AFL Record – Great Footy Decades: The '70s

GREAT FOOTY DECADES THE 70s

GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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COPYRIGHT 2016 AFL MEDIA

The logos and/or emblems of the AFL, of any competing teams, and used to promote this product are all trademarks of and used under licence from the owner, the Australian Football League, by whom all copyright and other rights of reproduction are reserved.

Published by AFL Media in August, 2016.

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| 1970s

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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry TITLE AFL Record Great Footy Decades: the 70s / Michael Lovett, editor; Ashley Browne, contributor; Ben Collins, contributor.

ISBN 9780987398017 (paperback) SUBJECTS Australian football--Anecdotes.

Australian football--Pictorial works.

Australian football players.

Australian football teams.

OTHER CREATORS/CONTRIBUTORS Lovett, Michael, editor.

Browne, Ashley.

Collins, Ben. DEWEY NUMBER 796.3360994

AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE 140 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, VIC 3008 (03) 9643 1999 EDITOR Michael Lovett PRODUCTION EDITOR Gary Hancock

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STAT STARS

BLUE HEAVEN: Carlton

CONTENTS

stars Peter Jones (left) and David McKay hold the 1970 premiership cup aloft after the Blues made a stunning comeback over the Pies.

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ESSAY

The game exploded in the 1970s thanks to the power of TV and some classic Grand Finals.

SCANDALS & STORIES

There were plenty of headlines as players were either swapping clubs or fighting each other.

LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

The 1970s were brimming with characters such as Sam Kekovich, Phil Carman and Mick Nolan.

MEMORABLE MATCHES

Some of the greatest matches of all time took place with thrillers and mighty comebacks.

INNOVATIONS/WHAT’S NEW

Football was moving into a new era and the game made some massive changes.

FAREWELLS

Ted Whitten, John Nicholls and Barry Cable were some of the big names to call it a day.

VALE

The football world mourned the loss of Norm Smith, John Coleman and Reg Hickey.

MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES

Up There Cazaly became a hit and Graham Teasdale’s fashion choice was a mis-hit.

SCREAMERS

Old-time fans will remember some of the best aerialists the game has ever seen.

GRAND FINALS

The decade started with a classic in 1970 and produced a draw in 1977. We relive them all.

STATS STARS

Who played the most games and which team dominated the ’70s?

TEAM OF THE DECADE

Our experts had a tough job squeezing in 20 players from a big list of champions of the day.

WRITERS Ashley Browne, Ben Collins

LEAD DESIGNER Gabe Bonnici

PHOTO EDITING MANAGER Natalie Boccassini

PRODUCTION MANAGER Troy Davis

DISTRIBUTION & SALES MANAGER Dean McBeth

SUB-EDITORS Geoff Harris, Howard Kotton, Michael Stevens

DESIGNERS Craig Poore, Angelos Nastos

PHOTO EDITORS Nick Harding, Ginny Pike

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Stephen Lording

COVER Stars, heroes and newsmakers of the 1970s.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andrew Hutchison

PHOTO RESEARCH Dylan Leach

PHOTOGRAPHY AFL Media, News Limited, Fairfax Photos, Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

STATISTICS Cameron Sinclair

ART DIRECTOR Sam Russell

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THE SENSATIONAL

The 1970s saw the game explode thanks to the power of television, a visionary administrator, some classic Grand Finals and a highlight reel of action, ranging from big marks to big hits. ASHLEY BROWNE

W

hen taking into account football in the 1970s, a period that really was “sensational” as the seminal documentary of the time so wonderfully illustrates, the clear picture emerges that it was a decade of two halves.

For those watching at home, there was the black and white era from 1970 through to 1974, followed by the brightness and spark once colour television was introduced in 1975.

But the line of demarcation is not just determined by when Essendon switched from wearing black shorts to the garish red.

The more accurate ‘before’ and ‘after’ assessment of football in the 1970s was the warm February evening in 1977 when brash and ambitious North Melbourne president Allen Aylett became the new president of the VFL, narrowly edging out old-school and conservative Hawthorn president Phil Ryan.

Like a whirling dervish, Aylett went about transforming the game as he had his club before then. Many of the big changes under Aylett’s watch happened towards the end of his decade-long period at the helm of the VFL in the 1980s, but he had big plans for the game from the first day he was appointed.

It wasn’t like the game was in trouble when Aylett took charge. The usual indicators – attendances and television ratings – suggested football was in reasonable shape at the end of 1976 when League president Sir Maurice Nathan announced he was stepping down.

And it would be wrong to suggest Sir Maurice and the League administration sat on their hands through the first seven years of the decade.

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THE SENSATIONAL 70S

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BIGGER THAN THE GAME:

Ron Barassi not only masterminded Carlton’s 1970 premiership and North Melbourne’s first two flags, but he was one of the biggest identities in Melbourne.

In 1970 alone, the competition expanded to 22 home and away games, meaning the VFL occupied a full six months of the year, from the first Saturday in April until the last Saturday in September.

And eight years after the purchase of 62 hectares of market gardens out the back of Mulgrave, VFL Park – the first League venue not to be shared with cricket (although it hosted a few World Series Cricket games from 1977-79) – was opened for business.

The Brownlow Medal was transformed from a closed event in the VFL boardroom to a live television extravaganza at the newly completed Dallas Brooks Hall in East Melbourne. The winner that year was South Melbourne’s Peter Bedford, a former student of the old Christian Brothers School that was knocked down to make way for the new convention centre.

The year also concluded with the most-watched game of football of any code in the history of organised sport in Australia. A total of 121,696 fans – a figure as iconic to football supporters as Sir Donald Bradman’s 99.94 batting average is to cricket tragics – were at the MCG for arguably the greatest Grand Final

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ever played, Carlton’s 10-point win over Collingwood after trailing by 44 points at half-time.

In 1972, the first change to the shape and structure of the competition was made with the introduction of the final five. Sunday football was a decade away and night finals another 10 years after that, so it meant two finals were played simultaneously in Melbourne over the opening fortnight, one at the MCG and the other out at VFL Park.

The words ‘out at’ were so often used when it came to describing VFL Park or Waverley because its location, 30km from the Melbourne CBD, was so far away from the rest of the football universe.

Indeed, so centralised was the football world in the 1970s that if you happened to be under the clocks of Flinders St station at, say, 5.30 on a Saturday evening, chances were you would spot supporters decked out in the colours of nearly every club as they rushed back from the MCG, Princes Park, Victoria Park or any of the other VFL venues only a few train or tram stops from the city.

In 1973, a centre diamond was introduced as a

SUPERSTAR:

Alex Jesaulenko thrilled Carlton fans throughout the 1970s.

measure to counter congestion at centre bounces, where up to 30 players would mill around waiting for the ball. By mid-season, as the centre wicket areas turned to mud, these midfield scraps became a blight on the game. In 1975, the diamond became a square.

That was the same year that the introduction of colour television into Australia ended the century-old tradition of black shorts at home and white shorts away and nearly every club underwent some sort of cosmetic makeover. Hawthorn still wears brown shorts to this day.

Still, while all these changes were enough to spark healthy debate at the pub and some outraged talkback callers to Harry Beitzel on 3AW lamenting the loss of traditional values, none of the changes were really seismic. That sort of stuff would wait for Aylett.

The 1970 Grand Final was significant in so many ways.

Obviously, the crowd and the comeback were vivid, but two of the day’s other major players cast a huge shadow over the rest of the decade.

The first was Alex Jesaulenko, whose towering mark over Graeme ‘Jerker’ Jenkin in the second quarter was the best high mark of the decade and perhaps the best ever. For several years afterwards, what we now call a ‘speccy’ was instead a ‘Jezza’.

But Jesaulenko wasn’t an average player who lucked into a moment whose image thereafter was synonymous with the game. He was a superstar, who joined Carlton from Eastlake in the Canberra competition after arriving in Australia via Salzburg, Austria, born to a Ukranian father and a Russian mother.

At 182cm (a touch under six-foot in the old scale), he was too small to hold down a key position. But after starting as a flanker, Carlton coach Ron Barassi moved him to full-forward in 1970 where he kicked 115 goals for the season.

Jesaulenko’s feats and the fact he played for one of the biggest clubs in the competition ensured he was a household name. He ended the decade not only as one of the greatest players in Carlton history, but as a premiership captain-coach after the Blues overcame the Magpies in the 1979 Grand Final, also one of the most dramatic played.

Barassi won six premierships as a player with Melbourne and another with Carlton as coach in 1968, the first for the famous club after a 19-year drought. But his place in football immortality was secure in 1970, with his famous half-time exhortation to his battling Blues to handball at all costs.

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THE SENSATIONAL 70S It also helped that unknown forward pocket Ted Hopkins came off the reserves bench in the second half to kick four goals, but the free-flowing footy Carlton used to storm to the most unlikely of premierships became the template for how the game was played through the rest of the 1970s.

It required an increased level of fitness and new levels of professionalism on behalf of the players, which when combined with their full-time day jobs and the extended 22-game season, meant League football was more demanding than ever.

Little wonder that after 20 years of talking about it, the players finally unionised and the VFL Players’ Association came into being in 1974. Predictably, the clubs wanted nothing to do with it and the initial player meetings were held in car parks and nearby pubs, but it was the start of something.

But back to Barassi. He lasted just one more season at Carlton, citing the need to concentrate on outside interests.

But the biggest name in football wasn’t out of the game for long and late in 1972, after just 12 months on the sidelines, he signed on to coach North Melbourne (famously on the back of a serviette after a breakfast of bacon and eggs) at the urging of Aylett and his other young and hungry North Melbourne officials.

North won just one game in 1972 and by that stage was the only VFL club without a premiership. But there was burning ambition within the creaking walls at Arden St and the Kangaroos used the short-lived 10-year rule, which was really an early version of free agency, to bring established stars Doug Wade (Geelong), Barry Davis (Essendon) and John Rantall (South Melbourne) to the club.

North mined Western Australia and South Australia for their finest talent and within three years had become the best club in the VFL and won the breakthrough flag.

And in Barassi as the figurehead, the Roos had not just the best coach in the competition, but arguably, the biggest and most charismatic identity in all of Melbourne.

And they tweaked a few noses along the way, particularly at Richmond. The Tigers were big and powerful and their 1974 flag was their fourth in eight years.

But they were a club built for a simpler time when there were six games on a Saturday afternoon, an hour of replays on both Channel Seven and the ABC that evening, endless discussion the following day on Seven’s World of Sport and then back to work on the Monday.

MATCH-WINNER:

Ted Hopkins is chaired off the ground after kicking four second-half goals in Carlton’s famous come-from-behind win over Collingwood in 1970.

All hell broke loose after the 1974 Brownlow Medal, where officials from the two clubs scuffled in the ballroom of the Southern Cross Ballroom when, for the second straight year, North wingman Keith Greig beat Tiger rover Kevin Bartlett to win the Brownlow. In The Herald, sports editor Terry Vine wrote of the “sickening sensation in the gut” over “an outburst of sour grapes and wretched sportsmanship.”

Richmond, with its ‘Eat ’Em Alive’ mantra, felt it had a divine right to unlimited football success in the 1970s and had little time for the brash upstarts from Arden St. Truth be told, change was coming to football and North had been among the first League clubs to recognise it.

North wore coloured shorts before colour television dictated it. The Roos were not the first club to have a sponsor, but was the first to actively promote it. If you followed football and didn’t know that ‘North has Courage’ then you weren’t looking very hard.

And Richmond, which liked to think it attracted the rich and powerful to its MCG match-day functions, was trumped by the Grand Final Breakfast, started by the

ROOS CASH IN: Former Geelong champion Doug Wade was one of the big-name stars recruited under the short-lived 10-year rule to play in North Melbourne’s 1975 and 1977 premierships.

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THE SENSATIONAL 70S Kangaroos in 1971 and which before long had every politician, business leader and two-bit television personality busting for a seat on the elongated head table.

That’s because football was the main game in Victoria and it was the same for South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. New South Wales and Queensland were still the power bases for the rugby codes.

A national football competition had its proponents. The game’s roof body, the oddly named National Football League, staged a night competition out of Adelaide’s Norwood Oval in 1976, in which Hawthorn beat North Melbourne in the Grand Final, and featured teams from the SANFL and WAFL as well.

National expansion was a big plank of Aylett’s plans for the VFL and the baby steps were taken in 1979 when two home and away games, including the Grand Final rematch between Hawthorn and North Melbourne, were staged in front of large and knowledgeable crowds at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

It had to be the case. Soccer was starting to flex its muscle and the forward thinkers at the VFL knew that Australia making the World Cup soccer finals in 1974 had the potential to be a game-changer.

Soccer was also the first sport to introduce a national league, in 1977, followed by basketball in 1979.

But what football had in its favour was the most compelling product. The characters dragged us through the gates each week and they were mostly known by the nicknames given to them by Lou Richards, one of the biggest names in football by virtue of his star turn on World of Sport as well as his commentary on Seven and his weekly ‘Kiss of Death’ predictions in The Sun News-Pictorial.

