In the late 80s, fans of Australian Rules football were enthralled by two powerhouses: the Hawthorn Hawks and the Geelong Cats. Hawthorn had the better team overall, but the Cats had Gary Ablett, widely considered one of the greatest to have ever played the game. You don’t get the nickname “God” if you’re making up the numbers.
Almost 30 years later, when I was a teenager, the rivalry kicked off again. Geelong and Hawthorn played a number of grand finals and regular season games that went down as instant classics. Both teams were stacked with talent and characters, not least Gary Ablett’s son, Gary Ablett junior. As someone with a Hawks supporting father while going to school in Geelong, it was hard to get away from all the hype.
With games drawing enormous crowds, the AFL decided to make it an annual tradition to always be played on Easter Monday, a public holiday in Australia. While I haven’t followed the league closely for a while, I checked this morning to see the score.
Hawthorn 92 – Geelong 91.
Another classic.