New Book "Southern Rivalry" by Marc Fiddian

[Sebastian Tombs]

I came across this by change the other day, thought some on here may be also interested it's a book called "Southern Rivalry" South Melbourne v St Kilda Football Down the years looking at the Lake premiership 1897 - 1982 . Season by season match reviews etc

https://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/ ... valry.html

[samuraisaint]

Seems like pretty depressing reading.
I remember going out to the Lake Oval many times and never seeing us win, or even getting close.
For some reason they really had it over us, and I even remember one game where we kicked the first 8 or 9 goals of the game and still ended up getting beaten by 9 goals!
We could beat them at Moorabbin occasionally, but I even seem to remember playing them out at VFL Park went they weren't much good and Jezza played for us, and they managed to beat us.
And the thing is, they weren't much good and didn't have any money either.
Does anyone on here remember when they were being touted as a Moorabbin co-tenant?

[saynta]

I remember the game at the J O when Eric Guy shirt fronted Bobby Skilton. I thought he had killed him .

I also remember a couple of final games in the early sixties when we 'ended' South.

The swine have never been my favorite side but the hate really set in when they lured Plugger to Sin City

[loris]

I remember the game at the J O when Eric Guy shirt fronted Bobby Skilton. I thought he had killed him .

I also remember a couple of final games in the early sixties when we 'ended' South.

The swine have never been my favorite side but the hate really set in when they lured Plugger to Sin City

Yes ‘Saynta’ I remember that game when Eric Guy shirtfronted the Chimp. Poor Bob Skilton photos of him days later looked liked he had gone 15 rounds in the ring with a world heavy weight boxer
As Allan Jeans used to say “Eric Guy was as tough as boarding house steak”. There were plenty of dodgy boarding houses around St Kilda in them there days. I can imagine it was hard on the teeth and jaws to try and eat any steak served up in their kitchens.!

I can recall one night game Saints played Swans at the Sth Melbourne Ground. As it was a night game it must have been for the night premiership rounds. My youngest brother was playing in a Victorian Schoolboy’s team against a Swans under 19 team. It was a curtain raiser for the main game. The whole of our family & friends were there around the boundary fence to cheer our brother on. This Swan’s supporter, a male, called Bruce a ‘cream puff’. Well did our Mum spring into action, she took to this fellow with her umbrella . Calling her youngest child a cream puff was NOT on. It nearly started a brawl. Trouble was, our hero Dad was nowhere to be seen as it began to look ugly, he’d snuck off to safety. Luckily there was a policeman sitting inside the fence, he stood up & things calmed down. Our Mum was the gentlest lady you could ever meet, but insult her baby boy called for her to resort to drastic measures. Ah Mums - humanity’s protectors!!

[shanegrambeau]

1978 season

Our miracle season - as far as a 14-year-old was concerned.

But I think they clobbered us by such a margin, that it seemed incomprehensible.

We were, at Round 7, 5-1-1, including kicking 32 goals 200 and something against Melbourne.

South had started the season at 1-3, then won a couple.

We left the Lake Oval that day having been beaten by 99 points!

Lost the next 5. Then pinched one after the siren at Arden st by 3 pts.

What a coming down to earth.

What followed didn't end until 1991.

[st sandy]

Oh yes shanegrambeau - the 1978 season, remember it well & i was also 14 (big birthday this year)

The South game earlier in the year at Lake Oval was after we beat Essendon in a brutal encounter at Moorabbin. The Dons president came out in the week following & said "we played like animals". Love the banner at the return game at Windy Hill "at least we are not Essendon"

Big Carl went missing to the bush for about 5 weeks - the season never quite recovered. Just missed the finals, although beating the Blues in the last game was memorable.

In the return game against South at Moorabbin, Gary Lofts kicked 6 after half time.

We would have inflicted some damage in the finals with forward line of G Young, Rex Hunt, Sidebottom & Lofts

Things turned south after that with the 80's being the decade of misery.




In the

[shanegrambeau]

….14 (big birthday this year)

… Dons president ..said "we played like animals".

..Big Carl went-bush for about 5 weeks - the season never quite recovered.

We would have inflicted some damage in the finals with forward line of G Young, Rex Hunt, Sidebottom & Lofts
…

Yeah
Congrats to us!
Going on Saturday with grown up version of my old jumper.
The Spudder on the back!

Never quite recovered? Well, it would seem an understatement. In all my watching footy, only Essendon’s collapse a decade ago had such Jeckle and Hyde about it.

