The 1976 Flag - The Bittersweet Premiership

[moginie]

Once again, congratulations to all the contributors, especially Rusty & Grizzlym, who have done a great job recalling our past glory.
My memories are that of an 11 year old living in Sydney; rugby league mad but attracted to the strange game from the south. The previous year I’d had the true supporter’s nightmare – both my sides, St George & Hawthorn, getting absolutely murdered in their respective grand finals so when Hawthorn fronted up again I was determined to watch them get their revenge.
It was truly a great time to be a child in the mid 70’s. A very uncomplicated life punctuated by tons of sport. I played rugby league twice a week, for both school & club. A typical Saturday was:
10.00 Play match
12.00 Lunch, listen to the Goons
14.00 Watch first 5 minutes of VFL telecast. If Hawthorn was playing, or the weather was cruddy, that was the end of my afternoon. If not, out & kick a football until dinner.

I was learning more about the game too though I couldn’t work out how the players got away with some of the stuff they did. If they tried that in league they would have been rubbed out. One of my most vivid memories of the 76 GF is the Matthews hit on Grieg. What really fired me up though was the pace of the game. League was stop-start-stop-occasional run-stop. Aussie Rules had flowing movement. I was being seduced by that sport from the south & to top it off my team won! What a great time to see your team win a premiership – when you are just learning about the game & the players are larger than life. Martello, Knights, Matthews, Scott – giants & supermen in my young eyes. The only thing I can’t remember is any mention of Peter Crimmins. Of course we didn’t get any VFL news unless it was Saturday afternoon, so it was 3 years after he died that I found out why we didn’t have a number 5 guernsey any more. Ignorance may have played a part, but absence of reporting his death in the Sydney media certainly helped.

Well, the above may be lamer than a 3 legged dog, but it’s one of the reasons I became an Aussie Rules convert & a lover of the Hawthorn Football Club.

[grizzlym]

Originally Posted by moginie

Once again, congratulations to all the contributors, especially Rusty & Grizzlym, who have done a great job recalling our past glory.

Absolute pleasure. And now you're one of those contributors, so thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by moginie

Well, the above may be lamer than a 3 legged dog, but it’s one of the reasons I became an Aussie Rules convert & a lover of the Hawthorn Football Club.

Not lame at all. Always like a story of how the crusades reached far lands and pulled in converts.

[sherb]

It is interesting to read the stories relating to Peter Crimmins, I remember him pretty well having first started following the VFL in 1969/70.

Tough little blond headed bugger he was. And inspirational too. A tremendous player who led by example.

A point about his passing that I remember well was that it was only about a month or six weeks after another elite sportsman also died of cancer at a very young age (before the age of 30 as well I think) - New Zealand wicket-keeper Ken Wadsworth.

As a lover of both cricket and Aussie Rules I found it a particularly sad time.