Opinion Leigh Matthews and that season he didn't win the Brownlow . . .

[footyfan1978]

Steve Hocking ko'd him.

Thought it was him. Shame not enough cameras at game to see all of it.

 

[footyfan1978]

The ironical thing is Matthews got king hit too , he looks worse than Bruns as he is helped from the ground .

Was it Bews who clocked matthews???

I think there a game against your club that Matthews got attacked by over ten Melbourne players at once. But probably because there were so many going for him at once the umps would have come in quick enough that less damage done than just if one or two smashed him at once.

 

[My Tilly]

Not surprised. He got what he deserved. He had a few Cats pounce on him within moments of seeing what he did to Bruns.
Cops seeing it charged him too.

I have spoken to Neville about the incident recently and he never wanted to lay charges against Matthews. Once the media were onto it, it blew up from there.
What's remarkable is Neville required jaw surgery and had to eat through a straw for the next couple of weeks and only 5 weeks later, he was back playing footy.
They bred em tough in those days.

 

[footyfan1978]

I have spoken to Neville about the incident recently and he never wanted to lay charges against Matthews. Once the media were onto it, it blew up from there.
What's remarkable is Neville required jaw surgery and had to eat through a straw for the next couple of weeks and only 5 weeks later, he was back playing footy.
They bred em tough in those days.

Yeah, bit of a sad story. I do not think Matthews ever apologized for it too from what I recall. Mind you, if Matthews apologized to every player he hit , he probably be at it for sometime.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I think there a game against your club that Matthews got attacked by over ten Melbourne players at once. But probably because there were so many going for him at once the umps would have come in quick enough that less damage done than just if one or two smashed him at once.

Leigh knocked out an unsuspecting peter Giles to earn that demonic rage.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I think there a game against your club that Matthews got attacked by over ten Melbourne players at once. But probably because there were so many going for him at once the umps would have come in quick enough that less damage done than just if one or two smashed him at once.

Another collage of Leigh Matthews going wack. Peter Giles gets his at 1.30

 

[My Tilly]

Yeah, bit of a sad story. I do not think Matthews ever apologized for it too from what I recall. Mind you, if Matthews apologized to every player he hit , he probably be at it for sometime.

I am pretty sure Leigh did apologize.

I saw a lot of Gary Ablett Senior and he too was nasty. The elbows and careless regard for his very own teammates when hitting in hard was something else.
Lockett was another guy who had a similar cold streak to Matthews. Some of the off the field stories about these guys correlates with the type of personalities they had on the field.

 

[footyfan1978]

Leigh knocked out an unsuspecting peter Giles to earn that demonic rage.

Yeah, that is the one. It was amazing to watch how many Demon players ran towards Lethal all at once.

 

[Osho]

i could see how youd be infatuated with Pitura,du ever see him kick n move ? man was he a smooth mover,he glided and his kicking was effortless

i could see how youd be infatuated with Pitura,du ever see him kick n move ? man was he a smooth mover,he glided and his kicking was effortless

Pitura was a beautiful footballer. Ian Stewart had gone by that stage I think, some of the Premiership heroes were getting injured, yeah, there was some logic to it.

Whale Roberts was the real problem...he was a heart and soul player, loved the Tiges, and was loved, and ripping him out of the club revealed to other players the deeper machevellian nature of the club's powerbrokers. It was similar to the Lions and Brayshaw.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Pitura was a beautiful footballer. Ian Stewart had gone by that stage I think, some of the Premiership heroes were getting injured, yeah, there was some logic to it.

Graeme Richmond had to have him after he beat Francis Bourke, reasoning that anyone who beat Bourke was a champion.

 

[Generation X]

You're claiming a bloke who was suspended for 3 games in nearly 400 games and went something like 9 years between reports is a dirty player, in a thread about the biggest and dirtiest thug the game has ever seen. There's clearly an alterior motive.

You're pathetic, give yourself an uppercut

 

[Grrr]

Its simply a sign that even 40 and 50 years ago the umpires were clueless when it came to voting.

In 1971 Peter Hudson averaged 8 marks a game and kicked 5 or more goals 18 times. In an era when low 20s was enough to win a Brownlow, surely he would have picked up a heap of 1s and 2s, and the times he kicked 10 or more.... 3s....

