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Collingwood Football Club, officially nicknamed The Magpies is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League.

The players wear black and white striped guernseys, similar   more...to the colours of a magpie; thus their emblem, the magpie, and their motto "Floreat pica" ("Flourish Magpies!", or "May the Magpies Prosper!").

Collingwood has won 14 VFL/AFL premierships, behind Essendon and Carlton who have won 16 apiece. They hold the Record for most premierships won in a row, with four wins from 1927 to 1930, and remain the only club to have gone through a full Home and Away season undefeated (in 1929), despite a formidable challenge from arch rival Essendon in 2000 and Geelong in 2008, both sides winning 21 out of the 22 games in the Home and Away Season. Fittingly, Geelong was only beaten by Collingwood in the 2008 season.

The club traditionally represented the working class inner Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, Victoria, however it has since moved its training and administration base to the Gosch's Paddock and the Lexus Centre at Olympic Park in Melbourne. They moved their home games from their traditional suburban home ground, Victoria Park, to the much larger Melbourne Cricket Ground from 2000 onwards.

The Magpies are known for their passionate supporter base, usually referred to as "The Magpie Army". Traditional Melbourne suburban rivalries Essendon, Richmond and Carlton remain fierce. Collingwood has gained interstate rivals particular in Port Adelaide & Brisbane, but has retained the reputation in the national competition as the "team everybody loves to hate".

Historically and especially more recently, Collingwood games have attracted the largest attendances. In 1970, 121,696 spectators watched Collingwood and Carlton contest the Grand Final, the record attendance for a football game of any code in Australia. Collingwood has the largest membership of the 10 Victorian clubs. In the past, a large proportion of Collingwood supporters were Catholic and it was known as "The Catholic Club." in years gone by. The average crowd at Collingwood home games in 2007 was 54,898.

The noted Australian playwright David Williamson scripted The Club, a play inspired by the internal politics of Collingwood, although "the club" is never actually specified in the play or film. A film version was made in 1980 and features Collingwood players in speaking and non-speaking roles.


1 Leon Davis
2 Sean Rusling
3 John McCarthy
4 Alan Didak
5 Nick Maxwell (Captain)
6 Tyson Goldsack
7 Paul Medhurst
8 Harry O'Brien
9 John Anthony
10 Scott Pendlebury (Vice Captain)
11 Shane O'Bree (Deputy Vice Captain)
12 Shannon Cox
13 Dale Thomas
14 Anthony Corrie
15 Leigh Brown
16 Nathan Brown
17 Dayne Beams
18 Martin Clarke
19 Cameron Wood
20 Ben Reid
21 Sharrod Wellingham
22 Steele Sidebottom
23 Anthony Rocca
24 Tarkyn Lockyer
25 Josh Fraser (Vice Captain)
26 Ben Johnson
27 Jarrad Blight
28 Danny Stanley
29 Ryan Cook
30 Brent Macaffer
31 Chris Dawes
32 Travis Cloke
33 Brad Dick
34 Alan Toovey
35 Simon Prestigiacomo
36 Dane Swan (Deputy Vice Captain)
37 Luke Rounds
39 Heath Shaw
40 Chris Bryan
43 Jaxson Barham
Rookies:

38 Scott Reed
41 Kevin Dyas
44 Lachlan Keeffe
N/A Tristian Francis
N/A Jarryd Blair
N/A Johnny Bennell
N/A Toby Thoolen
N/A Lachlan Keeffe
NSW AFL Scholarship Recipients:

N/A Thomas Young
N/A Nick Perry
N/A Michael Hartley
N/A Jarrod Witts
N/A Josh Parsons


ROUND 1
SATURDAY, MARCH 28
Collingwood v Adelaide MCG

ROUND 2
SATURDAY, APRIL 4
Collingwood v Melbourne MCG

ROUND 3
THURSDAY, APRIL 9
Geelong v Collingwood MCG (N)

ROUND 4
FRIDAY, APRIL 17
Brisbane Lions v Collingwood G (N)

ROUND 5
SATURDAY, APRIL 25
Essendon v Collingwood MCG

ROUND 6
FRIDAY, MAY 1
North Melbourne v Collingwood TD (N)

ROUND 7
MONDAY, MAY 11
Collingwood v St  less

The best win by the CFC since the 2002 qualifying final in port without bucks. The boys were serverly undermanned but the relentless pressure of the whole 22 meant that Sydney ever got an inch. The pies   more...were in amazing form lead again by youngstars Thomas and Goldsack. Wakelin and Burnsy look like they had a new lease on life and it was great to see O'bree racking the touches up again.  less

Vodafone McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen race against Australian Football League (AFL) star players.

best goals,marks,bumps, and more the best of 2003

Hawks vs Lions Round 5 - AFL 2008 - Intro

Its Rivalry at its best, an all in brawl and then a come from behind win. Magic moments from Wakelin scoring his first goal and also Rocca who braught the house down with two trademark long goals.

