1964 VFL grand final

Background

Melbourne, which had been the dominant team in the league for the past decade, was competing in its eleventh consecutive finals series, having previously played seven grand finals and won five premierships in that time; it was the club's first grand final since 1960. Collingwood was also in its first grand final since 1960.

Match summary

With Melbourne leading by 11 points at three-quarter time, the match is remembered for its thrilling last quarter. In the early stages, Melbourne had plenty of opportunities to kick goals but could only manage behinds, and it was Collingwood's Des Tuddenham who kicked the first goal of the term.

Seventeen minutes into the quarter, Collingwood trailed by nine points, but narrowed the margin to three when Ray Gabelich kicked a goal from a boundary throw-in. Gabelich kicked another to take the lead soon afterwards, with a goal considered among the most famous in grand final history: he had received the ball near centre half-forward, and, due to Melbourne having spent the previous minutes in its own forward line and Collingwood moving the ball upfield quickly, there were no defenders ahead of him; a 109 kg ruckman, Gabelich ran towards the goal, bounced the ball four times, nearly losing it on each occasion, and, with Melbourne players gaining on him, kicked the goal from close range.

After play restarted, Melbourne's Barry Bourke kicked the ball into their forward line, and it was marked by rover Hassa Mann. He was directly in front and only 20 metres out, but his shot for goal came off the side of his boot and could only manage a behind. Melbourne had another chance to win the game, however, when they kicked the ball towards the goal square. A big pack of players went for the ball, but it spilled to the ground, and Melbourne defender Neil Crompton gathered the ball and kicked a goal. It was his only goal of the season, and he had only been forward because he'd followed his opponent upfield.

In the final minutes, Collingwood had the ball in its forward line. Collingwood's Ian Graham had a chance to goal with a difficult snap from the boundary but missed. Melbourne held on against intense pressure from Collingwood until the siren sounded, leaving Melbourne winners by four points.

Aftermath

The premiership was the sixth and last won by Melbourne under the coaching of Norm Smith over a ten-year period, which ranks among the most dominant periods by a club in VFL/AFL history. It was also the abrupt end to this period of success: captain Ron Barassi, who had played in all six premierships, signed with as captain-coach in 1965, and Smith was temporarily sacked as coach halfway through 1965 despite the club still having the league's equal-best record. This began a club-record 22-year finals drought not broken until 1987, and a club-record 57-year premiership drought not broken until 2021.

For more than sixty years, only 17 minutes of newsreel footage of the match was known to have survived. In June 2025, the television broadcast footage of the entire second half was discovered and published online by historian Rhett Bartlett.

Teams

Umpire: Ron Brophy

Statistics

Score

Goalkickers

Melbourne:

• Townsend 3
• Lord 2
• Bourke 1
• Crompton 1
• Mann 1

Collingwood:

• Gabelich 2
• Bone 1
• Dalton 1
• Graham 1
• Steer 1
• Tuddenham 1
• Waters 1

For a long time, Terry Waters was credited with two goals in the grand final. In January 2020, historians reviewed the game and determined that one of Waters goals had been scored by Ian Graham instead, and the scorecard was amended. Waters admitted that he did not remember kicking one of his goals. Prior to the change, Waters was recognised as the outright leading Collingwood goalkicker for the year, with 43 goals, but the change brought a tie between Waters and Graham, on 42 apiece.

References

References

1. (19 May 2021). "Footy's Wild Men Ray Gabelich 1964 VFL Grand Final Melbourne VS Collingwood Ron Barassi".
2. "100 Years of Australian Football". Penguin Books.
3. "Ron Barassi". Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
4. Sheahan, Mike. (11 July 2008). "Melbourne's Norm Smith a coach ahead of his time". Adelaide Now.
5. (8 June 2025). "Long-lost footage of 1964 VFL Grand Final discovered". AFL.com.au.