Whispers in the Sky

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Whispers in the Sky refers to an Australian rules football controversy in 2005.

The controversy centred around an Australian Football League match in Round 21 on August 19, 2005 between Fremantle and St Kilda.

The match had been highly controversial, with Fremantle coming from behind to win by 5 points following a mark taken by Justin Longmuir with seconds left in the match and kicking a goal after the siren. Numerous contentious free kicks in the match had angered Saints fans and the anger was intensified after allegations by Channel 9 journalist Tony Jones that he had heard umpire Matthew Head say on the plane "Now I know what it feels like to have a victory". [1] An investigation by the AFL later cleared the umpire of any wrongdoing. [2]

This was the second of a string of three consecutive controversial Fremantle vs St Kilda games. In their first meeting of 2005, St Kilda won by one point which they scored from a contentious holding the ball decision in St Kilda's forward line. In their first meeting of 2006, the most controversial of all, St Kilda tied the game with a behind scored well after the final siren at Aurora Stadium, which was too quiet for the umpires to hear - the AFL Commission intervened and changed the result of the game three days later.