July 8 1972 will always be remembered as the day football lost one of its most promising talents. Aged 21, Collingwood’s John Greening was one of the best players in the VFL.
In his fourth year of senior football, Greening averaged 26 disposals a game and had an unforgettable fortnight between Rounds 9 and 10, when he accumulated 91 disposals and kicked ten goals.
Greening was a favourite for the Brownlow Medal, before his season – and career – was cut short by a savage incident.
Greening started the Round 14 clash against St Kilda at Moorabbin in fine fashion, taking the first mark of the game.
The midfielder kicked the ball into the Magpies attack and as fans and the television cameras followed the flight of the ball, St Kilda tough man, Jim O’Dea, viciously hit Greening.
The Magpie was left unconscious and bloodied by the fleeing O’Dea, when Collingwood trainers came to his aid.
Magpie’s teammate Len Thompson recalled the incident prior to his death in 2007.
“I looked down at Johnny and it gave me a dreadful fright. It was a horrific sight, he was severely hurt.”
“Whatever happened, and I didn’t see it, I think part of what did happen is he hit the ground and his head hit the cricket pitch.”
The incident left Greening in a coma for 24 hours and in intensive care for 12 days.
Doctor’s feared Greening would not survive and considered brain damage as the best-case scenario.
As Greening lay fighting for his life, the VFL acted quickly and sanctioned O’Dea with a 10-week ban.
O’Dea escaped legal action for the incident, even though there were reports St Kilda coach Allan Jeans instructed O’Dea to ‘fix up’ Greening.
St Kilda fans taunted Greening, as he lay unconscious on the stretcher, infuriating Magpies fans and beginning a fierce rivalry between the clubs.
Following the incident, Magpie fans adorned boundary fences with a banner bearing Greening’s name, when the two sides met.
Some Magpies fans were so appalled by the incident that they never attended another game.
Spectacularly, Greening returned to football in Round 9, 1974.
Against reigning premiers Richmond, Greening booted a goal with his first kick and helped the Magpies to a 69-point win.
But Greening would never again reach the heights of his comeback game.
Greening said his aim was to return for one game and prove to the doubters that he could still play at the top level.
A lack of motivation saw Greening play only eight more games before announcing his retirement in 1976.
Greening may only have played 107 games, but Magpie fans will always remember him as one of the most prestigious talents to wear the famous black and white guernsey.
Art Vandelay
Guest
Can’t argue with that, Gungadin. John Bourke got 10 years for shoving an umpire, O’Dea got 10 weeks for nearly killing a player. Bourke, to his credit, at least showed remorse & regret for his actions. I’m not sure about Jim O’Dea though.
Gungadin
Guest
I was there. Standing on the western wing. Got into an argument with a pommie guy. StKilda supporters around me were concerned rather than abusive. The ball was about in front of us, when there was a roar from the crowd at the northern end. Greening was one of the classiest, polished footballers ever to have played for Collingwood. Its odd that I was at the MCG when the coward Duncan Wright assaulted John Sommerville. It was to the left of where I was and the crowd noise at that end drew our attention to the incident. I dont like to hear commentators, like Dermott Brereton or Dipper talk with pleasure about such things. Its cowardly. The offenders are usually much less skilled, and the game is robbed of a great footballer like Greening.
Michael Hallam
Guest
I was also there that sad day, Jim O`Dea hit John Greening with a clenched fist. on the flank about 15ft from the boundry.Not a proud day for the Sainters.
Connolly
Guest
Jeans played alongside another thug called Eric Guy who flattened the South Melbourne great Bobby Skilton. Waited on the edge of a pack and knocked him unconscious.. It was the St Kilda way.
BigAl
Guest
Over the years O'Dea has adamantly and repeatedly claimed that he was incredibly 'over villainised' for employing a tactic that was common place in those times and he , then and now, is disturbed and regretfull at how tragically it turned out. I remember hearing a story, years later and, I can not lay any claims to the veracity of it - to the effect that on the Thursday? prior to the game, against the knowledge and wishes of Collingwood, Greening and a couple of other players went out, had a "few" drinks and were involved in a minor traffic accident, during which Greening was concussed. All of this was kept secret from the club before the game.
Christopher Chrysostomou
Roar Rookie
Thanks mate, i appreciate the kind words.
Aligee
Guest
Not sure what a sling tackle is then, or the holding of a players arms so he has no balance or cushioning when he is taken to ground. Very dangerous, relatively new to the game and designed to really hurt an opponent.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Yep, might have saved Ian Aitkens jaw from being broken from a king hit from behind by an angry little Alastair Clarkson in the Battle of Britain. Clarkson only got 4 weeks. Aitkens promising career after being voted Rookie of the Year never took off after that incident.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Vocans
Guest
Awful story. I’m glad the attitude that led to the assault causing grievous bodily harm is a thing largely of the past. But some still think it’s tough and somehow glorious to deliberately hurt an opponent.
Grubby Jeans
Guest
Gotta love how football put up on a pedestal Jeans' dirty teams. I grew up with seeing Hawthorn's sniping and underhanded tactics. They won a bunch of flags playing dirty. The Brownlow lost a lot of prestige the year Dipper won it. The Geelong fight back in 1989 was memorable because they did 'a Hawthorn' on Hawthorn by going the knuckle. Geelong's major mistake was to stop. They should have put Dermot and Dipper in hospital and not let them come back on the field. What a surprise that the likes of Jeff Kennet is a Hawthorn person, he was and still is the rodent in Victoria's larder.
Aligee
Guest
Matthews had a real nasty streak but also was a great footballer, footy is faster now and arguably tougher in some respects but a lot/most of the thuggery has been taken out, Matthews has since said he regrets some of the things he did and i reckon anyone who has played a contact sport across all levels could probably say the same thing.
russell
Guest
I was nearly twelve at the time and was at the ground and saw what O’Dea did with his forearm in near the middle of the ground just as the ball had left the area. I have never forgotten it as it was act of total thuggery in my view and ruined what was a wonderfully talented player. If he did that now, he’d get life.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Would have saved a lot of broken jaws and concussions if charges had been laid then, rather than the Matthews hit on Bruns more than a decade later.. In a violent era St K had some of the worst thugs. Ditterich every other week. Cowboy Neale sending Hudson to Disneyland in the 71 GF.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Wow, what an intriguing story. Pity a dumb act cut short such a promising career. Thanks for this! More like it would be fantastic.
mattyb
Guest
Probably the worse incident I can remember in VFL history. One thing that's always stuck out to me with the O'Dea/Greening incident and Jean's role as coach was that Jeans went on to coach Hawthorn where we then had the Matthews/Bruns incident. Pretty unsavory stuff really.
truetigerfan
Guest
Awesome player. Awful incident. Tragic outcome.
peter chrisp
Guest
Will never forget a legendary player