Opinion As a newer fan what do I need to know about the Saints

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St Kilda Senators

St Kilda Senators

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Mar 28, 2021
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AFL Club
St Kilda
Hi all.

You may have seen my posts in some of the other threads, but if you haven't I'm a newer fan from Canada in my second year following the team and AFL.

I just posted this thread to get a better understanding of St Kilda history/culture. If there is anything you think it is important for a Saints fan to know I'd love to here it as my knowledge of our history is basically limited to lots of wooden spoons and one premiership.
 

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St Kilda Senators said:
Hi all.

You may have seen my posts in some of the other threads, but if you haven't I'm a newer fan from Canada in my second year following the team and AFL.

I just posted this thread to get a better understanding of St Kilda history/culture. If there is anything you think it is important for a Saints fan to know I'd love to here it as my knowledge of our history is basically limited to lots of wooden spoons and one premiership.
Click to expand...
You've come to the right place by posting this here - ask any non St Kilda supporter about us and all they can tall us is "All those spoons and one cup LOLOLOLOLOL"

But the fact is St Kilda actually has quite a rich history and there's plenty more to learn about us.

We joined the league with seven other foundation clubs and apparently were only invited due to geography. I'm fuzzy on the exact details but I believe they wanted a team south of the Yarra River based in Melbourne - I also believe our home ground at the time (Lake Oval - again not a hundred percent sure) had something to do with it.

A lot of interesting things happened in our early years - we lost our first 48 games - a record that has since been beaten just once and looks unlikely to be broken or even close to equalled again. OUr first win ever actually ended up in a draw until we won a protest to score a one point victory.

During that awful stretch of losses, we had the ignominy of scoring the lowest VFL/AFL score of 0.1.1 - a score which stands to this day.

We made our first Grand Final in 1913 and didn't make a second one until 1965 which was also the season we topped the ladder for the first time (we have done this three times and all three years we lost the grand final) but we backed it up the following year with another grand final appearance this time being successful with a famous one point win over Collingwood.

The majority of our spoons were in the aforementioned early years but then in the 80's we also got another four in row and five in total before adding two more in the last twenty years - 2000 and 2014.

We have some very interesting incidents in our history - most of it from recent history but we almost have to settle for individual brilliance as there isn't much success to speak of.

Some fantastic players have represented our club, in no particular order there are names such as Vic Cumberland, Cowboy Neale, Ian Stewart, Robbie Muir, Trevor Barker, Robert Harvey... I don't want to mention too many more because I will miss heaps and heaps more. I've probably already missed some ones I shouldn't have but just to name a few. We are very proud of our club even with the little success. OUr supporters are dedicated, fiercely loyal and passionate - our colours are terrific and our guernsey is one of the most attractive looking and our team song though short and simple is addictive and much more upbeat than some of the other songs.

IN 2004 we famously released a DVD set to commemorate our greatest ever winning streak which was 10 matches.

In 2009, we almost doubled this record with a 19 match winning streak (which funnily enough is four matches off the all time record) and for some reason didn't release a DVD set - most of us were disappointed about it.

We used to play our home grounds at Moorabbin Oval, which is based in Linton Street St Kilda and is now called RSEA Park (our sponsor name - it will always be Moorabbin though) - in the eighties we would rock up knowing we'd get pumped by 10-15 goals but also knowing we would see Tony "Plugger" Lockett kick ten goals himself.

There's probably more but that should be enough to whet your appetite - I'm sure many more people will bring up more stuff too.
 
I will make a second edition of this called St Kilda and Freo - the bizarre rivalry about one of the most crazy collection of footy stories you are ever likely to hear...
 
Run while you can mate. As much as I would love my future kids to support this club I don't think I could put them through it.
 
I have a question - why st kilda? What made you choose us?
 
St Kilda Senators said:
Hi all.

You may have seen my posts in some of the other threads, but if you haven't I'm a newer fan from Canada in my second year following the team and AFL.

I just posted this thread to get a better understanding of St Kilda history/culture. If there is anything you think it is important for a Saints fan to know I'd love to here it as my knowledge of our history is basically limited to lots of wooden spoons and one premiership.
Click to expand...
As a newer fan myself, I can promise you a steep learning curve, mate. :smile:
A few things that will quickly become apparent:

1, Take nothing for granted
2, Never get your hopes up too soon
3, Hard yakka!!

On the other hand, it's good fun along the way, so enjoy learning about the game. Lots of good folk on this forum, too.

And remember that one day that flag is going to arrive, which will make it all worthwhile.
 
El_Duderino said:
You've come to the right place by posting this here - ask any non St Kilda supporter about us and all they can tall us is "All those spoons and one cup LOLOLOLOLOL"

But the fact is St Kilda actually has quite a rich history and there's plenty more to learn about us.