There was ‘Lethal’ Leigh Matthews, Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan, Bruce ‘The Flying Doormat’ Doull, Robbie ‘Mad Dog’ Muir, ‘Fabulous’ Phil Carman, Kevin ‘Hungry’ Bartlett, Brent ‘Tiger’ Crosswell, Phil ‘Snake’ Baker, ‘Rotten’ Ronnie Andrews and Peter ‘Hot Lips’ McKenna. Entertainers the lot of them, and they all could play.

Graham Teasdale didn’t really have a nickname, but no mention of the big names in the ’70s would be complete without recognising his runaway win at the 1977 count, made memorable by the brown velvet suit he wore on the night.

It was the disco era after all.

The game itself was still a scrappy affair, with players usually only skilled on one side of the body.

Coaches, even the great ones such as Hawthorn’s John Kennedy and Richmond’s Tom Hafey, kept things simple.

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PROMOTIONS 1970S STYLE: Tigers Neil

Balme and Barry Richardson and Cat John ‘Sam’ Newman, kick up a racket with tennis celebrity Bobby Riggs.

Tactics were rudimentary, one-on-one match-ups were the key to victory, while drop kicks and torpedo punts were on their way out. The honourable exception was Malcolm Blight, whose mammoth torpedo after the siren in 1976 snatched North Melbourne a famous win over Carlton at Princes Park.

The 1970 season was spectacular, not just because of the brilliant Grand Final but because it might have been the greatest season of full-forward play in VFL history.

Jesaulenko’s 115 goals were only good enough for third place in the goalkicking tally. Hawthorn’s Peter Hudson kicked 146 to top the table, followed by Collingwood’s Peter McKenna, who kicked 143.

Hudson backed up the following season with 150, to tie with Bob Pratt’s record from 1934. And he would have broken the record if not for that fateful Grand Final where St Kilda’s Kevin Neale left him badly concussed and he fluffed several final quarter opportunities to break the record once and for all.

The drama of Hudson’s crack at one of football’s greatest feats was only a subplot to one of the most rugged flag deciders of all in which the Hawks came back from 20 points down at three-quarter time to beat St Kilda.

Victorious Hawks skipper David Parkin once said of the 1971 Grand Final that, “the first half was played without the ball.”

Pretty much every Grand Final in the 1970s was memorable. Hot favourite Richmond kicked 22.18 (150) in 1972 against Carlton, yet

The first half was played without the ball HAWK SKIPPER DAVID PARKIN ON THE FIERY 1971 GRAND FINAL

LOUIE THE LIP: Former Collingwood captain Lou Richards was one of the biggest names in the 1970s, coutesy of his work with Channel Seven and The Sun News-Pictorial.

lost by 27 points to the Blues in the highest scoring Grand Final ever.

The Tigers got their revenge the following year, in a torrid affair that started with Laurie Fowler shirt-fronting Blues captain-coach John Nicholls, followed by Neil Balme going on a rampage that left Carlton bloodied and bowed.

More vengeance came for Richmond in 1974 when it beat the upstart Kangaroos by 41 points. But North only had to wait 12 months for that elusive maiden flag when it thrashed Hawthorn by 55 points.

‘Revenge’ flags were all the mode and the Hawks reversed that result by winning in 1976, but the celebrations were muted by the death of beloved rover and former captain Peter Crimmins from cancer just three days later.

In 1977, we got just the second Grand Final draw in history, with North and Collingwood having to return to the MCG the following week before the Kangaroos finally won the flag.

North lost to Hawthorn the next year but not before Phil ‘Snake’ Baker took a spectacular mark with the picture seemingly plastered on the wall of every pub in Australia for years after.

And the Blues and Pies finished off the decade as they started, with Carlton winning narrowly again, but with Collingwood fans still swearing black and blue that Blue Wayne Harmes was in the MCG car park when he tapped the ball to Ken Sheldon for what proved to be the sealer.

How else had footy changed over the ensuing 10 years? For starters,

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THE SENSATIONAL 70S

PIES ON PARADE:

Collingwood coach Tom Hafey gets into the spirit in the first Grand Final parade in 1977.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT:

Grand Finals became an event, with Barry Crocker the first pre-match performer, singing The Impossible Dream in 1977.

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it was starting to become cleaner.

The game celebrated its overt physicality at one stage with an illustrative video called Violent Saturday, however, episodes such as the 1973 Grand Final and the all-in half-time brawl at Windy Hill featuring players and officials from Essendon and Richmond in 1974 started a cultural change at the VFL. Within 12 months, video evidence of reportable incidents became admissible at Tribunal hearings and the days of the king-hit started to wane, although not before St Kilda’s Muir landed a punch flush on the jaw of Carlton’s Denis Collins in the final round of 1978.

“Huh, ho … TV Ringside,” bellowed excited Channel Seven commentator Peter Landy and, it has to be said, the rest of us were pretty excited as well.

Night football came back into vogue towards the end of the decade.

The original night series, played at South Melbourne’s Lake Oval died a natural death in 1971, but one of Aylett’s first acts was to build lights out at Waverley.

The NFL had staged a night competition in Adelaide the year before, in which five VFL clubs took part, but the VFL partnered with Channel Seven the following year and the night premiership – and prime-time football on television – became an essential part of the football experience.

Aylett was the first to recognise that football was entertainment and, indeed, needed to compete in that

sphere in order to grow and that didn’t just mean endorsing Up There Cazaly as footy’s unofficial anthem.

The Grand Final became an event, not just the last game of football before the spring racing carnival and the cricket and tennis seasons.

The 1977 Grand Final was preceded the day before by the first parade through the streets of Melbourne, while the pre-match entertainment was ramped up with Australian performer Barry Crocker singing The Impossible Dream, a line masterfully worked into the match commentary during the frantic final quarter by mellifluous Channel Seven commentator Peter Ewin.

It was also the first Grand Final to be televised live into Victoria.

By the next year, the Brownlow count was moved to the Monday before the Grand Final and, by 1979, the VFL had started its push for Sunday football in earnest.

In addition to the two home and away games in Sydney, a reserves match was staged at Moorabbin every Sunday and televised live on Channel Seven. To get around a Victorian government prohibition on Sunday VFL football, the League opened the gates for free.

It was a sneaky move, but one of a restless code seeking opportunities to grow. Key planks such as the draft, the salary cap, the independent commission and non-Victorian teams would have to wait a few years longer, but the forward planning that led to them was well underway.

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SCANDALS & STORIES There was no shortage of headlines, with violent clashes, big name transfers, contract disputes and a Brownlow ‘leak’ for starters.

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lenty happened in footy throughout the 1970s to command lots of black ink for the back pages of Melbourne’s newspapers and to keep Harry Beitzel and Lou Richards talking for day after day on radio and television.

And the more things change, the more they stay the same. Then, as now, violence, money, the swapping of clubs by players and coaches and integrity issues attracted plenty of headlines.

On-field violence was still part of the game in the 1970s. The sly punches and the stray elbows were, all things considered, harmless enough, but there were episodes such as the Windy Hill brawl, the John Greening knockout and the St Kilda-Essendon “animals” game of 1978 that started to change perceptions of what was acceptable.

Club transfers were always big news and the 10-year rule, which lowly North Melbourne exploited to the maximum, meant it became an almost immediate flag contender. Ian Stewart and Bill Barrot swapping clubs in 1971 was huge as well.

It extended to coaching when Tom Hafey was sacked by Richmond in 1976, only to sign on with arch rival Collingwood the next year. When 92,436 fans watched Hafey coach the Pies against the Tigers the following year on Anzac Day, it got Kevin Sheedy, then a Tiger backman, thinking about the potential of the day.

Then, as now, contract news was huge. Collingwood pair Des Tuddenham and Len Thompson holding out for money was big news, but others such as Sam Newman and Kevin Bartlett did the same as well.

And, in 1978, footy dealt with a serious integrity issue for the first time when the result of the Brownlow Medal leaked out in the hours before the count. An investigation found nothing untoward, to the surprise of absolutely nobody.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1974

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1971

LABOUR PAINS Gun West Australian defender Peter Eakins was not the first big interstate recruit in Collingwood’s history. But he was reportedly getting $5000 a season, more than anyone else at Victoria Park, and that infuriated Collingwood stars Len Thompson (pictured) and Des Tuddenham – the skipper at the time – so they went on strike and did not return for three weeks. They were only after modest increases and didn’t get them, although the club did marginally increase their match payments, but not before stripping Tuddenham of the captaincy.

1970

GOLDEN YEAR There has never been a greater year for goalkicking than 1970 when three players all cracked the magical ton. Leading the pack was Hawthorn hero Peter Hudson (right) with 146, followed by Magpie heart-throb Peter McKenna (143) and Carlton superstar Alex Jesaulenko (115). The latter two were key reasons why their teams played off in an epic Grand Final, but what made Hudson’s feat all the more remarkable was that the Hawks finished eighth on the ladder with 10 wins.

1970

SWAP OF THE CENTURY It is doubtful there has been a bigger player swap in football than in late 1970 when dual St Kilda Brownlow medallist Ian Stewart was traded to Richmond for Bill Barrot, a Tiger premiership player in 1967 and 1969.

It worked out beautifully for Stewart who won another Brownlow in his first season with the Tigers in 1971 and played in another flag. But not for Barrot, who lasted just two games at Moorabbin before being traded again, this time to Carlton where he played just 12 games before retiring.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1972

GREENING GOES DOWN A dark pall was cast over VFL football when Collingwood star John Greening was knocked out in the opening minute of a clash with St Kilda in 1972 by Saints defender Jim O’Dea. Greening did not regain consciousness for several days and O’Dea was ultimately suspended for 10 games. Greening was never the same player again and played just nine more matches for the Magpies over the next four years.

1972

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT At the end of 1972, the VFL announced what amounted to unrestricted free agency for players who had served 10 years at their club. Ambitious North Melbourne moved swiftly, grabbing Barry Davis (Essendon), Doug Wade (Geelong) and John Rantall (South Melbourne, pictured), who all played in the club’s first flag three years later. Carl Ditterich (St Kilda to Melbourne), George Bisset (Footscray to Collingwood) and Adrian Gallagher (Carlton to Footscray) also changed clubs, but the unpopular rule was scrapped after just six months.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1974

FISTS FLY AT THE BROWNLOW When elegant North Melbourne wingman Keith Greig won the 1973 Brownlow Medal, the football world applauded.

But when he saluted again the following year, select Richmond officials were outraged rover Kevin Bartlett didn’t win and they made their feelings known within earshot of the Kangaroos people, seated at the next table at the Southern Cross Hotel. Things escalated outside the ballroom afterwards when North secretary Ron Joseph and Tiger committeeman Charlie Priestley almost came to blows.

1974

RECORD GAMES-HOLDER Fitzroy champion Kevin Murray became the League’s games record-holder in 1974 when he played his 329th game in round 18 against Footscray at the Junction Oval, surpassing Carlton’s John Nicholls. Making the 36-year-old’s feat all the more remarkable was that he spent two years at the peak of his career playing in Western Australia. Murray, who finished his career with 333 games, won the 1969 Brownlow Medal aged 31, the oldest winner of the coveted award.

1974

HAWKS MOVE OUT Hemmed in by a street on one wing and a railway line on the other, various plans by Hawthorn to upgrade its home ground at Glenferrie Oval invariably came to nought, so in 1974 it moved to Princes Park to become a co-tenant with Carlton.

The Hawks built their own grandstand and enjoyed considerable success there, although the move was never fully embraced by many of their supporters throughout Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1974

THE WINDY HILL BRAWL A few choice words from Essendon runner Laurie Ashley to Richmond strongman Mal Brown sparked an all-in brawl at half-time of the 1974 clash at Essendon’s home ground, leaving many, including Tiger big man Brian Roberts, battered and bruised. Players, runners and team officials were suspended and fined as a result and, in one instance, Richmond ruckman Steve Parsons even ended up in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on an assault charge. A six-year old boy, in the care of a policeman while looking for his parents, even ended up in the fray, which knocked a federal election held the same day off the front pages.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1976

PIES FALL TO EARTH The bottom fell out of Collingwood in 1976 as the strife-ridden club, coached by Murray Weideman (pictured here in his playing days), crashed to its first wooden spoon, a result that was celebrated throughout the rest of the competition. It was a strange season for the Pies – their six wins was the most of a wooden spooner in League history and their reserves won the premiership, so the playing list wasn’t all that dreadful.

1976

HAFEY QUITS TIGERS Tom Hafey guided Richmond to four flags in eight years, the last of which was in 1974. But after finishing seventh in 1976, club administrators (led by powerbroker Graeme Richmond) grew restless and Hafey sensationally walked away from the club, believing he was about to be sacked, which he most likely was.

A gleeful and grateful Collingwood, coming off its first wooden spoon, couldn’t sign Hafey quickly enough. Incidentally, it was Hafey’s first game as Magpie coach against Richmond the following year, watched by 92,436 on Anzac Day, which sparked Kevin Sheedy’s idea for the Essendon-Collingwood series nearly two decades later.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1976

CRIMMO PASSES AWAY Hawthorn’s celebrations of its 1976 premiership win over North Melbourne were soured when club captain and champion rover Peter Crimmins passed away just three days later after a two-year battle with cancer. The Hawks were desperate to avenge their humiliating defeat to the Roos the year before and to win it for “the little fella” who sent an emotional telegram to the players before the game, but who was too ill to attend. Six players visited Crimmins that night, premiership cup in tow, and the photo remains one of the most poignant in football history.

