The scoreboard at Football Park in West Lakes, South Australia was never the most imaginative of scoreboards. Functional, yes. Attractive? Well, that depends on what you’re looking for – aesthetics, design, geometry, history or just the score.

And when Adelaide played Richmond in Round 16 1993 you would have got a very stiff neck looking up at the scoreboard every time the home team kicked a goal. The Crows kicked 26 goals, with Tony Modra bagging an impressive 13 of them. Yes, 13. (And four points.)

Artist Mike Hugo captured a sense of the occasion in his Clubland series of artworks. “I was using a different style to my previous work, and trying to integrate a twist to each design. In the case of the Footy Park scoreboard, one of the signs reads ‘Classic Modra’ but is done in the style of the SA famous chicken salt brand Mitani.”

“The design was quite difficult to do because I couldn’t find many decent reference shots from the time period. The final design actually uses an angle from a later time, but I was able to get an okay reference shot from around ’93 to make sure all the signage was correct. Although the Footy Park scoreboard didn’t change much over the years, there were always minor tweaks to the signage and structure around it.”

“In creating the design I probably learnt a bit too much about the scoreboard… I ended up having to recreate each LED so I could then create the text on the scoreboard. ”

Adelaide Crows supporter Mark ‘Swish’ Schwerdt was at the game. “Last year’s podcast The Greatest Season That Was: 1993 reminded the footy following world of the exploits of Tony Modra. Although the Crows famously choked in the second half of the Prelim Final that year, there were many highlights for Adelaide fans. The highest of those lights was their Round 16 thrashing of Richmond. ”

“Whenever I don my shirt, I am reminded of that fun-filled Friday night, a night where Adelaide went virtually unopposed and their fans roared with laughter as each and every lucky bounce went their way. I am also reminded that Richmond reversed the result in 1994’s corresponding fixture…Just don’t mention the 2017 Grand Final.”

Mike Hugo has, for the time being, retired his various football-themed artworks and products. He’s on Twitter: @FootyPlaces   As is Swish: @swishtter