The unsurprising lede of almost every story on Friday night’s Giants v Hawks game at Manuka Oval was something along the lines of: “Snow falls at AFL game for the first time.”
While this is an accurate description of the event – thanks to the well-documented snowfall in the first quarter and the little flurry in the third – most of the media coverage ignored a number of other records that were set during the historic evening in Canberra.
Such records included:
* Fewest number of spectators paying attention to the ball during the final 10 minutes of any first quarter in AFL history.
* Highest percentage of spectators simultaneously taking videos of the sky during the play of an AFL game.
* Highest percentage of attendees leaving the ground before the end of the first half.
* Highest percentage of attendees wondering why Chad Wingard – a man who wore long sleeves many times during his tenure at Port Adelaide – wasn’t wearing long sleeves during a game.
* Most layers of clothing being worn by Auskickers during their matches at half-time.
* Most hoodies being worn under jerseys by Auskickers during their matches at half-time.
* Fewest pairs of shorts being worn by Auskickers during their matches at half-time.
* Most raucous laughter directed towards vendors of a slushy and soft serve van.
* Highest number of times a player born in an Ethiopian refugee camp backed into a contest with Shane Mumford running the other direction.
* Fewest marks inside 50 by a team – per afltables, the Giants managed 1, to Jeremy Cameron.
* Lowest percentage of inside 50s resulting in marks – the Giants went 1 for 42 at a rate of 2.38%. For perspective, the league average is 21.36%, and the Hawks on the night marked 12.31%.
* Lowest score ever posted by Greater Western Sydney – 29, breaking the previous record of 31 v Hawthorn in Round 15, 2012.
* Most surprising Hawks victory over the Giants.
* Highest percentage of Hawks fans at an AFL game who started to believe that life after Hodge, Mitchell, Rioli, Lewis, Birchall, and Roughead just might be ok one day…
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 2.1 4.1 4.2 4.5 (29)
HAWTHORN 3.1 6.2 10.5 13.7 (85)
GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Kennedy, Hately, Cameron, Deledio
Hawthorn: O’Brien 2, Puopolo 2, Bruest 2, Lewis 2, Scully, Nash, Smith, Wingard, Henderson
BEST
Greater Western Sydney: Greene, Whitfield, Williams, Perryman, Taranto
Hawthorn: Worpel, Shiels, Sicily, Wingard, Smith, Ceglar
Crowd: 11,741
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About Edward P. Olsen
EPO is equally passionate about sport and sports writing. While others toil away at the local indoor sports centre re-living their futile childhood dreams of being one of the best of all time, he types away at home re-living his futile childhood dream of being one of the world’s great columnists.
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Love it, EPO. Especially enjoyed the line, “Most raucous laughter directed towards vendors of a slushy and soft serve van.” They were, on the night, the embodiment of optimism!
Great stuff Ed, it did have an eerie other-worldly feel about the night and game. Not the least because of the score-line. I reckon Clarko’s efforts could have made it into your Olsen Book of Records. He certainly ran off the charts for either most chipper or daft (as a Hawker, I’m going with chipper) coaching tactics prior to and during a game of footy. But man, what a win. As Costanza would say, we’re back baby, we’re back.
Cheers