Geoff Raines went in as the favourite on year, like Hudson a fairer player you wouldn't find, Brownlow votes, 0.

 

[Masotiger]

That is not true - forced migration was a key to establishment of a colony rather than a punitive measure for petty crime. This is why so many women, children and able bodied skilled men were transported.

Punitive deportation was reserved for higher crimes with labor camps from these criminals used for the economic benefit of the colony.

It’s almost like you don’t even have a basic understanding of Australian history, society snd culture.

So you're telling me the idea of sending convicts from Britain to penal establishments in Port Arthur and NSW was to establish colonies rather than rid the British of their undesirables? Seems like you need to brush up on your knowledge of Australian and European history.

Btw, whilst you're at it, do some research into the types of crimes for which people were being transported half way across the world for and tell me they were not petty. Once you've done that, compare that with today.

But back on topic, no-one is defending the actions of Leigh Matthews which have been highlighted in this thread. Merely, the point is made the game was essentially dirty when he played and there were many, many, many more players worse than him. I can name plenty of them, some who played for Richmond. To single out Matthews as the worst of the worst is both incorrect and ignorant.

 

[Grrr]

In those days if you went to shepherd you did so at your peril. Never a good idea to turn your back on Matthews or any other player back then. Looked bad when Matthews took out that player, but that happened all the time. Dietrich, Balme, now they were dangerous players to shepherd. The lower levels of footy were far far worse.

Hence players became so aggressive shepherding, leave the ground and take the player out before he took you out. A lot of those hits that Matthews gave out were par for the course back then, they look horrendous now because many on here can't remember football like that. Football is so clean these days, and thank god for that. Doesn't excuse the hits like the one Bruns took. Also when Matthews hit, you stayed hit, unlike say Rhye-Jones butterfly kisses in comparison.

 

[Rusty Brookes]

If anyone saw the Mike Sheehan interview with Lethal, he asked him point blank: "Were you a thug on the field?" He replied without hesitating "Yes".

He played the game that way, made very few apologies for the hits he delivered and expected none in return (the reason he has a mustache is to cover up a scar he got as a young player when he had his lip split right open). I'm not justifying anything he did (I'm glad the game's not played that way anymore) but he saw the game as a battle and he was an emotionless Terminator that would do anything to win. Matthews, Lockett even Ablett Snr and Carey - four of the best of all time and four guys that would seriously hurt an opponent without blinking an eye.

 

[Jables]

Idk if it's really about fairness, Liberatore has a Brownlow medal. It's more about reputation for fairness and Lethal was rock bottom even if there were a dozen dudes running around doing the exact same thing (not defending it at all, but seriously Liberatore has a Brownlow medal), people bitching about Goodes earlier is a good example, Goodes never had a reputation for being dirty but he kinda was, and I'm in full support of Goodes as a person and what he did later in his career to combat racism, it's vile what fans did to him.

 

[Generation X]

In those days if you went to shepherd you did so at your peril. Never a good idea to turn your back on Matthews or any other player back then. Looked bad when Matthews took out that player, but that happened all the time. Dietrich, Balme, now they were dangerous players to shepherd. The lower levels of footy were far far worse.

Hence players became so aggressive shepherding, leave the ground and take the player out before he took you out. A lot of those hits that Matthews gave out were par for the course back then, they look horrendous now because many on here can't remember football like that. Football is so clean these days, and thank god for that. Doesn't excuse the hits like the one Bruns took. Also when Matthews hit, you stayed hit, unlike say Rhye-Jones butterfly kisses in comparison.

Matthews specialised in king hits 50m away from the ball, that definitely did not happen all the time. Great player but really a cowardly thug

 

[Grrr]

Matthews specialised in king hits 50m away from the ball, that definitely did not happen all the time. Great player but really a cowardly thug

As I said, the Bruns one was inexcusable. Were there others.

 

[Generation X]

As I said, the Bruns one was inexcusable. Were there others.

Many others, cowardly thug

 

[Osho]

The talk of Matthews' violence and the murky involvement of coaches in how players played, reminded me of this horific event in 1972 involving the wonderful John Greening. I'm sure Pie fans of my vintage and older will have strong memories of it. A charge was to be filed, but then was withdrawn, and the rumours - only rumours mind you - were that as a policeman was involved, possibly under the direction of another policeman, the case was whisked away and left with the VFL to parse out a 10 game suspension to Mr. Jim O'Dea.