We joined the league with seven other foundation clubs and apparently were only invited due to geography. I'm fuzzy on the exact details but I believe they wanted a team south of the Yarra River based in Melbourne - I also believe our home ground at the time (Lake Oval - again not a hundred percent sure) had something to do with it.

A lot of interesting things happened in our early years - we lost our first 48 games - a record that has since been beaten just once and looks unlikely to be broken or even close to equalled again. OUr first win ever actually ended up in a draw until we won a protest to score a one point victory.

During that awful stretch of losses, we had the ignominy of scoring the lowest VFL/AFL score of 0.1.1 - a score which stands to this day.

We made our first Grand Final in 1913 and didn't make a second one until 1965 which was also the season we topped the ladder for the first time (we have done this three times and all three years we lost the grand final) but we backed it up the following year with another grand final appearance this time being successful with a famous one point win over Collingwood.

The majority of our spoons were in the aforementioned early years but then in the 80's we also got another four in row and five in total before adding two more in the last twenty years - 2000 and 2014.

We have some very interesting incidents in our history - most of it from recent history but we almost have to settle for individual brilliance as there isn't much success to speak of.

Some fantastic players have represented our club, in no particular order there are names such as Vic Cumberland, Cowboy Neale, Ian Stewart, Robbie Muir, Trevor Barker, Robert Harvey... I don't want to mention too many more because I will miss heaps and heaps more. I've probably already missed some ones I shouldn't have but just to name a few. We are very proud of our club even with the little success. OUr supporters are dedicated, fiercely loyal and passionate - our colours are terrific and our guernsey is one of the most attractive looking and our team song though short and simple is addictive and much more upbeat than some of the other songs.

IN 2004 we famously released a DVD set to commemorate our greatest ever winning streak which was 10 matches.

In 2009, we almost doubled this record with a 19 match winning streak (which funnily enough is four matches off the all time record) and for some reason didn't release a DVD set - most of us were disappointed about it.

We used to play our home grounds at Moorabbin Oval, which is based in Linton Street St Kilda and is now called RSEA Park (our sponsor name - it will always be Moorabbin though) - in the eighties we would rock up knowing we'd get pumped by 10-15 goals but also knowing we would see Tony "Plugger" Lockett kick ten goals himself.

There's probably more but that should be enough to whet your appetite - I'm sure many more people will bring up more stuff too.
Click to expand...

Big thanks for the big write up!
 
St Kilda Senators said:
Hi all.

You may have seen my posts in some of the other threads, but if you haven't I'm a newer fan from Canada in my second year following the team and AFL.

I just posted this thread to get a better understanding of St Kilda history/culture. If there is anything you think it is important for a Saints fan to know I'd love to here it as my knowledge of our history is basically limited to lots of wooden spoons and one premiership.
Click to expand...

Whilst being a notoriously unsuccessful club, we have been absolutely blessed by having many, many superstar players to watch over the years.

Being an immigrant and relatively new supporter in comparison to many others on here, I will list just a few and I’m sure others will add names and many other interesting facts about our colourful past Saints eras, the suburb of Melbourne we are named after etc.

Darryl (Doc) Baldock, captain of the 1966 premiership team, Trevor (Barks) Barker, Tony (Plugger) Lockett and Nick (Roo) Riewoldt are a starting few legends of the game for you to research 😉.

Be assured you have chosen to support a club that will take you on a roller coaster of emotion throughout every season, you didn’t go the easy option - if nothing else, you will never be bored! And our motto, Fortius Quo Fidelius (Strength through Loyalty) is embodied by every member of the club - we are sitting on the cusp of 50 000 members right now - a club record.

Oh and, of course, we have the best colours and guernsey ( jumper) in the league. Without question!

Enjoy the season. Hopefully it’s going to be a great one.

edit - hey El Duderino I should have read your post first!!
 
Welcome my friend.
We have another Canadian contributor on here, though I have not seen him for a bit.
From memory, a relocated Aussie in Toronto.
He might be good for any questions given he has experienced the journey you are commencing, though from learning Canadian sports rather than Australian.
Hit him up.
His Nic is CanadianSaint
 
El_Duderino said:
I have a question - why st kilda? What made you choose us?
Click to expand...

Last year when I decided I was going to follow AFL (I'm currently working a job that is in the evenings and weekends so I don't get to watch as much of my Senators as I'd like or even have a life in general, I definitely don't recommend a night job) I was looking through the list of teams on Wikipedia trying to decide. I didn't want a team with a bunch of championships. My hockey team hasn't won any cups (unless you count their predecessor team which won 11 in the early part of the 1900s, but folded due to the depression and rising costs of US expansion in the 30s), and I thought it would be nice to be able to see the Senators win their first cup and an AFL team win their first or first in a long time.