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1975

KANGAS BREAK THEIR DUCK North Melbourne finally tasted premiership success in 1975, 50 years after joining the VFL, when it stomped Hawthorn by 55 points at the MCG. With most of the 110,000 fans at the ground behind them, the Kangaroos stormed home with a seven-goal final quarter, sparking scenes of jubilation and emotion at the MCG and later that night at Arden St. In just three years, super coach Ron Barassi had taken the perennial battlers from a one-win season to the flag. Arnold Briedis kicked five goals for North, which started the season 0-4 and had lost three matches to the Hawks already that season.

1976

IT’S A BIG KICK …

Malcolm Blight’s reputation as one of the stars of the VFL was confirmed once and for all in round 10, 1976, when his mammoth kick after the final siren handed North Melbourne a five-point win over Carlton. The Blues looked home before Blight took over the match and broke their hearts with three late goals, including the torpedo that he absolutely flushed and which sailed 65m deep into the stunned Carlton crowd in front of the Robert Heatley Stand. One year later, Blight lost a game when a shot after the siren against Hawthorn at Arden St sailed out on the full.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1975

CAREER CUT TRAGICALLY SHORT Neil Sachse was a gun half-back, recruited to Footscray from North Adelaide in 1975. Just two games into his VFL career, he suffered a spinal injury after an accidental clash with Fitzroy’s Kevin O’Keeffe at the Western Oval, which left him a quadriplegic.

The Bulldogs had already lost the promising Robert Rose (son of coach Bob Rose) 12 months before that after a motor accident also rendered him a quadriplegic.

1978

IAN STEWART WALKS After reviving South Melbourne’s fortunes in just two seasons as coach, Ian Stewart quit and was snapped up by Carlton in 1978. But the St Kilda and Richmond legend was an odd fit from the start at Princes Park and lasted just three matches before ill-health forced him to resign. Blues legend Alex Jesaulenko replaced him as captain-coach and, the following season, the Blues won their 12th flag. Stewart returned to the Lake Oval for three more seasons between 1979 and 1981, the Swans’ final three years known as South Melbourne.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1976

COACHING GREATS STEP ASIDE The end of the 1976 season marked the end of the road for two of the greats of the time.

Hawthorn legend John Kennedy snr passed the baton to David Parkin in the aftermath of the 1976 flag, the third for him and the Hawks, while Allan Jeans (right) finished up with St Kilda after 16 seasons that included the club’s one and only flag in 1966. Both later returned to coaching, Jeans with the Hawks, with whom his Saints enjoyed a great rivalry, and Kennedy at North Melbourne, which had been his great adversary in his last few years with Hawthorn.

1978

HOUSE OF STOUSH ON LINTON STREET If you wanted a bit of ‘biffo’ with your footy, then Moorabbin was the place to be in 1978. The Saints went to war with Essendon in round seven and it resulted in Bomber pair Merv Neagle and Terry Cahill (left) being knocked unconscious and Saints trio Carl Ditterich, Doug Booth and Garry Sidebottom reported. Essendon president Colin Stubbs branded St Kilda as “animals” in the heated aftermath.

Then, in round 22, Saints wingman Robert Muir downed Carlton’s Denis Collins with one punch, which excited Channel Seven commentator Peter Landy likened to those seen on another TV staple of the time, TV Ringside.

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SCANDALS & STORIES

1978

BROWNLOW LEAK When Malcolm Blight edged Peter Knights by one vote to win the 1978 Brownlow Medal, it came as a surprise to practically nobody. That’s because speculation had been rife for a week the North champ would edge out the high-flying Hawk and it turned out to be right.

The VFL steadfastly denied speculation the result had been leaked on the basis that Fitzroy rover Garry Wilson was supposed to not poll well but actually came third. The League looked into the leak allegations, but nothing was found.

1978

FOOTY CIRCUS The circus came to town in 1978 and what better place to try and stage a promotion than a packed Arden St with the Kangaroos hosting Collingwood. The elephant parading around the ground was going well until the thunderous roar when the Magpies ran out on the ground. It startled the elephant, which broke from a walk to a trot and headed straight towards the crowd. Fortunately his handler brought him to heel just a few metres from the fence, averting something potentially catastrophic.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS This was an era when colourful characters dominated the football landscape, on and off the field.

T

he term ‘larrikin’ was coined with men like Robert ‘Bones’ McGhie in mind.

The not-to-be-messed-with Richmond defender was a man of his time, and a man before his time, given his long, wiry arms were inked with large, elaborate tattoos long before they became fashionable.

Seen here celebrating the 1973 premiership, McGhie sported the standard long sideburns of the day, along with a ‘Sharpie’ mullet hairstyle and handlebar moustache, and a lace-up jumper, which became part of on-field fashion in the ’70s.

And, of course, the picture is complete with McGhie taking a swig from a can of Melbourne Bitter before handing it on to another wild child, teammate Neil Balme, who had earlier made a big impact.

Another photograph of the era shows McGhie smoking during a break in play. Mind you, plenty did in those more relaxed times when recovery sessions were termed ‘pleasant Sunday mornings’, consisting of a couple of laps and a light-hearted kick before replacing any lost perspiration with many beers.

The ’70s were brimming with characters.

From fellow members of the larrikins club in Mick Nolan and Mal Brown, to complex stars such as Brent Crosswell, Phil Carman, Sam Kekovich and Sam Newman, and powerful individuals such as Ron Barassi and Graeme Richmond.

May the football gods bless them all.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

1973

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

SUPER COACH

RON BARASSI If people living in northern Australia knew the name of only one football identity in the ’70s, it would have been Ron Barassi (pictured right with David Dench). The supercoach was one of the biggest names in Melbourne during a decade when he cemented his greatness by leading Carlton and North Melbourne to famous premierships. As Blues mentor, Barassi is credited with changing the game, with his emphasis on handball helping his team to a remarkable come-from-behind win over Collingwood in the 1970 Grand Final. He famously signed with North on a serviette over a bacon-and-eggs breakfast and took the Roos to their first two premierships in 1975 and 1977 (after a draw).

And the bristling ‘Barass’ did it in style with an eye-catching collection of clothing and sunglasses.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

PIONEER

ALLEN AYLETT Perhaps the most visionary administrator in the history of the game, Allen Aylett (right) had his most profound impact in the ’70s. The former North Melbourne champion and first-class cricketer became Kangaroos president in 1971, recruited coach Ron Barassi and landed several star players under the short-lived 10-year rule, leading to North’s first premiership and a sustained run as a League heavyweight.

Aylett continued his brash and ambitious leadership style as VFL president from 1977-85, a period in which he modernised the League and set it on a path of national expansion.

RUGGED

CARL DITTERICH The most intimidating man in football, ‘Big Carl’ is one of just two men to have had two stints at two clubs – transfers that transpired within six heady years in the ’70s. The blond ruckman (pictured middle with Bob Murray, left, and Brian Mynott), who donned a headband and a handkerchief in the back of his shorts, spent 1963-72 at St Kilda, 1973-75 at Melbourne, 1976-78 at St Kilda and 1979-80 as Melbourne’s captain-coach.

Under the short-lived 10-year rule, Ditterich crossed to the Demons for $62,000, and returned to the Saints when Melbourne could no longer afford him. In the decade, he was reported 12 times and suspended for a total of 18 games.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

JEZZA

ALEX JESAULENKO Born in Austria and of Russian-Ukrainian extraction, the superstar known simply as ‘Jezza’ bookended the decade with pivotal roles in premierships. In 1970, Jesaulenko was a century goalkicker – and soared to take an iconic screamer – and in 1979 captain-coached the club to another flag before walking out after George Harris lost his presidency. In between times, Jesaulenko also won a premiership in 1972. Explosive and high leaping with cat-like recovery, he was phenomenally versatile, also starring as a half-back flanker (where he won his only best and fairest in 1975) and as a ruck-rover.

HOTSHOT

PETER McKENNA No player in the ’70s had a higher profile than Peter McKenna. The popular Collingwood sharpshooter was the total package and a marketer’s dream: a glamour full-forward with the game’s biggest club, a pop star, heart-throb, television personality and author.

McKenna began the decade with three consecutive centuries – a club record of 143, followed by 134 and 130 – and from 1968-74 set the League record of 121 consecutive games with at least one goal. Amazingly, he spent his final season in enemy territory at Carlton.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

LETHAL

LEIGH MATTHEWS The best and most ruthless player of the 1970s was ‘Lethal’ Leigh Matthews. Hawthorn’s pocket battleship struck as much fear into the hearts of opponents with his ruthless aggression as he did with his brilliance. In this decade, the revered rover/forward won six of his eight best and fairests, including three in premiership sides, and averaged 23 disposals (19.6 kicks) and 2.6 goals a game. Matthews’ greatest season was 1977 when he averaged 27 possessions and amassed 91 goals – then the record for a non-key forward. And he was the best-known part of the famous ruck division of Scott-Tuck-Matthews.

FABULOUS

PHIL CARMAN ‘Fabulous’ Phil Carman was a controversial figure before he had even played a VFL game, winning a clearance dispute to join SANFL club Norwood instead of Collingwood. The Pies eventually won his signature and the 24-year-old became an overnight superstar in 1975, claiming the best and fairest and coming within three votes of winning the Brownlow Medal. The mercurial Magpie in the white boots could be a match-winner as a midfielder and a forward, but many believe his volatility cost Collingwood the 1977 premiership when he was missing through suspension. Finished the ’70s at Melbourne before equally brief stints at Essendon and North Melbourne.

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SWITCH

JOHN PITURA Richmond’s obsession with South Melbourne’s mercurial half-forward/centreman John Pitura resulted in the Tigers being dudded in one of the most sensationally lopsided trade deals in League history. After a prolonged clearance dispute with South at the end of 1974, during which Pitura threatened to take his case to court, the brilliant left-footer eventually found his way to Punt Rd. He failed to live up to expectations, while the Tiger trio who were traded to South prospered – Graham Teasdale won a Brownlow Medal, Brian ‘Whale’ Roberts finished sixth in the Brownlow in his only season there and Francis Jackson became a 100-game defender.

GALLOPING

MICK NOLAN Mick Nolan perhaps best encapsulates how much footy has changed since the ’70s. Media star Lou Richards bestowed upon the popular North Melbourne big man one of the all-time great nicknames – ‘The Galloping Gasometer’. With his unique 194cm, 124kg physique, the pot-bellied Nolan didn’t look like a footballer – and coach Ron Barassi initially castigated secretary Ron Joseph for signing him – but he could play the game. A fine tap ruckman with deceptive agility, Nolan was one of North’s best players in the club’s first premiership in 1975. The knockabout practical joker later moved to Queensland, where he coached and developed the game. Nolan died from cancer in 2008 at 58.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

RUTHLESS

GRAEME RICHMOND The aptly-named former Richmond seconds and thirds player made his mark as a ruthless powerbroker who helped transform Tigerland into a feared football institution. An old-fashioned motivator who ran the club with an iron fist, the powerful administrator refused to accept failure and was the sorest of losers – a key trait that permeated through the entire club during his reign. It was no surprise he was in the thick of it during the infamous Windy Hill brawl in 1974 and copped a suspension. Richmond (pictured right) and president Ian Wilson proved a formidable duo, being constantly at war with the League as they fought for the best deal for the Tigers, and to hell with the rest.

GREATEST

ROYCE HART The courageous left-footer was arguably the greatest centre half-forward in history and in 1996 was selected in that position in the AFL’s Team of the Century.

An inspirational captain, the Tasmanian led Richmond to the 1973-74 premierships.

Famously defied medical opinion and a crook knee to come off the bench after half-time in the 1973 preliminary final to kick two goals and inspire the Tigers to a remarkable win over Collingwood. Knee issues curtailed a brilliant career at 29 in 1977, but Hart continued to have a strong influence, refining the goalkicking methods of Tiger forwards Brian Taylor and Michael Roach. Wrote his autobiography at 22 and was ridiculed for naming himself in his best-ever team, when in reality it was framed as the team he’d like to play in.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

SLAMMIN

SAM KEKOVICH There were few more flamboyant, charismatic figures in the ’70s than North Melbourne star ‘Slammin’ Sam Kekovich. As a 19-year-old, the explosive forward/midfielder had won North’s best and fairest in 1969 and finished equal seventh in the Brownlow Medal after playing just 16 games, during which he averaged 19 possessions and tallied 56 goals. At season’s end he did a knee playing soccer and, although he still played some high-quality football thereafter and was a member of North’s first premiership side in 1975, he wasn’t quite the same. By his own admission, he could appear disinterested and became something of a wasted talent. A social butterfly, Kekovich missed the premiership team photo because he was otherwise occupied, and once posed naked, apart from a football, in Truth newspaper.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

TEEN STAR

TIM WATSON Aged just 15 years and 305 days, the exuberant, baby-faced boy from Dimboola became the fourth-youngest VFL player in history when he made his debut for Essendon against Richmond at Waverley in round seven, 1977. In a dramatic draw, Watson gathered 16 possessions against a Tigers side featuring Kevin Sheedy (31 touches and two goals), who later coached him in three premierships.

