The Matthews / Bruns incident. What was it that caused the aftermath ?

[newcs]

I'm saying that it started on World of Sport the following morning when Peter Mc Kenna interviewed the two coaches. First he interviewed Geelong coach Tom Hafey, a little bit of discussion but not too heavy. He then turned to Allan Jeans and the longer it went on the more of a personal shite fight it started becoming. The key words in this interview was Jeans saying to Mc Kenna "you want to dig skeletons out of the closet". It starts to become obvious that this "discussion" has noting to do with Hawthorn nor Geelong, not even Matthews nor Bruns. They were both winding the clock back to 1972 when the then St Kilda coach Allan Jeans instructed a player to "fix up" one of Peter McKenna's team mates in Jack Greening who was a talented Collingwood player showing a lot of promise. He got felled behind play by St Kilda player Jim O'Dea. He was in a coma for 14 days and people feared for his life. The family threatened court action. He didn't return to football for two years. After that he only managed to play nine more games. Peter Mc Kenna had probably been waiting thirteen years to do this niggling interview.
This interview is what I believe started off all the excessive aftermath. Had the VFL had done nothing about it then they may have also had Collingwood having a go at them. Maybe even St Kilda may have started stucking their noses in about it because of Jim O'Dea copping a 10 game suspension over felling Greening but it was looking like Matthews may have been getting away with what he did. I don't believe it was Matthews or Bruns that started the excessive amount of aftermath. The precedent had been set thireen years earlier and Peter Mc Kenna was making sure that Allan Jeans' team was not getting away with it.
Notice how Mc Kenna started the interview with the comment "two king hits behind the play". Apparently this video on YouTube has been edited, in the full interview Mc Kenna also made comments such as "would you bring your family to see this sought of thing". If someone has the copy of the full interview I would love to see it.

The Greening Incident

It was July 8, 1972, and Collingwood's Round 14 clash with St Kilda at a muddy Moorabbin was meant to be a tough contest between two likely finalists.

forever.collingwoodfc.com.au

 

[Shane Heard]

''But even in retrospect the second is a lot more confusing. Why the police decided to pluck this one incident from the many potential assaults that have occurred on football fields over the decades is still a great mystery.

''That one charge from round 12 in June 1985 remains the one and only time in the entire history of the VFL-AFL that the police have taken action about an on-field incident.

Matthews charge 'still mystery'

AFL legend Leigh Matthews says he remains baffled why he was charged by police.

amp.theage.com.au

 

[newcs]

''But even in retrospect the second is a lot more confusing. Why the police decided to pluck this one incident from the many potential assaults that have occurred on football fields over the decades is still a great mystery.

''That one charge from round 12 in June 1985 remains the one and only time in the entire history of the VFL-AFL that the police have taken action about an on-field incident.

Matthews charge 'still mystery'

AFL legend Leigh Matthews says he remains baffled why he was charged by police.

amp.theage.com.au

Rumour has it that the reason nothing was done about the Greening incident was because both Allan Jeans and Jim O'dea were both members of the Victoria Police at the time.

 

[JackFlash]

I'm saying that it started on World of Sport the following morning when Peter Mc Kenna interviewed the two coaches. First he interviewed Geelong coach Tom Hafey, a little bit of discussion but not too heavy. He then turned to Allan Jeans and the longer it went on the more of a personal shite fight it started becoming. The key words in this interview was Jeans saying to Mc Kenna "you want to dig skeletons out of the closet". It starts to become obvious that this "discussion" has noting to do with Hawthorn nor Geelong, not even Matthews nor Bruns. They were both winding the clock back to 1972 when the then St Kilda coach Allan Jeans instructed a player to "fix up" one of Peter McKenna's team mates in Jack Greening who was a talented Collingwood player showing a lot of promise. He got felled behind play by St Kilda player Jim O'Dea. He was in a coma for 14 days and people feared for his life. The family threatened court action. He didn't return to football for two years. After that he only managed to play nine more games. Peter Mc Kenna had probably been waiting thirteen years to do this niggling interview.
This interview is what I believe started off all the excessive aftermath. Had the VFL had done nothing about it then they may have also had Collingwood having a go at them. Maybe even St Kilda may have started stucking their noses in about it because of Jim O'Dea copping a 10 game suspension over felling Greening but it was looking like Matthews may have been getting away with what he did. I don't believe it was Matthews or Bruns that started the excessive amount of aftermath. The precedent had been set thireen years earlier and Peter Mc Kenna was making sure that Allan Jeans' team was not getting away with it.
Notice how Mc Kenna started the interview with the comment "two king hits behind the play". Apparently this video on YouTube has been edited, in the full interview Mc Kenna also made comments such as "would you bring your family to see this sought of thing". If someone has the copy of the full interview I would love to see it.

