Your first MFC Game/Best MFC Game/Worst MFC Game

[DeesignerAU 383]

First - Can't recall my first game but the first I can remember was vs Geelong (Away) R3 in 1982 - My dad and I left at half time as the score was 10.4 to 1.7 #shattered

Best - 1987 R22 vs Bulldogs - I was one of those kids with a pocket radio supplying the scores to the crowd

Worst - So so many but these stand out - 1987 Prelim VS Haw (Waverley), 1994 Prelim VS WC (Perth), R1 2008 vs Haw (MCG),  R23 2019 vs North (Hobart) and lastly and the one that had the potential to feel the worst - R22 1996 vs Haw (MCG) The Merger Game - lost by 1 point, Dunstall kicked his 100th, club future uncertain, last game i worked for MFC. #shattered

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by DeesignerAU

[In Harmes Way 7,792]

@Redleg There's a few here remembering the 1979 game vs Fitzroy as the worst - love to hear your memories of this one?

[JTR 2,846]

I moved to Melbourne from NZ in late 1999, and after many 'recruitment' attempts from Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon & Richmond fans I settled on the Demons.

2000 I thought I'd enter myself in an online tipping competition and I guess with no pre-conceived ideas about the teams or who the players were, I managed to win.

Prize was 4 tickets to each week of the finals series, including the GF, so the first game I saw live was the Qualifying final vs Carlton. Probably still my favorite game, ahead of the 2 x 2018 finals.

Been to plenty of bad games, but the worst, probably because of how disappointed/mad I was afterwards was round 23, 2017 where had to beat the Filth to make finals, but choked and finished the season 9th.

Edited September 9, 2021 by JTR
typo

[Fritta and Turner 4,428]

Apparently I went to the Olympic boxing in 1956 as a babe in arms so my first game was probably 1957.  The game I can obviously date is the 64 GF.

Jimmy running over the mark was a shock.  My sister and I were absolutely stunned.  We sat in the car for 30 minutes listening to the radio.  Luckily they announced that S Spencer and Derryn Hinch!!!!! had gone to the umpires rooms to remonstrate.  We started to laugh and drove home;  and i have told this one before but in the Dark (Neeld) Ages I went to a preseason game, and purchased a pie just before the first bounce.  Before I had finished the pie I had come to the correct conclusion that the season was over.

Probably not the best game, but certainly one of the happier ones, Jeff Farmer kicking 9.  I had my 6yr old with me and his best mate, who insisted we sit in the back row of the top deck of the Southern stand. As jeff progressed even the Pie supporters where out of their seats.

[Spud 288]

First Game R20 1980 V Richmond - Michael Roach kicked his 100th. Not all bad despite the caning as a consequence of that.

Best game easily R22 1987 at Western Oval. Amazing day despite only being able to see 2/3rds of ground due to the crowd on the outer wing.

Worst game 2002 Semi V Adelaide (had we won may have been best), the see-saw of emotions, certain defeat to certain victory to then loose (especially with some very punchable crows supporters nearby), was the angriest I've ever left a game.

(Loved being at Princes Park v Hawthorn in 1985, Junction oval v Fitzroy in 1984, Windy hill in 1990 and Moorabbin in 1991also, right up there in the best days at the footy. Winning at suburban grounds against the odds always had an extra layer of satisfaction).

Hopefully the next 2 weeks replace 1987 and become number 1 for every one.

 

[Engorged Onion 10,215]

31 minutes ago, cookieboc said:

That was my first game after having lived OS for the previous 10 years. If I remember correctly it rained for the most part

Yep, a completely miserable night - and we then caught the train home to Geelong …ugh

[durango 2,007]

I was 8 years old and MFC Supporter from 1952, an 8 year old school friend who was a Footscray Support had a spare Grand Final ticket.

I was invited with him and his dad to the 1954 GF match.

I guess that was also the beginning of the best years but at the time after the match I felt betrayed by the team for losing by 51 points which was one of the worst feeling a little boy could have travelling back with supporters of the winning team and questioning my support of the MFC and they asked me to support Footscray.

I was a person who came from Europe in 1949 with my parents and lived in Thornbury for 4 months where every man and his dog barracked for Collingwood who won the 1953 GF, we at that stage lived in Caulfield and as tradition would have it Europeans used to barrack for the teams in their home town which was Melbourne.

My best feeling came in the next 3 years before another disappointment in 1958.

The worst day was when the short sighted people running the MFC sacked Norm Smith and we went out to Coburg to watch NM beat the MFC in 1965.

[Flower Magic 776]

Family folklore has it that my mother went to the 1956 Grand Final with me in utero, so that was my first game. The Dees won that one, so of course I was fated to become a Melbourne tragic.

Best game? Easily 1987 at the Western Oval. I can still remember my idol carrying the team to victory with four brilliant goals.

