THE RIVALRY: MY TOP 10 Tigers V Blues Moments
THE RIVALRY: MY TOP 10: The Richmond-Carlton rivalry is one of the greatest, most intense in league football history. We have all witnessed numerous highlights and lowlights in matches between the Tigers and the dirty rotten Blues over the past half-century. Here, in chronological order, are my top 10 Yellow and Black memories emanating from these always passionate clashes . 1. Queen’s Birthday round of the 1967 season . . . first-year player, Royce Hart, kicks the winning goal for the Tigers in a classic encounter at Princes Park, with an amazing rolling shot from about 70 metres out. 2. Royce’s breathtaking six-goal performance in his debut finals match (and the Tigers’ first for 20 years) – the ’67 second semi-final – lifts Richmond to a resounding victory over the Blues. 3. Bustling’ Billy Barrot’s eight-goal blitz, when shifted to full-forward in the second last home-and-away round clash of the ’69 season at Princes Park. Richmond gets up in a do-or-die game after being well down during the second quarter. 4. Eric Moore’s gutsy mark and crucial goal right on three-quarter-time of the 1969 Grand Final, after being pole-axed by a band of Blues’ backmen. 5. A curly-haired, teenage speedster by the name of Graeme Bond kicks the match-sealing goal for the Tigers in the ’69 Grand Final v the Blues. Bond had come on to the field deep in the last quarter as 19th man.
6. Little Laurie Fowler’s airborne, bone-crunching shirtfront on Carlton colossus John Nicholls in the 1973 Grand Final. ‘Big Nick’ eventually gets to his feet, but for the rest of the match is a shadow of the player who destroyed the Tigers with six goals in the previous year’s GF. 7. Kevin Sheedy’s dynamic opening term against Carlton in the 1973 Grand Final. ‘Sheeds’ sets the scene early for Richmond’s ‘Day of Atonement’ with an inspirational three-goal burst. 8. A wispy-haired, 33-year-old, affectionately known as ‘Hungry’ (real name Kevin Bartlett), bamboozles the Blues with a scintillating six-goal display in the 1980 qualifying final at Waverley Park. 9.Final round of the 1997 season . . . the Tigers trail Carlton by about seven goals during the third quarter of the clash at Optus Oval, but stage a fantastic fight-back to win the game and knock the Blues out of finals contention. 10. In a stunning upset, midway through the 1988 season, the lowly Tigers knock off the reigning premier, Carlton, in strangely foggy conditions (bordering on the mystical) on a Friday night at the MCG. Little-known left-footer, Chris Pym, is the match-winner for Richmond, with 27 touches and three goals.
