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The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies after the black and white striped guernseys worn by the players, is an Australian rules football club, playing in the elite Australian Football League.

The Magpies are known for their passionate supporter base, and have traditionally been the team other fans "love to hate". The national league may have diluted this feeling somewhat, but rivalries with fellow Victorian clubs Carlton, Essendon and Richmond remain fierce.

The club was traditionally known in Melbourne as the "Catholic" club, possibly due to support in the 1920s from the wealthy businessman John Wren, and also due to the support of Irish descendants living in the Collingwood slums in the early years of the 20th century.

Collingwood has traditionally been the greatest crowd puller in Australian football, which is to say among the greatest in world sport. In 1970, 121,696 spectators watched Carlton defeat Collingwood in the grand final, and several times during the "home and away" phase of the season Collingwood games will feature crowds close to the current MCG capacity of around 90,000. Collingwood's long era as the club with the highest member base has ended with the arrival of the national competition.

The club's motto is "Floreat Pica", translated from Latin as "May the Magpies flourish".

History

For several years in the late 1880s the idea of a Collingwood Football Club had been raised but nothing had eventuated. Finally a meeting was held in February of 1892 and a large, enthusiastic crowd heralded the formation of what would become the best and most feared football club in Australia. The club would play at Victoria Park in Abbotsford and the council immediately put in place plans to upgrade the ground to the standard of the VFA. It was decided that the municapility needed a football team to compete against Collingwoods neighbour and rival, Fitzroy. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was the premier Australian Rules Football competition in Victoria and Collingwood was accepted into this competition immediately. There were some links to an established junior club, the Britannia Football Club.

The first Collingwood match was played at Victoria Park on May the 7th, 1892 against the Carlton Blues. The new grandstand and players rooms were not yet completed, forcing the players to change at the Yarra Hotel and run up Johnston Street to the ground. A very large crowd of around 16,000 patrons greeted the players. Collingwood lost to Carlton that day but success was not far away as the Magpies defeated Williamstown at Gellibrand Oval 4 goals to 3. (Points were not counted in those days)

The team improved quickly and Collingwood won its first and only VFA premiership in 1896, defeating South Melbourne. At the end of the 1896 season Collingwood and South Melbourne finished exactly equal at the top of the ladder and it was decided that a Grand Final was required to decide the premiership. Collingwood won the first ever VFA Grand Final on October 3rd at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, beating South by 6 goals to 5.

In 1897, Collingwood with fellow VFA clubs Fitzroy, Melbourne, St Kilda, Carlton, Richmond, South Melbourne and Geelong split from the VFA and formed the VFL (Victoria Football League).

Collingwood was the first team to win back to back premierships in the VFL, beating Essendon in 1902 and then Fitzroy in 1903.

Collingwood is notable for holding the greatest run of successive premierships - four in a row from 1927-1930. But equally renowned has been their tendency to lose grand finals since the 1960s. Despite this, the club still has won more individual games, more final and grand-final appearances than any other club.

Their 1958 premiership was to be their last for 32 years. The victory in 1958 was an underdog victory, with Collingwood motivated to prevent their opponent Melbourne winning its fourth successive Grand Final. In 1959 and 1960 Melbourne won again, so Collingwood's 1958 victory was essential to protect the club's greatest claim to fame. During this drought, fans remarkably had to endure no less than nine fruitless grand finals (1960, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1977 (drawn, then lost in a replay the following week to North Melbourne), 1979, 1980, 1981), inspiring the term "Colliwobbles" to signify a choking phenomenon (as opposed to "collywobbles", an English word meaning an upset stomach). The 1990 team coached by Leigh Matthews brought relief in a one-sided affair against Essendon.

The team then fell into a state of decline, before being rejuvenated by its new president, Eddie McGuire, who led an on and off field modernisation mission which helped the team to reach the grand final in 2002 and 2003. Ironically, it was Leigh Matthews who coached the Brisbane Lions to victory on both occasions.

Collingwood was one of the last clubs to abandon its traditional stadium, the famous inner-city Victoria Park. Collingwood is now based at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), with some "home" games played at the Telstra Dome. It now also has it's headquarters situated in the former Glasshouse Entertainment Centre which is now called "The Lexus Centre". This building is also shared with the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS).

All these years, Collingwood was not the only famous Australian football club nicknamed the Magpies. In 1997, the SANFL's Port Adelaide Magpies moved over to the AFL. The Port Adelaide Magpies chose to change their name to the "Power" and they also abandoned their previous black and white color scheme. However, the Power continues to sponsor a SANFL team, under the traditional name of the Port Adelaide Magpies.

