Essendon versus Carlton. Sworn arch-rivals.
In round 13, the old enemies clash in Essendon’s 150-year celebration game, and there’s no more appropriate opponent for the Dons to face in their anniversary match.
In 126 years of facing each other, little separates the two sides, who both claim equal rights in being two of the AFL’s most powerful and successful clubs.
Friday’s match will be the 251st time the Blues and Bombers face off, with Essendon recording 116 wins and Carlton 126.
Both the Dons and Blues have recorded an equal League-high 16 VFL/AFL premierships apiece, while 39 players have represented both clubs.
The clubs have met in six Grand Finals - 1908, ‘47, ‘49, ‘62, ‘68 and ’93 - with both teams holding a three-three ledger in those deciders.
It’s this history which always results in mass attendances and intense viewing, no matter where both teams sit on the AFL ladder.
After being defeated in 1908 and ’47, the Dons first tasted premiership success against the Blues in ’49 with a 73-point win under the leadership of captain/coach and all-time champion of Essendon Dick Reynolds.
The legendary forward John Coleman was also a pivotal part of that flag success, booting six goals in the decider.
1962 saw the Dons record their second consecutive premiership win against the Blues, a result which would also be heavily influenced by Coleman, but this time as a coach. In a grittier affair, the Bombers emerged as 32-point winners, with captain Jack Clarke leading the way.
The 1968 Grand Final, despite a loss to their arch-rivals, was best remembered for the Bombers’ stunning selection of 17-year-old schoolboy Geoff Blethyn.
Blethyn, who was famous for being the first player in League football to wear spectacles during games, almost became an unlikely hero after booting four of the Bombers’ eight goals.
In that Grand Final, Essendon became the first team in history to lose a premiership despite kicking more goals than its opponent.
After the Bombers suffered through a torrid and unsuccessful time in the ‘70s, the Dons-Blues rivalry began to heat up again in the electrifying '80s.
Both Essendon and Carlton tasted premiership success in 1984-85 and ’81-82 and ’87 respectively.
Remarkably, they never crossed paths in any of these deciders.
Both clubs’ quests to become the VFL’s most powerful clubs stoked strong competition between fan groups and players alike.
Embers of the rivalry began to flicker fiercely in the 1983 VFL elimination final, when a rising Essendon side knocked off the reigning premiers by 33 points at the MCG. It was a match that would become the platform for Essendon’s three consecutive Grand Final appearances in the '80s.
Fast-forwarding to the '90s, 1993 was a year that solidified the intensity of the rivalry both teams possessed towards each other.
After recording the VFL/AFL’s highest ever drawn match in round two, famous for Carlton captain Stephen Kernahan's out-on-the-full shot after the siren, both sides would face off in a historic Grand Final.
The Dons were dubbed the ‘Baby Bombers’, made up of a host of first, second and third-year players with names such as James Hird, Dustin Fletcher, Mark Mercuri, Joe Misiti, Gavin Wanganeen and Michael Long displaying rapid development which led to the Bombers’ remarkable rise to first on the home and away ladder and subsequent Grand Final appearance.
In a match where Carlton was the more experienced foe, a Norm Smith Medal performance from Long proved the catalyst to a commanding 44-point win over the old enemy.
With ’93 being the last Grand Final face-off between the Dons and Blues, the two most recent preliminary finals between the two would be a cause of despair and elation for both sides.
From an Essendon perspective, the 1999 preliminary final still sits as one of the most heart-wrenching defeats in club history.
The Blues, who finished sixth on the home and away ladder, achieved a one-point win in the penultimate match despite Essendon heading into the game as minor premier. Rubbing salt into the wounds was the dismantling Carlton endured to North Melbourne in the following week’s Grand Final, with coach Kevin Sheedy scorning to his side that they’d “just handed North the premiership”.
It was a defeat which spurred a ruthless 2000 Dons side, which only lost one game throughout the whole season on its way to a 16th flag and avenged the previous year’s preliminary final loss in defeating the Blues by 45 points in the subsequent game.
Casting back to the present day, Essendon meets its old enemy on Friday night, with all of that history setting the scene for a mighty contest.
It’s a rivalry which forms a massive part of the Dons’ on-field history and a fixture which will continue to develop and solidify both clubs' mutual respect, but fierce competitiveness, for the next 150 years.
The Bombers will host the Blues - their first-ever opponent - in a blockbuster Friday night clash dedicated to the club's 150th anniversary. Here's everything you need to know for the huge match and the lead-up to it across Federation Square and the MCG.
