View Full Version : 1953 at footscray
mountain roy
14 Nov 2007, 14:17
hello fellow roydudes,
has any one ever seen footage of the 1953 game at the western oval, when the ground was flooded and if it wasnt for alan ruthven kicking a goal off the ground in the last quarter we wouldnt have scored at all. i have a very vague memory of seeing ruthven kicking the goal on tv years ago but im not 100% sure. ruthven said it was the only goal hed seen that went through on a wave.
has anyone seen this or am i mistaking my fitzroy dreams with fitzroy reality again??
Palace03
14 Nov 2007, 14:43
I think I recall Charlie Sutton telling a story about a Fitzroy player being knocked out and face down, and that there was so much water on the ground he nearly drowned.
Remember Stanlake
14 Nov 2007, 17:28
hello fellow roydudes,
has any one ever seen footage of the 1953 game at the western oval, when the ground was flooded and if it wasnt for alan ruthven kicking a goal off the ground in the last quarter we wouldnt have scored at all. i have a very vague memory of seeing ruthven kicking the goal on tv years ago but im not 100% sure. ruthven said it was the only goal hed seen that went through on a wave.
has anyone seen this or am i mistaking my fitzroy dreams with fitzroy reality again??
I don't think it was until 1957 that a Footscray home and away game was televised live on TV. There is no indication that this game was covered by television and I'm sure if there was, it would have surfaced by now. I've no doubt the Western Bulldogs would love to get their hands on a copy if this was not the case.
Captain Sensible
15 Nov 2007, 11:21
I've got a feeling that I've seen the footage.
There was no game in '53 when Fitzroy only scored one goal.
MaroonBoy
16 Nov 2007, 08:56
There was no game in '53 when Fitzroy only scored one goal.
Today
Round 5, 1953, Footscray versus the Roys in the 'Match of the Day' in front of 14,000 at the Western Oval. Dogs kicked ten goals, the Roys one.
Captain Sensible
16 Nov 2007, 08:58
There was no game in '53 when Fitzroy only scored one goal.
Round 5
Footscray Bulldogs 10.6 (66) Fitzroy Lions 1.0 (6) Western Oval 14,087 23 May 1953
It rained for days beforehand and the story I got told when I was a kid was that Charlie Sutton stuck a mop head down the drainage system a couple of days before the game to make sure the ground was a quagmire.
Benno From Berwick
16 Nov 2007, 15:34
My old man was at the game and tells the story that Fitzroy kicked a goal with about 1 minute to go.....kick off the ground. Towards the tennis courts...
Apologies. I must have gone cross-eyed when looking at the stats which is a worry as it usually only happens on the golf course.
MaroonBoy
18 Nov 2007, 14:42
It rained for days beforehand and the story I got told when I was a kid was that Charlie Sutton stuck a mop head down the drainage system a couple of days before the game to make sure the ground was a quagmire.
Having Charlie Sutton do the deed sounds awfully like a Doggies 'urban myth'. (Mind you, with their dour history and poor record since the 20s, they need a few good myths to liven things up).
George Coates, who played in the game and later became an adminstrator for the club, told me in an interview in 2004 that the blockage had to do with the Geelong Road overpass being built at the time - one of its new walls impeded the drainage pipes running from the ground. The rains came tumbling down, the water couldn't drain away, it backed up and flooded most of the ground to a depth of 10-15 cm.
There is another, totally unsubstantiated rumour, that the Fitzroy players were a little the worse for wear, after a big Friday night. Apparently, according to that rumour, they thought the game would be called off. It's been said that about one third of the ground was a lake.
My recollection of the goal was that Ruthven sharked a hitout from a throwin in the forward pocket and kicked truly with less than a minute to go. I also seem to recollect seeing grainy footage of it, but that could be imagination.