For each of the teams that had zero premierships I would click on their Wikipedia page, but none were really jumping out at me. I saw St Kilda had just the one premiership in 1966 and figured that was good enough for my criteria and clicked on their page. When I saw the colours and guernseys I knew the Saints were my team. My hockey team, the Senators, use the same colour and the "barber pole" has been part of their identity too.

For reference here is the jerseys of the original Ottawa Senators

OttawaSenators27-28jersey.png


We made a jersey change this year basically going back to our 90s look, but we still have the black, red, and white as always.

5f84862ca422fd4c313b16e7_ott-1006.jpg

hockey-nhl-ott-mtl-1-4.jpg


Throughout much of the 2010s we had some alternate jerseys that leaned more into the barber pole theme as well. No third jersey this year due to the jersey change, but with the 30th anniversary next year I hope they bring these back in some form

129180628.0.jpg


To me the aesthetics are just such a good match that I couldn't pick a different team. The fact that I could see the first Saints premiership in over half a century is a bonus as to me that would be a very special one. I can also handle the years of struggles as while the Senators have had plenty of good years, they have some terrible ownership that has given us fans plenty of headaches and cost us many good players.
 

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We probably have the most loyal supporter base in the competition. Last year amongst the fallout of COVID, we ranked 1st in the league for membership retention ie people continuing to pay for a season pass despite not being able to attend games.

We have had some of the greatest players in the history of the competition. Spend some time having a look through highlights and reading about guys like Tony Lockett, Darrel Baldock, Allan Jeans, Nicky Winmar, Robert Harvey, Bill Mohr, Barry Breen, Trevor Barker, Danny Frawley and Nick Riewoldt to name a few.

We were founded in 1873 and have 1 premiership - 1966, a 1 point win over one of our historical rivals, Collingwood.

We have been perennial underdogs for most of our history. Our most successful periods were the 1960's, the 1990's and 2000's.

We have been to seven Grand Finals and played in nine (will explain) - 1913, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1997, 2009, 2010

Firstly we played Fitzroy (merged with the newly formed Brisbane Bears in 1996 to now play as the Brisbane Lions) for the 1913 premiership. League rules in those days said that if the team that finished the regular season in 1st place, they could replay the Grand Final if they lost it. Knowing our history of luck (or lack thereof) we actually won the 1913 Grand Final, Fitzroy requested a replay having finished 1st in that regular season, and beat us in the replay.

In 1965 we lost to Essendon after a dominant season, luckily we went one better the following year, beating Essendon in the preliminary final (semi final) and then Collingwood as mentioned before. Darrel Baldock the captain of our only premiership team and Allan Jeans the coach.

We were still a strong side up until the end of the 60's and managed to make it through to the 1971 Grand Final against Hawthorn in which we lost after being ahead by 20 points at 3 quarter time.

Then we went through an extremely difficult periods on-field, the 1980's were some of the clubs worst years, finishing bottom place 4 times in that decade. But luckily we had some generational players. Trevor Barker, who captained the club through some very lean years between the mid 70's to the mid 80's where we were losing a lot and the club was in financial ruin. Barker was one of the leagues best players and was offered deals from other clubs that he repeatedly refused, whilst donating his money back into the club so it could pay the rest of the players and literally keep the club alive. This is the show of loyalty that is a trait that many Saints people have, Barker was our most loyal player. Our motto of Strength Through Loyalty is fitting for a club like ours. And you kind of said it yourself in an earlier post, that winning premierships at clubs that have many is great but winning a premiership at a club like St.Kilda is something nobody will ever forget. Our season award for best player (Called the "Best & Fairest") is named in his honour. His passing in 1996 was a sad day for the club.

The other generational players we had in that era were an inspiring, tough and again, loyal, defender in Danny Frawley who ended up claiming the record for most games captained at St.Kilda until Nick Riewoldt surpassed him a few years ago. Like Barker, Frawley loved the Saints and stayed involved with the club even after his playing career. His suicide in 2019 was a tragic moment for many St.Kilda supporters.

Lastly Tony Lockett, who came up with Frawley in the mid 80's and once his career had finished he held the record for most goals kicked in St.Kilda history, and most goals kicked in league history. He broke a record that stood for almost 70 years in 1999 when he kicked his 1300th goal. He finished on 1360. He is loved by many St.Kilda fans but not as much as the others I mentioned, primarily because in 1994 he left to play the rest of his career at Sydney.

After 26 years we were back in another Grand Final, this time against Adelaide. We were a bit up and down in the 1997 season, then went on a tremendous run that saw us finish in first place. We led in that game at half time, but momentum faded and another chance at a premiership had gone.

