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There is no question the Collingwood Football Club holds a commanding presence and has influenced the history and direction of our great sporting code.
The highest membership, the largest supporter base, 15 premiership flags. It is without question the Manchester United of the competition, a vision articulated by its president and its last premiership coach.
However, upon closer inspection, the resumé of this Victorian powerhouse starts to look a little shaky.
Sure, the black and white faithful pack out the MCG more often than even Essendon or Carlton. But their on-field success has been distorted over the years and decades by the mystique and perception of this club’s self-proclaimed greatness and sense of entitlement.
54 years ago, Collingwood won its 13th flag, and remained unchallenged at the top of the premiership ladder. At the same time Essendon had only 10 flags, Melbourne nine and Carlton eight. Hawthorn, which now sits fifth on the all-time premiership table with 10, had not even won its first flag.
Yet since number 13, Collingwood has won only two premierships: the 1990 drought-breaker and the 2010 grand final replay.
In comparison, the last 54 years have seen six Essendon flags, eight from Carlton and 10 from Hawthorn. Even Richmond, a club widely referenced when talking about premiership droughts, has won five.
But the enduring nature of Collingwood’s supporter fanaticism, the black-and-white army tagline, the imposing Westpac centre’s declaration of corporate dominance, the ANZAC day match, and the full capacity of the Northern Stand disguise the bareness of the Magpie trophy cabinet since WWII.
In fact, only four flags have made their way to Victoria Park in the last 76 years.
There is no doubt that Collingwood Football Club remains a potent force in the football landscape. Its profile is spruiked at corporate and media level, its premiership total sits nicely beside those of its arch rivals, its members and supporters remain numerous, and it has the taste of recent success, where Essendon and Carlton are starting to look a little old-fashioned with their 2000 and 1995 grand final DVDs.
However, the greatness of this club remains very much due to its long past. It was a power club of a bygone era that has very rarely been able to deliver the goods since the Second World War.
A club with 11 premierships in its first 40 years, but four in its last 76. A club that should now be regarded more for its fanaticism than its ability to win premierships.
A club that has gone from working class to upper class, but forgot to send its supporters the memo.
A club steeped in near-wins, hiding behind a veneer of what it has mistaken to be sustained long-running success.
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