Anecdotes Of Minor Leagues

[Mobbenfuhrer]

Considering the entertaining stories included in the thread about Tassie footy, I considered it might be worth its salt to have a thread devoted to unusual anecdotes from the lesser leagues. When I say lesser, I reckon perhaps we could just omit the AFL and the primary state leagues.

Obviously, I will be required to get the ball rolling here (you've probably already guessed that I'll be starting with the South Wimmera League) :

1) In 1938, SWFL Grand Finalists were Marnoo and Rupanyup. They drew the match, but there was an injury in the game which resulted in a fatality, and the Grand Final was replayed because of this.

2)1956 2nd semi-final (SWFL) : Marnoo defeated Stawell Warriors. Marnoo were in danger of being hauled during the final quarter, when, about 16 minutes in, the bell rang for the end of the match. There were rumours that the timekeeper(s) was/were drunk, and rang the bell long before time was up, and a protest was lodged by Warriors. That protest must have failed, however, as Marnoo still went straight into the Grand Final, while Warriors bombed out against Stawell Swifts the next week.

3) My Dad once regaled a story of a match at Glenorchy (Vic), probably between Glenorchy and Marnoo. The ball rolled out of a clash towards the boundary, but a fight broke out, a full-on all-in. At one stage, one of the players saw the ball lying still in play, and snuck out of the stoush to grab hold of it, and perhaps perform a bit of one-man magic. He was halted by a supporter who, leaning over the fence, shouted to him : "Forget the bloody ball. Get on with the game!"

Maybe you folks might have some stories of your own worth sharing.

[servo]

Grand Final in the late 80's early 90's Northern Metropolitan League in Adelaide saw Salisbury North play Salisbury West.

With about 3 minutes left on the clock Salisbury West were 1 point ahead. They slowed the game right down with feigned cramps and injuries, kicked backwards to keep posession and eventually lasted the game out.

The game had been close the whole way and emotions were very high. The West players were jubilant and North just trudged off in disbeleif at their narrow loss.

5-6 minutes after the siren the goal umpires were still in the middle of the ground trying to attract the attention of the field umpires. The scoreboard attendant had given a Sal. Nth point to Sal West early in the last 1/4 and nobody in the 5-6000 strong crowd seemed to have noticed.

The umpires quickly called both Team Managers over and explained that the result was actually the reverse of the scoreboard.

All players were in disbelief and the episode was probably the beginning of a 3 year slide for the league which collapsed in 1994.

[Mobbenfuhrer]

On that 'Almost footy legends' segment on an old, old Footy Show, there was a scene of a grand final siren going and a team all congratulating each other, but eventually finding that a free kick and 50m penalty had been paid to their opponents. All the fans hurried to get off the ground, and players rushed down the ground to take up defensive positions.

The recipient kicked truly, a goal from about 50 out, and the festivities were repeated by the opposing fans.

How's yer luck!

[mud n blood]

A mate of mine always tells the story of his one and only reserves game for Hawthorn at Waverley(?), where he took a mark on the boundary about 55 out.

He reckons that he was on such an angle that the goalposts appeared only marginally apart .... thus his kick actually got jammed between the two!!!

An oldie .... but always a goodie .....

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Anyway, that's what I reckon ........

mud n blood

[Mobbenfuhrer]

Jolly good show, Mud!

Campbells Creek lays claim to the highest ever score kicked : 100g 34b 634 against Primrose.

If any other club has scored more, I'd certainly like to hear about it!

[servo]

100 goals is the world record, no-one has kicked more.

Brahma Lodge kicked 51 & 54 in consecutive games against Blakeview in 1993 but that just pales in comparison.

[Mobbenfuhrer]

Fwoar not a bad effort for two matches!

I know Marnoo kicked a total of 9 points from their three grades once, seniors (1.0) reserves (0.2) and U16s (0.1). It's no record, but it's still etched in my memory as a black day for the Noo.

[mud n blood]

Capalaba Bombers got beaten 299 to 1 by Everton Park (Army) back in hmmmm .... 1987 I think.

The biggest flogging loss I played in was when we were beaten by Redlands 220-odd to 33 back in '91 or '90. Biggest wins .... 261-21, 279-14, 188-nil - how many games have you played in where one side was kept scoreless?

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Anyway, that's what I reckon ........

mud n blood

[Mobbenfuhrer]

I don't think I've even witnessed an open age match where one team or another remained scoreless. I think though, that at one stage during the 80s, Marnoo U16s might have dealt this ignominy out to opposing clubs. There were certainly some hidings, anyway, maybe not scoreless ones.

[Dynamite_Pie]

This year, YVMDFL - Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League (http://www.yvmdfl.com.au) - where I am a boundary umpire (http://www.netlink.com.au/~mitchell/yvmdflua.htm).

Round 3, 15th April, 2nd Division: Emerald v Boronia Park. Yes, this is a country league I am talking about!