By decade’s end, the explosive half-forward/midfielder was well on the way to developing into one of Essendon’s greatest and most popular players.

TOUGH

DES TUDDENHAM In February 1970, Collingwood skipper Des Tuddenham and ruckman Len Thompson went on strike over a pay dispute, after which Tuddenham lost the captaincy. However, ‘Tuddy’ played on and in 1971 he produced one of his finest seasons, averaging 25.6 disposals, tallying 48 goals and captaining Victoria. The next year he joined Essendon as captain-coach (pictured here as a Bomber) and his first game against the Pies at Victoria Park – a Queen’s Birthday clash – was a huge event, during which play was interrupted when some Bomber floggers caught fire. After four years and two finals series at Windy Hill, Tuddenham returned to Collingwood for two more seasons as a player, before coaching South Melbourne in 1978.

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LEADERS, LEGENDS & LARRIKINS

HUNGRY

KEVIN BARTLETT No League player had more kicks in the ’70s than Kevin ‘Hungry’ Bartlett. Since statistics were first recorded on a weekly basis in 1965, no one has challenged the Richmond legend’s record season average of 27.5 kicks, which he achieved in the 1973-74 Tiger premiership years. During the decade, the flyweight rover with the thinning, wispy hair also won three of his five best and fairests, finished second and third in the Brownlow Medal and averaged 1.8 goals a game. He eventually held the games record at 403, and he did it all on a game-eve meal of fish and chips.

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AFL Rec

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MEMORABLE MATCHES High scoring was generally the order of the day as fierce rivalries produced enthralling and physical contests that thrilled fans.

W

hen reigning premier Richmond fronted up to the MCG for its 1970 season-opener against a battling Fitzroy, the Tigers had every right to feel like football royalty.

After all, they were to unfurl their 1969 premiership flag – their second in three years – before being afforded the honour of meeting the British royal family – Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.

The Victorian Government had obliged by allowing the League to stage its first Sunday game in honour of the royal visit and the League allowed live telecasts of the second half to be beamed interstate, waiving rights fees.

To mark the occasion on a sunny April day, a special souvenir edition of the Football Record featured a colour photograph of the Queen on the cover.

At half-time, as per royal protocol, players washed their hands (some showered) and changed into clean uniforms – and Richmond captain Roger Dean was annoyed he had to ditch his lucky guernsey.

Here, Fitzroy president Ern Joseph introduces Her Majesty to the Lions, while (partially obscured) heavily tattooed skipper Kevin Murray accompanies Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The royals were then given the usual VIP treatment as they watched the second half, with the finer points of the game explained to them by Brownlow medallists Ross Smith and John Schultz, along with Melbourne player Ross Dillon.

Against the script, Fitzroy – which had finished third-bottom the previous year – posted an upset 20-point win.

It was one of many memorable afternoons at the footy in the ’70s.

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1970

A RIGHT ROYAL OCCASION

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1970

THE DAY THE GAME CHANGED The 1970 Grand Final was memorable for many reasons. It was a classic contest between two arch enemies, with Carlton aggravating Collingwood’s pain by coming from a record 44 points down at half-time to win by 10 points. Blues coach Ron Barassi had pulled two masterstrokes at the long break: imploring his team to be adventurous with handball and introducing 19th man Ted Hopkins, who bagged four second-half goals. And before all that, Carlton star Alex Jesaulenko soared to take a screamer, prompting commentator Mike Williamson to exclaim: “Jesaulenko, you beauty!”

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1970

SKILTON’S ONLY FINAL South Melbourne legend Bob Skilton won three Brownlow Medals and nine best and fairests – both equal records – but has often declared he would trade them for a flag. The closest the champion rover came was his one and only finals appearance in his 218th game – then the longest wait for a final – in the 1970 first semi-final against St Kilda at the MCG. Under coaching great Norm Smith, South had shocked everyone to qualify fourth. Skilton, the 31-year-old Swans skipper, was lucky to be there, having missed the previous season with a torn achilles tendon.

He’d represented Victoria 25 times but was initially overwhelmed by the 104,239 fans, soon settling to gather a team-high 27 disposals and a goal. South led by five points at half-time but the Saints stormed home to win by 53 points.

1971

WADE MATCHES HIS OWN RECORD Until the freakish Gary Ablett snr came along, Doug Wade stood alone as the greatest

1971

HUDSON EQUALS PRATT’S RECORD

goalkicker in Geelong’s history. Against North Melbourne at Kardinia Park in round 20, 1971, Wade had 17 kicks and 12 marks and bagged 13.2, equalling his club record from four years earlier. (Ablett would twice kick 14 goals.) In the Cats’ 75-point win, centre half-forward Bill Ryan also starred with 32 touches, 18 marks and 7.0. (The next week, Ryan kicked a career-best 8.5 from 28 touches and 18 marks, while Wade got 3.4.) At the end of 1972, Wade joined the Kangaroos under the short-lived 10-year rule, became the club’s first centurion in 1974 and retired the next year after winning a second flag.

Those who played in, or saw, the 1971 Grand Final generally say it was the most brutal game they have seen. Little surprise really, given Hawthorn and St Kilda boasted some of the toughest customers to grace a football field. This win-at-all-costs brutality cost Hawks superstar Peter Hudson the outright League record for the most goals in a season, with St Kilda hard man Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale concussing Hudson in the first quarter with a solid round-arm.

A scatterbrained Hudson finished with three goals, equalling Swans legend Bob Pratt’s record of 150, but uncharacteristically muffed some easy chances because of his condition. It was the greatest highlight of a wonderful career, but Hudson can’t remember it.

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1971

FOG GAME Fitzroy’s first win over Carlton in a decade, in round 21, 1971, was overshadowed when heavy fog rolled in from neighboring Albert Park at half-time and reduced visibility at the Junction Oval to just a few metres. Players at either end of the ground were guided by sounds of the umpire’s whistle and the roar of the crowd until the play came into view. Here Fitzroy’s Paul Shanahan and Carlton’s Geoff Southby attempt to see where the ball is – in vain.

1972

THE ’72 SPLURGE The 1972 Grand Final between bitter rivals Carlton and Richmond remains the greatest goalscoring orgy in a flag decider. In a frenetic exhibition of football at its finest, a crowd of 112,393 was treated to 50 goals in 100 minutes. The Blues blasted 28.9 (177) to the more-fancied Tigers’ 22.18 (150) – their aggregate of 327 points was the highest-scoring game in League history at the time. Carlton had already claimed the record score in a Grand Final by three-quarter time, when they led 25.9 to 15.15. The Blues boasted three players who bagged at least six goals – Alex Jesaulenko (seven), captain-coach John Nicholls (six) and best-afield Robert Walls (six).

A fortnight earlier, Carlton had kicked just nine goals in a 41-point second semi-final loss to Richmond. But on the big day, Walls (pictured right) and the Blues exacted revenge.

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1973

RICHMOND’S REVENGE Driven by its humiliating defeat to Carlton in the 1972 Grand Final, Richmond gained vengeance against the Blues in the following season’s play-off.

Despite entering the clash as underdogs, the Tigers won by five goals and inflicted serious physical damage. Defender Laurie Fowler caused an early sensation by crunching Carlton colossus John Nicholls, who was concussed and had little impact thereafter. In the second term, Tigers firebrand Neil Balme floored Blues champion Geoff Southby, who didn’t return after half-time, and then biffed fellow defender Vin Waite. In between, Richmond played some superb football and became the only club to win all four flags: seniors, reserves, under-19s and under-17s.

Richmond skipper Royce Hart was all smiles when presented with the senior premiership cup by Victorian Governor Sir Rohan Delacombe.

1973

LETHAL WEAPON Statistically at least, it was the greatest performance by the man many anoint as the greatest player of all time. At Waverley in round three, 1973, Hawthorn’s then 21-year-old star Leigh Matthews single-handedly obliterated eventual finalist Essendon.

The powerhouse rover amassed what remained career-high tallies of possessions (41), kicks (38) and goals (11). The next best ball-getter on the ground was teammate Peter Crimmins with 26, as Matthews’ heroics extended the Hawks’ nine-point advantage at half-time to 68 points by the final siren.

By season’s end, Matthews had achieved the first of his two top-three finishes in the Brownlow Medal and won the first of six club goalkicking awards.

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1973

CLASSIC IN ADELAIDE The 1973 SANFL Grand Final was the last played at the ‘old’ Adelaide Oval before the move to Football Park and one of the best flag deciders played in Australia. North Adelaide hit the front at the 29-minute mark and held on for the next three minutes until Glenelg’s Graham Cornes took a huge mark and goaled to put the Tigers in front.

Glenelg kicked another goal after the siren, the exclamation point on an epic 21.11 (137) to 19.16 (130) win.

1977

THE ’77 DRAW Richmond’s four-time premiership coach Tom Hafey became the first outsider to lead Collingwood and immediately transformed it from wooden spooner to minor premier. The fairtytale was almost complete when, at three-quarter time in the Grand Final, the Magpies held a 27-point lead over North Melbourne after the erratic Kangaroos had posted 13 consecutive behinds.

However, Ron Barassi’s Roos bounded back and led by six points until Collingwood forward Ross ‘Twiggy’ Dunne goaled in the last minute after being awarded a contentious mark. The resultant draw, then just the second in League history, preceded a North victory by 27 points in the next week’s replay, during which Magpie Phil Manassa gave the black and white army something to cheer about with a superb running goal.

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1977

HAPHAZARD HAWKS It’s rare for a team to pile on a huge score, win by 15 goals and be disappointed. But the Hawks were in round six, 1977, when they fired 43 more scoring shots than St Kilda at Princes Park but won by only 88 points. Hawthorn easily accumulated the most scoring shots (66) and the most behinds in a game on its way to a total of 25.41 (191). The Hawks’ quarter-by-quarter totals were 5.11, 5.13, 5.8 and 10.9. At half-time, they led 10.24 to 10.3. The main culprits were the Matthews brothers, Leigh (pictured left with skipper Don Scott) who kicked 4.5, and Kelvin, who tallied 4.6, along with John Hendrie (3.4), Bernie Jones (1.4), Michael Tuck (pictured above – 1.3) and Alan Martello (1.3). Meanwhile, Saints forward George Young bagged 6.1 in a more economical total of 16.7 (103).

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1978

TEMPLETON’S BIG BAG In 1978, Kelvin Templeton became the first of only two Bulldogs to kick a century (118), including what remained the standout performance of his career – a club-record haul of 15.9 against St Kilda at the Western Oval in round 13. The 21-year-old had 25 kicks and 16 marks and drilled seven goals in the last quarter, including six after the 20-minute mark, a few of which were gifted by dubious umpiring. Templeton’s show-stopping effort overshadowed a superb 36-touch, seven-goal effort by teammate Ian Dunstan. In winning by 107 points, Footscray posted a total of 33.15 (213) – then the League’s record score, only to be surpassed by Fitzroy the next season.

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1978

THE ‘SPECCY’ SPECIAL It was a dream match-up that somehow exceeded all expectations.

In round 11, 1978, Essendon centre half-forward Paul Vander Haar, 20, and his childhood hero, Hawthorn’s champion centre half-back Peter Knights, 26 – two of the game’s golden-haired high-flyers – waged a four-quarter ‘speccy’ war. To the delight of fans, Knights decided the best form of defence was all-out attack and the pair traded screamer for screamer in an epic duel. Eventual premier Hawthorn triumphed by 29 points but the honours were shared in this legendary ‘Knightsy’ v ‘Vander’ battle – Knights having 20 possessions and taking 10 marks to Vander Haar’s 17 touches, six marks and 2.3.

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1978

THE FINAL INSTALMENT Hawthorn and North Melbourne developed the strongest rivalry of the ’70s, clashing in 10 finals, including three Grand Finals in four years. The Hawks took the honours in these head-to-head duels with two victories to the Kangaroos’ one. In the final stoush in this sequence – the 1978 Grand Final – North spearhead Phil Baker kicked six goals and took some memorable marks, but the depleted Roos were in trouble by half-time, having lost stars Malcolm Blight and Stan Alves. The game was decided by a 12-minute burst in the third term in which Hawthorn rattled on six consecutive goals.

Hawks defender Peter Knights was knocked out, but heroically contributed two goals as David Parkin won the first of his four flags as a coach and ruckman Don Scott (pictured) led from the front as skipper.

