EDUCATED at Railway Town Primary School and Broken Hill High School, Colin Casey first came to national football prominence in 1967, selected for New South Wales Combined High School and becoming vice-captain of the team that played in national carnival in Tasmania.
His first A grade game in Broken Hill against North Bulldogs was as a 16-year-old at the end of the 1968 season after moving up from the under 16s to the under 19s at West during the season.
This was interesting as Colin’s father, Colin senior or “Bowie” as he was known, along with six brothers – Charles, Cliff, Tom, Ron, Les, and Jack – all played for North Broken Hill.
Due to residential qualifications, Colin junior, or “Case” to his mates, played with West.
On his mum Betty’s side, her brother Bill was a former president of the West Broken Hill Football Club.
“All the family were always supportive, and they all travelled to Sydney to watch me play against the Vics (Victorian state team) at the SCG in 1974,” Casey remembered.
Starting consistently with the West Broken Hill Cock Robins at A grade level in 1969, where he won the “Frank Thomas” best junior trophy, in 2025 Colin Casey still has a key role in local football. He’s currently the AFLBH football operations co-ordinator, over 55 years later.
Talking with the same honesty and sense of humour he carried from the start, Casey played 35 games for West and four representative matches for the Barrier competition, before venturing down to Unley and the Double Blues, coached by the legendary Jack Oatey.
Debuting at full back against Woodville and standing Ian Vigar in his first game, Casey had a 13-season, 251-league game career primarily as a key defender.
“I was lucky enough to play five state games South Australia, win Sturt’s Best and Fariest in 1972, and with being captain the South Australian Under 21 team against Queensland in 1973,” Casey told the Broken Hill Times.
“But, there is no doubt the playing highlight was the flags in 1974 and 1976.
“The initial one was the first Grand Final at Football Park and two years later the ’76 win, where we were distinct underdogs against Port Adelaide has been give plenty of media coverage and was played in front of the biggest crowd in SANFL history.
“When ‘Baggy’ (364-game, seven-time premiership champion and captain Paul Bagshaw) lifted the Thomas Seymour Hill Trophy as premiers (in 1976), he called it ‘Sturt’s finest hour’.”
Casey was named on the halfback line in the 1974 win and was moved to fullback during the final series in the 1976 triumph.
Playing mainly as a running defender he was selected at fullback in the prestigious SANFL ‘Team of the Year’, an impressive achievement for a first-year player in 1971.
Solidly built at 191cm and 89kg Casey was a strong mark and a good kick, with a natural aptitude to the code, capable of holding down any key position on the ground.
After retiring as a player in 1983, Casey moved into coaching at the Double Blues, enjoying and SANFL under 19s premiership is his first year.
After being coach at the level for three years (1984-86) Casey was Sturt Reserve/Assistant League coach from 1987 to 1989, having two years alongside from Richmond player Merv Keane and the final one alongside former teammate, the ‘Jumbo Prince’ Rick Davies.
He moved across to the West Adelaide Football Club in 1994 and was involved in junior development for the next four years, then became the general manager of football at Oval Avenue with Woodville West Torrens Eagles until 2021.
He then worked for the parent company as a SANFL football manager from 2001 to ‘06 and a SANFL junior development officer from 2007 to 2009
He also coached Adelaide Hills Division 2 combined side against Kangaroo Island in 2008 to a win as well.
Casey also coached at Sturt in the development areas, mentoring the under 13/ under 14 and under 15 development squads.
He was the manager of the Double Blues Centre of Excellence program (elite under 16/ under 18s program) from 2009 to 2015 also doubling up as the under 16 coach for Sturt in ‘09.
In the Adelaide College sporting system, Casey was Christian Brothers College First XVII coach for the 2016 season.
From 2017 to 2019, Casey was the general manager of football at the famous Amateur League club, the Adelaide University Blacks.
Moving back to the Silver City, Casey resumed his connections with the West Football Club, where he was vice chairman for the 2020 campaign.
Currently, Casey is the AFL Broken Hill football operations co-ordinator, a position he started in 2022 and continues to this day.
On a work front, Casey toiled alongside Woodville football Jimmy Brenton on the railways in 1969, where he helped join end and west on Indian Pacific and also had a couple of stints in the Mines.
When in Adelaide, he ran the “Nelson and Casey Sports Store” on Unley Road, with team man and fellow country lad Sandy Nelson for over two decades.
Colin had two lads Sam and Tom, and daughter, Stephany, and a has grandson Sam, named after his late uncle.
Footnote – the Official SANFL Grand Final crowd in 1976 was a state record 66,987 tickets but when the SANFL ran out they opened Football Park’s gates for free and the crowd grew by an estimated 15,000.
The gates were closed by police 90 minutes prior to the bounce as spectators were being crushed.
Subsequently, the police allowed thousands of spectators onto the field to sit along the fence to prevent any further physical injuries.
