In the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL), the "Colliwobbles" refers to the period between Collingwood's

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

premierships, where the Magpies reached nine AFL/VFL Grand Finals for eight losses and a draw in 1977. This era was dubbed as the Colliwobbles partly because Collingwood sometimes lost by small margins; in this way, "Colliwobbles" is a specific term for

choking Choking, also known as foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO), is a phenomenon that occurs when breathing is impeded by a blockage inside of the respiratory tract. An obstruction that prevents oxygen from entering the lungs results in oxygen de ...

when it is done by Collingwood. The term was coined by

Lou Richards Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards (15 March 1923 – 8 May 2017) was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the team f ...

, and it is a play on the words "Collingwood" and " collywobbles" (a state of intestinal disorder, usually accompanied by a rumbling stomach). The main period of the Colliwobbles ended in the 1990 AFL Grand Final, when Collingwood defeated to win their first premiership since 1958. Lou Richards ceremoniously announced the end of the Colliwobbles, and the club marked the occasion with the burial of a memoir of the hitherto trying times in front of a large crowd at Victoria Park. After losing the 2018 grand final after leading most of the day, there was talk in the media that the Colliwobbles had returned. Despite the supposed death of the Colliwobbles, 1958 remained Collingwood's last September premiership until

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

; the 1990 and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

premierships were won in October due to drawn finals (both involving Collingwood)—which, incidentally, are no longer possible, as extra time is invoked in case of a tied game for the grand final—and Collingwood have won only three (and drawn two) of the sixteen Grand Finals they have appeared in since their 1958 premiership, while losing eight.

Grand Final appearances during the main "Colliwobbles" period

Grand Final appearances since the main "Colliwobbles" period

Trivia and statistics since 1958

*Five Collingwood Grand Finals have been lost by single-figure margins, and four by less than a goal, including a four-point loss in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

to and a one-point loss in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

to , which remains the Saints' only premiership as of 2024, and a five-point loss in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

to . *Collingwood suffered its worst Grand Final loss in history in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, losing to by 81 points, which, at the time, was also the worst in VFL history, and also lost by 50 points to Brisbane in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. *The highest Collingwood grand final attendance was 121,696 in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

against (which also remains a league record for any VFL/AFL game). The lowest Collingwood grand final attendance since 1958 was 79,451 in 2003 against Brisbane due to renovation works at the MCG. *Collingwood's highest grand final score was 19.10 (124) in the 1977 replay against . Its lowest was 2.2 (14) against in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

. *The lowest score conceded by Collingwood was 5.11 (41) in

against Essendon. The highest score conceded was 23.21 (159) in

against Richmond. * Collingwood's 2023 AFL Grand Final win was its first in September since

References

{{Collingwood Football Club Australian Football League Australian rules football terminology Collingwood Football Club Australian folklore Australian rules football culture

Grand Final appearances during the main "Colliwobbles" period

Grand Final appearances since the main "Colliwobbles" period

Trivia and statistics since 1958

See also

References