Worst game: the 1988 Grand Final. It was worse than losing the PF the year before because of our abject surrender before a capacity MCG crowd.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,846]

First game - Round 20 1988  - 10 point loss to the Dogs at the MCG

Best game - 2000 qualifying final win over Carlton. I know everyone can't get over the round 23 win over Geelong, but sorry that win didn't come close to the finals win over the heavily favoured Carlton.

Worst game - round 2 2013. 148 point loss to Essendon and then got stranded on the train for 3 hours on the Pakenham line as someone thought it would be a good idea to jump on the tracks. An absolutely horrid night.

I'm done with watching games on TV. Bring on next year!

[OhMyDees 1,834]

First - Don’t remember.

Best - 2000 Qualifying Final (Leoncelli’s goal to hit the front was epic - had number 36 on my back that day).

Special mentions to the 2006 and 2018 Elimination Finals, Round 11 (2004) belting Freo in the driving rain at Subi and the Round 22 (2018) against the Eagles at Optus. 

Worst - 2018 Preliminary Final (especially the being verbally abused by Eagles fans and them doing a Mexican Wave in the last quarter).

Special mentions to 1998 Prelim and Round 12 in 1998 where Geelong had us in a spliff and only kicked 1.1 for a half…

Edited September 9, 2021 by OhMyDees

[WERRIDEE 5,479]

First game was in 1990 I think it was against Essendon. Best game round 23 v Geelong this year. Worst game the belting we copped against Geelong that got Bailey sacked.

[Delusional demon 82 1,197]

54 minutes ago, Supermercado said:

First game - 1989 Elimination Final

Worst game - As tempting as it is to say 186, the game that has given me the most trauma since was Round 6, 1992 vs Essendon when we blew the 46 point lead in the last quarter. Never trusted a lead since.

Best game - 2000 Qualifying Final vs Carlton or either of the winning 2018 finals.

I never attended this game Supermercado but I remember Dad telling me about this as a kid , and I think this always stuck with me in a sporting sense about blowing an unassailable lead , it’s kind of a the earliest point of MFCSS.

So have never been confident in that sense unless the dees were more than 8+ goals up at 3qt,  and even when playing any other sport as a junior , it has sort of set in a negative mindset of protecting a lead rather than going on with it

[Demonstone 22,569]

49 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

There's a few here remembering the 1979 game vs Fitzroy as the worst - love to hear your memories of this one?

The abiding memory I have is of Melbourne defenders looking up at the sky as yet another kick for goal sailed over their heads and through the sticks.  I'm surprised they didn't end up with sunburn on the roofs of their mouths.

Funnily enough, I still remember our banner, which read something like "Brownlow:  Robbie Flower v Garry Who?" which was a reference to Garry Wilson, Fitzroy's champion rover and hot Brownlow favourite that year.  *spoiler:  Peter Moore won it.

Robbie missed the game due to injury, but I doubt even he would have made much of a difference that black day.

[Ingerson27 8]

11 minutes ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

I never attended this game Supermercado but I remember Dad telling me about this as a kid , and I think this always stuck with me in a sporting sense about blowing an unassailable lead , it’s kind of a the earliest point of MFCSS.

So have never been confident in that sense unless the dees were more than 8+ goals up at 3qt,  and even when playing any other sport as a junior , it has sort of set in a negative mindset of protecting a lead rather than going on with it

Yeah that game helped me forever remember that 8 goals = 48 points..  The next 'safe' margin that is sometimes mentioned is getting to 100 points first.. Not sure if we've managed to prove that wrong too many times.

That 2002 Semi -Final game against the Crows is the best analogy for life as a dees supporter I reckon!

[Jibroni 5,004]

First – Round 22 1987 vs Footscray as a 10 year old. 

Best – 2000 first final vs Carlton, never been so happy as a Dees fan.

Worst – 2011 v Geelong, that was hard to take for obvious reasons.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,846]

14 minutes ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

I never attended this game Supermercado but I remember Dad telling me about this as a kid , and I think this always stuck with me in a sporting sense about blowing an unassailable lead , it’s kind of a the earliest point of MFCSS.

So have never been confident in that sense unless the dees were more than 8+ goals up at 3qt,  and even when playing any other sport as a junior , it has sort of set in a negative mindset of protecting a lead rather than going on with it

As a young 10 year old that day I couldn’t work out why there were so many MFC scarves in the bin after the game.

That game really knocked the stuffing out of the MFC members as there was a realisation that the 87-91 window was firmly shut. Northey was sacked 16 weeks later.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,846]

3 minutes ago, Ingerson27 said:

Yeah that game helped me forever remember that 8 goals = 48 points..  The next 'safe' margin that is sometimes mentioned is getting to 100 points first.. Not sure if we've managed to prove that wrong too many times.

Given that the losing team pretty much never kicks 100 points in a game these days, I'd say that stat rings true in modern day footy. I think only 2 teams kicked 100 points in a game this year and lost.

The early 90's was a different story. For example Sydney were 120 - 90 at half time against North in 1991 and somehow lost by 9 goals.

