One-game Wonders (part one): Ex-St Kilda player Leigh Capsalis looks back fondly on his only match — the day a pig invaded SCG
Every AFL player has a story about their debut – even those who never played again. Part one of our One-Game Wonders series is a footballer whose sole match featured a pig running on the SCG.
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Leigh Capsalis remembers bursting into laughter on St Kilda’s bench when it happened.
A pig, which had “Pluga” written on one side and “4” on the other, invaded the SCG during a match between Sydney and the Saints on August 1, 1993.
The porker was released onto the ground to taunt star Saints full-forward Tony Lockett, who was not playing that day because of injury.
After spotting it, TV commentator Sandy Roberts said “there’s a pig on the ground. There is a pig at full-forward”.
Trainers, players and officials took about two minutes to catch the swine, which scurried around St Kilda’s forward 50 until Sydney’s Darren Holmes finally captured it, prompting the crowd to cheer, Nicky Winmar to clap and Roberts to remark “what a magnificent tackle”.
It was a famous AFL game — and it happened to be Capsalis’s first and only one.
“I remember there was a noise to the right of us and I looked over and there was a little pig running on the ground,” Capsalis, now 47, recalls.
“It’s obviously not something you see every day.
“I think most people were too scared to go near the pig because they’d embarrass themselves.
“Everyone on the bench was just laughing and going ‘what’s going on here?’
“(That game) is my claim to fame and I tell everyone about it.
“No one obviously remembers me — they just remember that game for the pig.”
Capsalis joined the Saints via pick 69 in the 1992 pre-season draft after playing for Melbourne’s under-19s and reserves, as well as suburban club Keysborough.
He had been a lifelong St Kilda fan so to become teammates with the likes of Lockett, Nathan Burke, Robert Harvey, Stewart Loewe, Danny Frawley and Winmar was a dream come true.
Two days before the Sydney game, Saints coach Ken Sheldon told Capsalis he would debut.
“I was pretty happy because I barracked for St Kilda,” he says.
“To go out on the SCG for them was great.”
Capsalis started on the bench before coming on for Burke.
The debutant registered a behind with his first kick.
“I’m in that club — the other, infamous one,” he jokes.
“It could’ve been a lot better kicking a goal.”
Capsalis, who wore number 52 and played as a half-forward/wingman, finished with four disposals, two marks and a tackle.
The Saints prevailed by 37 points and he was dropped the following week.
“I didn’t set the world on fire but I got a few kicks and we won,” Capsalis says.
“I didn’t get much time (on the ground) but thought I’d be right for next week.”
There was never another opportunity — St Kilda cut him at the end of the season.
More than two decades on, Capsalis is content with having one game to his name and looks back on it as a great opportunity.
“A lot worse have played more and there’s a lot better who haven’t played any,” he says.
“It’s all good.”
Capsalis continued playing at lower levels before pulling the pin when he broke two ribs and ruptured his spleen in a country game.
These days he lives in Melbourne and runs a crane hire company, not far from the Saints’ home, Moorabbin Oval.
He has not kept any of his St Kilda gear but still supports the club and maintains contact with a handful of former teammates, including Loewe and Kain Taylor.
“We have a laugh at my one game and their 300, which is pretty funny,” Capsalis says.
“But I joke with the boys that I’ve got a 100 per cent (winning) strike rate compared to them.”
Originally published as One-game Wonders (part one): Ex-St Kilda player Leigh Capsalis looks back fondly on his only match — the day a pig invaded SCG
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