Why did Carl go? Pay dispute?

Yep, finally we can storming home and missed on percentage..

And then 1979 and cue music for ‘Scott of the Antarctic’

Now I really hate a brave loss or a close finish that ‘shows promise’ . What followed in 1979 seems to be what follows many clubs after a close but unlucky finish..complete disaster!

Come on Saints ..

[shanegrambeau]

….14 (big birthday this year)

… Dons president ..said "we played like animals".

..Big Carl went-bush for about 5 weeks - the season never quite recovered.

We would have inflicted some damage in the finals with forward line of G Young, Rex Hunt, Sidebottom & Lofts
…

Yeah
Congrats to us!
Going on Saturday with grown up version of my old jumper.
The Spudder on the back!

Never quite recovered? Well, it would seem an understatement. In all my watching footy, only Essendon’s collapse a decade ago had such Jeckle and Hyde about it.

Why did Carl go? Pay dispute?

Yep, finally we can storming home and missed on percentage..

And then 1979 and cue music for ‘Scott of the Antarctic’

Now I really hate a brave loss or a close finish that ‘shows promise’ . What followed in 1979 seems to be what follows many clubs after a close but unlucky finish..complete disaster!

Come on Saints ..

[The G Train Legacy]

1978 season

Our miracle season - as far as a 14-year-old was concerned.

But I think they clobbered us by such a margin, that it seemed incomprehensible.

We were, at Round 7, 5-1-1, including kicking 32 goals 200 and something against Melbourne.

South had started the season at 1-3, then won a couple.

We left the Lake Oval that day having been beaten by 99 points!

Lost the next 5. Then pinched one after the siren at Arden st by 3 pts.

What a coming down to earth.

What followed didn't end until 1991.

I remember that game and travelling on an old Red Rattler to get there. We had Sidebottom and Ditterich rubbed out from the previous week and it was carnage. We lost by 99 but were about 110 down late in the last.

Then I was at Arden St for that after the siren victory against North. I was running out onto the ground before the Goal Umpire signaled the goal, looked like it had gone through from my vantage point, despite subsequent controversy.

Strange season 1978, looked like contenders in the first 7 weeks and last 6 weeks, yet inexplicably only won 1 (that Arden St game) of the 9 in between.

[shanegrambeau]

1978 season

Our miracle season - as far as a 14-year-old was concerned.

But I think they clobbered us by such a margin, that it seemed incomprehensible.

We were, at Round 7, 5-1-1, including kicking 32 goals 200 and something against Melbourne.

South had started the season at 1-3, then won a couple.

We left the Lake Oval that day having been beaten by 99 points!

Lost the next 5. Then pinched one after the siren at Arden st by 3 pts.

What a coming down to earth.

What followed didn't end until 1991.

I remember that game and travelling on an old Red Rattler to get there. We had Sidebottom and Ditterich rubbed out from the previous week and it was carnage. We lost by 99 but were about 110 down late in the last.

Then I was at Arden St for that after the siren victory against North. I was running out onto the ground before the Goal Umpire signaled the goal, looked like it had gone through from my vantage point, despite subsequent controversy.

Strange season 1978, looked like contenders in the first 7 weeks and last 6 weeks, yet inexplicably only won 1 (that Arden St game) of the 9 in between.

I was at Arden st too
And I ran into the ground too
Running on to the ground from the other side were North supporters thinking they had won?

I remember being full of glee as I charged forward, only to catch the eye of a girl about a cricket pitch ahead of me, running in from th either boundary…

Her eyes were changing before my eyes and filling with disbelief and sorrow as she got closer and as she comprehended that they had just lost.
I looked the other way but I’ll never forget her.

[Trev from the Bush]

I remember the game at the J O when Eric Guy shirt fronted Bobby Skilton. I thought he had killed him .

I also remember a couple of final games in the early sixties when we 'ended' South.

The swine have never been my favorite side but the hate really set in when they lured Plugger to Sin City

Amazingly resilient man Bobby. He copped so many horrendous knocks over his career and still battles on through old age. A lovely bloke with an infectious smile to boot.

[Trev from the Bush]

I remember the VFL fixtures prior to our move to Moorabbin required that South and St Kilda always played alternating home games due to paring limitations at both grounds. Either end of Albert Park would transform into a giant car park each weekend. The Albart Park Barracks at the St Kilda end also took up several acres of parkland in those days.

[The G Train Legacy]

1978 season

Our miracle season - as far as a 14-year-old was concerned.

But I think they clobbered us by such a margin, that it seemed incomprehensible.

