AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Happy 66th birthday to Geelong legend Ian Nankervis. A Victorian representative on 12 occasions, Nankervis played 325 games for the Cats, a club record. - Andrew Gigacz
Born 101 years ago today on a "footy score" date of 2.1.13, Jack Hale played 123 games for Carlton between 1933 and 1941. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy New Year to Australian Football fans and happy 129th birthday to Bill Mahoney, who played 148 matches Geelong, St Kilda and Richmond between 1902 and 1920. - Andrew Gigacz
A "New Year's Eve" score - 31.12 - has only been registered twice in VFL/AFL history. In 1987, Sydney kicked 31.12 (198) to trounce Richmond by 91 points and in the 2000 Qualifying Final, Essendon registered the highest-ever score in a final, defeating North Melbourne by 125 points. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy birthday to Collingwood's Michael Taylor and Mark Weideman. Though born eight years apart both players started with the Magpies in 1981 and played their final game with the club in 1984. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 126th birthday to Billy Schmidt, who played 165 games for Richmond and St Kilda between 1908 and 1921, and coached Richmond to its 1933 Grand Final loss to South Melbourne. - Andrew Gigacz
The score that corresponds to today's date, 28.12, has not been seen since round seven, 2006, when Sydney thrashed Richmond by 118 points at Docklands Stadium. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 83rd birthday to Geoff McGivern, who played 105 games for Melbourne between 1950 and 1956. McGivern was a member of the Demons' 1955 premiership side, playing at centre half back in the Grand Final win over Collingwood. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 103rd birthday to ERIC DALTON, who played for Collingwood and Essendon in 1932 and 1934. These were probably appropriate teams for him, given that he's an anagram of "DIE CARLTON!" - Andrew Gigacz
Merry Christmas to all Australian Football lovers and happy 132nd birthday to Carlton's Billy Payne! - Andrew Gigacz
The most prolific of all the VFL/AFL players to have been born on Christmas Eve is Port Adelaide's Warren Tredrea, who played 255 games for the Power between 1997 and 2010. - Andrew Gigacz
Horrie Edmonds, who played 110 games for Collingwood, Richmond and Footscray, was born on this day in 1908. He later became a successful coach of the Hawthorn reserves team and Preston in the VFA. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 114th birthday to Fred Pringle, star of the Cananore Canaries in the 1920s, who impressed in two seasons with Carlton in 1923-24. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 47th birthday to MICHAEL GALE, who played 196 games for Fitzroy and Richmond. Gale never became a commentator, despite being an anagram of "I CALL A GAME, EH?" - Andrew Gigacz
Happy birthday to two Hawthorn legends, triple-premiership coach John Kennedy, born on this day in 1928 and Don Scott, triple-premiership player, who turns 66 today. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 40th birthday to dual-North Melbourne premiership player Corey McKernan. McKernan played 196 games for the Kangaroos, including the 1996 and 1999 flag wins, and 41 matches for Carlton in 2002 and 2003. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 80th birthday to Noel Rohleder, who played one game for South Melbourne in 1950 at the age of just 16. Born in the year of the Swans' last premiership as South Melbourne, Rohleder is one of 1,092 players who played a solitary game of VFL/AFL football. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 88th birthday to Tim Robb, who played 74 games for Footscray and North Melbourne, including the Kangaroos' first Grand Final appearance in 1950. Robb kicked two goals in that match. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 57th birthday to Robert 'Scratcher' Neal, who came from Wynyard in Tasmania to play 200 games for Geelong between 1974 and 1986, and a further 20 for St Kilda in 1987 and 1988. (Catch a glimpse of him in just his sixth game in the video below.) - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 100th birthday to Ivan McIntosh, who played six games for Collingwood in 1933. McIntosh is one of two Ivans to have played for the Magpies, the other being Ivan Clues in 1951. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy birthday to Brisbane's Daniel Merrett, one of only a small number of players to have been born on a "footy score" date. Merrett was born on 12.12.84. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 124th birthday to Athol Milne, who played 10 games for University in 1912 and 1913. Milne was one of only six Athols to have played VFL/AFL football, the most recent being Athol Hodgetts in 1972. - Andrew Gigacz
George Dougherty, who played 173 games for four different VFL clubs, was born on this day 100 years ago. Dougherty's longest stay was at Geelong, where he played 121 matches and was part of the 1937 flag team. - Andrew Gigacz
Happy 48th birthday to Barry Mitchell, who played 221 games for Sydney, Collingwood and Carlton between 1984 and 1996. - Andrew Gigacz
Kicking off a premiership defence with five wins on the trot is a good thing, yeah? Maybe not, says Gigs.
