2014 Round 29, Three quarter time.

27th September Birthdays.

 

   Les Bartlett 1949, Paul Bevan 1984.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Chris Naish, born 27th September 1971.

From 1990 to 1997 Chris was on Richmonds list and played 143 games for 212 goals.

An All Australian under 17 player, he came from a strong Aussie rules area in Wangaratta and proved his value at the Tigers.  His creative forward play saw him rewarded with state selection for Victoria and he played every game for 3 seasons at Richmond ('94-'96).

1998, however, found him wearing a Port Adelaide jersey and he was with them for 2 years kicking 16 goals from 18 games.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

 

Graham Farmer – Sandover Medallist.

Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer was always a great footballer.  He started playing first grade with East Perth in 1953 and from then until 1961 played in 176 games for 157 goals.

His quality can be seen from his personal achievements which include 7 times Best and Fairest, 3 time premiership player and an incredible 31 state games for Western Australia.

He also won the Sandover medal 3 times, 1956 and 1960 and  1957 which was awarded retrospectively.

In the early 1960’s he moved to Geelong where he continued his great form and also played state football for Victoria.

Source:  AFL Record Season Guide 2013 & Wikipedia.

Suburban Clubs.

At the time of Australian Rules football being developed Melbourne was not very spread out so most of the grounds were within walking distance of one another or maybe a short tram or train ride (excluding Geelong).

This meant that the clubs were also contained within a rather limited area and in fact around 1900 66% of Melbournes population lived in a suburb/municipality that had a VFL team.

Over the years, as the population grew, people started to move out to new expanding suburbs and by 1947 only 33% of people lived in a suburb with its own VFL team and by 1961 this number had dropped to 21%.

Nowadays of course, with a national competition this figure would be very low.

Source: The Old Dark Navy Blues by Lionel Frost.

 

1897 Finals Summary.

Going into the finals series in 1897 all the teams had played 14 matches with Geelong and Essendon both winning 11 but Geelong on top due to percentage.

Melbourne had won 10 games for the season and Collingwood 9. But as everyone knows finals are a force unto themselves.

So, at the end of the three week round robin draw Essendon had won all 3 games, Geelong 2, Collingwood 1 and Melbourne 0 meaning that Essendon became the first VFL Premiers.

Incidentally, the other teams in the league at the time were Carlton, St.Kilda, South Melbourne and Fitzroy.

Source:   Wikipedia..

 

 

3 X 30 at Collingwood.

Charles Utting played 125 games at Collingwood and kicked 17 goals between 1943 and 1950.

Though he was a hard at it player and a good user of the ball he perfected his craft as a back pocket until given the opportunity to play in the centre.

His persistence paid off however, as he was selected in that position for the state side in the 1950 national carnival.

Peter Moore also featured in the mid field for Collingwood but was very different to the in and under Utting as he was a 198cm ruckman.

An agile ‘big man’ he was first played as a forward but later got the mantle of first ruck and from 1974 to 1982 was in 172 games for 193 goals.

Captaining the club at one stage, he was Best and Fairest in ’79 and ’80 and won the Brownlow Medal in 1979.

He won another Brownlow after moving to Melbourne in 1983.

James Manson would have just about followed Peter Moore into the #30 as he was with the Magpies from 1985 to 1992 for 120 games and 106 goals.

He was also a ruckman and although he had a strong mark his kicking sometimes let him down.  Representing Tasmania in a state game against Victoria B he was a member of Collingwoods 1990 flag winning side.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers & AFL Tables.