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MEMORABLE MATCHES

1979

HARMES’ HEROICS In the 1979 Grand Final, Carlton youngster Wayne Harmes (third from left) produced one of the most famous, match-winning acts of desperation in football history. Late in the last quarter, with the Blues just four points clear of Collingwood, Harmes’ attempted pass to fellow ‘Mosquito Fleet’ member Ken Sheldon went askew. Embarrassed, Harmes immediately made amends by diving to tap the ball from the boundary – debate still rages about whether it was in or out – to Sheldon in the goalsquare for what proved to be the sealer. Fittingly, the 19-year-old was awarded the first Norm Smith Medal, named in honour of his late great-uncle, as the player adjudged best-afield. In 2006, Harmes’ effort became the subject of a Toyota television commercial.

1979

THE ’ROYS RECORD SCORE More records were smashed at Waverley on July 28, 1979, than in perhaps any other game in League history.

In a hopelessly one-sided round 17 clash, third-placed Fitzroy amassed the then record score of 36.22 (238) to second-bottom Melbourne’s 6.12 (48). In 1992, Geelong eclipsed Fitzroy’s total by a point, but the Lions’ 190-point winning margin remains a League-high. Their quarter tallies were 7.7, 7.7, 12.3 and 10.5. The stars for Bill Stephen’s Fitzroy were Bob Beecroft (10.3), Garry Wilson (42 possessions and 3.2), Warwick Irwin (36 and 5.5), Graeme Allan (26 and 3.0), Robert Walls (25 and 3.1) and Bernie Quinlan (19 and 4.3). For Carl Ditterich’s Demons, Graeme Gaunt (33 and 2.1) played a lone hand.

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INNOVATIONS/ WHAT’S NEW Football became big entertainment, with bold new leadership at the top, its own new stadium, the advent of colour television and live Grand Final and Brownlow telecasts.

H

ere’s your snapshot of how footy looked at the start of the 1970s.

There were 20 rounds a season, four finals at the MCG, black shorts for home games and white away, congested centre bounces, night football played at the end of the season, the Brownlow Medal on the Monday after the home and away season and, to watch the Grand Final live on television, you had to fly out of Melbourne.

That all changed in the 1970s as the game took concrete steps to modernise. And speaking of concrete, the opening of VFL Park in Waverley in 1970 gave football a modern stadium to call its own, one without muddy cricket wickets in the centre area.

It made for a better spectacle, as did the introduction of the centre diamond and later centre square. The game’s presentation was vastly improved when Australia switched to colour television transmission in 1975.

Allen Aylett’s appointment as VFL president in 1977 marked a sea change in the League’s thinking.

It became big business and was marketed as an entertainment medium for the masses.

Aylett was restless and he challenged the conventional wisdom of the time. The Grand Final went live on television in Melbourne and the biggest game of the year was finally marketed and presented as the big-ticket item it deserved to be.

Waverley got lights, games were played outside Victoria and with Up There Cazaly, footy even spawned its first No. 1 record.

For the first time, the game was open to outside influences. The world was starting to get smaller with rapid advances to travel, technology and telecommunications. International sport was starting to innovate and the VFL willingly joined the ride.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

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1970

WELCOME TO VFL PARK 1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1970

BROWNLOW MEDAL TELEVISED The Brownlow Medal count had long been broadcast on the radio, with the winner then presented to the crowd on TV Ringside at Festival Hall or on Graham Kennedy’s variety show. The 1970 count at the Dallas Brooks Hall resembled a sportsmen’s night – but was a ratings sensation – and once it became a night for the players and their partners, it started down the path towards the huge event it is now.

1970

LONGER SEASON Why it took so long remains unclear, but in a 12-team competition, 22 games made perfect sense as every team played each other twice. It wasn’t quite ‘every team home and away’ because of the neutral territory at VFL Park, but it did mean a six-month season – from the first Saturday in April through to the last Saturday in September.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1971

FIRST GRAND FINAL BREAKFAST It started inauspiciously as a small gathering of Melbourne business types kicked off Grand Final day with bacon and eggs and a glass of champagne at an event organised by North Melbourne. But Channel Seven liked the concept and it grew quickly, with every politician, B-grade celebrity and sports star itching to get a seat on the world’s longest head table.

1972

FINAL FIVE This was the most fundamental change to the finals competition since the introduction of the McIntyre System in 1931. It meant two matches were played on each of the opening two weeks of the finals and, with two games staged at VFL Park, it marked the first time since 1945 that finals were played at a venue other than the MCG. (St Kilda eliminated Essendon in that first final played at VFL Park, left). With an extra finals berth up for grabs, interest in the latter part of the season grew enormously.

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1973

CENTRE DIAMOND By the early 1970s, centre bounces had degenerated into ugly, scrappy mauls with up to 20 players around the ball. The centre diamond – 45m long on each side – reduced that congestion with only four players from each team allowed in at the centre bounce. Two years later, the diamond became a centre square, which remains part of the game today.

1972

NEW VFL HOME Harrison House, a small two-storey building on the corner of Spring St and Flinders Lane, served as League headquarters for more than 40 years. But as the game – and its workforce – started to grow, a new base was needed, so the League decamped a kilometre away to a new home in Jolimont Terrace, a couple of drop punts from the MCG.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1974

PLAYERS’ VOICE As money started to creep into the game and demands on the players’ time increased, they decided to formally organise themselves in order to seek better workplace conditions.

The ultra-conservative VFL clubs banned the VFLPA from their premises, so initial meetings took place in car parks and hotels. Early leaders such as Don Scott, Michael Moncrieff, Gareth Andrews and Geoff Pryor ensured their voices would be heard, but it was a slow process.

1975

FOOTY IN LIVING COLOUR Colour television was introduced to Australia on March 1, 1975, and pretty much every club bought into it. Notable changes included Footscray changing its hoops, South Melbourne and Essendon’s red shorts, Hawthorn’s brown shorts and, for a time, Fitzroy and Richmond’s yellow shorts.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1975

TRIBUNAL USES VIDEO Improvements to television coverage – such as more cameras at the big games – prompted the VFL to introduce video evidence at the Tribunal. The players’ code remained intact, but some of their evidence at the Tribunal was made to look plain silly when it totally contradicted the television pictures.

1976

TWO-UMPIRE SYSTEM A feature of 1970s footy was the increased professionalism of the players and, as part of that, their increased fitness.

With the ball starting to move from one end of the ground to the other at lightning speed, the poor old field umpire struggled to keep up. Two field umpires made a tough game that bit easier to adjudicate.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1977

LIGHTS AT WAVERLEY A low-key midweek night game between Fitzroy and North Melbourne marked the start of footy’s new frontier, although the occasion was spoiled somewhat when the lights wouldn’t initially switch on. The Tuesday night series competition soon became an institution, a television ratings hit even though the teams were half-strength and the atmosphere often lacklustre.

1976

VFL LICENSING DIVISION It started with the VFL logo on the playing jumpers and exploded from there. The official VFL logo soon appeared everywhere as manufacturers and marketers sought to cash in on footy’s booming popularity by linking their products to the game. Before long, VFL-approved gear was all the rage and heaven help those who still went to the footy wearing nan’s hand-knitted scarf.

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1977

FIRST LIVE GRAND FINAL TELECAST Fearful of not selling every last ticket at the MCG, the VFL had never allowed a live telecast of the game in Melbourne. But the progressive Allen Aylett administration dragged the game out of the stone age and a football extravaganza was created on Channel Seven, starting with the Footy Marathon and taking in the North Melbourne breakfast and the under-19s, reserves and senior Grand Finals. It instantly became one of the most-watched television shows of the year.

1977

STATE OF ORIGIN The face of representative footy changed forever when Western Australia, with nine VFL-listed players in its side, belted Victoria by 94 points in the first State of Origin game, played at Subiaco Oval the week after the 1977 Grand Final. The Vics had a few players out, but the new representative concept was a winner and was embraced around Australia and by more than one code of football.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1978

BROWNLOW MEDAL MOVED In a bid to glam up Grand Final week even further, the Brownlow Medal was moved from the Monday after the final home and away game. The added anticipation was a good thing, but it didn’t help North Melbourne star Malcolm Blight, who won the medal in controversial fashion, but tore his groin early and played a stinker in the flag decider five days later.

1978

INTERCHANGE The 32-year tradition of the 19th and 20th men was dumped in favour of the interchange system, which had been successfully trialled in the VFA and around Australia in the years before. It took a while for clubs to embrace it. On the opening weekend, reigning premier North Melbourne made 11 changes, while Hawthorn used it just once.

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INNOVATIONS / WHAT’S NEW

1978

COMMODORE CUP It was no more than a snazzy name for the VFL reserves competition, but having been denied by the Victorian Government to play games on a Sunday, the League fixtured one reserves game each Sunday afternoon, staged at Moorabbin Oval. It was televised live on Channel Seven and created huge competitive tension with the VFA, which was shown at the same time on Channel 0 (now 10).

1979

NORM SMITH MEDAL The AFL’s Team of the Century coach was honoured with a medal for the player voted best afield in the Grand Final. Carlton’s Wayne Harmes, the great nephew of the late Norm Smith, was the first winner, although it was a controversial selection given how well teammates Wayne Johnston and Peter Francis played in the five-point win over Collingwood.

1979

SYDNEY SEEDS PLANTED The VFL couldn’t have made a bigger splash to start its foray into Sydney, taking the round 10 Grand Final rematch between North Melbourne and Hawthorn away from Arden St and relocating it to the SCG where 31,395 people saw the Hawks win again on a sunny Sunday afternoon. A Richmond-Fitzroy clash later that year was also successful and the seeds of the League’s national expansion had been planted.

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FAREWELLS Kevin ‘Bulldog’ Murray epitomised the spirit of Fitzroy, so it’s no surprise the Brisbane Lions recognised him by naming their club champion award the Merrett-Murray Medal.

K

evin Murray won an equal League-record nine club best and fairests and that was despite spending two prime years as captain-coach of East Perth after a dispute with Fitzroy officials.

An official Legend of the game who was a success as a half-back flanker, as an undersized centre half-back and as a ruck-rover, the long-time Lions captain and one-time captain-coach won the 1969 Brownlow Medal, was twice runner-up and third once.

After the last round of 1974, he retired with a then League-record 333 games to his name.

In the ’70s, six other champions, who later became Legends in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, also hung up their sizeable boots – Footscray icon Ted Whitten, Carlton’s imposing ruckman and leader John Nicholls, three-time Brownlow medallists Bob Skilton and Ian Stewart, triple Sandover medallist Barry Cable and Richmond’s great centre half-forward Royce Hart.

Superstar spearheads Peter McKenna and Doug Wade were also farewelled, at their second clubs – Carlton (McKenna) and North Melbourne (Wade).

Another star lured by the Kangaroos under the 10-year rule was ex-Essendon champion Barry Davis, who captained North to that first flag in 1975 before departing, while Stan Alves left Melbourne to be part of North’s 1977 triumph.

Also among the cavalcade of retiring greats were Brownlow medallists Ross Smith and Peter Bedford, Pies greats Des Tuddenham and Wayne Richardson, Tiger quartet Roger Dean, Dick Clay, Bill Barrot and Kevin Sheedy, Blues pair Sergio Silvagni and Syd Jackson, Geelong star Bill Goggin, Hawthorn’s 1971 premiership captain David Parkin and St Kilda enforcer Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale.

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FAREWELLS

1974

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FAREWELLS

1978

PETER BEDFORD A brilliant, goalkicking centreman, Bedford won the Brownlow Medal in 1970 after averaging 24 possessions and tallying 50 goals. He was one of the key factors in the Swans’ rise to their first finals series in 25 years. Originally a star with VFA club Port Melbourne, Bedford became an all-time great at South, winning five best and fairests and three goalkicking awards, and captaining the club for four seasons. Finished his career with eight appearances for Carlton in 1977-78. Also a talented cricketer for Victoria, he was once considered a candidate for the Australian Test team by Sir Donald Bradman.

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FAREWELLS

1975

IAN STEWART The Tasmanian genius – the centreman in the AFL Team of the Century of 1996 – was the first of just five players to win Brownlow Medals at different clubs. One of St Kilda’s greatest players, the visionary left-footer claimed successive Brownlows in 1965 and 1966, the latter on the way to being a key member of the Saints’ only premiership side. Sensationally swapped for Richmond counterpart Bill Barrot at the end of 1970, Stewart won a third Brownlow in his debut season at Tigerland and another premiership in 1973. He later coached South Melbourne (in two stints) and Carlton.

1977

BARRY CABLE The blond pocket rocket from Western Australia played just five seasons with North Melbourne, but his influence was immense.

A master in heavy traffic and probably the best handballer of his era, Cable won a best and fairest, twice finished runner-up and was a key performer in the Kangaroos’ 1975 and 1977 premierships.

In the WAFL, he won three Sandover Medals and best-afield honours in three successive WAFL Grand Final triumphs with Perth, and at 35 he captain-coached East Perth to the 1978 flag.

In 1979, he was lucky to escape with his life in a tractor accident. Coached North from 1981-84.

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FAREWELLS

CHAMPS

BOB SKILTON (1971) & ROSS SMITH (1975) South Melbourne superstar Bob Skilton and St Kilda champ Ross Smith were great rovers who, between them, won four Brownlow Medals – three to Skilton and one to Smith. Both were courageous, prolific and skilful leaders with great goalsense. Smith is regarded as the best rover in the Saints’ history, while Skilton was named rover in the AFL Team of the Century in 1996. Skilton was the better player, but Smith enjoyed greater team success, playing in 15 finals, including the 1966 premiership, while Skilton had to wait until his 15th season to play his one and only final.