Men's AFL is back, and so is Micro Noises. Andrew Gigacz looks at Hawthorn's one-point win and invokes Mozart to describe Gold Coast's AFLW loss.
Media Release: Eight new members have been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
In response to a question from a fan, Andrew Gigacz looks at past V/AFL teams that have flown out of the blocks before falling short of finals.
WCE 16.13 (109) | RICH 10.10 (70) Round 5
TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox FootyCOMMENTATORS: Adam Papalia, Matthew Pavlich, Will Schofield, Kath Loughnan ..
GEEL 21.13 (139) | NTH 10.4 (64) Round 5
GOALS Geelong: Cameron 6; Close 4; Neale 3; Holmes, Stengle 2; Blicavs, Dempsey, Henry, O'Connor North Melbourne: Ford 3; Drury, Larkey 2; Curtis, Davies-Uniacke, Sheezel BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Alison O'Connor) Geelong: Cameron, Holmes, Miers, ..
SUNS 16.13 (109) | HAW 8.8 (56) Round 5
GOALS Gold Coast: King 4; Swallow 3; Clohesy, Read, Walter 2; Rowell, Rosas Jnr, Anderson Hawthorn: Maginness 3; Moore, Macdonald, Hardwick, Ginnivan, Chol BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Michael Whiting) Gold Coast: Anderson, Rowell, King, Ainsworth, Clohe ..
PORT 9.12 (66) | FREO 9.9 (63) Round 5
TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox FootyCOMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Leigh Montagna, Jason Duntstall, Mark Ricciuto, Kath Loughnan ..
CARL 14.14 (98) | ADEL 16.4 (100) Round 5
GOALS Carlton: Curnow 4; McKay 2; Pittonet, Owies, E. Hollands, Fantasia, Durdin, Cripps, Cottrell, Acres Adelaide: Walker 4; Rankine, Keays 3; Rachele 2; Gollant, Dawson, Cook, Berry BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Dejan Kalinic) Carlton: Walsh, Curn ..
GWS 11.14 (80) | STK 12.7 (79) Round 5
GOALS Greater Western Sydney: Hogan, Greene 2; Thomas, Riccardi, Kelly, Green, Daniels, Coniglio, Cadman St. Kilda: Owens, Membrey, Higgins, Caminiti 2; Wilson, Steele, Sinclair, Hill BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Martin Smith) Greater Western Sydney: Whi ..
WBULL 9.13 (67) | ESS 15.6 (96) Round 5
GOALS Western Bulldogs: Ugle-Hagan 3; West, Naughton 2; Vandermeer, Darcy Essendon: Langford 3; Jones, Stringer, Duursma 2; Goldstein, Caldwell, Martin, A. Davey, Gresham, Durham BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Sarah Black) Western Bulldogs: Treloar, Macrae ..
MELB 8.12 (60) | BRIS 12.10 (82) Round 5
GOALS Melbourne: Fritsch 2; van Rooyen, Neal-Bullen, Lever, Gawn, Chandler, Brown Brisbane: Cameron 3; McCluggage, Hipwood, Daniher 2; Lohmann, Fletcher, Bailey BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Gemma Bastiani) Melbourne: Gawn, Chandler, Viney, Rive ..
COLL 11.11 (77) | HAW 11.6 (72) Round 4
GOALS Collingwood: Schultz, Mihocek 2; Pendlebury, McInnes, Hoskin-Elliott, Elliott, De Goey, N. Daicos, Crisp Hawthorn: Hardwick 4; Moore 3; Ginnivan 2; Ramsden, Newcombe BEST - AFL.COM.AU (Josh Gabelich) Collingwood: De Goey, J. Dai ..