Throughout 2026, we have been cranking up the Tigerland time machine and transporting yellow and black barrackers back to 1966 to relive a pivotal year in Richmond’s history.

Today, we take a look at the Tigers’ thrilling Round 17 clash with South Melbourne.

Richmond’s penultimate match of the 1966 season against South Melbourne at Lake Oval ended sensationally when forward pocket/rover Blair Campbell, in his senior League debut, kicked the winning goal for the Tigers with a set shot after the final siren.

It was the stuff of boyhood dreams for Campbell, and a perfect way for him to celebrate his 20th birthday that day.

Campbell started the game on the bench as the 19th man but entered the field after half-time when regular rover Peter Hogan was sidelined through injury.

He lined up in the forward pocket on South Melbourne’s small back pocket Herbie Matthews, whose father (Herbie Sr) had won the 1940 Brownlow Medal.

Campbell managed to spend a bit of time on the ball, sharing roving duties with the Tigers’ rising star small man Kevin Bartlett, and picked up a few touches.

In a see-sawing struggle throughout, Richmond trailed by five points, with just seconds remaining on the clock.

Many years later, here is what Campbell told Rhett Bartlett in the Club historian’s book “Richmond FC:  A Century of League Football” about the match-winning goal.

“I reckon it was Bill Barrot, who came screaming out of the centre and attempted a drop kick and miskicked it. I took the mark overhead, standing by myself, 25 yards out, dead in front," Campbell said.

“The siren must have sounded, but I didn’t hear it...I knew it was over because I think people were starting to run out.

“This will show you the era it was, I’ve gone for the torpedo. 

“The sun’s just coming down over the grandstand at South Melbourne and I’m trying to shield my eyes to kick.

“When I did kick it, it was a very poor kick and just cleared the hands of the ruckmen in the goal square and went through. 

“But Matthews was on the mark and (Bob) Skilton was there, and there was some sort of protest about it being touched. But the goal stood.

“I wasn’t particularly aware of that, nor did the particular protest last long. People weren’t yelling or cursing.

“I reckon they did touch it. It was such a poor kick...and I would say that Skilton was an honest man.

“I just loved playing my first game of league football and the fact that I kicked the winning goal after the siren was all a bit surreal.

“There were three things that made it not quite as spectacular. One, the South Melbourne players were claiming it was touched. Two, it was a shocking kick. Three, I didn’t hear the siren.”

Campbell, who subsequently ‘popularised’ the ‘boomerang’ kick, as he called it, or ‘banana’ kick, as it was later known in Victoria (or ‘checkside’ in SA), played 20 games all-up at Richmond and then Melbourne, before carving out an impressive first-class cricket career for Victoria and Tasmania.

Also making his senior debut with the Tigers that day was young ruckman Michael Green, who would go on to become a four-time premiership player at Punt Road.

Here is the match report that appeared in The Age newspaper by Maurice Carr...

South Melbourne must have wondered how it lost the match against Richmond, which ended in an ordeal of tension at South Melbourne oval on Saturday.

And Richmond must have wondered, too, how it came out of the fray still clinging to a slim hope making the four.

Roger Dean, Richmond’s back-pocket player was the answer to both questions.

It was Dean who arrived with calm efficiency to frustrate South when it had accomplished the formidable task of breaching Richmond’s half-back line.

Although Richmond’s half-back line played strongly for the whole match, it was inevitable that it would yield frequently under the pressure from Max Papley, at centre, and winning ruckmen Fred Way and Graeme John.

South, in fact, was the more skilful team by a considerable margin.

Its attacks were clean-edged and deliberate, linked up with firm handball and precise drop-kicks.

But much of this advantage was cancelled by Dean’s remarkable ability to read the trend of play.

When South did elude his marauding defence, it was able to rely on the pin-point accuracy of Austin Robertson who finished with five thoroughly earned goals.

Richmond’s team effort was notable for its tenacity, if not for its skill. It was also adorned by some outstanding performances, apart from Dean’s.

Mike Perry, at centre half-back, had much the better of a bruising encounter with Paul Harrison.

John Perry and Dick Clay won on their wings offsetting the brilliance of Max Papley, who may not have had more kicks than his opponent, Bill Barrot, but certainly put them to better use.

In general, Richmond did not lack courageous and capable ball-winners but was severely handicapped by aimless, or simply bad kicking.

Paddy Guinane’s deplorable inaccuracy when kicking for goals was an example of this, but the fault was also common midfield. Guinane kicked 1.5 which represented a lopsided performance, because most of his shots were earned by outstanding marks.

South’s dashing second quarter, followed by a holding third quarter against the wind, gave it a three-point margin to begin its last turn with the wind.

In this quarter Richmond’s defenders rose to great heights, giving the laborious attack time to edge a few points ahead.

But Way and John, with Skilton and Harrison lifting themselves from obscurity, pressed home a powerful series of attacks which eventually yielded a goal from Robertson, with about a minute to play.

The tired Richmond side had an air of plodding despair as it wound up its “Sunday punch.”

Barrot found rover Blair Campbell, a senior player only since half-time.

There is no doubt that Campbell will remember his first goal in league football long after the current controversy surrounding it subsides.

Match details
Richmond   4.3   4.5   8.10   10.12 (72)                
South Melbourne   2.2   7.5   9.7   10.11 (71)

Goals – Richmond: Clay 2, Bartlett, Cameron, Campbell, Crowe, Guinane, Northey, Patterson, A. Richardson.
Leading possession-winners – Richmond: Barrot 33, Bartlett 22, Northey 21, J. Perry 20, Dean 18.
Best – Richmond: Dean (best on ground), M. Perry, J. Perry, Clay, Northey, Strang, Patterson.

Goals – South Melbourne: Robertson 5, Sarich 2, Bray, John, McAuliffe.
Leading possession-winners – South Melbourne: Papley 27, Skilton 25, Phillips 22, John 20, Pedrotti 20, Sarich 18.
Best – South Melbourne: Papley, Way, John, Robertson, Bray, Heriot, Sarich.

Attendance: 20,083