Footscray-Richmond matches of 1958, 1979 and 1989 - three remarkably parallel pairs

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mianfei

Club Legend
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One of the most remarkable facets of VFL/AFL history that I have noted for a long time is the striking parallel between the following three pairs of games between Richmond and Footscray:

1958:

Code:
Round 2 (Punt Road, April 19):
Richmond     7-4 (46)    12-5 (77)    17-10 (112)  21-12 (138)
[COLOR=Blue]Footscray    2-2 (14)    10-6 (66)    12-7 (79)    14-12 (96)[/COLOR]

Round 13 (Western Oval, July 19):
[COLOR=Blue]Footscray    5-1 (31)     6-1 (37)     8-7 (55)    14-12 (96)[/COLOR]
Richmond     0-4 (4)      1-5 (11)     2-8 (20)     2-11 (23)

1979:
Code:
Round 8 (MCG, May 26):
Richmond     6-8 (44)    10-15 (75)   17-23 (125)  22-26 (158)
[COLOR=Blue]Footscray    3-2 (20)     6-7 (66)     8-7 (55)    12-13 (85)[/COLOR]

Round 19 (Western Oval, August 11):
[COLOR=Blue]Footscray    3-5 (23)     7-13 (55)   10-13 (73)   13-19 (97)[/COLOR]
Richmond     1-1 (7)      3-2 (20)     5-3 (33)     6-5 (41)

1989:
Code:
Round 2 (MCG, April 8):
Richmond     6-0 (36)    10-3 (63)    21-8 (134)   24-12 (156)
[COLOR=Blue]Footscray    6-5 (41)     8-5 (53)     9-6 (60)    13-10 (88)[/COLOR]

Round 20 (Western Oval, August 19):
[COLOR=Blue]Footscray    5-7 (37)     7-8 (50)    12-10 (73)   15-17 (107)[/COLOR]
Richmond     1-1 (7)      3-5 (23)     3-8 (26)     3-11 (29)

The striking thing about these three pairs of games is:
  1. That in all six games, Footscray's score was within an extraordinarily narrow range (from 85 to 107 points)
  2. But Richmond were in the words of Stephen Rodgers' 1986 The Complete Book of VFL Records, "not so consistent".
    1. As can be seen, Richmond kicked in the three home games an average of 150 points
    2. However, in the later Western Oval games the Tigers could kick a total of only eleven goals twenty-seven behinds, or an average of thirty-one points!
  3. In fact, in all three years Richmond's score at the Western Oval ranked among the eight lowest scores of that season:
    1. their 1958 score there was the second lowest for the season
    2. their 1979 score there was the third lowest for that season but the lowest against any side other than Collingwood
  4. Both Footscray's 1958 and 1989 wins at the Western Oval were at the time their biggest ever over Richmond (not broken until 2006).
If one looks at the ladders for 1958, 1979 and 1989, one sees that this cannot explain the reversals; viz:

1958:
10. Richmond (7 wins, 11 losses; 1425 points for 1611 points against)
11. Footscray (6 wins, 12 losses; 1401 points for, 1440 points against)
1979:
8. Richmond (9 wins, 13 losses, 2451 points for; 2512 against)
9. Footscray (7 wins, 14 losses, one draw; 2015 points for, 2463 against)
1989:
13. Footscray (6 wins, 15 losses, one draw; 1614 points for, 1855 against)
14. Richmond (5 wins, 17 losses, 1725 points for; 2434 points against)

Wet weather likewise cannot explain Richmond's low scores at the Western Oval. The 1958 and 1989 games were played on perfectly dry days or nearly so. Even in 1979, when Round 19 was played in shocking conditions as I recall from reading Age microfilm, Round 8 was the wettest day of the season before that and Richmond still had 48 shots at goal with Cloke unstoppable at centre-half forward.

In wonder if there are any people other than me who have noticed the striking parallels between there three pairs of games (as I have ever since 1989)?

Anybody have some thoughts on the matter, or, better still, does anyone actually recall all these games and notice the parallels??
 

Ron The Bear

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Regarding 1989 (R20) - the side fielded by Richmond that day was the least experienced VFL/AFL team of the last 37 years, with an average of just 27 matches each. Michael Pickering was the nominal veteran at 25, playing his 100th game. The players were two years younger on average than those in the R2 team, which was the oldest fielded by Richmond for the season. A grim day for the club - among the worst performances I've seen - and a portent of the battle for survival that it was soon to face. Footscray themselves were on the brink of the Fitzroy merger announcement.

1979 (R19) - it was indeed very wet; I stood in the rain with my old man throughout in probably the most miserable day I've ever spent at the footy. Michael Roach, who'd emerged as a superstar that year and kicked 10 the previous week, was rendered completely ineffective by the downpour and got dragged. He kicked 35 goals in his next four games against the Dogs. Totally outplayed in abnormally wet conditions.
 

mianfei

Club Legend
May 10, 2009
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Carlton North
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St Kilda
Very interesting notes about these games. I actually knew that the 1989 side at the Western Oval had an average of only 27 senior games each with such players as Lee, Weightman, Mitchell, Egan and so on subject to long-term injuries. Mark Lee played in both of the 1979 games and the first of 1989 - being along with Doug Hawkins the only players to have played in both years.

The 1979 pair is probably the least alike of the three - in part because of what followed it in 1980, when as you point out Richmond won both Footscray games by over 100 points, but also because of the weather conditions, which for both games were much wetter than the 1958 and 1989 pairs (Round 8, as I said, was the wettest day of the first 18 weeks of 1979 and 10 millimetres of rain fell, yet Richmond still had four times as many scoring shots as in the Round 19 game).

Your point about Roach being dragged is something I had not read of before, but in the Round 8 game Richmond kicked 22 goals 26 without Roach playing at all! Bartlett and Cloke both kicked five, and regular defender Emmett Dunne three. To kick such a score in the wet without a leading forward furnishes evidence Richmond circa 1980 had the most powerful attack in V/AFL history, and even with their modest placing in 1979 their forward line made them a very dangerous opponent. It makes Footscray's feats in the Round 19 clash look, even with the wet weather, as good as those at the Western Oval in 1958 and 1989.
 

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Ron The Bear

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Not really related, but another memory from that 1979 WO match was that the ground was so muddy that no line markings were visible from the outer; yet the field umpire (whose name was **********, I was led to believe by the Richmond supporters around me) was apparently able to see from his superior centre square vantage point that Emmett Dunne put a toe over the line when kicking out after a behind. From that day I've never believed the umpires' spiel that they do not receive indications from the goal umpire regarding these infringements.

Can't remember why, but I missed the earlier game that year. Roach was sidelined by an injury suffered while playing for Victoria (despite hailing from Tassie) in a SoO match, which was to cost him the goalkicking title (and a retrospective Coleman Medal).
 

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