1967 VFA Grand Final

The beginning of the match was a tough, physical, and oftentimes violent encounter.[9] Dandenong had the better of play through the first quarter, assisted in large part by captain-coach and ruckman Alan Morrow, who controlled the ruck contests, and provided a valuable forward option when resting; Dandenong followers David Sheehan and Alan McDonald provided much of the midfield drive from those ruck contests, and Dandenong centre Rod Evans kept the highly regarded young Port Melbourne rover Peter Bedford quiet.[9] Dandenong led by ten points at quarter time, 4.5 (29) to 3.1 (19).

Off the ball, brawls regularly broke out between the two sides. On many occasions, umpires, trainers and other officials were forced to enter the arena to break up the fights.[9] Three players were reported in the first quarter: Dandenong's Alan Osborne was reported for kicking Bedford; Port Melbourne's Gary Ireland was reported for striking Jim McNamara; and Port Melbourne's Graeme Taggart was reported for using continuous abusive language towards umpire David Jackson.[9] The fighting continued into the second quarter of the match.

Midway through the second quarter, after a free kick was paid against a team-mate, Port Melbourne's John Peck approached and argued with Jackson.[12] At this stage, Port Melbourne was on the wrong end of a lopsided free kick count – by half time, Dandenong had received 26 free kicks to Port Melbourne's nine[13] – and Peck had been penalised more than most.[12] In an incident which lasted three minutes,[14] Peck continued to argue with Jackson, and Jackson reported Peck for using abusive language and disputing his decisions; as Jackson attempted to look at the back of Peck's guernsey to take his number, Peck repeatedly walked away to prevent Jackson from doing so.[9]

Port Melbourne captain-coach Brian Buckley, who was nearby to Jackson and Peck during this altercation, ordered his players to leave the field in protest at Jackson's performance. Half of the team had reached the boundary,[9] as Jackson prepared to restart play anyway,[14] before Port Melbourne secretary Norm Goss Sr. and treasurer John Paton ordered them to return to the field and continue playing.[15]

Dandenong led by nineteen points at the time of the incident,[16] and Port Melbourne closed the deficit to only six points at half time, Dandenong leading 8.5 (53) to 7.5 (47).

Port Melbourne played the better football in the third quarter of the match; Bedford was able to overcome Evans' defensive effort and provide good drive out of the midfield for Port Melbourne, and backmen John Caulfield and Geoff Grover improved after leaving their men too loose in the first half.[9] Midway through the quarter, Port Melbourne led by seven points, a 26-point turnaround since the walk-off.[16] Dandenong then kicked late goals to take a four-point lead into three-quarter time, 11.9 (75) to 10.11 (71).[10]

Dandenong dominated the final quarter of the match, kicking five quick goals to put the game beyond Port Melbourne's reach.[10] Dandenong's half forward flankers, John Townsend and Brian Hill, were dominant, and Dandenong's physical strength through the game was reported to have left Port Melbourne too tired to remain competitive in the final quarter.[9] The final margin was 25 points, Dandenong winning 16.13 (109) to 12.12 (84).

Both the Age reporter Michael de Kretser and the Sun News-Pictorial reporter Chris de Kretser agreed that, while the scores had been close for much of the match, Dandenong was clearly the better team overall.[9][10] Michael de Kretser described it as "the toughest Grand Final for years".[9] Dandenong had an important input from its two ruckmen, Morrow and Eddie Melai, who were strong in the midfield and contributed seven goals between them while resting in the forward line.[10] There was no obvious choice as best player on the ground, with different sources considering Morrow[9][16] or Hugh Mitchell[10] to be Dandenong's best player, and Caulfield,[9] Ireland[10] or Jim Renouf[16] to be best for Port Melbourne.

Peck was a new recruit for Port Melbourne in 1967. At age 29, he was an established star player in the more popular and higher quality Victorian Football League. He had requested a transfer from his club, Hawthorn, to Port Melbourne, believing that he would be able to prolong his career for a further four or five years in the Association.[17] Peck was one of the highest profile League players to switch to the Association since the 1940s, having played more than 200 games with Hawthorn, and having been the League leading goalkicker in 1963, 1964 and 1965.

Throughout the season, Peck had been consistently frustrated by the Association umpires, frequently conceding many more free kicks than he received; Goss stated that Grand Final emergency umpire Alan O'Neil was the only umpire who had "given Peck a fair go" during the season. This opinion was also held by some outside of the Port Melbourne Football Club; future Hall of Fame football writer Alf Brown of the Herald had noted this during the year, and speculated that the Association umpires may have been showing bias against Peck because he was such a well-established League player – in Brown's exact words, "we'll show this League slicker he is not going to put anything over us."[13]

Immediately following the Grand Final, Peck told Port Melbourne officials that he felt he had been umpired out of the game, and that he intended to retire immediately, but Goss convinced him to stay on;[13] he ultimately retired at the end of 1968.[18]

Jackson's umpiring performance was the subject of much discussion, both positive and negative. Those reporting on the game agreed that Jackson had made many errors in Dandenong's favour, with Chris de Kretser describing some of his decisions against Port Melbourne in the second quarter as "shocking",[10] and The Sporting Globe reporter Jim Blake agreeing that Jackson had made several mistakes during the game. However, Blake also praised Jackson for his courage in upholding his decisions even when the walk-off threatened to draw the game into either chaos or farce; Dandenong captain-coach Alan Morrow agreed with Blake's praise for Jackson in the difficult situation.[16]

Port Melbourne voiced its displeasure at Jackson's performance, and somebody at the club reportedly went as far as telling the media that "the umpiring was so poor that it upset Port's players, and put VFA football back ten years."[16] However, Port Melbourne did not attempt to lodge any sort of formal complaint against Jackson.[15]

In a separate incident early in the second quarter, and prior to the walk-off, Jackson was knocked unconscious in an accidental collision with Dandenong's Eddie Melai. The collision occurred when Melai, who was running downfield to follow the play, ran into Jackson, who had suddenly stopped and turned to follow a brawl which had just started. Smelling salts were used to wake Jackson up, and he was able to continue umpiring; it has never been suggested that his performance was impaired by after-effects from the collision.[14]

VFA umpires adviser, Fred Allen, controversially spoke out against the Port Melbourne Football Club for the walk-off, describing the conduct as "disgraceful, undisciplined and unsporting", and stating "when a side is influenced from outside the fence to leave the ground it is beyond my comprehension." Port Melbourne lodged a formal complaint against Allen for the comment, and secretary Norm Goss made it clear that the decision to lead the walk-off was entirely that of onfield captain-coach Brian Buckley, and that it was the club's off-field personnel who in fact prevented the walk-off from being completed.[15] Goss also pointed out that the players believed the walk-off was justified, and were unhappy with him for averting it.[13]