On a world sporting level, the Carlton-Collingwood rivalry pre-dates those of the NFL (Green Bay Packers v Chicago Bears), English Premier League (Liverpool v Manchester United) and Major League Baseball (Boston Red Sox v New York Yankees). Yet the great shame is that unlike these international rivalries, precious little remains in terms of footage of Carlton-Collingwood contests, especially prior to the 1980s.
Though Carlton and Collingwood have contested nine finals matches since 1969, complete footage of almost half these matches has been lost.
And at the time of writing, one such Carlton-Collingwood game of historical importance continues to gather dust in the Seven studio archives. The match in question is the 1969 Second Semi-Final, which drew 108,544 people through the turnstiles and featured club legends from both sides of the divide - Nicholls, Jesaulenko, Gallagher, Jackson, Silvagni and Jones of Carlton; McKenna, Price, Greening, Richardson, Tuddenham and Thompson of Collingwood.
Carlton took out the match by an even six goals that afternoon. But how do we, as Carlton supporters, get to turn the key to unlock the Seven vault? In truth, it takes only 15 supporters to express an interest in viewing the match and parting with $31.95 of their hard-earned for AFL Name-A-Game to release the footage in DVD format.
So if you would like to be amongst the privileged few to view the 1969 Second Semi in all its black and white glory match for the first time in more than 42 years, please email your name and contact details to christian@veg.com.au.
And as a postscript, if you’re a supporter with film footage of Carlton-Collingwood matches (or any Carlton matches for that matter) from the 1980s or earlier in your keep, please contact Tony De Bolfo on 9389 6241.
You might just help keep the great rivalry alive.
