The Bloodbath Curse

The Bloodbath Curse is the name given to the period consequent to the 1945 VFL Grand Final which South Melbourne lost to Carlton in what has been dubbed as the Bloodbath Grand Final. The consequent drought lasted until 2005.
==Background==
South Melbourne had a strong period in the 1930's making four grand finals although they only won one of them. The club was looking strong coming out of World War 2 and in 1945 they finished on top of the ladder with a record of sixteen wins and four losses - to North Melbourne, Carlton, Collingwood and Fitzroy. This was despite having to play their home games at the Junction Oval as their usual home at the Lake Oval was still being used by the armed forces. Only the Fitzroy loss was a home game - all the others were at the opposing club's home. They had been on top of the ladder since round 3 and were the clear favourites.
The MCG was also unavailable forcing the finals to be played at Princes Park. As these finals were played in peace time the capacity was increased to hold more spectators. South played in the second semi final against Collingwood and defeated them by 11 points to progress to the grand final. The preliminary final saw Collingwood defeated by Carlton in a match noted as extremely violent but with only one report from the game. This was seen as an ongoing issue that the VFL had failed to address - fighting as a result of frustration over a couple of rules changes that had caused congestion. After this the VFL umpires decided to crack down on the violence and appointed Frank Spokes to be the field umpire for the grand final.
==The Grand Final==
Bob Chitty, the Carlton captain, won the toss and opted to kick to the Eastern end of the ground. This was favoured by a blustery Westerly breeze.
===First Quarter===
The blustery nature of the wind was lowering the standard of play and there was a lot of fumbling as well. With the wind though, the Blues got the early advantage scoring two goals including one monster from 60 metres out from Mick Price. The Swans then tried to counter but were held up by the Carlton defence and the wind, causing no goals but five behinds. The scores at quarter time were Carlton 2.4 (16) to South 0.5 (5). The game had started quietly enough.
===Second Quarter===
The tactics of both sides changed - clearly looking to make room and avoid the congestion. Carlton opted for long kicking - not a smart move against the wind - while South went for short passing on the wings and flanks. This resulted in a more open second quarter, with the Blues goaling first. But the Swans used their tactics to a tee and kicked the next four goals to take the lead by 7 points. Carlton managed to strike back with a badly needed goal, but the Swans responded to retain their lead.
It would be at this point that Chitty would flatten South Melbourne youngster Ron Clegg. This was missed by umpire Spokes but he didn't miss the resultant stand off between South's Jack Williams and Carlton's Rod Maclean, which has Williams shaping to fight. This got him reported, and then he was reported again for using abusive language towards the umpire. Then Chitty flattened Bill Williams with an elbow - and this time he was caught and reported.
But South Melbourne was off balance now and two behinds were followed by three Carlton goals, giving them back the lead by eight points.
Then there was more trouble - Jack Williams flattened Ken Hands, and Carlton players were remonstrating with Williams in an instant. Umpire Spokes though missed the action but he was quick to ask for police assistance in order to prevent any more trouble. The result was no reports, and the Swans got a break on the restarts and kicked a goal that made the half time scores Carlton 7.5 (47) to South 6.9 (45).
===Third Quarter===
Heavy rain began to fall at half time and the wet conditions remained for the rest of the game. While the rough nature of the game continued there were no incidents in the third term, possibly because of the action taken by Spokes calling in the police in the previous quarter. While the Swans kicked the first goal of the quarter, Carlton had the breeze again and their long kicking game was working far better in the wet conditions than South's shortpassing. They kicked the next four goals to take ahold of the game before South managed to find a reply only for the Blues to answer. The scores at three quarter time were Carlton 12.9 (81) to South 8.10 (58).
===Final Quarter===
Early in the final quarter - out of blue Chitty was flattened. This was missed but the fracas that followed had police on the ground again. No reports were made in this incident before South Melbourne managed to get a goal only for Carlton to get it back again despite South's persistent following up.
But then all hell brooke loose. The game's biggest melee started when Carlton's Jim Mooring was flattened by South Melbourne's Don Grossman. The umpire caught this one and reported Grossman, but it didn't stop a mighty fracas as Ken Hands retaliated by flattening Ron Clegg. Even the police had trouble with this one as trainers and even spectators joined in. One of the spectators was Carlton player Fred Fitzgibbon - the one report from the preliminary final. Police removed him and other spectators, while all the umpires had trouble with South Melbourne player Ted Whitfield who was reported for abusing and attempting to strike goal umpire Les Whyte. Whitfield had run away from the men in white and even pulled his guernsey over his head to stop them from reading his guernsey number.