(don't mind these little marks, I am just trying to line this up/space it out)

Seniors, Quarter by Quarter:
Emerald -|-|-|- 17.8 | 35.12 | 48.25 | 68.32.440 DEF
Boronia Park -|- 0.0 |- 1. 0 |-| 2. 0 |-| | 3.1.19
by 421 points.

Reserves, Quarter by Quarter:
Boronia Park- 2.3 8.4 10.11 14.15.99 DEF
Emerald -|-| | 2.9 7.11 8.13 12.15.87
by 12 points

What was the story? Well I'll quote from the Record:

For Boronia Park, "23 players ran on the track for five and a half hours just to field a team. When the Seniors players came to the ground to cheer on the Reserves, what they found was 11 players runnign onto the field. Without hesitation, these blokes donned their jumpers and joined them and the result was a great victory. With only a handful of fresh players for the Seniors, the Reserves players did not even ahve time for a celebration drink before they ran out to face a fresh opposition. At no time did they expect to be beaten in such a way but they kept going all day until their legs could not carry them any further."

"All year we will hear tales of heroics from the football world. However this tale another facet to it. Emerald will go down in history for kicking the highest ever score in the League. Their win will be talked about for years to come and the players will forver be attributed to that game. Yet Emerald Football Club did not sit back and savour greedily their win. The team or their supporters did not disappear for a huge celebration and laugh about the socre. As the Boronia Park Seniors limped off the ground arm in arm, most struggling to walk, they were greeted to rapturous applause from the crowd and the opposition. The President and the Coach of Emerald gave emotional speeches to the Boronia boys and spent a long time talking to each of the players. They were in fact treated as if they belonged to the Emerald Football Club."
<later>
"...Emerald saw in the faces of the 13 blokes who ran out for the last quarter, the pure essence of guts and determination and knew that lesser men would have given up."

Behind the story: the coach was sacked midweek and rang half the players telling them that the club no longer existed.

BTW, both teams are the Bombers, and wore pretty much the same jumpers that day. BP have changed since.

Gotta love country footy.

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Go to Football Victoria (http://www.footballvic.com.au) Total Footy (http://www.totalfootyaustralia.com) or The Pitch (http://www.netlink.com.au/~mitchell/dougcricket.html)

[This message has been edited by Dynamite_Pie (edited 28 November 2000).]

[Mobbenfuhrer]

How tearful! That's the stuff of movies.

So did Boronia Park go into recess after this match or season, or did they limp on to fight another day?

Dynamite_Pie : I dub thee 'grousest anecdote-provider of the thread'.

[Woofer]

That Emerald game got lots of press in the Melbourne papers. I'm sure Boronia Park finished off the year although I don't think they had a win. What a tremendous team spirit they must have - I found myself looking for their score after that. Go Parkers !

Back to the big score stuff - I'm sure I can remember Williamstown U19s kicking, I think, 110 goals against Geelong West U19s in the old VFA U19s some 20 years ago. I also was involved in Moorabbin U19s kicking 64 goals v Yarraville U19s in the same comp in 1984 and that game was abandoned half way thru the final Qtr when the field umpire was struck by a player. I remember it distinctly because I was the field umpire !

[Mobbenfuhrer]

Inhibiting a possible record, Woofer, geeze :-P~~

Ahh but isn't hands on-experience a boon when reciting an old footy story. I can only pass on hearsay, I've never personally been involved.

Unless perhaps if you could count the day I and 'Whitney' rotated centre-half back with full back for Fitzroy Cheer Squad versus Melbourne Cheer Squad at Junction Oval one year. The Melbourne full-forward was on so much fire that we eventually decided to double-team him, and he continued taking speccies over the two of us, unperturbed.

We discovered later he was playing with a fractured leg.

I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that it was the day after a rare Fitzroy win, and I was considerably hungover.

Is that enough of an excuse? Anyways, we got flogged.

[servo]

I played a season for Brahma Lodge D Grade in 1979. I can still remember the long torpedo by Micky Butler against Eastern Park. Our only goal for the season. We celebrated that night.


I know we have all hypothesised about the situation where one team doesn't show and the other team plays without them only to kick a point. As there is no-one to kick out the quarter is over.

Well it happened one year in the Central District Football Association. Easter Park refused to take thge field in the second half against Salisbury because they felt they were not being protected by the umpires. The 3rd quarter started without them but Salisbury only kicked 2 goals before kicking a point. They sat out the last 20 minutes of the quarter waiting for the siren.

[Dynamite_Pie]

Originally posted by Mobbenfuhrer:
How tearful! That's the stuff of movies.

So did Boronia Park go into recess after this match or season, or did they limp on to fight another day?