Theres   more...nothing better than beating Carlton.  less

Collingwood travelled to moron park to face off against the crows. Going across the pies were very confident, however the media gave them no chance, paying $3.00 at the tab for the win. The confidence   more...was evident early as the pise motored out to a four goal lead. The crows came hard in the 2nd and the third, but 6 unanswered goals from the pies including 3 from Chris Bryan put the game beyound doubt. Best for the pies were R. Shaw, Lockyer and Burns.This was a famous victory for such a young side.  less

This video is a brief explanation of the rules of Australian Rules Football or Aussie Rules as it is commonly called.

I have also added numerous short videos to further illustrate aspects of the game   more...that can be accessed in the video responses to this video.

One aspect I overlooked is the punch. This is a defensive technique often used in a marking contest by a player who is out of position in relation to his direct opponent. For example if a player is caught behind his opponent as the ball is coming towards them and it is clear the player in front will mark the ball, the player caught behind will try and punch the ball away to prevent the mark. Care needs to be taken to avoid high contact.

The game is played at a fast pace with players playing on at every available opportunity. This means that extremely high levels of fitness and strength are required with players regularly running 20km or more each game. Imagine running twenty 100 metre sprints over a two hour period while simultaneously trying to catch and control an oval ball while fending off attacks from 18 other players and you will begin to understand what is required of an Aussie Rules Footballer.

History:
Aussie Rules is the world's oldest football code being codified in Melbourne Australia in 1858 and was partly inspired by the aboriginal kicking/catching game called Marn Grook. This means the games origins are potentially tens of thousands of years old. The Melbourne Football Club is the worlds oldest being formed in 1859. The first night game was played in 1879.

Year first codified:
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL: 1858
ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL (SOCCER): 1863
RUGBY UNION: 1871
AMERICAN FOOTBALL: 1876
GAELIC FOOTBALL: 1885
RUGBY LEAGUE: 1895

Just remember: Aussie Rules is not a religion, it is far more important than that.  less

The Collingwood highlights from their come from behind win against the Roos.

Michael McGuane kicked an amazing running goal against Carlton at the MCG, which saw him run from the centre-square along the wing and half-forward flank, closing to 30m and kicking it through the middle.   more...He bounced the ball 7 times during the famous run, and was deemed as one of the greatest goals of all-time.  less

LEAVE HIM ALONE! I MEAN IT!

dr. strangelove vs. old man river !!!

Brisbane Lions 2008 Membership Advertisement

The reason the pies smashed the Eagles by 100 points is right here!

Collingwood returned to the winners week this week with a pretty easy 73 point victory. It was everything we could've hoped for after the disappointing finish last week. Medhurst was simply outstanding   more...and so to Pendlebury and Cloke.

I had to do a fair bit of editing this week so sorry if I have missed your favourite highlight. They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.  less

A second straight Friday night game for the pies this week against the dees and david nietz 300th game. The pies came out hard and played some magical footy in the first half with great goals from davis   more...and didak. Burns and Swan prolific early. An unfortunate incident involving BJ sparked a Melbourne comeback but to the pies credit they held on to record there 12 victory of 2007.  less

Highlights - Collingwood Round 16 2007

Collingwood faced up against arch rivals essendon and for the first time in a number of years beat them twice in the same year. Th Collingwood faced up against arch   more...rivals essendon and for the first time in a number of years beat them twice in the same year. The first half was owned by Collingwood smashing the bombers to lead by as much as 39, the third the bombers faught back with 8 goals to four. The character of Collingwood shone through in the last with them kicking four goals to one to run out 29 point winners. Watch out for leons ripper of a goal but also the pack marking of both Travis Cloke and Anthony Rocca. Next up is Brisbane.  less

2001 Grand Final, Essendon v Brisbane. With the Lions going for their first flag since 1944, the Bombers were going for back to back.

* Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews invokes the fighting spirit of Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer prior to the Lions' clash with reigning premiers, Essendon.

* The Lions go on to record the first   more...victory of an incredible 20-game winning streak - an unbeaten run which would include the 2001 AFL Grand Final! (Round 10 2001 to Round 4 2002).

* Round 10 - Saturday June 2, 2001 at the Gabba.  less

Dale Thomas reflects on his junior footy days.

Collingwood were again without key personal, but as the saying goes it's the 22 on the park that matter. The pies showed this with a magic first qtr, especially from young Dale Thomas who gave us a sneak   more...peak into his plans for the day. The saints worked there way back into the game with some contencious umpiring decsions and by 2mins into the last they lead by 21 points. Only the bravest of Collingwood supports could've forseen what was about to happen. The mighty Collingwood train clicked over into overdrive and steamed home kicking 4-6 to nothing including an absolute ripper from Dale Thomas disallowed. Its was a spirited effort by the pies, who now face the rampent geelong.  less

For the first time since 1995 the pies flew up to queensland and beat the lions. Collingwood is playing a brand of footy this year that will hold up in finals. It's an exciting time at the club and by   more...all reports from those at the game, it was a magic night.  less