Discombobulation and rebuilding faith.
Discombobulation and rebuilding faith.
by Darren Spence
37.11 on the 30.7.11. This was a quirky coincidence on a day which all Dees fans will want to quickly forget. I clearly remember the day way back in 1979 at Arctic Park watching Fitzroy belt us by 190 points. If I can still clearly remember that day sadly the horrors of the weekend seem destined to remain a nightmare for many years to come.
In the history of the league there have been some truly poor sides. Let’s look at some of them….
St. Kilda – lost their first 48 games in a row on entering the VFL competition. Ironically they won their first game by a point against the team that went on to win their first premiership that year – Melbourne. The Saints also have ‘won’ a record 26 wooden spoons in their history; twice as many as the next club.
University – the now defunct club was not very successful. They never finished higher than six in a 10 team comp, never played finals, lost their last 51 games in a row and in total lost 97 of the 126 games it competed in between 1908 and 1914.
Fitzroy – In 1996, its last year as a standalone team in the AFL, the Lions won one game and finished the season with a lowly percentage of 49.5%.
Sydney – in 1993 the Swans won one game for the year and averaged an astonishing 145 points against for the season.
There have been teams such as Hawthorn in 1928 and North Melbourne in 1934 that went winless throughout the entire season. It is fair to say that some of the teams mentioned above most likely would have struggled in the Diamond Valley football league but not one of them, in fact no other team (besides the Dees team in 1979) have even come close to suffering the ignominy of the loss inflicted on the Melbourne Football Club on Saturday. University even with its poor record was never beaten by 100 points (the only team to have achieved this feat).
The Demons proudly display 12 stars on the back of their jumper denoting the number of premierships we have won. This feat makes a mockery of long standing clubs such as Footscray and St.Kilda who have only won one each. Yes we ourselves have put some ordinary teams on the park over the course of history; matching our premiership wins we have ‘won’ 12 wooden spoons. Relatively recently we managed one win during the 1981 season. Our current side is no comparison. We have an exciting developing team, capable of matching any side on their day and that’s why it hurts so much, that’s why still to this day I am discombobulated and am yet to fathom how we let it happen!
I am not going to prolong the suffering by mentioning any more about the weekend and I am certainly not going to sycophantically deal out gratuitous player highlights after that performance but I will make a few comments about our outgoing coach. From all reports Dean is a great bloke and he certainly had the support of his players. I really do feel sorry for him as he has spent all his time as coach building up a side that is one day able to compete for a flag and he unfortunately will not be around to reap the rewards of his hard work. That’s tough. I truly hope Dean gets another appropriate gig in the AFL as I am unequivocal in my belief that he still has a great deal to offer the AFL.
OK this Saturday we are up against the Blues. This game was always destined to have that extra bit of spice after the comments made by Mitch Robinson that the Dees played ‘bruise free’ footy. Bailey at the time said they team would not forget those comments any time soon and I am sure it will be mentioned by Todd during the week or before the game. But from a game having a bit of spice it is now laced with Bhut Jolokia chili pepper! This is a game you just do not want to miss. How the boys react will go along way to defining their character and begin the task of rebuilding faith back into their long suffering supporters. Join us to watch the game at 2.10pm tomorrow at the Camelia Grove Hotel – Melbourne v Carlton Live on the Big Screen.
See you there.
Go Dees.
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