# 1966 VFL grand final

The 1966 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and St Kilda Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1966. It was the 69th annual grand final of the Victorian Football League (VFL), staged to determine the premiers for the 1966 VFL season. The match, attended by 101,655 spectators, was won by St Kilda by a margin of one point, marking that club's first and only premiership victory to date.

## Background

Both St Kilda and Collingwood were coming off consecutive VFL Grand final defeats: the Magpies in 1964 against Melbourne and the Saints after losing the previous year to Essendon. In a thrilling finish to the home-and-away season, Collingwood finished minor premiers after easily beating Footscray at Victoria Park, while St Kilda, Geelong, Essendon and Richmond fought for the remaining three qualifying spots. St Kilda managed to hold on to second place in a thrilling contest against Hawthorn at Moorabbin, while Geelong and Essendon also won their games, which meant that Richmond would miss the finals despite its big win over Fitzroy.

## Teams

| St Kilda | Collingwood |
St Kilda :
| B: | 01 Rodger Head | 06 Bob Murray | 13 Brian Sierakowski |
| HB: | 16 Verdun Howell | 09 Ian Synman | 24 John Bingley |
| C: | 36 Jeff Moran | 05 Ian Stewart | 21 Jim Read |
| HF: | 15 Ian Cooper | 04 Darrel Baldock (c) | 27 Barry Breen |
| F: | 08 Alan Morrow | 18 Kevin Neale | 19 Allan Davis |
| Foll: | 02 Brian Mynott | 25 Daryl Griffiths | 03 Ross Smith |
| Res: | 31 Travis Payze | 22 Kevin Billing | |
| Coach: | Allan Jeans | Allan Jeans | Allan Jeans |
Collingwood :
| B: | 35 Ian Montgomery | 08 Peter Boyne | 05 Terry Waters |
| HB: | 13 Laurie Hill | 15 Ted Potter | 33 Lee Adamson |
| C: | 17 Peter Patterson | 09 Colin Tully | 12 Errol Hutchesson |
| HF: | 01 Des Tuddenham (c) | 16 Doug Searl | 21 Max Pitt |
| F: | 03 Ray Gabelich | 07 Ian Graham | 36 Gary Wallis |
| Foll: | 28 Len Thompson | 29 Kevin Rose | 18 Wayne Richardson |
| Res: | 02 Trevor Steer | 04 John Henderson | |
| Coach: | Bob Rose | Bob Rose | Bob Rose |
Umpire – Jeff Crouch

## Match summary

Twenty-five minutes into the final quarter and with scores level, Collingwood's Wayne Richardson had a shot at goal on the run but kicked it out of bounds on the full. St Kilda then began to work the ball out of defence after winning the boundary throw-in. A kick from Ian Cooper saw the ball make its way to centre half-forward. Collingwood defender Ted Potter failed to mark the ball low down, and with the players scrummaging for the ball, a bounce was called. Brian Mynott won the tap for the Saints, but it was intercepted by Potter, who was quickly tackled. Potter, however, managed to get out a handball, but it found its way to St Kilda's Barry Breen, who snapped at goal and kicked a behind to put his side in front. With about a minute left on the clock, Collingwood were able to work the ball towards their forward line. St Kilda's Bob Murray, however, was able to take a mark at centre half-back, and the siren sounded after he kicked the ball towards the wing. St Kilda had held on to win by one point.
One of the timekeepers was an avid St Kilda fan and blew the final siren for more than ten seconds.
After the game, the players swapped guernseys, which was a tradition at the time for grand finals. There is an infamous photo of St Kilda captain Darrel Baldock swapping guernseys with Collingwood captain Des Tuddenham. Later versions of the photo would be doctored to show Baldock and Tuddenham wearing their own guernseys. Ian Synman was the only St Kilda player not to swap his jumper with a Collingwood opponent.
According to Peter Clark of The Footy Almanac, St Kilda's Ian Cooper was best on ground.

## Scorecard

| | 1966 VFL Grand Final | 1966 VFL Grand Final | 1966 VFL Grand Final | | |
| Saturday, 24 September 2:50pm | Collingwood | def. by | St Kilda | MCG (crowd: 101,655) | |
| | 2.1 (13) 5.7 (37) 7.11 (53) 10.13 (73) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.5 (17) 5.6 (36) 8.9 (57) 10.14 (74) | Umpires: Crouch Television broadcast: Seven Network | Umpires: Crouch Television broadcast: Seven Network |
| Tuddenham 3 Gabelich, Richardson 2 Graham, Pitt, Wallis 1 | Tuddenham 3 Gabelich, Richardson 2 Graham, Pitt, Wallis 1 | Goals | 5 Neale 2 Baldock 1 Cooper, Griffiths, Moran | 5 Neale 2 Baldock 1 Cooper, Griffiths, Moran |
| Waters, Richardson, Thompson, Patterson, Pitt, Tuddenham | Waters, Richardson, Thompson, Patterson, Pitt, Tuddenham | Best | Cooper, Stewart, Sierakowski, Griffiths, Breen, Morrow, Neale | Cooper, Stewart, Sierakowski, Griffiths, Breen, Morrow, Neale |