Colin Hobbs takes credit for stirring up Carl Ditterich in the last game at Brunswick St in 1966.

Hobbs stood on Ditterich’s toes and made some reference to Ditterich’s ancestry and the result of the 2nd World War. Ditterich lashed out and got reported for whacking Daryl Peoples. Ditterich then proceeded to smash up the changerooms.

And there’s a good yarn here by historian Paul Daffey: http://www.fitzroyfc.com.au/local_rites_ch1.htm

What’s this got to do with Fitzroy? Well after that fateful day I started following St Kilda in earnest. I became a junior member and I’d get to every game, if not with my parents then by some other means. I even made it out to Brunswick Street to see St Kilda take on Fitzroy. Watching footy at the Brunswick Street ground was like stepping back in time. Nothing much about the facilities had changed from the early part of the century. Whenever a goal was kicked at the Brunswick Street end the ball would usually end up on the tramtracks outside. They’d have to wait until someone kicked it back over the fence. The shape of the “oval” was odd too. It was more like like a “D” with a straight section along the southern wing.

In the second or third last round of 1966 I was out at Brunswick Street again to watch St Kilda cement its place near the top of the ladder with a win over lowly Fitzroy. The result was never in doubt but the main interest of the afternoon centred around an ongoing battle between big Carl Ditterich of St Kilda and a smaller Fitzroy player of no particular note. Rumour had spread among the crowd that Collingwood (who were equal flag favourites with St Kilda) had offerred $500 to a Fitzroy player to provoke big Carl into an indiscretion so that he would be rubbed out for the finals. Ditterich was an awesome force and Collingwood only had big Ray Gabelich to counter him, who by now was just too slow.

So for the whole day this little Fitzroy rover followed Ditterich around giving him “cheek” at every opportunity. It wasn’t possible to physically intimidate big Carl but he could be got at verbally, and he was. Come the last quarter and Carl had decided enough was enough. Right in front of where I was standing, and right in front of the unpire, he rushed forward and swung a punch that nearly knocked the little Fitzroy bloke out of the park. Carl copped six weeks and missed the grand final. I guess the little Lion got his $500 from Collingwood and a huge black eye.

Anyway the sheme didn’t work out for Collingwood becuase, as we all know, St Kilda beat them in the 66 grand final by a solitary point, albeit without big Carl. There was a moment of “sweet revenge” late in the final quarter of that game for me too. With St Kilda leading by one point big Ray Gabelich took a mark in the goal square at the Punt Road end. As he lined up to take the simple shot I put my usual “mozz” on, which involved holding my breath whenever an opposition player was taking a set shot at goal and repeating in my head, “miss it, miss it, miss it”. This time though I changed it. I was sitting in the front row of the top deck of the Northern Stand behind the goal line at about a 45 degree angle to big Ray. So instead of saying “miss it, miss it” I said to myself, as I held my breath, and as Gabba moved in to kick what would have been the winning goal, “kick it to me, kick it to me”. And he did! From ten yards out directly in front big Ray’s kick flew off at a 45 degree angle in my direction. I reckon it went out of bounds, but the goal umpire awarded him a point and the scores were then tied with only minutes left.

From the kick in the Saints worked the ball down to their end where Barry Breen managed to wobble a kick through for the winning behind. Moments later the siren went and big Ray Gabelich slumped to the ground in defeat. I guess he should have signed that kid’s autograph book a few years earlier!

Getting back to Fitzroy, they actually did St Kilda a favour by getting Big Carl rubbed out. His replacement in the side was Brian Sierakowski who had spent the whole year in the reserves. Big Siera turned out to be a star in the grand final and effectively shut the big Gabba out of the game. I’ll never forget Fitzroy!

NB: Years later Kieren Perkins stole my “kick it to me, kick it to me” line.