Ovens and Murray: 1990 grand final documentary to premiere in July

The 1990 Ovens and Murray grand final is better known for its fights than its footy. And one filmmaker found the game an irresistible subject.

For more than three decades the 1990 Ovens and Murray league grand final has been remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Wodonga stormed home in the last quarter to beat Lavington for the premiership, but events of a fiery first quarter led to it becoming infamously known as the Bloodbath grand final.

Fifteen players received a combined total of 68 matches in suspensions with Lavington faring the worst with 46 compared to Wodonga’s 22.

Both clubs were also fined $5000 by the league for the shame of players standing toe-to-toe punching on.

Or in some cases coming from behind and landing big haymakers on an unsuspecting opponent.

The shocking scenes of September 23, 1990 at the Albury Sportsground will be relived when Melbourne film maker Josh Moore on July 12 stages the premiere of his 30-minute documentary of the match at Albury Regent Cinema.

Moore grew up in Adelaide and had his first taste of working on a film set for the movie Shine in the 1990s.

1990 Bloodbath grand final documentary maker Josh Moore. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

He became “curious” about the Bloodbath grand final when he listened to an interview with Wodonga’s coach on the day, Jeff Gieschen, more than a decade ago.

“Initially I thought it was going to be a five to 10-minute story,” Moore said.

“But the more people I talked to, the more I discovered they all had a different side to the story.

“Thirty-plus years on it is still very raw for people and that was the thing that really cemented it for me.

“As far as the fighting goes, it is brutal and pretty unpleasant, but there is actually some comedy in there as well.

“Looking back everyone has a laugh at themselves about how amateurish it was to let it all go for so long.

“We’ve obviously tried to tell the story of the fights, but the match itself was quite a gripping match.

“Hopefully there is also a little bit of healing as well.”

Wodonga and Lavington players punch on in the 1990 Bloodbath grand final in the Ovens and Murray.

The 1990 grand final win was Gieschen’s second as Wodonga coach after he began his brilliant playing career in the country with Maffra.

But it remains one of the most talked-about matches he has been part of in a football journey that also included coaching Richmond.

“We didn’t know 100 per cent at the time what injuries we had,” he said.

“But you only had to look at the players to get an idea that things weren’t great.

“Their noses were bent and their eyes were gashed open.

“It was really unsavoury.

“We were there and were a part of it, but you look back and think, what in the hell was that all about, and what did it all prove?”

Brawl on field during the 1990 AFL grand final between Collingwood and Essendon at the MCG.

Gieschen’s views are shared by John Lamont, who played for Lavington, and is one of a small number of players from the match still actively involved in football.

“It was ordinary at the time and thank goodness that doesn’t happen anymore,” Lamont, the current coach of Goulbury Valley club Mooroopna, said.

“I look back on it with almost sadness.”

But there was a silver lining amid the carnage of that match and another played two weeks later when Collingwood and Essendon went to war on each other in the AFL grand final.

The send-off rule was introduced in country football and the use of video became more prevalent in tribunal cases.

“At that time there was a barbaric way of thinking that you had to exert your physicality on the opposition,” Gieschen said.

“Coaches would have players pumped to the eyeballs to do stupid things.

“Particularly top-line players from the opposition would be targeted.

“It was a shocking era.

“In 1990 it also happened at the AFL level, as well as the (country league) level, and from those two games there was a line in the sand drawn.

“Thank goodness.”

Wodonga coach Jeff Gieschen lifts the premiership cup after the 1990 Bloodbath grand final.

Moore had hoped to release the documentary to coincide with the 30-year anniversary of the Bloodbath grand final in 2020.

Covid shelved those plans, but the premiere will be held in the lead-up to a Wodonga-Lavington clash on July 15.

Gieschen has been interviewed for the documentary along with Wodonga players Brett Allen and Steven Murphy.

The Lavington perspective has been provided by Ray Mack and Peter Copley with the latter playing in the reserves grand final played between the same two clubs that was equally as fiery as the senior match.

The two field umpires, Shane McDonald and Ken Wright, who had the unenviable task of restoring order after the brawling lasting more than five minutes finally subsided, also share their insights.

MATCH DETAILS

WODONGA 3.5 4.9 5.15 10.22 (82)

LAVINGTON 4.1 7.8 8.10 8.14 (62)

Goals: WODONGA: B. Allen 3, R. West 2, T. Burgess 2, D. Gleeson 2, S. Murphy. LAVINGTON: K. Mansell 2, M. Killeen, K. Bahr, A. Banes, J. Lamont, M. McGuirk, B. Wilson.

Best: WODONGA: G. Cordy, D. Greenhill, S. Murphy, B. Crothers, G. McGhee, A. Nicholls, B. Allen, D. Pevitt, E. Whitehead. LAVINGTON: P. Lappin, W. Pendergast, N. Shaw, B. Wilson, W. Stanlake, R. Hamilton

Originally published as Ovens and Murray: 1990 grand final documentary to premiere in July