E. J. Whitten Legends Game
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The E. J. Whitten Legends Game is an annual charity Australian rules football All-star game, where retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebrities, in a State of Origin interstate game, between Victoria and the All Stars (representing the rest of Australia). The game is sponsored by Australian real estate agents Ray White.
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[edit] History
E. J. "Ted" Whitten, a former Footscray Football Club player who died of prostate cancer in 1995, was regarded as one of the greatest ever players of the game. He was also passionate about State of Origin football. With his enthusiasm and ability to keep in the media spotlight, Ted had kept State of Origin going for many years, and his emotional farewell at the Victoria vs South Australia game at the MCG in 1995 will long be remembered as a symbol of State of Origin passion. Shortly after his death, the concept was brought into question and the last such game was played in 1999.
When he died, his son, Ted jnr, launched a foundation for research into prostate cancer, and the Legends Game raises money for the foundation. So far, more than $500,000 has been raised for the E. J. Whitten Foundation.
The first ever Legends Match was played at the Western Oval, home of the Footscray/Western Bulldogs, EJ Whitten's club. Most of the games have been televised free-to-air in Victoria and South Australia. Due to popularity of the event, later games were moved to bigger venues.
To many, the Legends Game has since then become an important substitute for official State of Origin games. More recently, the relevance of the matches has been brought to question on several occasions, along with a renewed push for an official State of Origin series (as a result of increased Australian rules football participation in New South Wales and Queensland).
[edit] Past match results
| Year | Venue | Scores | Crowd |
| 2006 | Telstra Dome, Melbourne | Victoria 1.12.7 (88) drew All Stars 5.5.13 (88)
(Victoria won goal kickoff 0.3.1 to 0.2.2) |
13,000 [1] |
| 2005 | Telstra Dome, Melbourne | Victoria 3.9.6 (87) def All Stars 0.10.9 (69) | 13,000 |
| 2004 | Telstra Dome, Melbourne | All Stars 1.12.4 (85) def Victoria 3.7.7 (76) | 18,000 |
| 2003 | Telstra Dome, Melbourne | Victoria 1.10.7 (76) def All Stars 3.6.12 (75) | 18,611 |
| 2002 | Optus Oval, Melbourne | All Stars 10.8 (68) def Victoria 10.3 (63) | |
| 2001 | All-Stars 7.5 (47) drew Victoria 6.11 (47) (All-Stars won goal kickoff) | ||
| 2000 | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide | Victoria 6.2 (38) drew All-Stars 5.8 (38) (No goal kickoff) | |
| 1999 | All-Stars 8.8 (56) def Victoria 7.12 (54) | ||
| 1998 | Victoria 8.6 (54) def All-Stars 7.10 (52) | ||
| 1997 | Victoria 10.11 (71) def All-Stars 7.10 (52) | ||
| 1996 | Western Oval, Footscray | All-Stars 13.9 (87) def Victoria 10.13 (73) |
[edit] 2006 Game Details
The 2006 event was held on June 14th at the Telstra Dome. Among the celebrity guests was Tasmanian Todd Russell, one of the miners rescued in the Beaconsfield mine collapse [2]. He did not play in the match though, because he still had injuries from the accident.
The Victorian side was coached by Danny Frawley, whilst the All-Stars were coached by Wayne Carey and guest Todd Russell.
Speckies were taken by Victoria's Dermott Brereton and All-Star Adrian Fletcher.
Dermott Brereton dished out rough play on former Hawthorn teammate John Platten, including an illegal elbow to Platten's head whilst the rover attempted to tackle and an illegal bump behind play.
A male streaker was arrested by security guards in the third quarter.
Guest appearances included comedians Peter Rowsthorn and Russell Gilbert and legendary Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League full-forward Simon Goosey.
The shootout at the end only featured 4 kickers per side, unlike the 5 stated by commentators.
[edit] 2005 Game Details
2005's game was notable for a sensational goal scored by former Essendon star Derek Kickett and by the appearance of the Australian Women's Footy champion, Debbie Lee, who although lightly built came off the bench onto the ground for a quarter managed to kick a great running goal.
Adding comedy to the event are comedians Peter Rowsthorn and Russell Gilbert, who make regular appearances in games despite their obvious lack of skill (in Rowsthorn's case, some would say embarrassing).
Dale Weightman is also notable for his ability as the oldest player on the ground to continually play up to a high standard.
