It is with great sadness that the St Bedes/Mentone Tigers AFC announces the passing of former Mentone FC senior coach Norm Cleveland. Norm played briefly with the club in 1977 before going on to coach Doutta Stars in the Essendon District to a premiership in 1980. Norm re-joined Mentone as senior coach in 1982. It was turbulent time, with the club eventually winning a hard-fought release from the Federal Football League to play in Division Two of the South East Suburban Football League.
Under Norm we won our first senior game in the SESFL in Round 1, and he was a stabilising influence on the club in what was very much a settling-in year in a new competition. Due to work commitments as National Sales Manager of Puma he was unable to coach in 1983 but returned to coach the seniors in 1984. A slow start to the season saw the side placed in the bottom four of the table in Round 9, before a famous away victory against arch-rival, and at that stage undefeated, Parkdale. The team won the next 7 games with only a loss in the last game to the top side tipping the team out of the finals to finish 5th in a 14 team competition.
Norm was a unique coach for the times. He was a philosopher and orator, as evident in his pre- game speech before the Parkdale game when he engaged the team regarding the meaning of the many white crosses on the fields of Flanders from where he had just returned. He was also a shrewd tactician, as one home game revealed when the side kicked into an 8 goal gale in the first quarter and at a strategic moment when there was a boundary throw-in near the coaches bench he slipped on the 19th man to play spare in the backline for the remainder of the quarter. Norm’s logic – “we weren’t scoring so we weren’t losing any score if a count was called”. He was also part psychologist in a team that needed a dozen of them. And he was at times a very frustrated coach and earnt the much-loved nickname of Basil Fawlty, based on his range of mannerisms mimicking the original Basil when the side failed to reach its potential on a given day.
Off the field Norm was a warm, funny and engaging figure with a big personality, a great man to have a chat to and share a beer with. Players of the era were fortunate to catch up again with Norm when he attended the 2024 annual past players function. Norm’s time as coach was relatively short but he left a mark on the club with both his coaching and his ability to attract people into the club such as legendary trainer and Puma warehouse manager Bill Padey.
Norm passed away after a debilitating health issue saw him hospitalised several months ago, a malady from which he never recovered. Like the other departed Tigers of Old, rest in peace Norm. Details of any service will be made available when known.
