Vale – Eric Sladden

Vale – Eric Sladden

Born 31 October 1936
Passed Away 7 February 2016

Former Souths and Norths player, Eric Sladden, passed away on 7 February aged 79. The talented and speedy winger joined Souths from the Ourimbah/Wyoming club on the Central Coast in 1956 and played six seasons at Redfern.

He played a total of 88 games for the club, 64 in first grade and finished with 68 tries, 56 coming in first grade matches. On 10 August 1957, Eric crossed for five tries at Cumberland Oval in the 48-12 win over Parramatta. This still stands as a club record and Eric holds this record alongside other great players, Harold Horder, Alan Quinlivan, Don Manson, John Graves, Ian Moir and Nathan Merritt. In four of his six seasons with Souths, Eric was the leading first grade try scorer. These seasons were 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1961.

He made his first grade debut on 27 May 1956 and scored two tries in the 21-13 win over North Sydney. The next year he picked up 19 first grade tries which put him second on the individual list behind St. George’s Tommy Ryan. With his seven tries in the minor grades early in the 1957 season, Eric collected 26 tries during 1957.

In 1962, he moved to North Sydney and in six seasons on the north side, he played 79 first grade games, scoring 24 tries. Altogether, Eric finished with 80 tries from his 143 first grade matches.

During his football career, Eric worked as a boilermaker with the railways department. After football, he drove his interstate truck and had his own prime mover and trailer, so he could transport containers.

Eric and his wife, Esme, married in April 1957 and have lived at Pagewood for some time. Eric is survived by Esme, his two sons, Mark and Wayne, along with five grandchildren.

His funeral is this Thursday 11 February at 10.15am at the South Chapel, Botany Crematorium.
After the service, friends are invited to the Botany Golf club.