Collingwood's domination continued on Friday night , when they thrashed Richmond , cold weather specialists Hawthorn, beat the warm blooded Eagles in Tasmania , and Carlton and Essendon , drew in an epic struggle , on Saturday afternoon at the MCG . Geelong beat Sydney on NSW turf , and Port won the battle of the two SA teams , beating the Crows. Melbourne overpowered the Suns in Brisbane , and Freo defeated a luckless, North Melbourne Football Club . The Saints , needing a rest , had a bye, as did the Brisbane Lions, and Western Bulldogs .

buckleys baby jumper

The first game of the Easter round is on Thursday , when the StKFC play the Lions , in Qld .Both , want their first win of the 2011 Season.No Good Friday Games , but many will be played around Australia, over Easter .Two blockbusters , are planned for the MCG . The first being the Anzac Day, Magpies Vs Bombers clash, and Easter Tuesday's Game , Hawthorn Vs Geelong .

Six clubs , have played in drawn games so far this season . A record number , underlining how closely the teams are matched . Many fans , will be attending matches over the Easter holiday , wearing their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys.

Wayne Careys jumper

In my local area , on Saturday , two fetes were advertised, promising appearances by , AFL football teams .

Richmond Football Club , were promised to appear at the Very Special Kids, fundraiser in Malvern .

Melbourne Football Club ,  attended  the Elsternwick Primary school fete , in Brighton , on the same day .

Spotted in the crowd at Malvern , was a little boy , wearing his Richmond Clash colours , football jumper , jersey , guernsey . Peering through the crowd  , he appeared  to be anxiously awaiting the arrival of his favourite player . Likewise at Brighton ,  several young fans  , wearing Melbourne colours , were spotted , milling in the crowd .

Must be the end of year  , fete  season ,where schools and organisations , are hoping to fill their coffers  , and raise additional funds  by holding these fundraisers .

Baby Dees in the Crowd

Lets hope the little tiger in Malvern,  got to see his heroes .

Melbourne Football Club ,(aka , the Demons ), are the oldest football club, playing in the current AFL competition .

Established in 1859 , they celebrated their 150 year anniversary, last year in 2009.

In 1859 ,two months after Melbourne , the Geelong Football Club, joined the competition .

Called the Victorian Football League, or VFL, it was based in Victoria .

Carlton joined the League in 1864 , North Melbourne in 1869 and Essendon , St Kilda and Hawthorn all joined in 1873.

Carlton Blues Original Vintage Jumper ?

These clubs have been kicking the Sherrin for a long time.

All, have pursued the ultimate trophy , of a Premiership ,with varying degrees of success.

All , have a proud history , of playing AFL football.

Fans , love their club , their support is tribal ,and will come to watch them play , win , lose , or draw.

Perhaps the only difference between the 1800's crowds, and today's, apart from numbers , is that modern fans, wear their  football jumpers, jerseys ,guernseys to the Game.

Melbourne Demons Jumper Celebrating 150 years anniversary

Friday Night Football celebrated its 25th anniversary last night .

Almost 44,000 fans turned out , on a wintry Melbourne night,  to watch North Melb Kangaroos beat the Carlton Blues.

It was an appropriate tribute to Bob Ansett , former North Melbourne Football Club Committee Member , who was instrumental in establishing AFL, friday night games .

Originally established to get more fans to the game , specifically office workers after work , friday night games evoke memories for players , coaches, fans, and club administration alike.

Fans will always go to Games wearing their football jumpers, jerseys, guernseys , whatever night of the week they are played

The main difference between last night's game, and those of 25 years ago,is that fans watched the Roos demolish the Blues in the comfort of Etihad Stadium , with comfortable seats , under a roof closed against the wet, cold , dark , winter night .

25 years of Blues

signed Saints guernsey (number 9 Fraser Gehrig 08)

Saints are on a high after beating Adelaide at home at AAMI stadium in front of a parochial home town crowd .The Saints ran out victors by 15 points and welcomed back crowd favourite ex skipper Lenny Hayes into their midfield line -up.

The Western Bulldogs beat the North Melbourne side by the same margin of 15 points at the MCG on sunday afternoon .The Doggies managed to hold off the Kangaroos in a fiercely fought physical contest .

Collingwood out to reverse their poor form over the Crows in round one at AAMI stadium were successful victors over the Melbourne Football Club at the time honoured venue of football the MCG on Saturday afternoon at 2.10pm .The Magpies victory was tainted post match when the father of Demons player Nathan Jones was viciously attacked outside gate 4 at the MCG by 3 young Collingwood supporters . Charges have been laid and Collingwood Football Club has stated that they will cancel the attackers memberships.
West Coast playing at home in Subiaco ran out winners over financially beleagured Port Adelaide Power.
Geelong has continued on its winning way claiming victory over a Tigers side playing without star recruit Ben Cousins .How long will fans be happy with Richmond languishing on the bottom of the AFL ladder?
Carlton treated their success starved fans to a win over the Brisbane Lions in front of a capacity home town crowd at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Sydney playng at home were able to beat the young post premiership Hawks who proved they are making a sluggish start to the 09 season with  2 losses in a row  .Sydney's ex - captain Brett Kirk has been charged with bumping an umpire highlighting the AFL's seriousness in their crackdown on player conduct towards on field umpires
Essendon outplayed a struggling Fremantle Dockers side to grab their first taste of success for the season.

The Easter Weekend is a split round of matches with the curtain raiser game being played this Thursday Night between  Geelong and Collingwood at the MCG at 7.40pm.The AFL determined not to break the tradition of no football on Good Friday will not host any games on that day..The easter break promises to provide a wide choice of matches for footy fans.

Further matches will be spread over the Easter period with one day game and three night games being played on Easter Saturday and three day games being played on Easter Sunday culminating with one Easter Monday day game. This final game of the round will be played at Etihad Stadium between  Richmond and the Western Bulldogs and is guaranteed to attract a sell-out crowd .Lots of games , times and venues are giving footy fans a football feast over the Easter Holiday.