The Greening Incident

It was July 8, 1972, and Collingwood's Round 14 clash with St Kilda at a muddy Moorabbin was meant to be a tough contest between two likely finalists.

forever.collingwoodfc.com.au

That's correct. The WOS interview and the fact Jeans was incredulous that it was brought up in the conversation by McKenna. His own reaction was the cause of the action taken thereafter. I also believe Umpire Robinson lost control after the Jacko antics and players lost their heads. Geelong were not going to win the game, it was an even first half, but Hawthorn won by 29 points. Why was there aggro in the final QTR? Jeans being obstinate was the catalyst of the Matthews suspension.

 

[Catsace]

I was only 4 at the time of the Greening incident, but 17 in 1985 with the Rd 12 game. Jacko niggled a lot, but in the end there was lots of aggro and the Matthew's hit on Bruns was the crescendo. Steve Hocking also as a young player belted Matthews after the event, breaking his nose. McKenna and Jeans did have a very terse interview, and maybe that was something McKenna wanted to get off his chest. To put the timeline into context, the Hall hit on Staker is longer ago now than Greening's hit was in 1985. Coupled with the fact that John Greening was an absolute young star, to be felled in his prime and just about never play much again was a huge thing. He was only 22 or so, every chance the Pies sides of the late 70's and early 80's could have won a flag or two with a late 20's and early 30's star in the side. Most Gen X fans would probably have little to no memory of Greening, his is a case of 'if only'. It would be like say someone like Nick Daicos now having his career ended by a vicious hit. Standards though nowadays do protect the player a lot more thankfully.

One final memory of the Rd 12 game, was Gary Sr getting a week for the vicious act of kicking the footy over the boundary fence, for the crime of time wasting....a suspendable offence that season.

 

[fusion]

There was furore before the WOS interview. I remember the news the night of the incident and the shock that Bruns had has jaw broken off the ball. Having video footage of the incident made it worse.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Prior to this incident, was there really any footage of such a blatant, unprovoked, off-the-ball assault on a footy field? They probably happened, but this one was caught so directly on camera.

I feel like the pure blatant and in-your-face nature of it (being caught on video and broadcast for all to see) caused authorities to act.

Like, yeah okay guys get hit and fixed up during games of footy, we get that, but this is just common assault that had nothing to do with the play.

It’s hard to think of similar incidents. Even Staker and Hall were wrestling / tangling.

If there was something like this today, I could see something pretty extreme happening in terms of authorities acting (or at least threatening to).

For Matthews’ part, he says that Bruns’ public reaction afterwards is what forced the police to get involved.

 

[raymond35]

There was furore before the WOS interview. I remember the news the night of the incident and the shock that Bruns had has jaw broken off the ball. Having video footage of the incident made it worse.

Yes, I remember getting home from the Collingwood game and it was huge, especially as ch7 covered the game and showed the last quarter on Sevens big league.
McKenna was just doing his job on World of Sport, Jeans' reaction was ridiculous.

 

[TerryWallet]

I don't know what the truth is, but it was said at the time that Bruns was kinghit by Matthews because he squirrel gripped Michael Tuck earlier in the game. It was a crazy game and a crazy aftermath. This may have been made up or exagerated by Hawthorn to try to make up some sort of defense for Matthews, or it might be true. But i remember at the time that this story/excuse was doing the rounds.

I remember watching the McKenna interview at the time. It was very awkward and way out of WOS usual style.

 

[Gavin Excell]

How many weeks did Matthews get?

 

[Rich]

Yes, I remember getting home from the Collingwood game and it was huge, especially as ch7 covered the game and showed the last quarter on Sevens big league.
McKenna was just doing his job on World of Sport, Jeans' reaction was ridiculous.

Yeah, hits behind play were behind play for a reason. Reports were usually made by a goal umpire if they happened to see it. Things have changed so much for the better.

On a side note - McKenna absolutely loved the Hawks from that era, he used to talk them up way more than anyone in the media. Obviously took this act very personally though., fair play.

 

[Rich]

How many weeks did Matthews get?