The next 6 seasons were pretty bad, we fell back down to the bottom of the league, it took us to 2004 to make it back to the finals with a young exciting list with the likes of Nick Riewoldt (would go on to kick 718 goals, 2nd all time for games played at St.Kilda, and the record for most games captained), Lenny Hayes (best player in the 2010 Grand Final), Robert Harvey (most games ever at St.Kilda, 2 league MVP's in 1997 and 1998), along with fan favourites at the time like Max Hudghton, Fraser Gehrig, Steven Baker, Stephen Milne (one of the best small forwards ever), Nick Dal Santo, etc. We had some fantastic players. Check out Stewart Loewe too.

That group came close in 2004 and 2005, making it to back to back preliminary (semi) finals but just couldn't get over the line. 2008 again losing in a preliminary final. But 2009 we went a step better, and had our best season statistically in our history. We won 19 straight games and finished the regular season 20-2, with our defense only giving up 64 points a game - still a record to this day for least points allowed on average in a 22 game season.

We played Geelong in that Grand Final who were also a great team, and had won the 2007 Grand Final and lost the 2008, so were after some redemption. We led at the end of every quarter bar the one that counted, the last, in a wet and miserable day losing by 12 points. Personally I think that this was the best chance we ever had to win our 2nd premiership. It's a credit to the strength of the supporters we have that they still stuck by the club.

After the heartbreak of 2009 we managed to finish 3rd after the 2010 regular season and advance to our second Grand Final in a row. We played Collingwood who were the leagues best team that year, and after trailing by 24 points at halftime we mounted a huge comeback that went down to the final minutes, down by a point we kicked the ball towards our goal, had a player running towards it for a goal, the ball bounced at right angles and went through for a behind. The game ended in a draw, the first drawn Grand Final since 1977 and only the second ever. We came back the week after for the replay and were soundly beaten, it seemed as if they were just emotionally and physically drained from such a taxing game and admittedly Collingwood were a better side and won. Again, just our luck, but the league removed the drawn Grand Final rule from then on. Now the rule is that there's extra time to decide the winner. Which hurts even more, if our game had gone another 5 minutes we would've won it having all the momentum at the end.

I guess that's really where things are at now. From 2011-2019 we had some pretty dour years, but last year we made the finals again for the first time since 2011, and won our first final since the 2010 preliminary final.

This year there's plenty of optimism, we have some good young players mixed in with a nice blend of experienced players and most pundits predict we will finish inside the top 6. Being a Saints fan builds a certain level of pessimism inside you so I'm not so sure about all the hype just yet LOL, but it has been exciting.

I would say though overall we have been a club that has endured a lot of heartache, we don't have the most premierships as other teams, we have finished bottom of the league more than anyone, but in a way that is why the club is so special. It has endured all of that over 148 years. We never were always the best team but over our history we have had some of the greatest ever players play for us, and many ex St.Kilda footballers have said that the Saints always hold a special place in their heart even if they played elsewhere during their career.

This was just off the top of my head so I've definitely missed a few players or moments here and there, but hope this helps either way. Once you "get" what it means to be a St.Kilda supporter you will appreciate it that much more :thumbsu::thumbsu:
 
St kilda v Freo - the bizarre rivalry.

there is only one team in the league who has played more than twenty years with less premierships than us and that is Fremantle.

Fremantle joined the league in 1995 and their big brothers West Coast Eagles were fresh off their second flag in three years - a thumping 80 point smashing of Geelong.

we met once in 1995 which resulted in a thumping at Waverley Park (where we used to play our home games)

we played once in 96 as well - this time we travelled to their home ground and beat them. This would start a run of about fourteen consecutive years of playing them in Perth. It wouldn’t be until 2009 when we would only play them once and it be in Melbourne. And during that time we would usually only play them in Perth or sometimes in Tassie.

The weirdness starts in 1999 - we played Fremantle at the Subiaco Ocal.

little sidebar here - there were two grounds in Perth - most games were played at Subiaco oval but they also played games occasionally at the WACA which was primarily a cricket venue. Matter of fact this venue was one of our worst. We always struggled interstate. But we never once tasted success at the WACA until the last game we played there which was round 22, 1999 (the final round of the year against Freo’s big brother - West Coast)

so yes Freo 1999 - we lost the game but the biggest talking point was during this game one of the field umpires actually took a chest mark. This was a bizarre occurrence but eventually it was to become one of the more commonplace events to take place in these games.

it was very strange because it didn’t seem like an unnatural thing - almost like a reflex. It cost a St kilda player a mark by the waywhich leads some people to believe a conspiracy started against us then. More on that shortly.

for many years nothing more bizarre happened. Freo beat us over and over although we managed to sneak a win against them in late 2002 at a suburban venue called Princes park - the venue is used mainly for the women’s league or VFL/reserves etc but back then a few games were arranged for this venue. Why we played there I have no idea.

