Round 9, 1974
Footscray vs Melbourne
Saturday 1 June
Venue: Western Oval
Attendance: 15,115
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Footscray | 5.3 | 8.11 | 12.13 | 13.16.94 |
| Melbourne | 2.3 | 4.4 | 6.6 | 8.8.56 |
Footscray win by 38 points
Goalkickers: Stan Alves 2, Mal Owens 2, Robert Flower 1, Peter Slade 1, Steven Smith 1, Greg Wells 1
Milestones:
First Game
Billy Barham
Greg Wood
Last MFC Game
John Reid
After 16 straight losses over two seasons the Demons played like a mentally broken team in losing their 17th.
The Demons forward line was a shambles. The Age said "Every Melbourne forward move was an aimless meander into strange territory". They kicked poorly to contests and had clearly lost all confidence. Footscray on the other hand kicked it to their forwards time and time again, and all but one of their goals came from their forwards. They could have won by much more had they been on song all day.
Bob Skilton was booed by fans at the end of the game. Jim Cardwell reassured him that at one point even the great Norm Smith had suffered the same treatment.
Best were Ditterich, Alves and Baker. Ditterich was replaced by Barham in the third quarter and had to go to hospital with ruptured blood vessels after being poked in the eye, and Denis Clark (hairline fracture of the jaw) was replaced by Delmenico at half time.
Reserves
Footscray 18.20 d. Melbourne 13.9
Goals - Sember 4, Williamson 3, Peters 2, McLean 1, Scott 1, Keenan 1, Collins 1
Best - Keenan, Williamson, Fox
Under 19s
Melbourne 10.21 defeated Footscray 10.7
Media
Age - 03/06/1974
Age - 03/06/1974
Football Record R10 1974