De-registered for 4 weeks from memory

 

[demondavey]

I think what caused the aftermath was matthews putting Bruns in hospital.

 

[My Tilly]

Been after a full match replay of this game for years.
Have multiple replays from different channels and it appears there were little spot fires starting up throughout periods of the third and fourth quarters. Jackson, & Ayres two main culprits.

Rumour has it that the reason nothing was done about the Greening incident was because both Allan Jeans and Jim O'dea were both members of the Victoria Police at the time.

Jeans and his crew were known as the bodgie squad as they did the dirty work back in the day fixing up crims.

 

[Osho]

I'm saying that it started on World of Sport the following morning when Peter Mc Kenna interviewed the two coaches. First he interviewed Geelong coach Tom Hafey, a little bit of discussion but not too heavy. He then turned to Allan Jeans and the longer it went on the more of a personal shite fight it started becoming. The key words in this interview was Jeans saying to Mc Kenna "you want to dig skeletons out of the closet". It starts to become obvious that this "discussion" has noting to do with Hawthorn nor Geelong, not even Matthews nor Bruns. They were both winding the clock back to 1972 when the then St Kilda coach Allan Jeans instructed a player to "fix up" one of Peter McKenna's team mates in Jack Greening who was a talented Collingwood player showing a lot of promise. He got felled behind play by St Kilda player Jim O'Dea. He was in a coma for 14 days and people feared for his life. The family threatened court action. He didn't return to football for two years. After that he only managed to play nine more games. Peter Mc Kenna had probably been waiting thirteen years to do this niggling interview.
This interview is what I believe started off all the excessive aftermath. Had the VFL had done nothing about it then they may have also had Collingwood having a go at them. Maybe even St Kilda may have started stucking their noses in about it because of Jim O'Dea copping a 10 game suspension over felling Greening but it was looking like Matthews may have been getting away with what he did. I don't believe it was Matthews or Bruns that started the excessive amount of aftermath. The precedent had been set thireen years earlier and Peter Mc Kenna was making sure that Allan Jeans' team was not getting away with it.
Notice how Mc Kenna started the interview with the comment "two king hits behind the play". Apparently this video on YouTube has been edited, in the full interview Mc Kenna also made comments such as "would you bring your family to see this sought of thing". If someone has the copy of the full interview I would love to see it.

The Greening Incident

It was July 8, 1972, and Collingwood's Round 14 clash with St Kilda at a muddy Moorabbin was meant to be a tough contest between two likely finalists.

forever.collingwoodfc.com.au

Jeans had more than the one skeleton in the closet.

It was well known if unstated at the time Jeans' teams went knuckle more than most. Plenty of other offending clubs it has to be said. The most exhausting game of footy I ever saw was the 71 GF in which another St Kilda defender went the knuckle on perhaps the greatest FF of all time. The Hawks had their own crew of brutes and handed it back ++.

Jeans was a policeman, rising to senior seargent in the Vic Police force. This community responsible position added to the pressure on him to behave properly. And Jeans resented the question In those days police could fairly easily use their position, if you know what I mean, and there was that underlying feeling in the Peter Mac interview, something like shutup or else was how I intetpreted watching the interview at the time.

I also felt at the time Tommy was especially taciturn. Was it the fact that Jeans in his position was the cause, with his smouldering passive aggressiveness?

My favourite part of the interview was the end, when known pacifist Captain Blood entered the scene with gifts for the guests and did his best to calm the emotions.

 

[Breretonisahood]

Been after a full match replay of this game for years.
Have multiple replays from different channels and it appears there were little spot fires starting up throughout periods of the third and fourth quarters. Jackson, & Ayres two main culprits.



Jeans and his crew were known as the bodgie squad as they did the dirty work back in the day fixing up crims.

O’Dea trained cops in unarmed combat- a kind of primitive MMA. There was uproar that a cop with this background training would whack Greening the way he did.

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

Jeans had more than the one skeleton in the closet.

It was well known if unstated at the time Jeans' teams went knuckle more than most. Plenty of other offending clubs it has to be said. The most exhausting game of footy I ever saw was the 71 GF in which another St Kilda defender went the knuckle on perhaps the greatest FF of all time. The Hawks had their own crew of brutes and handed it back ++.

Jeans was a policeman, rising to senior seargent in the Vic Police force. This community responsible position added to the pressure on him to behave properly. And Jeans resented the question In those days police could fairly easily use their position, if you know what I mean, and there was that underlying feeling in the Peter Mac interview, something like shutup or else was how I intetpreted watching the interview at the time.

