Local Footy: Greeny and Unicorns delight after Grand Final win over Oakleigh

By Rod Oaten

I was in a dilemma on Saturday morning, two Grand Finals on either side of town: Fitzroy playing out Essendon way and Melbourne High School Old Boys playing Oakleigh down at Sandringham. The north wind was blowing a tornado-like gale, so I planned the ride on the bike from Carlton North to Sandy to watch the “Old Boys” and then catch the train home. How’s that for fair weather riding?
It’s a pretty swish bike path down around those bayside suburbs, and the riding was easy with that gale behind me.  I have been to the Sandy footy ground  a few times before for VFA and Ammo games and it’s always good to enter  and see dozens of footies being kicked on the ground before the big game starts.

Oakleigh, is this the reincarnation of the Oakleigh VFA club that used to run around in a purple jumper with gold OFC on the front and gold collar and cuffs?  Is this the club that was known as the Violet Crumbles?
Oakleigh’s  jumper has changed to vertical red white and blue and they
call themselves “The Krushers”  (their spelling). MHSOB, I have
followed them since leaving school a “few years ago” through the various grades from A to lowly E as it was then called. So it’s a C-grade Grand  Final between the Unicorns and the Krushers.

One of the first people I see is Colin Green. He is MHSOB. He taught at the school , played footy for the Old Boys for years and when he retired became the driving force behind the club for decades. He is a big man with a big voice and has seen the club go up and down in the Ammo competition over those years.
MHSOB start the game kicking with the hurricane and by quarter-time have a big lead and Greeny is looking tense. “Oakleigh have the wind, and we need to stop them scoring,” he says.

By half time MHS have done just that, they are harder at the ball,  keep possession of it and defend ferociously, they even score a couple of goals against the wind and by half-time have increased their big lead.  Colin is earnestly talking about the game to a group of Old Boys but still looks
pretty tense.

The third quarter starts, the wind is just as strong and MHS score a quick goal, but the Krushers come back with three unanswered goals against the hurricane. Their was a sickening head clash and High School’s Josh Richmond left the ground looking decidedly worse for wear. Melbourne rose to the challenge, the team lifted , and piled on more goals.

By three quarter time MHSOB had a commanding lead, but the Krushers still had that wind.  Greeny reckoned if  MHS could hold on and stop Oakleigh in the first ten minutes we would be OK. And so they did even though the Krushers got some late goals, the Cup was ours.

The MHSOB team played tough relentless footy and some of the better players were Roger McIntyre, a mountain of a man, J. Tran , a gutsy little rover, the Hamilton-Ho brothers, Brain, Thompson, White. Apologies for those left out, it was a true team effort.
There was a pretty big smile on the the “Big Man Green”.
Next year it’s B grade for the club that play their games on one of the prettiest footy grounds in Melbourne, the Melbourne High oval, and Greeny will be there.