Anyway the years went by and eventually we come to 2004.

this isn’t much of a weird story so much as a light brag but anyway: this was a highly touted game - round 7, 2004. We were undefeated on six straight wins and they were on three or four themselves. But the week prior we had knocked off the reigning triple premiers Brisbane Lions by a point in a controversial finish where a clear out on the full was signalled as a behind. No score review existed back then so the score stood and it turned out we won by that point.
Fremantle were coming off an exciting win themselves, beating big brother West coast for only the third or fourth time ever and it was expected to be a close contest.

we smashed them in the first half holding them to 1.4.10 and ended up cruising to a comfy 23 point win.

the following year we played them in Tasmania and after looking all day like we were going to lose, we somehow got a shot at goal from an iffy umpire decision to Aaron Hamill, a man who is responsible for my wife’s favourite number 36, as he used to wear that number when he played for Carlton. He was tough as nails and one of the spiritual leaders of our football club. He scored a behind but it was enough to get us over the line for what was our first victory of the year.

later that year this rivalry would be ramped up though as the event known as “Whispers in the Sky” took place.

During a particularly frustrating match, Fremantle received no less than five goals from free kicks to our none. And yet we may well have won had Justin Pickett not decided to try and play on as we held a slender one point lead with less than thirty seconds left. Alas, Justin was tackled and after had a free kick for holding the ball. The resultant kick was marked in a tremendous pack mark by current Freo coach Justin Longmuir who coolly converted after the siren to sink us.

We were on an seven match winning streak at the time and going for our 8th.
But it was the aftermath of this game that would ramp up the rivalry between us.

Tony Jones, a journalist for channel nine claimed that he overheard one of the umpires say “Now we know how it feels to win a match” prompting the whole Whispers in the sky debate. Again conspiracy theorists starting concocting their stories of how we were robbed (well maybe we were - who knows?) - the strangest thing about this is it was never proven to be true. But why would TJ, one of the games most respected journalists make something like this up???

anyway I know what you’re thinking right now - “Jesus how on earth could it get weirder than that?” Well I’ll tell you, things are only just getting started...
 
George said:
We probably have the most loyal supporter base in the competition. Last year amongst the fallout of COVID, we ranked 1st in the league for membership retention ie people continuing to pay for a season pass despite not being able to attend games.

We have had some of the greatest players in the history of the competition. Spend some time having a look through highlights and reading about guys like Tony Lockett, Darrel Baldock, Allan Jeans, Nicky Winmar, Robert Harvey, Bill Mohr, Barry Breen, Trevor Barker, Danny Frawley and Nick Riewoldt to name a few.

We were founded in 1873 and have 1 premiership - 1966, a 1 point win over one of our historical rivals, Collingwood.

We have been perennial underdogs for most of our history. Our most successful periods were the 1960's, the 1990's and 2000's.

We have been to seven Grand Finals and played in nine (will explain) - 1913, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1997, 2009, 2010

Firstly we played Fitzroy (merged with the newly formed Brisbane Bears in 1996 to now play as the Brisbane Lions) for the 1913 premiership. League rules in those days said that if the team that finished the regular season in 1st place, they could replay the Grand Final if they lost it. Knowing our history of luck (or lack thereof) we actually won the 1913 Grand Final, Fitzroy requested a replay having finished 1st in that regular season, and beat us in the replay.

In 1965 we lost to Essendon after a dominant season, luckily we went one better the following year, beating Essendon in the preliminary final (semi final) and then Collingwood as mentioned before. Darrel Baldock the captain of our only premiership team and Allan Jeans the coach.

We were still a strong side up until the end of the 60's and managed to make it through to the 1971 Grand Final against Hawthorn in which we lost after being ahead by 20 points at 3 quarter time.

Then we went through an extremely difficult periods on-field, the 1980's were some of the clubs worst years, finishing bottom place 4 times in that decade. But luckily we had some generational players. Trevor Barker, who captained the club through some very lean years between the mid 70's to the mid 80's where we were losing a lot and the club was in financial ruin. Barker was one of the leagues best players and was offered deals from other clubs that he repeatedly refused, whilst donating his money back into the club so it could pay the rest of the players and literally keep the club alive. This is the show of loyalty that is a trait that many Saints people have, Barker was our most loyal player. Our motto of Strength Through Loyalty is fitting for a club like ours. And you kind of said it yourself in an earlier post, that winning premierships at clubs that have many is great but winning a premiership at a club like St.Kilda is something nobody will ever forget. Our season award for best player (Called the "Best & Fairest") is named in his honour. His passing in 1996 was a sad day for the club.

The other generational players we had in that era were an inspiring, tough and again, loyal, defender in Danny Frawley who ended up claiming the record for most games captained at St.Kilda until Nick Riewoldt surpassed him a few years ago. Like Barker, Frawley loved the Saints and stayed involved with the club even after his playing career. His suicide in 2019 was a tragic moment for many St.Kilda supporters.