[poita 3,902]

My first game was around 1983/84, but I have no memory of those early games. I have vague memories of the semi final in 1987 that we won by 76 points. My first final was actually a Hawthorn - Carlton game the year before - my (Melbourne supporting) dad must have thought I would never make it to a final if we waited for Melbourne to get there.

The qualifying final in 2000 was probably as good a win as I have seen live, although round 23 2021 is the most excited I have been at a Melbourne victory. We won the preliminary final so easily in 2000 that it almost felt like an anti climax - fingers crossed for a similar outcome tomorrow.

No question that the loss to Essendon in 2013 is the worst I have ever been to. My son was two at the time, and it felt like the club would go under before he was able to attend and remember a game with me. It was just impossible to see a future for the club at that point. There have been many more painful losses than glorious wins, although I guess they make the successes more enjoyable.

[Youngwilliam 381]

First game: Melbourne vs North Melbourne 1991

Worst Game: Our 1000 game at the MCG. We played Hawthorn. I never left a game no mater how bad it was, until this day.

Best game/result, 2005 Rd 21 vs Western Bulldogs

[drdrake 3,178]

First game can't remember

Worst Game: Has to be the the start of the 2008 season back to back 100+ point losses to Hawthorn R1 followed by Dogs in R2

Best Game: 1998 R22 V Richmond followed by Adelaide and St Kilda matches in the finals.

[Guest]

First game: Round 10 1988 vs. Collingwood. I was technically a Magpie (albeit not a fully committed one) at the time. That tends to happen when you are 8. However, the Dees got up and a seed was planted in my mind. It would fully bloom when I rejected the Pies, and started barracking for the team I was convinced they couldn't beat.

How wrong was I. 😄

Best game: Round 13 2014. I went with my then girlfriend (now wife) and two other Japanese friends, who were mostly fiddling on their phones until half time. Needless to say, we all perked up and had a great time. You have heard AFL barracking until you've heard it in Japanese. For the record, it's much more laced with praise and with a lot less whinging.

Thankfully, we came to life and managed to roll those smug bastards. The peanut in the front row making jokes about 'snow season' turned the color of Kermit the Frog's armpit by the end of the game.

Plus, Salo's clincher had me walking on air all the way home! I was convinced that Zaharakis had pulled off another game stealer, but Crossy redeemed himself magnificently with said pass to Salo (especially with Dawesy open as well). 

While we wouldn't win another game for the year, you could tell by that stage change was in the air. We would drop games against team we should have beaten (Brisbane of that year comes to mind), got pantsed occasionally (GWS) and had a definite ceiling on how far we would go with the team we had. However, that game showed that we could go to the footy with a good hope that the game wouldn't be done and dusted by half time.

Worst game: Round 7 2013: A 10 goal spanking by the Suns. A atmosphere surrounding the G that was deader than Julius Caesar. An ugly anger ready to explode (again) if things weren't rectified soon. Colin Sylvia nearly taking a young Suns player's head off symbolized this anger. We exuded the stench of death. If Neeld hadn't been sacked after round 11, the club would have looked like the opening credits for the 2004 remake of 'Dawn of the Dead'.

This was the match where Neeld said that we were outmuscled by a bunch of 20 year olds and cited the attempted tackles stat as a sign of improvement. Apparently Russel Howcroft nearly started a riot among the coterie when he suggested that if they didn't like the onfield product, they could always stand for the board themselves (after PJ had spent the past hour trying to talk them down). 

It's been the only time I have nearly quit because of sheer frustration out of how the club was being run. Revolting stuff. 

[jumbo returns 6,741]

Coll v Pies - Victoria Park - as a little kid was offered 2 bucks by a Pies' supporter to [censored] off

1998 - Rnd 14 v West Coast Robbo's 4 goals and the return of Tingay...young team

2000 GF

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by jumbo returns

[Dee*ceiving 1,674]

2 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Best game.  Wow. So many. Probably 2000 preliminary final v Kangas. Huge crowd. I was very confident.  Kangas were a tough and mature team but we smashed them. MCG was on fire as Farmer kicked 8 goals. If you want to know how good he was, check out his highlights reel in that game.  Crowd was going nuts. 

Unbelievable game. I was at that one too. Just reminded myself by looking at the stats. Incredibly on top of Farmers 8, Craig Scholl kicked 7 and Stephen Powell 4 

https://finalsiren.com/MatchDetails.asp?GameID=1774&Code=4a26c16997776c50679be84b593da78e&Sort=Disposals Desc

Footy will never be played that way again. Certainly not in a final. De-fence was the thing seperating the crowd from the playing field. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,846]

35 minutes ago, Youngwilliam said:

First game: Melbourne vs North Melbourne 1991

 

Which one out of interest as both encounters were fantastic wins against North that year.

1) The earlier game where we kicked our equal record score of 180+

2) The later game where Jako kicked 11.8.74

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Which one out of interest as both encounters were fantastic wins against North that year.

1) The earlier game where we kicked our equal record score of 180+

2) The later game where Jako kicked 11.8.74

We needed those results considering how badly we crashed to them the year before.