1964 VFL Grand Final

1964 VFL Grand Final
Melbourne Collingwood 8.16 (64) 8.12 (60)
Date	19 September 1964
Stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance	102,471
← 1963 VFL Grand Final 1965 →

The 1964 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 19 September 1964. It was the 68th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1964 VFL season. The match, attended by 102,471 spectators, was won by Melbourne by a margin of 4 points, marking that club's 12th (and to date, most recent) premiership victory.

Background

Melbourne were competing in the finals for the 11th consecutive season. They were also playing in their eighth Grand Final in 11 seasons and fighting for their sixth Premiership in that time.

Match summary

With Melbourne leading by 11 points at the final break the match is remembered for its thrilling last quarter. In the early stages Melbourne had plenty of opportunities to kick goals but could only manage behinds and it was Collingwood's Des Tuddenham who kicked the first goal of the term.

17 minutes into the quarter Collingwood trailed by 9 points but were within a kick when Ray Gabelich kicked goal from a boundary throw in. Gabelich kicked another to put them in front soon afterwards, a goal that is now regarded as one of the most famous in grand final history. He had received the ball near centre half forward and due to Melbourne having spent the previous minutes in their own forwardline and Collingwood moving the ball upfield quickly, there were no defenders ahead of Gabelich. A 109 kg ruckman, Gabelich ran towards the goal, bounced the ball four times, nearly losing it on each occasion, and with Melbourne players gaining on him put it through the big sticks.

Collingwood were now 3 points up and time on was nearing. After the restart Melbourne's Barry Bourke kicked the ball into their 50 and it was marked by rover Hassa Mann. He was directly in front and only 20 metres out but his shot for goal came off the side of his boot and he could only manage a behind. Melbourne had another chance to win the game however when they kicked the ball towards the goalsquare. A big pack of players went for the ball but it spilled to the ground where Melbourne defender Neil Crompton gathered the ball and kicked a goal. It was his only goal of the season and he had only been forward because he'd followed his opponent upfield.

In the final minutes, Collingwood had the ball in their forward line. Collingwood's Ian Graham had a chance to goal with a difficult snap from the boundary but missed. Melbourne held on against intense pressure from Collingwood until the siren sounded leaving Melbourne winners by 4 points.

Teams

Melbourne
B:	5 Neil Crompton	37 Bernie Massey	8 Tassie Johnson
HB:	11 Tony Anderson	18 Brian Roet	40 Frank Davis
C:	9 Brian Dixon	35 Don Williams	6 Frank Adams
HF:	22 Bryan Kenneally	20 Graeme Jacobs	32 Barrie Vagg
F:	4 John Lord	14 Barry Bourke	16 John Townsend
Foll:	23 Graham Wise	31 Ron Barassi (c)	29 Hassa Mann
Reserve(s):	36 Peter McLean	10 Ken Emselle
Coach:	Norm Smith

Collingwood
B:	16 Ron Reeves	15 Ted Potter	9 Trevor Steer
HB:	13 Laurie Hill	8 John Mahon	33 Duncan Wright
C:	23 Ricky Watt	2 John Henderson (vc)	25 Bert Chapman
HF:	30 Des Tuddenham	21 Kevin McLean	26 David Norman
F:	5 Terry Waters	7 Ian Graham	27 Denis Dalton
Foll:	1 Ray Gabelich (c)	29 Kevin Rose	24 Mick Bone
Reserve(s):	19 Max Urquhart	3 Ken Turner (dvc)
Coach:	Bob Rose

Umpire - Ron Brophy

Statistics

Score

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Melbourne	2.6	5.7	7.10	8.16	8.16 (64)
Collingwood	2.5	5.9	5.11	8.12	8.12 (60)

Goal kickers

Melbourne:

• Townsend 3
• Lord 2
• Bourke 1
• Crompton 1
• Mann 1

Collingwood:

• Gabelich 2
• Waters 2
• Bone 1
• Dalton 1
• Steer 1
• Tuddenham 1

External links

• Fullpointsfooty article on the Grand Final

See also

• 1964 VFL season