Lastly Tony Lockett, who came up with Frawley in the mid 80's and once his career had finished he held the record for most goals kicked in St.Kilda history, and most goals kicked in league history. He broke a record that stood for almost 70 years in 1999 when he kicked his 1300th goal. He finished on 1360. He is loved by many St.Kilda fans but not as much as the others I mentioned, primarily because in 1994 he left to play the rest of his career at Sydney.

After 26 years we were back in another Grand Final, this time against Adelaide. We were a bit up and down in the 1997 season, then went on a tremendous run that saw us finish in first place. We led in that game at half time, but momentum faded and another chance at a premiership had gone.

The next 6 seasons were pretty bad, we fell back down to the bottom of the league, it took us to 2004 to make it back to the finals with a young exciting list with the likes of Nick Riewoldt (would go on to kick 718 goals, 4th all time for games played at St.Kilda, and the record for most games captained), Lenny Hayes (best player in the 2010 Grand Final), Robert Harvey (most games ever at St.Kilda, 2 league MVP's in 1997 and 1998), along with fan favourites at the time like Max Hudghton, Fraser Gehrig, Steven Baker, Stephen Milne (one of the best small forwards ever), Nick Dal Santo, etc. We had some fantastic players. Check out Stewart Loewe too.

That group came close in 2004 and 2005, making it to back to back preliminary (semi) finals but just couldn't get over the line. 2008 again losing in a preliminary final. But 2009 we went a step better, and had our best season statistically in our history. We won 19 straight games and finished the regular season 20-2, with our defense only giving up 64 points a game - still a record to this day for least points allowed on average in a 22 game season.

We played Geelong in that Grand Final who were also a great team, and had won the 2007 Grand Final and lost the 2008, so were after some redemption. We led at the end of every quarter bar the one that counted, the last, in a wet and miserable day losing by 12 points. Personally I think that this was the best chance we ever had to win our 2nd premiership. It's a credit to the strength of the supporters we have that they still stuck by the club.

After the heartbreak of 2009 we managed to finish 3rd after the 2010 regular season and advance to our second Grand Final in a row. We played Collingwood who were the leagues best team that year, and after trailing by 24 points at halftime we mounted a huge comeback that went down to the final minutes, down by a point we kicked the ball towards our goal, had a player running towards it for a goal, the ball bounced at right angles and went through for a behind. The game ended in a draw, the first drawn Grand Final since 1977 and only the second ever. We came back the week after for the replay and were soundly beaten, it seemed as if they were just emotionally and physically drained from such a taxing game and admittedly Collingwood were a better side and won. Again, just our luck, but the league removed the drawn Grand Final rule from then on. Now the rule is that there's extra time to decide the winner. Which hurts even more, if our game had gone another 5 minutes we would've won it having all the momentum at the end.

I guess that's really where things are at now. From 2011-2019 we had some pretty dour years, but last year we made the finals again for the first time since 2011, and won our first final since the 2010 preliminary final.

This year there's plenty of optimism, we have some good young players mixed in with a nice blend of experienced players and most pundits predict we will finish inside the top 6. Being a Saints fan builds a certain level of pessimism inside you so I'm not so sure about all the hype just yet LOL, but it has been exciting.

I would say though overall we have been a club that has endured a lot of heartache, we don't have the most premierships as other teams, we have finished bottom of the league more than anyone, but in a way that is why the club is so special. It has endured all of that over 148 years. We never were always the best team but over our history we have had some of the greatest ever players play for us, and many ex St.Kilda footballers have said that the Saints always hold a special place in their heart even if they played elsewhere during their career.

This was just off the top of my head so I've definitely missed a few players or moments here and there, but hope this helps either way. Once you "get" what it means to be a St.Kilda supporter you will appreciate it that much more :thumbsu::thumbsu:
Click to expand...

Big thanks for all the info. It is going to take a while to learn all the players, but I feel like I got a much better understanding of at least a basic narrative of the 60s through to now.

Just a quick question. Is the extra time only during finals or does it happen in the regular season too? How much time is it, and is it sudden death?
 
St Kilda Senators said:
Big thanks for all the info. It is going to take a while to learn all the players, but I feel like I got a much better understanding of at least a basic narrative of the 60s through to now.

Just a quick question. Is the extra time only during finals or does it happen in the regular season too? How much time is it, and is it sudden death?
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No problems. There's a thread that is stuck at the top of the board that you could also check out in your spare time (St.Kilda Football Archive). It's got everything on YouTube from our games dating all the way back to 1939.

There's no extra time during the regular season, the game just ends in a draw and each team is awarded 2 premiership points (4 for a win, 0 for a loss).

During finals there is extra time, I believe it is 2x5 minute "halves". Not sudden death.
 
