When Melbourne and Hawthorn almost became one
With an overwhelming show of strength on the raw and passionate night of September 16, 1996, at the Camberwell Civic Centre, Hawthorn members rejected the proposition of a merger with Melbourne. Don Scott, the fiery former Hawthorn skipper and outspoken leader of the anti-merger forces, ripped a Velcro Hawk logo off a Melbourne jumper and the Melbourne Hawks were dead in the water. And with it came the end of a policy that the AFL had pursued with considerable zeal for several years beforehand. The...