1965 with back-to-back top-flight games at home to Hearts (a 3-3 draw) and away to Dunfermline (a 4-3 defeat). From there, the 20-year-old Eric set off for a new life Australia, and wasted no time at all in getting set up with Adelaide Juventus in 1966. He was very succesful in his playing career there, so much so that he represented the Australian National Team in a B-international and played for the South Australia State senior team 19 times. Eric won Federation Cup Winners Medals in 1969, 1970, 1971 & 1972 and also won Division 1 Championship medals in 1970 & 1972. He had two senior-level clubs in his playing days down under, his long stint at Adelaide Juventus being followed by a spell at Campbelltown Budapest from the mid 1970s. As a senior coach, Eric was involved with various SASF clubs including Modbury Jets, Campbelltown City, Salisbury United and Para Hills. He was also the SAASL state teams senior coach from 2002 to 2003, winning Australian Championship Winners Medals in both 2002 & 2003. His outstanding contribution to the game both as a player and as a coach was recognized in November 2021, when he was inducted into the Football South Australia Hall of Fame. |
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