1956 VFL grand final

Grand final of the 1956 Victorian Football League season December 2017 December 2017 1956 VFL 50px 17.19 (121) 50px 6.12 (48) MEL COL 2.4 (16) 6.11 (47) 10.16 (76) 17.19 (121) 3.3 (21) 4.3 (27) 5.6 (36) 6.12 (48) 15 September 1956 115,902 Melbourne Cricket Ground 1955 1957 The 1956 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 15 September 1956. It was the 59th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1956 VFL season. The match was won by Melbourne by 73 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory. It was the second successive year in which the two teams met in a premiership decider, with Melbourne having won the 1955 VFL Grand Final. The Grand Final was attended by 115,902 spectators,http://www.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/Attendance-alterations-from-1908.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20151222074850/http://www.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/Attendance-alterations-from-1908.pdf dead 22 December 2015 Attendance alterations from 1908 19 December 2015 Australian Football League easily setting a new record as the largest crowd to have witnessed a premiership decider in VFL Grand Final history, breaking the record of 96,486 spectators who witnessed the 1938 VFL Grand Final. The capacity of the ground had recently been expanded with a new grandstand for the upcoming 1956 Summer Olympics, but the ground was still not large enough to comfortably or safely accommodate such a large crowd; stairwells and aisles were full of people, meaning that many people were unable to leave their positions to use restrooms during the game; and many people had restricted views of the game due to the crowding, resulting in some spectators climbing onto the roofs or back walls of the grandstand and other structures for a better view. The gates were shut for safety reasons when the venue reached capacity, resulting in riots outside the ground in which an estimated 2,500 further spectators broke into the ground. More than 20,000 spectators were turned away at the gate.The Argus This must never happen again – rioting M.C.G. mob alarms Games men 5 Ken Moses Melbourne, VIC Pre-sale ticketing for finals was introduced from the following season to prevent a repeat of these events, and the crowd record stood until the 1968 VFL Grand Final – after the opening of the Western Stand. A scene from the game is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting The Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport:Australian Football League, The Game That Made Australia, Retrieved 19 September 2010 Collingwood's Neil Mann and Melbourne's Ian Ridley fighting amongst the spectators who were sitting on the arena (but behind the boundary line). Teams _red_v_top 061A33 ff0000 Melbourne _blackstripes ffffff 000000 000000 Collingwood #CC2031 Melbourne Melbourne Football Club #061A33 John Beckwith Peter Marquis Trevor Johnson Don Williams Noel McMahen (c) Keith Carroll Frank 'Bluey' Adams Ken Melville Brian Dixon Jim Sandral Clyde Laidlaw Laurie Mithen Bob Johnson Athol Webb Ian Ridley Denis Cordner Ron Barassi Stuart Spencer Terry Gleeson Ralph Lane Norm Smith #FFFFFF Collingwood Collingwood Football Club #000000 Lerrel Sharp Harry Sullivan Neville Waller Peter Lucas Frank Tuck Ron Kingston Ken Hedt Bill Twomey, Jr. Thorold Merrett Ken Turner Murray Weideman Bill Serong Neil Mann (c) Ken Smale Bob Greve Ray Gabelich Laurie Rymer Bill Jones Jack Hamilton Bob Kupsch Phonse Kyne Umpire: Allan Nash Statistics Goalkickers Melbourne: S. Spencer 5 A. Webb 5 R. Barassi 3 B. Johnson 3 I. Ridley 1Collingwood: B. Greve 1 W. Jones 1 B. Serong 1 K. Smale 1 K. Turner 1 B. Twomey 1 References External links Team profile at Sport Australia Hall of Fame AFL Tables: 1956 Grand Final Bibliography The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004 Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. 0-670-86814-0 Grand final Category:VFL/AFL Grand Finals Category:Melbourne Football Club Category:Collingwood Football Club