It is one of the defining moments in the long rivalry between Richmond and Carlton. And 41 years later the central combatants still disagree on exactly what happened.

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The occasion was the 1967 second semi-final – Richmond’s first final for 20 years and the Blues’ first for five years – with the prize being automatic entry to the grand final.

The Tigers won comfortably, but during the match Richmond triple-best and fairest winner and former captain Neville Crowe was reported for striking Carlton ruckman John Nicholls.

Replays indicated Nicholls took a dive as Crowe swung at him, but with video evidence not available to the tribunal at that time, the Richmond star was found guilty and suspended for four matches.

It meant Crowe missed the Tigers’ first premiership in 24 years, in what proved to be the final season of his career.

While that moment has long been a cause of enmity from the Richmond faithful towards the Blues, Nicholls maintains that it was a lack of discipline from Crowe that cost him.

“It was something I regretted at the time, but the bottom line is Neville did let a punch go and he was undisciplined to throw a punch,” Nicholls said this week.

“I made it look worse and I probably staged, which I regret now all these years later.

“But the bottom line is when you’ve got the ball in your hand or your team’s got the ball, you don’t do anything to jeopardise it.

“He was undisciplined, so he should cop it on the chin and get on with life, forget about it.”

But Crowe has a different recollection of the event.

“I don’t go with that,” he said.

“If you watch the replay closely, which unfortunately wasn’t allowed to be done back in those days, I’d been given a free kick by Peter Sheales the umpire.

“I wanted to get free, Big Nick wrapped me up in a bear hug.

“And what happened right at that moment, if you play the thing slowly enough you see him rip a right into my guts and I just stood there and responded with an open hand which missed him by that much, two or three inches.

“He went over like he was hit by a truck. He got straight up again, I might add, so it obviously wasn’t a vicious punch and I only used the airwaves for it.

“I think he lost his memory a bit on the way to the tribunal and that got me rubbed out I guess in what was going to be one of the biggest games of my career at that time.”

Crowe said he could now laugh about the incident, after the initial pain of missing his one chance at a flag, while Nicholls expressed hope that it would soon finally fade from public memory.

But while the Carlton ruckman does not think the outcome added any heat to the Blues-Tigers rivalry, Crowe believes that was the year that the passion turned up a notch.

It was to be the first of 11 finals between the two rivals from 1967-82, including four grand finals, two won by each club.

Since the 1982 grand final, they have had just one finals meeting, in 2001, mainly due to Richmond’s long stint in the doldrums.

But both former stars believe their clubs are now on an upward path, with tomorrow’s MCG clash the biggest between them since 2001.

However, while both clubs are within reach of eighth spot, neither predicted a finals berth this season.

“It’s fantasy, both sides really aren’t good enough for the finals,” Nicholls said.

“The best they could finish is eighth and I don’t think either side is good enough to finish eighth, quite frankly.

“I’m tremendously thrilled with what (Carlton) under Dick Pratt has done and Brett Ratten has done a fantastic job with our young kids, who are maturing fairly quickly.

“I’m very happy with the club generally, I’m very proud that we have turned the corner, but we’re not really good enough to play in eighth spot this year. We certainly will be next year.”

Crowe, who during his time as Richmond president from 1987-93 was forced to mount a fundraising campaign to stave off extinction, also believes his club is heading the right way on and off-field.

He urged Tiger supporters to back the club as it celebrates its VFL/AFL centenary this weekend.

“I think it will be a spectacular game and if any Richmond fans are out there and you’re going to go to the footy one more time, make it this game, don’t wait for another 100 years,” he said.

© AAP 2012

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