AFL team rivalries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AFL team rivalries are matches in the Australian Football League which typically draw large crowds and interest regardless of both teams positions on the ladder. The AFL encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league, to the point of designating one round each year as Rivalry Round where many of these match-ups are held on the one weekend.
With a 22 round season and 16 teams, the AFL fixtures are not equal with each team playing seven other teams twice and eight teams once. Choosing to play certain games twice, such as the local derbies and blockbusters (games between the Big 4 Victorian clubs of Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and Richmond, are known as blockbuster games), results in a skewed fixture which is rarely evened out over time.
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[edit] 2006 Rivalry Round
In 2006, the Rivalry Round was held in Round 6 and had the following matches
| Home team | Home team score | Away team | Away team score | Ground | Crowd | Date | Report |
| Melbourne Demons | 13.9 (87) | Geelong Cats | 11.15 (81) | MCG | 36,041 | May 5 | AFL.com.au |
| St Kilda Saints | 14.8 (92) | Western Bulldogs | 12.6 (78) | Telstra Dome | 42,760 | May 6 | AFL.com.au |
| Fremantle Dockers | 12.16 (88) | West Coast Eagles | 12.11 (83) | Subiaco Oval | 42,213 | May 6 | AFL.com.au |
| Adelaide Crows | 15.13 (103) | Port Adelaide Power | 8.5 (53) | AAMI Stadium | 42,723 | May 6 | AFL.com.au |
| Essendon Bombers | 13.17 (95) | Richmond Tigers | 13.19 (97) | MCG | 58,439 | May 6 | AFL.com.au |
| Brisbane Lions | 10.10 (70) | Sydney Swans | 15.12 (102) | The Gabba | 29,872 | May 7 | AFL.com.au |
| Carlton Blues | 9.12 (66) | Collingwood Magpies | 21.12 (138) | MCG | 59,695 | May 7 | AFL.com.au |
| Kangaroos | 15.12 (102) | Hawthorn Hawks | 11.14 (80) | Telstra Dome | 28,047 | May 7 | AFL.com.au |
[edit] Traditional rivals
[edit] Carlton v Collingwood
Arguably the greatest and longest standing rivalry in the competition. Two clubs in close proximity, fuelled by the rivalry between white (Carlton) and blue collar (Collingwood) suburbs. The rivalry is intensified because the teams have met in six memorable Grand Finals (Carlton winning five, Collingwood one), including Carlton's 44-point comeback in 1970, and the famous Harmes-Sheldon goal in 1979. Games between these two clubs regularly attract large crowds regardless of whether they are both at the bottom of the ladder or not. Carlton remains the only team to have won more mutual games against Collingwood.
[edit] Richmond v Collingwood
Arising from the fact that the two areas neighbour each other, and that Richmond supporters often mocked Collingwood supporters whom they thought were "feral". In addition, Richmond and Collingwood were both highly successful in the late 1920's to the early 1930's, meeting each other in several grand finals.
[edit] Melbourne v Collingwood
Traditional White collar (Melbourne) vs. Blue collar (Collingwood) rivalry additionally fuelled by a narrow loss to Collingwood which stopped Melbourne from winning a fourth flag in a row in 1958. Half of Melbourne's twelve premierships came against Collingwood, and the pair have met in seven Grand Finals, the most of any pairing. Since 1999, they have played each other on the Queen's Birthday public holiday Monday in June.
[edit] Richmond v Carlton
A rivalry based on close geographical proximity and large supporter bases. The rivalry intensified as both clubs contested several Grand Finals between 1969 and 1982. Particularly the 1972 Grand Final where Richmond scored the highest score recorded in a Grand Final, only to be bettered by Carlton in the same match. The following year Richmond won the 1973 Grand Final in an even more physically bitter contest than in recent encounters between the two sides. In 1982 Carlton got their revenge by defeating Richmond in their last Grand Final appearance.
[edit] Essendon v Carlton
As is the case with two successful sides in any competition, fans of each club love to defeat the other. The two clubs share the record for the most premierships with 16. In recent times, Essendon's "Baby Bombers" defeated Carlton in the 1993 Grand Final, while Carlton famously upset the heavily favoured Essendon side by 1 point in the 1999 Preliminary Final.
[edit] Essendon v Collingwood
Arising from the drawn inaugural MCG ANZAC Day clash and Essendon's loss to Collingwood in the 1990 Grand Final. Games between these sides draw large crowds, with the ANZAC day match generally being the largest crowd each year outside of the finals.
[edit] Essendon v Richmond
A rivalry simply born out of the fact that these to clubs are both part of the "Big 4" clubs in Melbourne as the highly supported teams. In every contest between the two teams there is a good attendance no matter what the circumstances. The teams have met three times in Grand Finals. Richmond won its only final in recent times in 1995, beating Essendon in a bruising encounter. Since 2004, matches between Essendon and Richmond have been a celebration of Aboriginal players and their contribution to the league.
