50 years ago -Jim O’Dea & John Greening incident

[WaggaPie]

Ahh the Saints……. The AFL’s most irrelevant club.

[jonmac1954]

The St Kilda curse will always actively remain. It is not a coincidence that they haven’t won a flag since then.

It shows the abject level of that club that they nominated O'Dea for their "Hall of Fame" in 2003 - an institution populated by such quality individuals as Stephen Milne...
And we shouldn't forget that according to some old St Kilda insiders it was very likely that Alan Jeans told O'Dea to do it too.

Yes just remember Jeans was a member of the police force at the time. An investigation was mounted but O'Dea was never even charged.

[WhyPhilWhy?]

Lets get back on topic please...

[RudeBoy]

John Greening was like a combination of Nick Daicos and Gavin Wanganeen. Simply the best.

[Snagger]

First time poster. The only player that I saw with similar skills to Greening over 50 years was Nicky
Winmar at his absolute best. My view is quite ironic given the treatment by the 'Aints at Moorabbin that fateful day which I had the misfortune of attending as a 9-year-old.

[lazzadesilva]

As long as the St. Kilda curse remains and they do not win another flag, it will be a tiny consolation for me. However my rage, hatred and anger towards O’Dea will always remain.

[jonmac1954]

Greetings @Snagger and agree about John, I loved Nicky as a player but felt he rode the rising tide of first nation protection around at that time. Despite that a fine player and a great athlete.

[Piesnchess]

A good bumped thread. I wrote my bit before young Naicos arrived, recently. Look , Naicos is brilliant, amazing, he is now the same age as was Johnny, when he got cut down by that putrid scum, whose name I refuse to mention, same as John Lennons assassin. IMHO, Greening was a tad better than Naicos, just a tad , he would have won 3 or 4 Brownlows, yes, he was THAT good. I hope he had a wry smile in 2010 GF, I thought of him a lot that day, of final payback to a vile totally underachieving bogan Club. And still are, to this day.

[Presti35]

Funny how oppo supporters say get over it or think its funny because Greening was a Collingwood player. Ask those same ppl about Brayshaw and you'll get a different response.

O'Dea got to play 167 games for St Kilda (80 after the incident). He was given ten weeks when some reports say Greening could have and almost died. Greening played 107 games for Collingwood (9 after the incident, between 74-76). Greening was 22 and pretty much lost 8 years of his career. O'Dea was 23 and also worth noting was a Victorian police officer at the time and could have easily been charged and lucky not to be completely suspended for life, or even jailed.

It really is a tragic event.

The differnce is O'Dea has gone down as a complete disgrace that is only remembered for this act. But Greening is remembered as a club champion that was cut down in his prime, who is adored by all of us in the history of the club. Unfortunately, he was a part of the 1970 GF team that lost, but if you think about the 1973 season, the 1977 GF, as well as '79, '80, and '81... gees we could have won a flag there.

As far as Allan Jeans goes, well the story is that he instructed O'Dea to take Greening out. And if that is true then he can burn in hell. (Also worth noting he was in the police force too). He seems to have gotten off scot free as he is regarded as a legend of 2 football clubs and rarely mentioned when this is spoken about.

[Gerry Cooper]

The differnce is O'Dea has gone down as a complete disgrace that is only remembered for this act.

St Kilda obviously admired the worthless thug. O'Dea was nominated for the St Kilda Hall of Fame in 2003. That tells me all I need to know about that club.

[Mossi]

Apart from Greenings talent in kicking on both sides, attack on the ball and being an everywhere man, I loved his marking ability. He was my hero and 50 years later, although the memories have faded, just reading his name sends emotional thoughts on how good he was to watch.

[RickyWatt23]

In the 60s I used to go to all the games on Saturday, starting with the under 19s, then the reserves, then the seniors. I saw John Greening graduate from the early games to the seniors and I still tell people that the best Collingwood footballer I ever saw was John Greening. We can only dream of what might have been if he had not been knocked out. An absolute tragedy and an out an out champion!

[Jezza]

As far as Allan Jeans goes, well the story is that he instructed O'Dea to take Greening out. And if that is true then he can burn in hell. (Also worth noting he was in the police force too). He seems to have gotten off scot free as he is regarded as a legend of 2 football clubs and rarely mentioned when this is spoken about.

The tension between Peter McKenna and Jeans was palpable in the clip below after the Matthews and Bruns incident in '85.

McKenna never forgot what happened 13 years earlier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp5tl9g_1ho

[Presti35]

^Wow, that was awkward. What a shame that our great McKenna never reached the ultimate glory and that Jeans did and that he was more than happy to use his special tactics to win.

See the look Jeans gave him at the end...

If these tactics were used today, he would be banned for life. All good to rough players up and be physical, but to take someone out when their back is turned is the ultimate act of a coward. O'Dea and Jeans should have been publicly shammed.

[piedys]

St.Rapist
St.Vomit
St.Toilet

did we miss any?