2014 Round 28, Three quarter time.

20th September Birthdays.

 

   Peter Daicos 1961, Jarrad Irons 1992.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Sean Wellman, born 20th September 1974.

Though Sean would be best remembered as an Essendon player, he actually started his journey at Adelaide.  He was in 34 games for the Crows in 1994 and 1995 and kicked 9 goals as a tall key position player.

Moving to Essendon in 1996 he was there until 2004 scoring 25 goals from his 178 games.  It took until his second year to really establish himself at the Bombers, but once he did he became a solid defender who won himself All Australian selection in  1998 and 2001. 

He was also part of the clubs Premiership winning team in 2000 and played International rules for Australia in 1998.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

Ken Farmer – Hall Of  Famer.

Ken Farmer has the reputation of being probably the greatest goal scorer in Australian football. Tony Locket is lauded for his tally of 1360 goals from 281 games but Ken kicked 1417 from 224.

A South Australian school boys soccer player, he concentrated on that sport but debuted for North Adelaide in 1929 as an 18 year old. 

In his first season he kicked 62 goals from 14 games and in 1930 was the first SANFL player to kick over 100 goals in a season which he did for the next 10 years.

His scoring prowess was put down to the fact that he knew where to position himself, had a fast lead, strong mark and was an accurate kick.

Captaining the club at one stage, he won the Best and Fairest in 1936 and played 17 state games at an average of 5 goals per game by the time he finished his career in 1941.

Source: Wikipedia and AFL Record Season Guide 2013.

Victoria Park.

Having the names Dights Paddock and McHale stadium before finally becoming Victoria Park; it was built, opened and saw its first game played all in 1892. 

From then until 1999 it was home to the Collingwood Football Club with the last official game being played on 28^th August 1999 between Collingwood and Brisbane.

In 1929 the Magpies had won 3 consecutive Premierships and with the depression hitting hard 'the footy' and Victoria Park in particular became an 'escape' for the locals.  Meanwhile it seemed Collingwood were unbeatable at the ground and opposition teams dreaded playing there.

Over time new stands were built and the largest crowd to attend the venue was 47,224 for a match between Collingwood and South Melbourne in 1948.  Redevelopments since then have seen the capacity drop initially to 27,000 and it is now around 15,000.

Being heritage listed the ground cannot be demolished but in 2010/11 it was turned into a community park area with some of the original stands and a replica ticket booth in place.

Source: Austadiums.

John Blakey.

Playing the first 135 games of his career at Fitzroy, John was there from 1985 to 1992 and kicked 38 goals.

Crossing to North Melbourne in 1993 he became an ‘all-rounder’, rarely missing a game and being used mainly as a flanker or ruck rover but also as a run with stopper.

Part of the clubs 1996 and 1999 flag sides, he played 224 games for 72 goals from 1993 to 2002.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

 

1897 Finals – Round 3.

Entering the final week of finals, Essendon were in prime position to take the title, but if they were to lose to Melbourne they would meet either Geelong or Collingwood in a playoff.

The Essendon – Melbourne match was played on 4^th September at the Lake Oval in front of 3,800 people who witnessed a rather pedestrian contest.

When the final bell rang Essendon had run out victors 1.8.14 to Melbourne’s 0.8.8; a total of just 22 points between them. This score line is the lowest combined score for any VFL/AFL game.

Over at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground 3,000 people saw Geelong take on Collingwood in a much more exciting game.

At quarter time Geelong had kicked 5.2.32 to Collingwood’s 0.0.0.  The next 2 quarters were very even, then in the last stanza Collingwood came home with a wet sail scoring 3.5 to 0.0.

Final scores saw Geelong hang on for a narrow win, 8.4.52 to 6.12.48.

Source: Wikipedia.