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FAREWELLS

1974

JOHN NICHOLLS ‘Big Nick’ had plenty of weapons: tree-trunk thighs, a body carved out of granite and wonderful ball skills, complemented by an icy glare. Perhaps behind only his great rival Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer as the best ruckman in the history of the game, Nicholls played the last of his 328 games in round 17, 1974. He also played a remarkable 31 games for Victoria, the last in 1972 – the year he captain-coached the Blues to the premiership. Early in the next year’s Grand Final – his sixth – Nicholls was ironed out by Tiger defender Laurie Fowler and consequently had little impact on proceedings.

1975

BARRY DAVIS

1975

DOUG WADE Before Peter Hudson and Peter

Few players can lay claim to retiring on as high a note as Barry Davis. In his final season of 1975, the then 32-year-old ruck-rover won his fifth club best and fairest and became a premiership captain, leading North Melbourne to its first flag. Davis originally made his name at Essendon, which he also captained, playing 218 games and winning two flags as a half-back flanker. After a pay dispute, he joined the Kangaroos under the 10-year rule and played a total of 289 games.

Davis coached the Bombers from 1978-80 and was selected in both clubs’ teams of the century.

McKenna started kicking centuries of goals, Geelong spearhead Doug Wade was attracting a cult following down the Princes Highway at Kardinia Park.

He played 267 games and was one of just five men to kick 1000 goals (1057 to be precise). This included two tons, the second of which came at North Melbourne, which Wade had joined under the short-lived 10-year rule.

A Geelong premiership player in 1963, he received a fitting finale at the age of 33, kicking four goals in a decoy role to help North win the 1975 Grand Final.

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1970

TED WHITTEN ‘Mr Football’ was one of the greatest players of all time – some say THE greatest. A champion key-position player who could dominate at either end, E.J. Whitten played a then League-record 321 games before hanging up his boots in round five, 1970. After more than a decade as captain-coach, he finished up as non-playing coach at the end of the following season. Whitten later became Victoria’s chairman of selectors, a great promoter of state football and a media star, before succumbing to prostate cancer in 1995.

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VALE

Three of football’s greatest names passed away in just eight months during 1973 while the game mourned the loss of several stars.

T

he year 1973 has gone down in infamy as the worst for premature deaths of football legends. In eight months, the football world mourned the passing of three champion players who had also coached their beloved clubs to multiple premierships.

It started in April that year with the shock death of John Coleman – Essendon’s great full-forward and dual premiership coach – at just 44, from sudden coronary atheroma in his Dromana hotel.

Less than three months later, Coleman’s friend and former coaching counterpart Norm Smith also died, at 57, having been diagnosed with brain cancer months earlier.

Both Coleman and Smith eventually had major football awards named in their honour, Coleman for the leading goalkicker and Smith for the player adjudged best-on-ground in the Grand Final.

And to round out an emotional time in footy circles, revered Geelong figure Reg Hickey, a mate and former playing and coaching opponent of Smith’s, was laid to rest that December at 67.

Naturally, each tragedy shocked the football public and resulted in huge outpourings of grief and respect for men who had each changed the football landscape – Coleman with his incomparable aerial genius, star power and tactical nous, Smith with his unprecedented emphasis on defence and Hickey’s desire for attack from defence.

In the 1970s, footy fans also farewelled Smith’s coaching mentor, the great Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes, who won five premierships (one with Richmond and four with Melbourne).

Collingwood’s four-time premiership captain and Brownlow medallist Syd Coventry also departed, as did Richmond, Geelong and North Melbourne champion Tom Fitzmaurice and Richmond’s greatest goalkicker Jack ‘Skinny’ Titus.

The deceased also included fellow Brownlow medallists Collingwood’s Marcus Whelan (who also died in 1973) and St Kilda’s Colin Watson.

Most tragic of all was the death of Hawthorn champion Peter Crimmins from cancer at 28 in 1976.

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VALE

1973

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VALE

1973

REG HICKEY Late Cats great Bob Davis once declared his old coach Reg Hickey was the biggest name at Geelong, and it’s hard to argue when you consider the magnitude of Hickey’s contribution as both a player and a coach. In fact, when Geelong’s Team of the Century was selected in 2001, Hickey was named coach, captain and centre half-back.

He starred in the 1931 premiership, captain-coached the Cats to the 1937 flag and, as a non-playing coach, won back-to-back flags in 1951-52 with one of the greatest teams of all. He died at 67 on December 13, 1973.

1978

FRANK ‘CHECKER’ HUGHES The wily ‘Checker’ Hughes experienced great heartache before achieving success bettered by only two coaches: Jock McHale and Norm Smith. The former Richmond midfielder coached the Tigers in four losing Grand Finals in five seasons, including three in a row against Collingwood’s legendary ‘Machine’ team, before eventually breaking through for his first premiership in 1932. Hughes then moved to Melbourne, which he guided to four flags, comprising the 1939-41 hat-trick and the 1948 upset over Essendon after battling out the first Grand Final draw. He also gave the club the Demons nickname and later remained a mentor to Smith. Hughes died on January 23, 1978, a month short of his 84th birthday.

1978

JACK TITUS Despite standing just 175cm and 66kg, Jack ‘Skinny’ Titus (right) played 294 games and amassed 970 goals – the best at Richmond and No. 6 on the League’s all-time list. The popular Titus was the competition’s leading goalkicker in 1940 when he snared a career-best 100 goals. The two-time premiership player accumulated 202 consecutive games, a record that stood until 1995 when it was surpassed by Melbourne ruckman Jim Stynes. A Tigers selector and committeeman for more than 30 years, Titus died at 70 after ejecting a patron from his North Melbourne hotel on April 19, 1978.

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VALE

1973

JOHN COLEMAN There are two tragedies where the great John Coleman is concerned. The first was that the high-flyer’s brilliant 98-game, 537-goal career with Essendon was cut short by a knee injury when he was just 25. The second was that his life was suddenly cut short when he suffered a heart attack in his Dromana hotel on April 5, 1973.

He was only 44. Between times, Coleman had guided Essendon to premierships in 1962 and 1965.

The League’s leading goalkicker medal was struck in his honour, he was named at full-forward in the AFL’s Team of the Century and was named a Legend in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

1976

SYD COVENTRY When the Coventry

1973

NORM SMITH ‘The Red Fox’ was integral to 10 Melbourne premierships in the space of just 25 years (from 1939-64), four as a player and six as coach. In 1970, Smith lifted South Melbourne to its first final in 25 years. But less than three years later, on July 29, 1973, he died from a brain tumour at his Coburg home at the age of 57. In 1979, the Norm Smith Medal was struck to recognise the player deemed best-afield in the Grand Final. In 1996, Smith was selected as coach of the AFL’s Team of the Century and in 2007 he was elevated to Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

name is mentioned in football circles, most associate it with Gordon Coventry, Collingwood’s great full-forward who long held the League’s all-time goals and games records. However, his older brother Syd was arguably more influential as the inspirational captain of the Magpies’ record-breaking run of four consecutive premierships from 1927-30.

A vigorous ruckman, Coventry won the 1927 Brownlow Medal and two club best and fairests and captained Victoria. Also a longtime Magpie president and vice-president, he died on November 10, 1976, aged 77.

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MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES The game became louder and more brash as it was viewed on a much bigger stage.

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erhaps the introduction of colour television in 1975 was the kicker, but a new element of fun seemed to be introduced into footy throughout the 1970s.

The game became louder and a touch more brash. It was celebrated on stage with The Club (which became a movie in 1980) and screen with movies such as The Great McCarthy and television series such as And the Big Men Fly, adapted from the 1963 Alan Hopgood play of the same name.

The 1970s brought us the Fable Singers and their barbershop-quartet versions of the 12 VFL club songs (plus the Football Song as the B side), many of which the clubs still use today.

Of course, it was the decade that also brought us the most seminal football song of them all, Mike Brady’s Up There Cazaly, originally a jingle for Channel Seven’s television coverage, but which eventually charted as the No. 1 song in the country.

Colour television led to an overhaul of team uniforms and the glamming up of the Brownlow Medal. Advertisers flocked to the game, through the various television replays and discussion shows, the five (yep, five) commercial radio stations that broadcast the games – apart from the ABC – and the pages of the ‘official organ of the VFL’ the Football Record.

It was a lot of fuss and noise about what was still a suburban-based, semi-professional competition, but the players enjoyed being feted like heroes on the weekend, while reverting back to the anonymity of their day jobs from Monday to Friday.

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MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES

1979

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THE ORGAN

FROM THE RECORD Footy has always boasted a large percentage of female supporters who follow their clubs through thick and thin. Every week the Football Record would highlight one female supporter and, if they contacted the magazine after seeing their photo published, they would win a prize. In 1975 it was a hairdryer and $10 worth of petrol from Ampol. Beer, food and cigarettes were staple advertising products throughout the Football Record in the 1970s. And how about the irony of future hardcore animal rights activist Lynda Stoner advertising Hutton’s Footy Franks. Of course, the primary purpose of the Record (apart from the players’ numbers) was the race fields and the scores from other grounds. Now, A and B was always the game at Waverley, but which ground was E and F?

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MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES

1977

‘TEASER’S’ SUIT Graham Teasdale was an amazing story, going from the Richmond scrapheap when he was traded to South Melbourne in 1975 as part of the mega John Pitura deal, to Brownlow Medal winner two years later. He polled 59 votes, in a time when both field umpires voted, which was a smashing effort all the same.

But what he is most remembered for is the brown velvet suit he bravely wore on Brownlow night, the likes of which had never been seen before, or would be again.

1978

THE SEVEN CREW Mike Williamson was the voice of footy on Channel Seven for much of the 1970s, but when he left at the end of 1976 and after a one-year cameo from Peter Ewin, Peter Landy became the chief caller in 1978, working alongside the great Lou “By golly!” Richards and triple Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton.

Other Seven commentary voices of the decade included Jack Edwards, Frank ‘Bluey’ Adams, Jeff Crouch and Doug Wade.

1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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SPECCY

DIFFERENT FOCUS Geoff Blethyn could seriously play and in 1972 he kicked 107 goals at full-forward for Essendon. But many would remember him as the best player to wear glasses, in his case nylon-framed spectacles with hardened lenses that would only pop out the front, making them safe for him and his opponents. Carlton fans would recall Tony Southcombe, a ruckman from Bendigo with huge raps who played 13 games in 1977, while Michael Zemski also wore glasses while playing eight games on the wing for Hawthorn in 1973 and 1974.

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MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES

DAY JOBS

FOOTBALLERS AT WORK Saturday’s heroes were your average Joes from Monday to Friday in the 1970s. There weren’t many doctors, lawyers and rocket scientists among their ranks, but there were plenty of plumbers, teachers, sales representatives and clerks. Hotel work suited many, such as Carlton’s Garry Crane (below), as long as they didn’t imbibe too much of the product. Some held more specialist occupations. Richmond’s Barry Richardson was a successful physiotherapist (above, with teammate Neil Balme among his clients) while another star Tiger, Kevin Bartlett (right), was an instrument maker with the PMG, which later became Australia Post and Telstra.

1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 79

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MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES

IDEAS

PROMOTIONS MAN Kevin Sheedy was one of just a handful of League footballers in the 1970s who earned a full-time income from the game.

Footy’s future big ideas man was employed by the Tigers as their promotions officer, which meant visits to schools, junior clubs and sponsors, all in the name of the footy club and the game in general. Note the lace-up jumper, worn by a select few players at the time, but generally frowned upon because of the potential to break tacklers’ fingers.

FASHION

BRASH

SUAVE SCOTT

THE MOUTH

Don Scott was a man of contrasts. The Hawthorn ruckman, a three-time premiership ruckman, including two as captain (1976 and 1978) was a rough and rugged competitor on the ground and was reported 10 times through the 1970s. But off the field it was a different matter entirely. Scott was loud and colourful – you just had to look at him – and he was into the fashion scene to the stage where he ran a popular jeans store slap bang in the middle of Camberwell Junction.

‘Mal the Mouth’ Brown’s reputation preceded him when he came to Richmond in 1974. Many remembered the 1972 national championships (a knockout series featuring the premiers of the VFL, SANFL, WAFL and Tasmania), when playing for East Perth, he took on seemingly half of Carlton. Big and brash, he was the perfect fit for Richmond, but played just 14 games and was suspended twice, including copping four matches in round 20 that cost him the chance of playing in the premiership that year. With that, he returned to Western Australia where a fine coaching career lay waiting.

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POP STAR

MEDIA, CULTURE & ODDITIES

MAGPIE WARBLER There was no more popular footballer in the 1970s, at least for the first part, than Peter McKenna. With his trademark Beatles-style mop-top haircut, he played full-forward for Collingwood, kicking 143 goals in 1970, 134 in 1971 and 130 in 1972. He could play a mean guitar and sing a bit too, and released a few singles. He co-hosted a Saturday morning television show on Channel Nine with Daryl Somers only a few hours before playing footy that went on to become the hugely popular Hey, Hey, It’s Saturday. He also released a book, My World of Football, that sat on the shelf of every footy-obsessed kid in Melbourne when it was released in 1973.

