Collingwood v Essendon Queen’s Birthday 12 June 1972

Queen’s Birthday 12 June 1972

Collingwood v. Essendon

 

The day Des Tuddenham first returned to Victoria Park as Captain Coach of Essendon was truly one of the great Collingwood Essendon clashes.

 

I remember the day as a 14 year old quite vividly. It was a Public Holiday. It was a cloudless winter sky and the sun shone unhindered all day.

 

I put 20 Electrifying Hits on the stereo listening to Elton John singing Country Comfort and Country Radio singing Gypsy Queen as I counted down the time to 11.30 am when the family started the trek to Victoria Park from the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

 

Des Tuddenham said the 44,000 strong gave him a warm welcome , the same as they had done for Bob Rose some weeks earlier as Tuddy trod onto the Vic Park turf for the first time as an enemy. Well, Des may think that, but all I know is I heard one of the loudest boos I have ever hear emanating from the Sherrin Stand as he led the black and red heathens onto the ground.

 

Essendon were the glamour team of 1972 and were in the five as they headed into this round. The Pies had struggled for consistency and were still a game and half out of the five on 22 points from 10 games. They had started to put together some semblance of teamwork in the last few weeks having thrashed Geelong and South Melbourne in consecutive weeks after Bob Rose’s Footscray had gotten the points at Victoria Park some weeks earlier.

 

Robert Rose, Bob’s son had stood out of football for the last 4 weeks and had twice asked for a clearance to Footscray and had been twice refused.

 

John Greening was having his best year and was leading or near the top of all awards after his move into the centre in 1972.

 

This was a game that had everything. Gates were torn open, fences broken, spectators risked their lives and fires were lit in an amazing series of events. Health official closed the gates at 1 pm but this didn’t stop spectators breaking into the ground and getting free admission.

 

Peter Lucas the Collingwood General Manager said it was the worst case of crowd behaviour he could ever remember. In particular he said he was disgusted with the behaviour of the cheer squad. and with the incident in the second quarter when the Essendon cheer squad floggers and streamers were set alight.
The game had to be stopped for 10 minutes as the crowd swarmed onto the ground to get away from the fire which had spread 80 metres along the fence. It was revenge for an incident before the game when an Essendon supporter charged through the Collingwood run through. He was chased by angry Collingwood supporters who then ran to the Essendon run-through and tore it apart.

 

But bigger than all this was the football itself.

 

The game was greatly anticipated and it did not let the fans down. After the third quarter of the Carlton game at Princes Park in 1969, this game produced one of the most electrifying quarters of football I have ever had the privilege of witnessing.

 

In the dressing rooms before the game Neil Mann refused to mention Des Tuddenham’s name. He said he wanted the Magpies to play Essendon, not Tuddenham.- and that is just what they did.

 

The Magpies started slowly and held a small lead going in to quarter time. The second quarter was much the same until the streamers caught fire. After that incident the Dons scored a couple of goals as they went to a 15 point lead and everyone was thinking the Bombers may run away with the game in the second half.

 

But the third quarter commenced with the Pies kicking to the Yarra Falls end. At the conclusion of the quarter the Magpies had kicked 10-3-63 to the Bombers’ 1-3-9 and had sprinted to a 38 point lead with scintillating team work as they produced classic run on football to completely demoralise Essendon.

 

Len Thompson dominated the ruck in a best on ground display, Max and Wayne Richardson and Barry Price took it away and delivered it to the forwards. And Peter McKenna dominated kicking 7 goals for the quarter in a game where he ended up with 13 goals.

 

Even Ian McOrist was a good player as his opponent Barry Davis complained “this guy just keeps running all over the ground, he never keeps still”! Maybe McOrist was playing 21st century football!

 

I have vivid memories of Ronnie Wearmouth and John Greening streaming down the outer wing and either chipping to or handballing over to Peter McKenna as the Magpies decimated Essendon.

 

Doug Gott was playing as a great foil at centre half forward chipping in for three goals, and Con Britt and Jeff Clifton and Daryl Salmon were impassable in defence setting up many forward thrusts in the third quarter.

 

The amazing run of goals in the third quarter left even the match committee aghast such was the surgical precision and excitement of the standard of play.

 

The Collingwood machine ground the Bombers into the ground with another great quarter in the last to run out 55 point winners.