Peter McKenna could have but did not bring this matter up the day after the Bruns event. In those days, the police were respected, or else.

John Greening

John Greening

www.victoriapark.net.au

 

[Osho]

So you're telling me the idea of sending convicts from Britain to penal establishments in Port Arthur and NSW was to establish colonies rather than rid the British of their undesirables? Seems like you need to brush up on your knowledge of Australian and European history.

Btw, whilst you're at it, do some research into the types of crimes for which people were being transported half way across the world for and tell me they were not petty. Once you've done that, compare that with today.

But back on topic, no-one is defending the actions of Leigh Matthews which have been highlighted in this thread. Merely, the point is made the game was essentially dirty when he played and there were many, many, many more players worse than him. I can name plenty of them, some who played for Richmond. To single out Matthews as the worst of the worst is both incorrect and ignorant.

Jeewizz, I thought the British settlement of Oz was to establish a range of breweries. I musta gone to the wrong schools!

 

[Grrr]

Many others, cowardly thug

I think he was only been reported 8 times in 17 seasons, so not that many others and a good many of those were shown on that video.
He was no dirtier than many others.

 

[Hojuman]

If anyone saw the Mike Sheehan interview with Lethal, he asked him point blank: "Were you a thug on the field?" He replied without hesitating "Yes".

He played the game that way, made very few apologies for the hits he delivered and expected none in return (the reason he has a mustache is to cover up a scar he got as a young player when he had his lip split right open). I'm not justifying anything he did (I'm glad the game's not played that way anymore) but he saw the game as a battle and he was an emotionless Terminator that would do anything to win. Matthews, Lockett even Ablett Snr and Carey - four of the best of all time and four guys that would seriously hurt an opponent without blinking an eye.

Carey certainly had his issues off-field sadly. I cannot remember to many on-field where he seriously went in to intentionally hurt someone. Satori from Fitzroy out at the Western Oval the only one of the top of my head.

 

[Rusty Brookes]

Carey certainly had is issues off-field sadly. I cannot remember to many on-field where he seriously went in to intentionally hurt someone. Satori from Fitzroy out at the Western Oval the only one of the top of my head.

He wasn't shy for coming in late and cracking a guy in the back of the head. I'm not saying he went out to intentionally hurt other players - but he certainly wasn't caring too much about their well-being. The first three players highlighted in Biffs, Bumps and Brawlers were Lockett, Ablett Snr and Carey.



He's not in the Lockett class for the sheer terror he brought but I don't reckon it would been much fun playing on him all the same. (particularly given how brilliant he was on the field).

 

[Tim Evans Beard]

So you're telling me the idea of sending convicts from Britain to penal establishments in Port Arthur and NSW was to establish colonies rather than rid the British of their undesirables? Seems like you need to brush up on your knowledge of Australian and European history.

Btw, whilst you're at it, do some research into the types of crimes for which people were being transported half way across the world for and tell me they were not petty. Once you've done that, compare that with today.

But back on topic, no-one is defending the actions of Leigh Matthews which have been highlighted in this thread. Merely, the point is made the game was essentially dirty when he played and there were many, many, many more players worse than him. I can name plenty of them, some who played for Richmond. To single out Matthews as the worst of the worst is both incorrect and ignorant.

The reason was to enrich the empire - this is pretty basic stuff. If they wanted to rid themselves of undesirables, they would hang them. It was cheaper than transportation to the other side of the globe ...

Research James Jump - The Australian People

World Heritage List | Fremantle Prison

fremantleprison.com.au

Australian Convict Sites

The property includes a selection of eleven penal sites, among the thousands established by the British Empire on Australian soil in the 18th and 19th centuries. The sites are spread across Australia, from Fremantle ...

whc.unesco.org

There is a start on the history of migration in Australia for you - the settlement through forced migration into the colonies.

The colonies insisted on the use of penal labor to establish and grow the settlements, so much so that the previously free Swan River settlement in Western Australia (later to become Fremantle/Perth) requested penal labor to establish the settlement as paying trade rates was too high.

Wrong hill to die on - I was involved in writing the 2009 submission for the Australian Convict Trail to the UNESCO WHC.