2012 Victorian Football League Development Grand Final

Box Hill supporters look on ruefully after the Hawks, seeking a fourth successive premiership in the VFL reserves,  lost their nerve.  They were  19 points up ten minutes into the last quarter but Coburg stormed home, kicking six goals. Standing just to the right of the scoreboard is Port Melbourne’s Peter Vesty, scoreboard attendant for many a year. Port Melbourne, also known as the Burra, defeated Williamstown easily later in the day, in a VFL preliminary final.

2012 Victorian Superules Over 40s Grand Final

Beaconsfield always held sway against Williamstown in the Over 40s Superules Grand Final at St Bernards, Essendon. This was old-fashioned footy. Old blokes having a kick, having a crack and – while standing by the interchange line, having a smoke.  There was only  four points in at half-time and just a few goals at three-quarter time. At the last break the Williamstown ruckman and playing coach, ‘Bull’, buried his cigarette butt into the dirt and said to his team-mates, ‘Get the ball and kick it. If you’re near the goals, get the ball and kick a goal!’ Old-fashoned footy. No talk of processes or structures ot accountabilities or overlaps or corridors. Or architraves.

But Williamstown, as one of their supporters noted, lacked discipline at times. On more than one occasion the umpires red-carded a player. Beaconsfield bounded away in the last quarter, with the car horns tooting from the 13 minute mark.

The St Bernards ground is in a pretty suburban valley. Going forward, Scoreboard Pressure will feature the ground and its scoreboard in the fullness of time.