Saints and Freo - the rivalry part two

There are two games in the history of the hich were up in the air about who won over a number of days. They both involved St Kilda.

the first occurred on June 8th 1996 when St Kilda hosted Essendon at Waverley park on a chilly Saturday night. About twenty minutes into the third term with Essendon holding a slender lead, the lights inexplicably went out plunging the stadium into darkness. The game was called off and decided to be finished later in the week. The two teams would play two fifteen minute halves plus time on on the Tuesday night and the AFL commission allowed teams to pick players that had missed the initial match if fit - this was infuriating as it meant star Essendon Bomber Hames Hird lined up for them as he had initially missed this game through injury. Even though we lost on the Tuesday night, it was an interesting experience to say the least. But the AFL commission were to have even more of a say in the next game we talk about.

This was the second example of the result not being decided immediately following the match.

Sirengate

The next time the Saints and the Dockers played would be in round five, 2006 and this would be a game that would become infamous in years to come.
This game was played at Aurora Stadium in Tasmania; the same venue the controversial one point win took place the year before. The controversy was about to get ramped up big time.

the game itself was once again dominated by Fremantle. The gun St kilda forward Fraser Gehrig (who the previous year became the first forward since Mathew Lloyd, champion Essendon full forward to score a hundred goals in a season) at one stage gave off a hundred metre penalty (two consecutive fifty metre penalties which means the other team gets a free kick fifty metres closer to their goal) which resulted in a goal to them. Fraser was angry that day and needed to come off the ground to cool off for a bit.

It was a bizarre day - the first quarter siren did not sound and the siren had to be rung again. AFL rules state if the umpire does not declare the game over when the siren sounds, it must be sounded continuously until he does signal it.

And at half time it did work although it was quiet again. The umpire did hear it this time.

So at three-quarter time we trailed by three or four goals but we kept coming back and it looked like we were going to steal it. A point down late in the game, we got the ball inside fifty and a ball up formed with nine seconds on the clock. Freo defence worked hard to kick it in and we tried to get the ball free but another stoppage formed this time with just one second left. The umpire bounced the ball and the siren rang.... except nobody heard it. The umpire didn’t call time. Some of the Freo players did hear it and started frantically alerting the umpire but to no avail. Eventually St Kilda midfielder Steven Baker got a hold of the ball and had a shot from a slight angle about thirty out which faded for the tying score. It was now that chaos started. First of all as he kicked it Baker was felled. This meant he would get a second shot. It was only after this kick that the second siren rang at last (clearly the timekeeper had been trying to press it to no avail) and the behind was signalled shortly before time was called resulting in a draw.

Baker had a second shot at goal and kicked it almost to the identical place he had kicked the last resulting in a behind again. As it was a second chance it was not to give us the win but to tie the scores again.

Naturally Freo were incensed. This lead to scenes the likes of which have never been seen before. The Fremantle coach and the St Kilda vice-captain had a vicious and ferocious war of words - there was pandemonium as players and officials alike simply collapsed unable to understand what Was happening.

The result of this fiasco was decided a few days later when the AFL commission voted to award Freo the four points rather than splitting the four points (as per a draw) between the teams in a ruling that in hindsight seems fair but at the time enraged St Kilda fans.

This had bigger ramifications too as the timekeeper was immediately sacked following this (yet the piece of s**t stadium was still allowed to continue hosting games - must’ve gotten their siren fixed I guess) and Fremantle had to lodge a protest to overturn the result something that had never been done before. It set a dangerous precedent for the league at the time and even though the umpire had not signalled time, they ruled that the conclusion of the game should be decided by the time the siren rang as it was very clear.

That year St Kilda finished outside the top four by percentage. Had that draw applied they would have finished in third place as they had a better percentage than Fremantle who finished third. Instead they finished sixth, hosted Melbourne at the MCG (which was Melbourne’s home ground) and lost the only final.

In what was one of the most bizarre decisions in the history of the club, they then sacked their coach Grant Thomas who just two years ago had taken them to their first finals appearance in seven years and after this year had taken them to three consecutive finals appearances.

In a history comprised almost solely of darkness this was one of the blackest days in the history of the St Kilda football club - the name Sirengate was given to this tumultuous time for Saints fans.
 
George said:
No problems. There's a thread that is stuck at the top of the board that you could also check out in your spare time (St.Kilda Football Archive). It's got everything on YouTube from our games dating all the way back to 1939.

There's no extra time during the regular season, the game just ends in a draw and each team is awarded 2 premiership points (4 for a win, 0 for a loss).

During finals there is extra time, I believe it is 2x5 minute "halves". Not sudden death.
Click to expand...
Close. It’s two ten minute periods with time on - the teams swap sides for these periods too. I think it’s a five minute break between the two periods.
 
