1956 VFL Grand Final

Melbourne	Collingwood
17.19 (121)	6.12 (48)

	1	2	3	4
MEL	2.4 (16)	6.11 (47)	10.16 (76)	17.19 (121)
COL	3.3 (21)	4.3 (27)	5.6 (34)	6.12 (48)

Date

15 September 1956

Stadium

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Attendance

115,902

← 1955

VFL Grand Final

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 60th 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,^[1] 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.^[2] 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:^[3] 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

Melbourne
B:	John Beckwith	Peter Marquis	Trevor Johnson
HB:	Don Williams	Noel McMahen (c)	Keith Carroll
C:	Frank 'Bluey' Adams	Ken Melville	Brian Dixon
HF:	Jim Sandral	Clyde Laidlaw	Laurie Mithen
F:	Bob Johnson	Athol Webb	Ian Ridley
Foll:	Denis Cordner	Ron Barassi	Stuart Spencer
Reserve(s):	Terry Gleeson	Ralph Lane
Coach:	Norm Smith

Collingwood
B:	Lerrel Sharp	Harry Sullivan	Neville Waller
HB:	Peter Lucas	Frank Tuck	Ron Kingston
C:	Ken Hedt	Bill Twomey, Jr.	Thorold Merrett
HF:	Ken Turner	Murray Weideman	Bill Serong
F:	Neil Mann (c)	Ken Smale	Bob Greve
Foll:	Ray Gabelich	Laurie Rymer	Bill Jones
Reserve(s):	Jack Hamilton	Bob Kupsch
Coach:	Phonse Kyne

Umpire: Allan Nash

Statistics

Goalkickers

Melbourne:

S. Spencer 5
A. Webb 5
R. Barassi 3
B. Johnson 3
I. Ridley 1

Collingwood:

B. Greve 1
W. Jones 1
B. Serong 1
K. Smale 1
K. Turner 1
B. Twomey 1

References

↑ "Attendance alterations from 1908" (PDF). Australian Football League. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
↑ Ken Moses. "This must never happen again – rioting M.C.G. mob alarms Games men". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 5.
↑ Australian Football League, The Game That Made Australia, Retrieved 19 September 2010

AFL Tables: 1956 Grand Final
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. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

Victorian/Australian Football League Grand Finals

VFL Grand Finals	1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

AFL Grand Finals	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Melbourne Football Club 1956 VFL premiers

Melbourne 17.19 (121) defeated Collingwood 6.12 (48), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

1. Cordner 3. Marquis 6. Adams 8. Sandral 9. Dixon 11. Mithen 12. Spencer 14. T. Johnson 15. Webb 16. Laidlaw 18. B. Johnson 19. Carroll 24. Ridley 25. Williams 28. Gleeson 30. Beckwith 31. Barassi 34. Lane 35. McMahen (c) 38. Melville

Coach: Smith

Melbourne Football Club

History Club honours Current squad Players Coaches Captains Honour board Awards Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal Leading goalkickers Captain: Nathan Jones Coach: Paul Roos Nickname: Demons

Home grounds	Melbourne Cricket Ground (1859–1915; 1919–41; 1946–present) Friendly Societies' Ground (1885–90) Motordrome (1932) Punt Road Oval (1942–46)

Premierships (12)	1900 1926 1939 1940 1941 1948 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1964

Seasons (156)	1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Related articles	Casey Scorpions (current VFL-affiliate) Queen's Birthday clash Sandringham Football Club (former VFL-affiliate) 2009 tanking controversy

Melbourne did not field a team from 1916–18 due to the First World War

Collingwood Football Club

History Records Current squad Players Captains Coaches Awards Copeland Trophy Leading Goalkickers Captain: Scott Pendlebury Coach: Nathan Buckley Nickname: Magpies

Home grounds	Melbourne Cricket Ground (1992–present) Etihad Stadium (2000–present) Victoria Park (1897–1999)

Premierships (15)	1902 1903 1910 1917 1919 1927 1928 1929 1930 1935 1936 1953 1958 1990 2010

Seasons (119)	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Awards	Copeland Trophy

Related articles	VFL team Carlton–Collingwood AFL rivalry Anzac Day clash Queen's Birthday clash Colliwobbles Eddie McGuire Joffa Corfe New York Magpies

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