 

Tommy Sherrin said after the game “it was the finest game I have ever seen Collingwood play” in an emotional speech to hundreds of supporters in the dressing room. Thompson’s stats were 19 kicks, 11 marks two handpasses and 37 ruck tap outs out of a game total for both sides of 42. Thompson was forced to ruck unchanged all day due to Graeme Jenkin getting injured early in the game and Bob Heard missing with injury.

 

It was a supporter frenzy in the dressing rooms afterwards, with fans throwing in hundreds of dollars for the players and loudly cheering each word uttered by any Collingwood official and the trophy winners that day, Thompson, McKenna and classy wingman Alan Atkinson.

 

After the game Tuddy said the Magpies are always hard to beat out here! His return had been a nightmare. He said the roar of the crowd was intimidating in the third quarter. It was one of the loudest roars I have heard which was only equalled again the day Starcevich kicked 2 goals in 2 minutes in the last quarter against Carlton at the MCG in 1988, when Rupert Betheras scored a goal in Q3 v Brisbane at Etihad Stadium in 2002 and later that year when Rocca scored in the PF against Adelaide in the Q3.

 

Thankfully the one quarter they showed that night on the football replay on Channels 7 and 9 was the third quarter.

 

And after watching this game from the stands Robert Rose decided to play out the season with the Magpies.

 

The Pies went on to play well with occasional lapses for the rest of the season but suffered the blows of losing John Greening only three weeks later to Jim O’Dea’s cowardly behind-the-play blow and losing Peter McKenna for the finals which thwarted their finals campaign where they went out in straight sets.

 

The scores

 

Collingwood v Essendon

Q1: 3.4.22           2.2.14
Q2: 5.5.35           7.9.51
Q3: 15.8.98.       8.12.60
Q4: 23.10.148   13.15.93

 

Goalkickers

McKenna 13, Gott 3, Wearmouth 2, M. Richardson 2, W. Richardson, Greening McOrist

 

Best

Thompson, McKenna, Britt Atkinson Price Oborne Salmon Wayne Richardson, Greening, McOrist.

 

 

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About

Magpie Fan since 1965. Have attended 938 Collingwood games between 1965-2022. The Beatles are Gods.

Comments

  1. Colin Ritchie says

    Thanks for reminding me of that game Magpie Greg! As a Bomber supporter it was one of the worst losses I’ve ever experienced the Bombers suffer. It was absolutely chocka block on the the day. I stood with my mate behind the goals at the Kew end, had to drink a lot of tinnie’s quickly to have something to stand on to see. I remember well the floggers on fire and everyone trying to move but couldn’t, but worst of all was the rain of goals from Mc Kenna, he was unstoppable. Tough day for Tuddy! It was the first time I’d been to Victoria Park and didn’t return for many years.

  2. MagpieGreg says

    HI Colin

    I went to the return game at Windy Hill in R 22 1972 when the Bombers got home by 5 points. It was jam packed that day too and Blethyn kicked 5. McKenna kicked 8 with a dodgy hamstring and then missed the finals. Bombers had to win to make the finals.

    The footy seemed a lot more exciting in those days, but that is what all old people say!

  3. Good stuff Greg. It was a pleasant sunny day. I remember listening to 3GL that day, as Geelong beat North at VFL Park. Round 11, their first win for the season !

    I recall watching the replay on the old B&W TV that night, also seeing the news showing ‘highlights’ of the burning floggers. Parents got the Herald that night: I reckon the image was emblazoned on the front page, or at least I have memories of seeing images of this.

    You didn’t put up Essendon goal kickers, not my job to do it, but one worthwhile point. Geoff Blethyn kicked 7 for Essendon. This was the fifth bag of 7 he’d dobbed in only half season. The week after he kicked even more goals, though once again Essendon got rolled. He finished the year with a ton, then went to WA as there were more $$ offered.

    Glen!

  4. As a Bomber I remember that day all to well … because I did NOT get to see the game. Gates were still open when we got there, but the news was that the ground was jam-packed, so we turned around and walked back to the pub near where we had parked, keeping our red-and-black loyalty quiet for the rest of the afternoon as the locals in the bar cheered along with the radio commentary.

  5. Great article and great memories.

    This game was on Saturdat 16 June 1973.

  6. Sorry 1972

  7. Magpie Greg says

    No it was a Queens Birthday Monday 13 Jim 1972

  8. Magpie Greg says

    Monday June 12 1972

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