We were, at Round 7, 5-1-1, including kicking 32 goals 200 and something against Melbourne.

South had started the season at 1-3, then won a couple.

We left the Lake Oval that day having been beaten by 99 points!

Lost the next 5. Then pinched one after the siren at Arden st by 3 pts.

What a coming down to earth.

What followed didn't end until 1991.

I remember that game and travelling on an old Red Rattler to get there. We had Sidebottom and Ditterich rubbed out from the previous week and it was carnage. We lost by 99 but were about 110 down late in the last.

Then I was at Arden St for that after the siren victory against North. I was running out onto the ground before the Goal Umpire signaled the goal, looked like it had gone through from my vantage point, despite subsequent controversy.

Strange season 1978, looked like contenders in the first 7 weeks and last 6 weeks, yet inexplicably only won 1 (that Arden St game) of the 9 in between.

I was at Arden st too
And I ran into the ground too
Running on to the ground from the other side were North supporters thinking they had won?

I remember being full of glee as I charged forward, only to catch the eye of a girl about a cricket pitch ahead of me, running in from th either boundary…

Her eyes were changing before my eyes and filling with disbelief and sorrow as she got closer and as she comprehended that they had just lost.
I looked the other way but I’ll never forget her.

it was Robert Elliott who kicked for goal after the siren. He was 35-40 metres out but kicking into a gale, no one thought he'd get the distance. Yet he got the distance and from my vantage point looked like it had sailed through. So my mate and I dashed out thinking we'd won, we got to the centre square where Sidebottom, Ditterich & a couple of other players where just standing there bemused and not celebrating.

I remember frantically looking at the scoreboard and it showed Nth still ahead. I then looked towards the goal and it was bedlam, North players and their Cheer Squad (who were on the ground) proclaiming it was touched. I then saw the Goal Umpire zig zagging about until he could see the field umpire. He then signaled the goal. My mate and I then spontaneously starting celebrating with Big Carl, Sidebottom and I think it was Russel Greene.

[The G Train Legacy]

….14 (big birthday this year)

… Dons president ..said "we played like animals".

..Big Carl went-bush for about 5 weeks - the season never quite recovered.

We would have inflicted some damage in the finals with forward line of G Young, Rex Hunt, Sidebottom & Lofts
…

Yeah
Congrats to us!
Going on Saturday with grown up version of my old jumper.
The Spudder on the back!

Never quite recovered? Well, it would seem an understatement. In all my watching footy, only Essendon’s collapse a decade ago had such Jeckle and Hyde about it.

Why did Carl go? Pay dispute?

Yep, finally we can storming home and missed on percentage..

And then 1979 and cue music for ‘Scott of the Antarctic’

Now I really hate a brave loss or a close finish that ‘shows promise’ . What followed in 1979 seems to be what follows many clubs after a close but unlucky finish..complete disaster!

Come on Saints ..

We lost a few players at the end of 1978, hence the rapid decline.

George Young, Rex Hunt, Graham Gellie (injured and would hardly ever play again), Val Perovic (played 1 game then off to Carl in 1980) & Carl Ditterich, five of our best players in 1978. And the older blokes like Barry Breen, Jim O'Dea & Gary Colling were all getting into the twilight of their careers. They simply weren't replaced, due to financial issues and having s*** zones.

[shanegrambeau]

1978 season...

….I was at Arden St..…

….

…it was Robert Elliott who kicked for goal after the siren. He was 35-40 metres out but kicking into a gale, no one thought he'd get the distance. Yet he got the distance …..

Gee.
Maybe he can have a word to Jack Higgins, Seb, even Members and a few others…

Last game Seb played, coming off the hammy, couldn’t make the distance from 40..and others too..
I think Seb was protecting his hammy?

Our kicking for goal is a worry.

[1965 Saint]

I remember the 1970 1st semi final when we beat them by what was a record margin. Probably still is. And there was 104,000 people there.

[1965 Saint]

I remember the 1970 1st semi final when we beat them by what was a record margin. Probably still is. And there was 104,000 people there.

[SaintPav]

I remember a game against them at Lakeside Oval in 1979, I think. Perhaps 1980.

Barry Round tore us a new one. I think he kicked 5 goals.

I sat right behind the goals next to 2 older ladies who were South supporters. They must have been in their 60s.

I also witnessed the Victoria Park massacre.

What a time to be a St Kilda supporter.

Christ, we were f****** s***.

I had to wait until nearly my mid twenties to see our first ever first finals win.