Despite the fact that Collingwood continues to be financially viable through the loyal support of its huge following and numerous sponsors, the team continues to sink lower on the ladder. After finishing 2nd in 2002 and 2003 the team fell to 13th and 15th (out of 16) in 2004 and 2005 respectively. This unfornutate trend has plagued the club since the glory days of pre-World War II VFL football. Since 1958, the club has won only a single VFL/AFL Premiership (the innagral AFL Premiership in 1990) making them one of the least successful clubs in the modern era.

The noted Australian playwright David Williamson scripted "The Club", a play inspired by the internal politics of Collingwood. A film was made in 1980 and features Collingwood players in speaking and non-speaking roles.

VFL/AFL Premierships

1902, 1903, 1910, 1917, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1953, 1958, 1990.

Collingwood has won the wooden spoon (finished last) in 1976 and 1999.

Current roster

As of December 13, 2005:

Captains

• Bill Strickland 1897
• Bill Proudfoot 1898-1899 1901
• Dick Condon 1899-1900
• Lardie Tulloch 1902-1904
• Charlie Pannam 1905
• Alf Dummett 1906
• Arthur Leach 1906-1907
• Eddie Drohan 1908
• Bob Nash 1908-1909
• George Angus 1910-1911
• Jock McHale 1912-1913
• Dan Minogue 1914-1916
• Percy Wilson 1917-1918
• Con McCarthy 1919
• Dick Lee 1920-1921
• Tom Drummond 1922
• Harry Curtis 1923
• Charlie Tyson 1924-1926
• Syd Coventry 1927-1934
• Harry Collier 1935-1939
• Jack Regan 1940-1941 1943
• Phonse Kyne 1942 1946-1949
• Pat Fricker 1944
• Albie Pannam 1945
• Gordon Hocking 1950-1951
• Lou Richards 1952-1955
• Neil Mann 1955-1956
• Bill Twomey 1957
• Frank Tuck 1958-1959
• Murray Weideman 1960-1963
• Ray Gabelich 1964-1965
• John Henderson 1965
• Des Tuddenham 1966-1969 1976
• Terry Waters 1970-1971
• Wayne Richardson 1971-1975
• Max Richardson 1977
• Len Thompson 1978
• Ray Shaw 1979-1980
• Peter Moore 1981-1982
• Mark Williams 1983-1986
• Tony Shaw 1987-1993
• Gavin Brown 1994-1998
• Nathan Buckley 1999-

Individual Awards

Best and Fairest

See also Copeland Trophy

Brownlow Medal winners

• Syd Coventry (1927)
• Albert Collier (1929)
• Harry Collier (1930 tied)
• Marcus Whelan (1939)
• Desmond Fothergill (1940)
• Len Thompson (1972)
• Peter Moore (1979)
• Nathan Buckley (2003 tied)

Leigh Matthews Trophy winners

• Darren Millane (1990)

Coleman Medal winners

• Ian Brewer (1958)
• Peter McKenna (1972, 1973)
• Brian Taylor (1986)

Norm Smith Medal winners

• Tony Shaw (1990)
• Nathan Buckley (2002)

Mark of the Year winners

• Billy Picken (1976)
• Chris Tarrant (2003)

Notable Records

• Greatest Winning Margin: 178 points R4, 1979 (VP) - Collingwood 31.21 (207) v St Kilda 3.11 (29)

Records set by Players

• Most Goals kicked in a match: Gordon Coventry - 17 goals 4 behinds (R12, 1930, VP)

• Most Best & Fairests: Nathan Buckley - 6 (1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003)

• Most Matches as Coach: Jock McHale - 714 (1912-1949)¹

• Most Matches as Captain/Acting Captain: Syd Coventry - 153 (1925-1934)

• Most Goals in a Season: Peter McKenna - 143 (1970)

• Most Goals by a Single Person: Gordon Coventry - 1299 (1920-1937)

• League record

Team of the Century

Collingwood announced its team of the century on June 14 1997, celebrating 100 years since the beginning of the VFL.

Club Jumpers

Home:

Away: File:Collingwood-2001-Away.gif

See also

• Misplaced Pages listing of Collingwood players

External links

• Official Website of the Collingwood Football Club
• Full Points Footy History of the Collingwood Football Club
• Google Video of Collingwood training for the 2002 Grand Final at Victoria Park
• "The Club" movie details at imdb.com
• Extreme Black N' White Board - Supporters message board

Australian Football League clubs

• Australian Football League clubs
• Sporting clubs in Melbourne