Saints and Freo - the rivalry part 3

Since sirengate it was more a case of strange events happening during st kilda and Freo games.

later that year the two met in a night match at Subiaco oval. Freo destroyed St Kilda en route to what would be only Fremantle’s second ever finals appearance. During the game, St Kilda utility Brendan “BJ” Goddard, a favourite amongst St Kilda fans launched a mammoth kick from about sixty five metres out which sailed through at post height to become one of the goals of the year. (Somehow beaten by a bullshit backwards heel kick from Lloyd - :mad:)

the following year (2007) another crazy event happened when St Kilda’s Steven Baker was suspended for seven weeks for striking Jeff Farmer in a game where not one camera caught the incident. As Baker had been nearest to Farmer prior to him being knocked out he was pinned for it.

I believe it to this day remains the only example of a player ever being suspended for something of which video proof of the act does not exist.

in 2008, the two played a game at Docklands where severe flooding took place and the final score was 10.5 to 8.9 - the right point victory one of the lowest scoring at the usually high scoring free-flowing venue.

In 2009, they played a relatively normal game (by their standards) where Freo were belted by 83 points - in this game they equaled the record (coincidentally held by St kilda) for the lowest score at the Stadium - 28 points. (This record has since been beaten and now remains at 24 by the crows versus St Kilda in 2011)

the following year saw A pre- season match between the two where a ferocious hail storm hit Melbourne resulting in a delay of the match starting and a reduction in attendance. The roof was closed but actually had to be partially open due to damages sustained from the hail.

In many ways an even more bizarre event occurred during the premiership season when the two perennial losers played off early in the season to determine who would finish the round on top of the ladder (at the time Freo had never finished a round on top of the ladder) a series-sawing encounter saw a near record when both teams’combined margin for the first three quarters was two points with Freo a point up at quarter time; scores level at half time and saints up by a point at the final change. In a tight finish saints ran out fifteen point winners.

the following year would see st kilda defeat Freo twice over in Perth and the two teams played a thriller for three quarters at Docklands before the saints dominated the last term to run out convincing winners.

The end of 2011 brought a new layer to this rivalry when then St Kilda coach Ross Lyon left the saints to coach Freo from 2012.

in a spiteful encounter at Docklands in round 4, 2012 the Dockers prevailed by four goals in Lyon’s first match against his old team. Lyon had taken St kilda to finals in four consecutive years (the only coach to do this I believe) and followed up by taking Freo to back to back finals appearances the next four years.

2013 saw St Kilda going into a steep decline while Freo had finished top four and would eventually make the grand final.

however before that occurred there was one more bizarre happening where Lyon dropped a large number of players to rest them for the finals giving St kilda the opportunity to send off three favourites of theirs - Jason Blake, Stephen Milne and Justin Koschitzke in style.

the game was a bloodbath - St Kilda recording a big win but braking the record formost team possessions in a game at the time with 520, including 47 apiece to Leigh Montagna and Jack Steven - to this day no two players from the same team have combined for more disposals in a single match.

This led to discussion of a later bye in the season - perhaps pre finals to prevent Teams from resting large amounts of players although it has to be said this worked wonders when Fremantle came out and defeated Geelong at their own home ground (a feat very rarely achieved) which gave Freo a home preliminary final em route to their maiden grand final.

Eventually in 2016 the pre finals bye was brought in and has remained ever since.

Since 2013 there haven’t been too many strange happenings. Save for a wooden spoon bound St Kilda smashing a finals bound Freo late in 2014 and an incredible game in the last between the two at Subiaco where Walters for Freo had thirty touches and six electrifying goals in a hard fought win for the saints by nine points.

last years crazy comeback in the round six game was of note too as St Kilda dropped the game after leading by 36 points early in the second quarter.

the rivalry surely has another chapter - perhaps a final or grand final at some point (given these are probably the two most unsuccessful teams now it would be fitting)
 
One thing you have probably already noticed is that our stoicism is almost competitive. We are like some kind of order of sadomasochistic stylites that imperceptibly shake our heads in disgust at the guy who flinches when a mosquito bites his eyeball. They say that following the Saints builds character, I'm so character filled now that I'm almost a caricature.

That said, you have joined a fine order of oddballs and outcasts that fly under one tri-pane banner. Welcome aboard young Canuck.
 
gringo2011 said:
One thing you have probably already noticed is that our stoicism is almost competitive. We are like some kind of order of sadomasochistic stylites that imperceptibly shake our heads in disgust at the guy who flinches when a mosquito bites his eyeball. They say that following the Saints builds character, I'm so character filled now that I'm almost a caricature.

That said, you have joined a fine order of oddballs and outcasts that fly under one tri-pane banner. Welcome aboard young Canuck.
Click to expand...
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
If you have a thick skin (and from what I read about your beloved Senators I reckon you do) you’ll get by. I think we have the strongest most resilient group of supporters. In our darkest moments we predict a season of misery; in their darkest moments Richmond supporters spit on their coach or microwave their membership.
 
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