Once order was finally restored South Melbourne tried to attack with the wind again, but only got one goal out of it. Carlton counter attacked, and another fracas was averted when Hands took a mark only to be flattened straight after by South's Jim Cleary. Cleary was reported and police were there to prevent a repeat of the earlier melee. Finally things calmed down at Carlton kicked the last two goals of the game to win 15.13 (103) to South Melbourne 10.15 (75).
==Tribunal and other consequences==
The following Tuesday night the VFL tribunal had a busy time dealing with nine players on fourteen charges.
# Jack Williams was suspended for eight weeks for his fight stance towards Rod Maclean and for four weeks for the abusive language for a total of 12 weeks.
# Bob Chitty was suspended for eight weeks for elbowing Bill Williams.
# Don Grossman was suspended for eight weeks for striking Jim Mooring.
# Ken Hands was found not guilty of jumping into the back of Ron Clegg.
# Keith Smith was found not guilty of striking Jim Mooring.
# Ron Savage was suspended for eight weeks for striking Don Grossman.
# Ted Whitfield was suspended for the whole 1946 season for abusive language and attempting to strike the goal umpire and for attempting to avoid being reported. He was also suspended for two weeks for time wasting.
# Jim Cleary was suspended for eight weeks for striking Ken Hands, but found not guilty of attempting to strike Bob Chitty.
# Herb Matthews was severely reprimanded for time wasting.
Whitfield no showed at the tribunal and his matter was heard in his absence, preferring to attend a Cabaret Ball. He was sacked a fortnight later and banned from the Lake Oval totally, even as a spectator. The ban was only lifted in the 1960's.
Fred Fitzgibbon's actions were investigated and he was brought before the VFL where his four week suspension from the preliminary final was extended by a further four weeks.
==Subsequent seasons==
The grand final had a bad effect on the Swans. For the next 25 years they never made the finals let alone the grand final. The closest they got was in 1952 when they finished fifth just half a game outside the top four. However during this period they also only won one wooden spoon - in 1962. It would be in 1970, under the coaching of Norm Smith, that the Swans would make the finals, only to be beaten by St Kilda. The poor resources though prevented a follow up and three wooden spoons in six seasons followed. In 1977 the Swans returned to the finals but were again beaten. More finals misses followed.
In 1982 the Swans moved to Sydney. The finals drought continued - until 1986 when under private ownership and a spending spree similar to that of the 30's the Swans returned to the finals making it in 1986 and 1987. But they never won a final and crashed again leading to a dark period including three wooden spoons in a row from 1992 to 1994 and dire financial woes until the AFL bought the club back of it's private owners.
Turning it all around led to finals for the first time since 1987 in 1996, and finally the Swans won in September - only falling at the last hurdle in their first grand final since 1945 to North Melbourne. They stayed in the top tier making the finals every year for the rest of the century, only to miss in 2000. A finals appearance in 2001 was followed by a miss in 2003, but it was finals again in 2003 and 2004.
==The end of the Curse==
2005 didn't seem to be a much different season to any dating back to 1996 in making the finals. The Swans won 15 games and lost seven - staying in the top eight from round 11 after a slow start including three straight losses. They were on a roll of four wins on the trot leading into the qualifying final against West Coast at Subiaco. The Eagles had held top position on the ladder for most of the season, only losing it in the final round to Adelaide. West Coast would win the qualifying final at Subiaco by 4 points but the Swans had the double chance and hosted Geelong in the first semi final by 3 points to enter the preliminary final against St Kilda. The Swans won handily to enter the grand final which would be against the Eagles.
Swans captain Barry Hall won the toss. The game was close at quarter time with the Swans in front by just 2 points but they got away in the second term to lead at half time by 20 points, keeping the Eagles goal less. But West Coast struck back in the third term keeping the Swans goal less and only trailing by 2 points with a quarter to play.
The Eagles got the first two goals of the final quarter and the drought ended seemed as far away as ever. But the Swans got both goals back to regain the lead. Tadhg Kennelly rushed a behind late in the quarter to trim the lead to four points but crucially give the ball to the Swans when the Eagles were surging forward, but West Coast found a way back when Dean Cox sent the kick deep into their attacking zone again - only for Swan defender Leo Barry to take a pack mark going from left to right. As he walked back to take his kick, the siren sounded.
South Melbourne fans rejoiced as the Curse had been exorcised. All the remnants of 1945 had been extinguished and the Swans had won their first premiership since 1933. Barry's mark entered football folklore, along with Steven Quartermain's commentary yelling "Leo Barry you star!" Three South Melbourne players who played in 1945 were still alive in 2005; ruck rover Jack Dempsey (who passed away in 2006), half back flanker Bob Matlock (who also passed away in 2006) and Bill Williams, who was the last survivor passing away in 2016 at the age of 90. Six of the Carlton players were also still alive including Ken Hands and Jim Mooring.
Category:Footy History