I also felt at the time Tommy was especially taciturn. Was it the fact that Jeans in his position was the cause, with his smouldering passive aggressiveness?

My favourite part of the interview was the end, when known pacifist Captain Blood entered the scene with gifts for the guests and did his best to calm the emotions.

Ha ha, that’s right. Jack Dyer just breezed in with the Bertocci ham as though nothing had happened.
Classic.

 

[demondavey]

Ha ha, that’s right. Jack Dyer just breezed in with the Bertocci ham as though nothing had happened.
Classic.

Bertocci peace offering. Ironic coming from Captain Blood!

 

[Doc1763]

I'm saying that it started on World of Sport the following morning when Peter Mc Kenna interviewed the two coaches. First he interviewed Geelong coach Tom Hafey, a little bit of discussion but not too heavy. He then turned to Allan Jeans and the longer it went on the more of a personal shite fight it started becoming. The key words in this interview was Jeans saying to Mc Kenna "you want to dig skeletons out of the closet". It starts to become obvious that this "discussion" has noting to do with Hawthorn nor Geelong, not even Matthews nor Bruns. They were both winding the clock back to 1972 when the then St Kilda coach Allan Jeans instructed a player to "fix up" one of Peter McKenna's team mates in Jack Greening who was a talented Collingwood player showing a lot of promise. He got felled behind play by St Kilda player Jim O'Dea. He was in a coma for 14 days and people feared for his life. The family threatened court action. He didn't return to football for two years. After that he only managed to play nine more games. Peter Mc Kenna had probably been waiting thirteen years to do this niggling interview.
This interview is what I believe started off all the excessive aftermath. Had the VFL had done nothing about it then they may have also had Collingwood having a go at them. Maybe even St Kilda may have started stucking their noses in about it because of Jim O'Dea copping a 10 game suspension over felling Greening but it was looking like Matthews may have been getting away with what he did. I don't believe it was Matthews or Bruns that started the excessive amount of aftermath. The precedent had been set thireen years earlier and Peter Mc Kenna was making sure that Allan Jeans' team was not getting away with it.
Notice how Mc Kenna started the interview with the comment "two king hits behind the play". Apparently this video on YouTube has been edited, in the full interview Mc Kenna also made comments such as "would you bring your family to see this sought of thing". If someone has the copy of the full interview I would love to see it.

The Greening Incident

It was July 8, 1972, and Collingwood's Round 14 clash with St Kilda at a muddy Moorabbin was meant to be a tough contest between two likely finalists.

forever.collingwoodfc.com.au

I remember watching this on World of Sport that day. I had no doubt about what McKenna was referring to, and Jeans knew it.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Jeans had more than the one skeleton in the closet.

It was well known if unstated at the time Jeans' teams went knuckle more than most. Plenty of other offending clubs it has to be said. The most exhausting game of footy I ever saw was the 71 GF in which another St Kilda defender went the knuckle on perhaps the greatest FF of all time. The Hawks had their own crew of brutes and handed it back ++.

Jeans was a policeman, rising to senior seargent in the Vic Police force. This community responsible position added to the pressure on him to behave properly. And Jeans resented the question In those days police could fairly easily use their position, if you know what I mean, and there was that underlying feeling in the Peter Mac interview, something like shutup or else was how I intetpreted watching the interview at the time.

I also felt at the time Tommy was especially taciturn. Was it the fact that Jeans in his position was the cause, with his smouldering passive aggressiveness?

My favourite part of the interview was the end, when known pacifist Captain Blood entered the scene with gifts for the guests and did his best to calm the emotions.

With Patra orange juice and a Gold Nugget ham?

 

[Gavin Excell]

Ha ha, that’s right. Jack Dyer just breezed in with the Bertocci ham as though nothing had happened.
Classic.

Of course Bertocci

 

[TheEscapeClub]

With Patra orange juice and a Gold Nugget ham?

...a Pelaco shirt, Acquilla shoes, Hutton's franks

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Of course Bertocci

were they Bertocci back in the day of WOS? I have a feeling they were another brand.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

McKenna should have asked Yabby why Hawthorn didn't recruit indigenous players to really get things spicy.

 

[Doc1763]

McKenna should have asked Yabby why Hawthorn didn't recruit indigenous players to really get things spicy.

um, I dont think a former Collingwood player would be asking that question, just quietly!!