Fifteen biggest moments in epic Richmond Collingwood rivalry
ONE hundred years ago a war hero defected, the rest they say is history. Find out why Richmond and Collingwood really hate each other and relive 15 of the the craziest episodes in footy’s biggest rivalry.
IMAGINE Richmond naming Dustin Martin tonight then sitting him on the bench for the whole first half of the preliminary final — as Collingwood storms to a 45-point lead.
Then Brendon Gale storms into the rooms, demands Damien Hardwick put Dusty on and he inspires the Tigers to a famous victory.
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Rewind 45 years and that’s pretty much what happened the last time Richmond and Collingwood met in a preliminary final — if you substitute champion forward Royce Hart for Martin, Tom Hafey for Dimma and powerbroker Graeme Richmond for Gale.
And that was just one chapter in arguably footy’s biggest rivalry, which will go to a whole new level at the MCG tomorrow night.
From a turncoat captain to trade wars that nearly sent both clubs bankrupt and a wobbly Brodie Grundy matchwinner, here are the biggest moments (in no particular order) of a 99-year grudge.
1. It’s hard to believe now but relations between the two clubs, based in neighbouring suburbs, started off well with Collingwood helping Richmond get into the VFL in 1908. But that all fell apart at the end of World War 1, when Collingwood planned a victorious homecoming for former captain and war hero Dan Minogue, complete with a planned parade down Smith St. It was swiftly abandoned when the Pies found out Minogue was planning to move to play with Richmond.
2. The Magpies refused to allow Minogue a permit to play for the Tigers. He was forced to sit out of the game in 1919, and Collingwood defeated Richmond in that year’s Grand Final.
In 1920 Minogue returned as Tigers captain-coach, and the Richmond president made a passionate speech before the Grand Final declaring the Pies were a disgrace, having turned Minogue’s photo to the wall in the committee room at Victoria Park. Minogue led the Tigers to the flag — their first ever — and a bitter rivalry was born.
3. Collingwood goes through the entire 1929 home-and-away season undefeated before Richmond goes the knuckle in the semi-final. They smash “the Machine”, targeting star Magpies. The Magpies get their revenge a week later on Grand Final day.
4. Richmond loses three Grand Finals in a row to Collingwood — 1927, 1928 and 1929 — and the night before one of the Grand Finals police are called to the border of the two suburbs, as a fight between two rival gangs breaks out.
5. In 1930 Collingwood blames Richmond’s delegate for calling for one winner of the Brownlow — the Tigers’ Stan Judkins — after three players tied, including Collingwood’s Harry Collier. The Magpies are furious and fight for 60 years to get a retrospective Brownlow given, which happened in 1989.
6. Gordon Coventry was suspended for the one and only time of his career for striking Richmond’s Joe Murdoch, after Murdoch attacked boils on the back of Coventry’s neck.
It cost Coventry the chance to play in the 1936 flag.
7. The only time Jack Dyer was suspended in his career came when he belted the son of Collingwood coach Jock McHale. Jock Jr, half tippled from a pre-morning attendance at a wedding, hit Dyer back. Dyer would say he had always wanted to knock over McHale Sr. but couldn’t so the next best thing was to knock over the “fruit of his loins”.
8. The Tigers trail by six goals at halftime in the 1973 preliminary final before deciding to bring the injured Royce Hart off the bench. In the rooms at halftime, the doctor says Hart won’t play in the Grand Final if he plays the second half of the prelim, to which one Richmond official says “there won’t be a f------- Grand Final if he doesn’t play”. The Tigers win by seven points.
9. Richmond and Collingwood play out a fierce Anzac Day clash in 1977 before a massive crowd in Tom Hafey’s first game as Magpies coach. Kevin Sheedy kicks the ball the wrong way and admits he had tears in his eyes
10. Collingwood ruins Kevin Bartlett’s 400th game celebrations in 1983.
11. The two clubs tear each other apart during the 1980s trade wars. The Pies poach Richmond stars Geoff Raines and David Cloke and the Tigers retaliate by stealing Phillip Walsh, John Annear and a host of others. The trades almost send both clubs to the point of extinction.
12. The Cloke brothers choose Collingwood over Richmond as their father-son destination.
13. Adam Treloar chooses Collingwood over Richmond and says he did so because the Magpies are closer to a flag that the Tigers. Last week he said he stood by his choice.
14. In a classic “Richmondy” performance, Richmond leads by 17 points with less than five minutes left of its 2016 clash against the Pies and somehow finds a way to lose. Nick Vlastuin handballs the ball out of bounds and it is ruled deliberate, Darcy Moore kicks it to the top of the square and the ball somehow falls into the lap of Brodie Grundy, who turns around and wobbles through the winner with four seconds left. Magpies win by a point.
15. In the latest instalment of the trade war, the Tigers look to have beaten the Magpies in the race to claim Tom Lynch.
16. Jack Higgins kicks what could be the goal of the year against the Pies in Round 19 this year when he tosses the ball in the air, runs around the goalpost and bicycle kicks it through. Pies fans insist the umpire should have been a throw, sending a message to the umpires on their banner the next week. Higgins was already a Magpie antagoniser after kicking a rare double goal earlier in the year when Lynden Dunn flattened him during a trademark exuberant goal celebration.
Originally published as Fifteen biggest moments in epic Richmond Collingwood rivalry