1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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SCREAMERS The 1970s were a time of frequent high-flyers with Phil Baker, Peter Knights and Trevor Barker regularly featuring in the weekly highlights packages.

S

port in Australia in the 1970s was quite parochial and in many cases regional.

When it came to the winter footballing codes, there was the imaginary ‘Barassi Line’, coined by Professor Ian Turner, which divided Australia into one area in which Australian Football was the dominant game and the other where the rugby codes took precedence.

If you lived on the rugby side, then good luck finding VFL highlights on your nightly news, save perhaps for the screamer.

The high mark was the defining characteristic of the game at the time, the one-on-one or one-on-several match-up that would end with one player climbing into the sky to mark the ball.

The relatively basic, perhaps even primitive, tactics of the time meant the dictum from coaches was to get the ball forward by any means possible and let the forwards do their work.

In The Coach, John Powers’ brilliant chronicle of North Melbourne’s 1977 premiership campaign, he writes of Ron Barassi’s message on the North Melbourne whiteboard, “Long bombs to ‘Snake’.”

Put simply, North needed to kick the ball long and high to Phil ‘Snake’ Baker, one of the finest exponents of the high mark, and let him do his work.

The mark pictured here is from the 1978 Grand Final. Baker went on a rampage in the second quarter as the Kangaroos surged to the lead against their great rival Hawthorn, with the star forward seemingly marking everything in sight.

The Hawks won the game, but Baker’s mark ended up hanging on the wall of every pub below the Barassi Line and a few above it as well.

Baker had a few mates at the time who were equally great at the high mark. Alex Jesaulenko took perhaps the best of the lot in the 1970 Grand Final, while Peter Knights, David McKay and Trevor Barker were also consistently good.

We can also throw in special mentions to Paul Vander Haar, John Greening, Bill Ryan, Simon Madden and Michael Roach.

1978

PHIL BAKER

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SCREAMERS

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1972

McKAY SWOOPS IT UP David ‘Swan’ McKay played second fiddle at Carlton to Alex Jesaulenko when it came to screamers, but he had a flair for the big mark, including this effort in the fabulous shootout that was the 1972 Grand Final.

1973

BREWERY FRESH Ross Brewer’s magic moment was a last-gasp goal for Collingwood in the 1981 first semi-final. But he was a fine forward in poor-to-average Melbourne sides throughout the 1970s and he could take a nice grab.

1975

KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOUR Not much went right for Hawthorn in the 1975 Grand FInal, beaten into submission by a rampant North Melbourne by 55 points as the Kangaroos won their long-overdue first premiership. The one Hawk who offered resistance on an otherwise miserable afternoon was Peter Knights, and this grab was one of many spectacular marks he took throughout the 1970s.

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SCREAMERS

1979

‘DISCO’ TOPS THE CHARTS Richmond spearhead Michael Roach only moved to a key forward role in 1979 after a couple of years on the wing. The same season he took a monstrous grab against Hawthorn at the MCG. Given he took the mark standing on the shoulder of Hawthorn ruckman Terry Moore, who measured 196cm, it is clear just how high he jumped.

1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 85

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SCREAMERS

1975

KEITH CLIMBS HIGH Keith Greig did much of his best work for North Melbourne loping up and down the wing. He was a beautiful footballer, winning consecutive Brownlow Medals in 1973 and 1974.

And he could leap high for big marks as well, as shown here against Melbourne at Arden St.

1979

BARKS TOP OF THE TREE There wasn’t much to drag St Kilda supporters through the gates in the mid to late 1970s, save for the brilliant marking exploits of the great Trevor Barker. Despite standing just 183cm, Barker had a prodigious leap and a flair for the spectacular. A whole generation of St Kilda fans sported the No. 25 jumper after his marking exploits in 1976, only for him to re-emerge the next year wearing No. 1.

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SCREAMERS

1970

JESAULENKO, YOU BEAUTY It was one of the greatest marks of all, on the biggest stage in one of the greatest games played. Carlton star Alex Jesaulenko’s big grab over the unfortunate Graeme Jenkin came in the second quarter of the 1970 Grand Final, well before the miraculous second-half comeback that led to the Blues’ 10-point win over Collingwood in front of a record 121,696 crowd at the MCG. Jesaulenko got the perfect ride from Jenkin and kept on soaring.

1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 87

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GRAND FINALS North Melbourne came of age and Richmond enjoyed its moments, but it was Carlton and Hawthorn which shared the flag honours.

T

here were few more awesome sights in the ’70s than the hulking figure of John Nicholls leading Carlton into battle. Here, the steely-eyed Nicholls sends a shudder through Richmond fans as he makes his way on to the MCG, followed by his primed charges, before the 1972 Grand Final.

‘Big Nick’ was in his first season as captain-coach, having replaced two-time premiership coach Ron Barassi, and started his reign with immediate success against one of Carlton’s fiercest rivals.

Two years earlier, the Blues had embarrassed arch enemy Collingwood by completing the biggest comeback in Grand Final history, coming from 44 points down at half-time to win by 10 points.

This time they dominated from the outset in one of the most entertaining Grand Finals in history and certainly the highest scoring, with the Blues triumphing by 27 points – 28.9 (177) to 22.18 (150).

The legendary Nicholls, then 33, led from the front, bagging 6.1, while a 22-year-old Robert Walls (pictured behind Nicholls) matched his tally and the brilliant Alex Jesaulenko slotted a game-high 7.0 – a three-man tally of 19.2!

The Tigers, humiliated by that crushing defeat, gained revenge the next year when they took a win-at-all-costs mindset into their Grand Final clash with Carlton.

Richmond made it back-to-back flags against North Melbourne, which learnt from the experience and won it first two premierships in 1975 and 1977.

The Roos made a League-high six Grand Final appearances (including the 1977 draw against Collingwood) for the decade, but Carlton and Hawthorn shared the honours for the most flags: three each.

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GRAND FINALS

1972

JOHN NICHOLLS 1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 89

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1970 GRAND FINAL (26/9/1970), MCG

CARLTON 0.3 4.5 12.5 17.9 (111) COLLINGWOOD 4.8 10.13 13.16 14.17 (101) BEST: Carlton – Jesaulenko, Crosswell, McKay, Silvagni, Robertson, Hopkins. Collingwood – Dunne, Price, Tuddenham, McKenna, W. Richardson, Greening.

GOALS: Carlton – Hopkins 4, Jesaulenko 3, Crosswell 2, Gallagher 2, Nicholls 2, Walls 2, Jackson, Silvagni.

Collingwood – McKenna 6, Dunne 2, Thompson 2, Tuddenham 2, Britt, W. Richardson.

Umpire: D. Jolley Attendance: 121,696

CARLTON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: B. Gill, K. Hall, V. Waite HB: J. Goold, D. McKay, B. Mulcair C: G. Crane, I. Robertson, P. Pinnell HF: B. Crosswell, R. Walls, S. Jackson F: P. Jones, A. Jesaulenko, B. Thornley R: J. Nicholls (c), S. Silvagni, A. Gallagher Reserves: N. Chandler, T. Hopkins Coach: R. Barassi Average age: 24 Average games: 82

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GRAND FINALS

1971

GRAND FINAL (25/9/1971), MCG

HAWTHORN ST KILDA

2.2 4.4 5.7 2.1 4.6 8.9

12.10 (82) 11.9 (75)

BEST: Hawthorn – Scott, Moore, Crimmins, Parkin, Keddie, Rice. St Kilda – Lawrence, Trott, Smith, Neale, Besanko, Breen.

GOALS: Hawthorn – Keddie 4, Hudson 3, Crimmins 2, L. Matthews, Rice, Scott. St Kilda – Breen 3, Bonney 3, Davis, Manzie, Smith, Theodore, Trott.

Umpire: P. Sheales Attendance: 118,192

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: D. Parkin (c), K. Moore, L. Hawken HB: R. Day, N. Bussell, I. Bremner C: L. Rice, G. Angus, D. Meagher HF: B. Keddie, A. Martello, M. Porter F: K. Heath, P. Hudson, L. Matthews R: D. Scott, B. Stevenson, P. Crimmins Reserves: K. Beck, R. Wilson Coach: J. Kennedy Average age: 24 Average games: 75

1972 GRAND FINAL (7/10/1972), MCG CARLTON RICHMOND

8.4 18.6 25.9 28.9 (177) 5.4 10.9 15.15 22.18 (150)

BEST: Carlton – Walls, Nicholls, Jones, Jesaulenko, Armstrong, Doull. Richmond – Bartlett, Morris, Sproule, Bourke, Sheedy, Balme.

GOALS: Carlton – Jesaulenko 7, Nicholls 6, Walls 6, Keogh 3, Jackson 2, Hall, Gallagher, Chandler, Dickson.

Richmond – Balme 5, Richardson 3, Sheedy 3, Hart 2, Cumming 2, McMillan 2, McLean, Hunt, Morris, Sproule, Stewart.

Umpire: W. Deller Attendance: 112,393

CARLTON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: J. O’Connell, G. Southby, D. McKay HB: V. Waite, B. Doull, P. Hurst C: I. Robertson, B. Armstrong, D. Dickson HF: N. Chandler, R. Walls, S. Jackson F: J. Nicholls (c), A. Jesaulenko, T. Keogh R: P. Jones, K. Hall, A. Gallagher Reserves: A. Lukas, G. Crane Coach: J. Nicholls Average age: 24 Average games: 90 1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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1973

GRAND FINAL (29/9/1973), MCG

RICHMOND CARLTON

3.5 11.8 15.11 2.2 7.6 9.9

16.20 (116) 12.14 (86)

BEST: Richmond – Bartlett, Sheedy, Green, Stewart, Hart, Sproule. Carlton – Crane, Walls, McKay, Hall, Pinnell, Jesaulenko.

GOALS: Richmond – Hart 3, Sheedy 3, Stewart 3, Balme 2, Walsh, Roberts, Bartlett, Carter, Green.

Carlton – Crane 2, Dickson 2, Hall 2, McKay 2, Walls 2, Chandler, Nicholls.

Umpire: I. Robinson.

Attendance: 116,956

RICHMOND PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: L. Fowler, D. Clay, R. Hunt HB: M. Keane, F. Bourke, R. McGhie C: B. Wood, I. Stewart, W. Walsh HF: K. Sheedy, R. Hart (c), S. Rae F: M. Green, N. Balme, N. Carter R: B. Roberts, P. Sproule, K. Bartlett Reserves: C. McKellar, K. Morris Coach: T. Hafey Average age: 24 Average games: 91

1974 GRAND FINAL (28/9/1974), MCG

RICHMOND NORTH MELB

3.8 10.11 12.17 18.20 (128) 3.2 8.3 11.4 13.9 (87)

BEST: Richmond – Sheedy, Hart, Sproule, Green, Balme, Walsh. North Melbourne – Greig, Cable, Schimmelbusch, Rantall, Smith, Burns.

GOALS: Richmond – Richardson 5, Hart 3, Balme 2, Green 2, Sheedy 2, Cloke, Cumming, Thorpe, Walsh.

North Melbourne – Wade 4, Cable 2, Kekovich 2, Briedis, Burns, Davis, Greig, Peterson.

Umpire: I. Robinson Attendance: 113,839

RICHMOND PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: M. Keane, D. Clay, G. Andrews HB: F. Bourke, R. McGhie, K. Morris C: W. Walsh, D. Thorpe, B. Wood HF: D. Cloke, R. Hart (c), P. Sproule F: N. Balme, B. Richardson, D. Cumming R: M. Green, K. Sheedy, K. Bartlett Reserves: B. Roberts, C. Clayton Coach: T. Hafey Average age: 25 Average games: 109

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1975 GRAND FINAL (27/9/1975), MCG

NORTH MELB HAWTHORN

4.2 9.2 12.6 2.2 5.6 7.7

19.8 (122) 9.13 (67)

BEST: North Melbourne – Crosswell, Rantall, Greig, Burns, Dench, Nolan. Hawthorn – Knights, Martello, Jaworskyj, Bremner, Moore, Rowlings.

GOALS: North Melbourne – Briedis 5, Wade 4, Burns 4, Schimmelbusch 2, Blight, Kekovich, Crosswell, Feltham. Hawthorn – Martello 2, Moncrieff 2, Rowlings, K. Matthews, Trott, Meagher, Scott.

Umpire: K. Smith Attendance: 110,551

NORTH MELBOURNE PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: R. Henshaw, D. Dench, F. Gumbleton HB: B. Crosswell, G. Farrant, J. Rantall C: K. Greig, J. Burns, P. Chisnall HF: W. Schimmelbusch, A. Briedis, S. Kekovich F: M. Blight, D. Wade, P. Feltham R: M. Nolan, B. Davis (c), B. Cable Reserves: B. Goodingham, G. Cowton Coach: R. Barassi.