[edit] Local derbies
[edit] West Coast v Fremantle
Commencing in 1995, the Western Derby is the talking point of most of Western Australia for two weeks each year. The Eagles won the first 9 derbies before Fremantle finally won the second derby in 1999. Whilst the coaches and players always say that it is just another game, most supporters would disagree.
[edit] Adelaide v Port Adelaide
Unlike the Eagles who hold a commanding lead over the newer team, the Showdown clashes have been dominated more by the the newer team, with Port Adelaide holding the advantage, 12 to 9.
[edit] More recent rivals
[edit] Brisbane v Sydney
Two frontier states for the AFL, the AFL uses the Rugby League State of Origin rivalry between Queensland and New South Wales to draw crowds to games between these teams.
[edit] Melbourne v Geelong
The first 2 clubs in the league. Melbourne CEO Steve Harris once made comments about how Melbourne people never like to travel to Geelong, with this rivalry being manufactured by the AFL in the recent AFL Rivalry Round concept.
[edit] Essendon v Hawthorn
The clubs contested the Grand Final on several occasions in the 1980s. More recently, in late 2004, there was the infamous "Line in the Sand" brawl after half-time, resulting in many Hawthorn players being suspended. While Hawthorn lost that game, they have won two of the three subsequent contests.
[edit] Brisbane v Essendon
The two sides who clashed in the 2001 Grand Final, has since developed into a great rivalry thanks to respective coaches Leigh Matthews (Brisbane) and Kevin Sheedy (Essendon), with several famous clashes already. Earlier in 2001, with Essendon riding high having won the 2000 Premiership, Leigh Matthews famously quoted from the movie "Predator", stating that "if it bleeds, we can kill it". During a round 17 clash with the two a James Hird display led to Essendon breaking a 15-game winless streak (they had drawn against Carlton the previous week and its' last win was against the Sydney Swans on April Fools Day.
[edit] Brisbane v Collingwood
The Brisbane Lions defeated Collingwood in the 2002 and 2003 Grand Final, which caused Grand Final Rematches and great rivalry between the two teams. This continued onwards with many Lions fans disliking Collingwood, and their former President and now head of the Nine Network, Eddie McGuire.
[edit] Brisbane v Port Adelaide
The two sides who dominated the AFL from 2001-2004, they had identical winning percentages over the four years. The Lions won three consecutive titles (2001-2003), while Port developed a reputation as chokers in big matches until they won the 2004 title, defeating Brisbane in that decider. Matches between the two are always hard fought encounters. The two sides have also drawn on two occasions, in 1997 and 1998.
[edit] West Coast v Essendon
The rivalry started when Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy celebrated his team's 2-point victory in Round 16, 1993 by running down from the coaches box to the ground waving his jacket around his head. Ever since, the fans of the victorious team in these clashes celebrate the victory by waving their jackets, scarves, or whatever other paraphernalia is handy. Occasionally fans of other league teams (infamously Richmond after the 1995 semi-final) wave their jackets (or scarves) after their team defeats Essendon. This tradition however, has become increasingly rare. In a match in 2000, Essendon's Mark Johnson was felled shortly before halftime (no video footage of the incident exists). This prompted Kevin Sheedy, to march onto the field, yelling at West Coast's Mitchell White and making throat-slitting gestures. Sheedy later claimed that a "seagull" had flown into Johnson's eye and was fined heavily by the league for his actions.
[edit] St Kilda v Geelong
Both teams have reasonably young teams making their mark in AFL. In addition, it's a battle of the two cities on Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay.
[edit] St Kilda v Fremantle
Likely to become rivals after the siren mistake in Round 5 2006, the third game in succession between these sides to be decided by less than a goal in controversial circumstances, the previous being the Whispers in the Sky controversy, and a contentious holding the ball decision paid to give St Kilda the winning point.
[edit] Hawthorn v Melbourne
In 1996, both sides were involved in merger talks. The merger would have led to the birth of the Melbourne Hawks, never eventuated. The incident is most well remembered for the "merger match" in the final round that season, a game which attracted 63,000 fans (the highest home-and-away crowd attracted by either team since Round 6, 1992) and finished in a one-point Hawthorn victory that earned them eighth place on the ladder.
[edit] West Coast v Sydney
One on the most recent, and more thrilling rivalries to develop. In the thirteen months between September 2005 and September 2006, the sides met five times, including both Grand Finals and two Qualifying Finals, in games decided by less than a goal. The difference in aggregate across the five games was two points, and the sum of the margins was twelve points, seven fewer than the old record. The most recent meeting was the 2006 AFL Grand Final, in which the Eagles won by 1 point. The previous Grand Final was won by Sydney by 4 points.
[edit] Past Rivals
[edit] St Kilda v South Melbourne
These clubs shared the same geographical area until the Swans moved to Sydney. These teams played for the 'Lake Trophy'.
[edit] Collingwood v Fitzroy
As with St Kilda and South Melbourne, these clubs shared the same geographical area until Fitzroy folded (and was absorbed by Brisbane) and began a new rivalry with Collingwood from successive Grand Final encounters.