Dynamite_Pie : I dub thee 'grousest anecdote-provider of the thread'.

wow, thanks mobbenfuhrer. <accepts the prize gratefully> because it only happened this year, i could tell the story in so much depth. but even then, only because i am an umpire in the league could i tell the whole story. a lot of people knew about it from the paper, so thats good for the league. nicky winmar was also in the paper at least once (played for Warburton-Millgrove), and he was on the footy show too, when he "made up" with sam newman.

as far as i know, boronia park are still alive for next season.

In Seniors and Reserves they finished 2nd last on the ladder, above Powelltown, who are just keeping their heads above water in terms of survival.

Seniors
played 18 won 3 lost 15 pts for 903 agst 2801 % 32.2

they beat Powelltown twice, and sth belgrave once.

Reserves
played 18 won 3 lost 15 pts for 912 agst 2183 5 41.8

obviously beat emerald once, and probably powelltown twice.

they didn't forfeit any games.

ROFLMAO @ servo's anecdote.

[Mobbenfuhrer]

I found another entry for the 'you think you guys are bad' discussion, once again relating to the Lexton Football League, but this time between Avoca and Landsborough, in 1997.

Seniors :
Avoca 10.5 22.12 30.14 38.19.247
Lands 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1.1
Gawd there would been veins explodin' all over the Hawks' noggins as they struggled to post at least that one minor score in the final quarter! Mind you, Avoca probably had the assistance of Jim Jess, who was captain coach around this era.

Reserves :
Avoca 25.23.173
Lands 0.0.0

U16s :
Avoca 21.12.138
Lands 0.0.0

Grousest thing is, Landsborough were STILL competing in 2000, in the merged Western Plains FL, and they're still getting floggings, but hopefully not all of them to the measure of the above.

[mud n blood]

Not so much an anecdote of a minor league .... but rather an except from the 1947 National Carnival programme held in Hobart. In the programme are substantial writeups on each carnival since 1908.

To set the scene .... the 1924 carnival in Hobart. Day 1 : NSW 16-22-118 d Qld 6-3-39 , Day 2 : SA 37-46-268 d Qld 4-2-26 , Day 6 : Tas 33-25-223 d Qld 3-7-25 , Day 7 : WA 43-19-277 d Qld 2-1-13 .... needless to say things hadn't been going very well for the bananalanders !!!!

However .... Day 9 : Victoria v Queensland ....

"In the Victoria v Queensland match Victoria made no attempt to break the record, the penalty for kicking a goal being a transfer to the back line. The full-back, wingmen and half-backs kicked their share of the general quota of goals and then cheerfully returned to the other end of the field to give someone else an opportunity. Queensland was assisted in every way possible and often a Victorian shepherded a Queenslander so that he could score. At the end of the third term every Victorian except Tandy and Wilson had scored a major and, consequently, these two were sent up forward. The Queenslanders had raised a large score, mainly owing to the assistance of the Victorians. A few minutes before time Tandy and Wilson each goaled after several attempts."

Now that's sportsmanship !!!!



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Anyway, that's what I reckon ........

mud n blood

[mud n blood]

Oh ..... forgot .... Vic 31-23-209 d Qld 17-12-114.

[Dynamite_Pie]

Originally posted by mud n blood:
Now that's sportsmanship !!!!


yeah, but that's not how you play footy!

[Mobbenfuhrer]

Aye, it's noo hoo you make porridge!

[Coadster]

Originally posted by servo:
I know we have all hypothesised about the situation where one team doesn't show and the other team plays without them only to kick a point. As there is no-one to kick out the quarter is over.

Well it happened one year in the Central District Football Association. Easter Park refused to take thge field in the second half against Salisbury because they felt they were not being protected by the umpires. The 3rd quarter started without them but Salisbury only kicked 2 goals before kicking a point. They sat out the last 20 minutes of the quarter waiting for the siren.

The umpire must have been an idiot. Under the laws of the game, if the team incorrectly (overstep the goal square) or fails to bring the back into play within a reasonable time, it is a bounce on the kickoff line.

[mud n blood]

Found it .... try this one for the worst day in a club's history (on-field) !!!

10/8/86

1sts- Williamstown 55-17-347 d Camberwell 4-8-32
2nds- Williamstown 60-22-382 d Camberwell 3-7-25
3rds- Williamstown 57-34-376 d Camberwell 1-1-7

That's a total of 1105 pts to 64 for the day !!!

And in 1987 in U/19s, Frankston belted Geelong West 92-30-582 to nil !!!

I vaguely recall a score from somewhere in Victoria(?) back around 1993/94 of 634 being registered.

[Mobbenfuhrer]

The 634 was probably about ten years ago, dunno for sure :

Maryborough-Castlemaine District FL :
Cambpell's Creek 100.34.634
Primrose 3.0.18

Primrose folded after the 1994 season.

Campbell's Creek only has one flag to its name, Primrose had 3.

It is generally respected as the highest ever competition score.

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Hallowed be thy Roy

[smithy]

For what its worth with freakish results. when I was in Victoria, the Crib Point 1st's and 2nd's tied there games on the same day, against who and what scores I am unsure.