Average age: 26 Average games: 114

1976

GRAND FINAL (25/9/1976), MCG

HAWTHORN NORTH MELB

5.6 9.12 10.18 13.22 (100) 4.2 7.5 10.8 10.10 (70)

BEST: Hawthorn – Hendrie, Knights, Ablett, Douge, Rowlings, Moore. North Melbourne – Dench, Greig, Cable, Blight, Icke, Sutton.

GOALS: Hawthorn – Moncrieff 3, Goad 2, Hendrie 2, K. Matthews 2, L. Matthews, Martello, Rowlings, Scott.

North Melbourne – Burns 2, Cable 2, Icke 2, Byrne, Cowton, Melrose, Crosswell.

Umpires: W. Deller, K. Smith Attendance: 110,143

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: B. Douge, K. Moore, B. Jones HB: I. Bremner, P. Knights, D. O’Halloran C: G. Ablett, B. Rowlings, R. Eade HF: D. Polkinghorne, A. Martello, K. Matthews F: M. Moncrieff, J. Hendrie, A. Goad R: D. Scott (c), M. Tuck, L. Matthews Reserves: L. Rice, P. Murnane Coach: J. Kennedy Average age: 24 Average games: 92 1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 93

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1977

GRAND FINAL (24/9/1977), MCG

NORTH MELB 4.4 4.10 4.15 COLLINGWOOD 1.5 4.8 9.12

9.22 (76) 10.16 (76)

BEST: North Melbourne – Schimmelbusch, Baker, Alves, Dench, Keenan, Montgomery.

Collingwood – Thompson, Magro, Ireland, Wearmouth, Picken, Moore.

GOALS: North Melbourne – Baker 6, Dench 2, Sutton. Collingwood – Moore 4, Kink 2, Dunne, Anderson, Shaw, Barham.

Umpires: I. Robinson, J. Sutcliffe Attendance: 108,224

1977 GRAND FINAL REPLAY (1/10/1977), MCG

NORTH MELB 5.5 9.12 15.19 21.25 (151) COLLINGWOOD 3.4 8.7 12.7 19.10 (124) BEST: North Melbourne – Briedis, Tanner, Blight, Montgomery, Byrne, Cable. Collingwood – Moore, Manassa, Thompson, Hyde, Wearmouth, Ireland.

GOALS: North Melbourne – Briedis 5, Baker 3, Crosswell 2, Cable 2, Blight 2, Schimmelbusch 2, Byrne 2, Icke, Tanner, Cassin. Collingwood – Moore 5, Manassa 3, Barham 2, Dunne 2, Gordon 2, Kink, Wearmouth, W. Richardson, Anderson, Ireland.

Umpires: I. Robinson, J. Sutcliffe Attendance: 98,491

NORTH MELBOURNE PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: R. Henshaw, D. Dench (c), F. Gumbleton HB: G. Cowton, D. Sutton, K. Montgomery C: S. Alves, X. Tanner, W. Schimmelbusch HF: S. Icke, M. Blight, A. Briedis F: B. Crosswell, P. Baker, J. Cassin R: P. Keenan, J. Byrne, B. Cable Reserves: S. McCann, B. Nettlefold Coach: R. Barassi Average age: 25 Average games: 100

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1978

GRAND FINAL (30/9/1978), MCG

HAWTHORN NORTH MELB

5.3 7.4 14.10 18.13 (121) 2.2 7.8 10.12 15.13 (103)

BEST: Hawthorn – DiPierdomenico, L. Matthews, Eade, Scott, Wallace, Knights. North Melbourne – Baker, Schimmelbusch, Huppatz, Sutton, Henshaw, Glendinning.

GOALS: Hawthorn – Moncrieff 4, L. Matthews 4, Scott 3, Knights 2, Ablett, Martello, Hendrie, Eade, Murnane. North Melbourne – Baker 6, Briedis 2, Huppatz 2, Boyse 2, Smith 2, Melrose.

Umpires: W. Deller, I. Robinson Attendance: 101,704

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM

1979

B: A. de Wolde, K. Moore, I. Paton HB: D. Polkinghorne, P. Knights, R. DiPierdomenico C: G. Ablett, T. Wallace, R. Eade HF: P. Murnane, A. Martello, J. Hendrie F: R. Walter, M. Moncrieff, P. Russo R: D. Scott (c), M. Tuck, L. Matthews Interchange: M. McCarthy, N. Goss Coach: D. Parkin Average age: 23 Average games: 103

GRAND FINAL (29/9/1979), MCG

CARLTON 0.5 5.7 10.12 11.16 (82) COLLINGWOOD 2.2 5.6 7.9 11.11 (77) BEST: Carlton – Harmes, Francis, Johnston, Buckley, Klomp, Armstrong. Collingwood – Picken, Morris, Byrne, Davis, Barham, Ohlsen.

GOALS: Carlton – Sheldon 3, Buckley 2, Maclure 2, Young, P. Jones, Harmes, Francis. Collingwood – Davis 4, Wearmouth, Edwards, Brewer, Carlson, Ohlsen, Kink, Ireland.

Umpires: W. Deller, K. Smith Attendance: 113,545 Norm Smith Medal: Wayne Harmes (Carl)

CARLTON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: W. Harmes, G. Southby, D. McKay HB: R. Klomp, B. Doull, P. McConville C: P. Francis, A. Jesaulenko (c), M. Young HF: W. Johnston, M. Maclure, T. Keogh F: M. Fitzpatrick, P. Brown, K. Sheldon R: P. Jones, B. Armstrong, J. Buckley Interchange: R. Austin, A. Marcou Coach: A. Jesaulenko Average age: 25 Average games: 106 1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 95

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STATS STARS STATSSTARS

1970-79

The 1970s were a time for durability and sharpshooters. Richmond star Kevin Bartlett and Carlton high flyer David McKay played the most games (224) and Collingwood’s deadly accurate Peter McKenna kicked the most goals (624).

MOST GAMES PLAYED GAMES PLAYER 1

CLUB/S

224

Kevin Bartlett

Richmond

224

David McKay

Carlton

3

222

John Rantall

South Melbourne/North Melbourne

4

216

Max Richardson

Collingwood/Fitzroy

5

214

Don Scott

Hawthorn

6

212

Gary Colling

St Kilda

7

210

Len Thompson

Collingwood/South Melbourne

8

209

Greg Wells

Melbourne

9

208

Francis Bourke

Richmond

208

Alan Martello

Hawthorn

MOST GOALS KICKED GOALS PLAYER

MIGHTY BLUES: Carlton captain John

CLUB/S

1 624

Peter McKenna

Collingwood/Carlton

2 542

Leigh Matthews

Hawthorn

3 481

Doug Wade

Geelong/North Melbourne

4 425

Peter Hudson

Hawthorn

6 403

Kevin Bartlett

Richmond

7 385

Kelvin Templeton Footscray

5 383

Robert Walls

Carlton/Fitzroy

8 336

Larry Donohue

Geelong

9 315

John Murphy

Fitzroy/South Melb/North Melbourne

Allan Davis

St Kilda/Melbourne/Essendon

315

Nicholls crashes through the banner before the 1970 Grand Final. The Blues won three premierships for the decade.

MOST BROWNLOW MEDAL VOTES VOTES* PLAYER

CLUB/S

Gary Dempsey

Footscray/North Melbourne

Keith Greig

North Melbourne

114.5

Leigh Matthews

Hawthorn

96.5

Kevin Bartlett

Richmond

1

162.5

2

115

3 4

Garry Wilson

Fitzroy

Greg Wells

Melbourne

Francis Bourke

Richmond

84

Peter Knights

Hawthorn

83

Gary Hardeman

Melbourne

82.5

Alex Jesaulenko

Carlton

96.5 6

92

7

89.5

8 9 10

* The introduction of two umpires in 1976 saw two sets of 3-2-1 votes awarded for each game during seasons 1976 and 1977. Votes for those seasons have been halved.

96 GREAT FOOTY DECADES | 1970s

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WIN/LOSS LADDER CLUB

P

W

L

D

SUCCESS FINALS FINALS RATE % WON

Carlton

238

160

74

4

67

18

Hawthorn

236

155

81

0

66

16

GFS

PREMS

9

4

3

11

4

3

Collingwood

240

153

84

3

64

20

6

4

0

Richmond

237

147

87

3

62

17

11

3

2

North Melbourne

243

126

114

3

52

23

12

6

2

St Kilda

230

105

122

3

46

10

5

1

0

Footscray

222

99

118

5

45

2

0

0

0

Essendon

223

93

127

3

42

3

0

0

0

Geelong

223

93

130

0

42

3

1

0

0

Fitzroy

222

89

132

1

40

2

1

0

0

Melbourne

220

73

146

1

33

0

0

0

0

South Melbourne

222

71

149

2

32

2

0

0

0

MOST GAMES COACHED GAMES COACH

XXXXXXXX: Xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxx.

CLUB/S

W

L

D

%

FINALS

GFS

PREMS

165

77

2

68

25

6

2

1

244

Tom Hafey

Richmond/Collingwood

2

223

Ron Barassi

Carlton/North Melbourne

148

73

2

66

26

7

3

3

164

John Kennedy

Hawthorn

108

56

0

66

10

3

2

164

Allan Jeans

St Kilda

88

76

0

54

10

1

0

5

136

Bob Rose

Collingwood/Footscray

75

58

3

55

4

1

0

6

112

Des Tuddenham

Essendon/South Melbourne

56

56

0

50

2

0

0

7

97

John Nicholls

Carlton

63

31

3

65

9

2

1

8

91

Rod Olsson

Geelong

45

46

0

49

3

0

0

9

88

Bob Skilton

Melbourne

28

60

0

32

0

0

0

10

84

Graham Donaldson Fitzroy

34

49

1

40

0

0

0

1970s | GREAT FOOTY DECADES 97

p096-097 Decades – 70s Stats Stars.indd 97

18/08/2016 5:14 pm

TEAM OF

ASHLEY BROWNE, BEN COLLINS and HOWARD KOTTON picked a formidable team of the ’70s.

THE DECADE T BACKS

DAVID DENCH NORTH MELBOURNE

GEOFF SOUTHBY CARLTON

HALF-BACKS

JOHN RANTALL SOUTH MELBOURNE/NORTH MELBOURNE

PETER KNIGHTS BRUCE DOULL

HAWTHORN

FRANCIS BOURKE RICHMOND

CARLTON

CENTRES

KEITH GREIG NORTH MELBOURNE

WAYNE SCHIMMELBUSCH GREG WELLS

NORTH MELBOURNE

MELBOURNE

HALF-FORWARDS ALEX JESAULENKO

MALCOLM BLIGHT

CARLTON

NORTH MELBOURNE

INTERCHANGE LEN THOMPSON

ROYCE HART

COLLINGWOOD/SOUTH MELBOURNE

RICHMOND

GARRY WILSON

FORWARDS

FITZROY

PETER McKENNA

KEVIN BARTLETT

COLLINGWOOD/CARLTON

RICHMOND

PETER HUDSON

FOLLOWERS

he sensational ’70s deserves a sensational All-Star team, and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered.

And the club that boasted the most sensational players of the decade was North Melbourne, which won its first premierships in 1975 and 1977.

Accordingly, nine Kangaroos made the squad, including emergency John Murphy and coach Ron Barassi, the latter enjoying premiership success at North and Carlton.

So North supplied the coach, No. 1 ruckman (Gary Dempsey), rover (Barry Cable), both wingmen (Keith Greig and Wayne Schimmelbusch), a half-forward (Malcolm Blight) and two last-line defenders (David Dench and John Rantall).

We could be accused of being a little top-heavy at the bookends of the field, but we felt it would have been a travesty to leave out our second picks for full-forward (Peter McKenna) and full-back (Geoff Southby), to play alongside Peter Hudson and Dench respectively.

Dench became a weapon at full-back with his dashing runs and long kicking, and Peter Knights’ superb aerial skills would also provide great rebound.

The brilliant Southby wasn’t quite as dynamic after the 1973 Grand Final, but he, Rantall and Bruce Doull would ensure difficult days for opposition forwards.

Our half-forward line is a rarity, boasting three players who had been sensations as key forwards – Royce Hart, flanked by Alex Jesaulenko and Blight. On-ballers Leigh Matthews and Cable would spend time forward, changing with Kevin Bartlett and Blight, and perhaps even Jesaulenko.

And in keeping with the spirit of the time, we’ve selected a team of 20.

EMERGENCIES JOHN MURPHY FITZROY/SOUTH MELBOURNE/ NORTH MELBOURNE

MICHAEL TUCK

HAWTHORN

HAWTHORN

DAVID McKAY CARLTON

COACH GARY DEMPSEY FOOTSCRAY/NORTH MELBOURNE

LEIGH MATTHEWS HAWTHORN

BARRY CABLE NORTH MELBOURNE

RON BARASSI CARLTON/NORTH MELBOURNE

Qualification: Must have played a minimum of 100 games in the 1970s.

98 GREAT FOOTY DECADES | 1970s

p098 Decades – 70s Team of the Decade.indd 98

18/08/2016 5:34 pm

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