They say we should use this time to learn something new – so we thought we’d offer up a history lesson free of charge!
We’re going to be recapping all the important sporting moments each and every day on the Ladbrokes Blog.
So if it’s AFL, NRL, Basketball, Cricket, Golf or even Wrestling, be sure to return each morning as we take a trip back through the history books to relive some of the great sporting moments in This Day In Sport!
1996 – The Merger Match
With both clubs deep in merger discussions, the 1996 fixture would ironically have Melbourne playing Hawthorn at the MCG in the final home and away round.
Referred to as “The Merger Match”, this was an intense, emotional and very spritied contest.
Not only did these two clubs members have an upcoming vote regarding merging to become the “Melbourne Hawks” from 1997, but Hawthorn needed to win this game to have a chance to play in the 1996 finals series.
63,196 fans turned up to the MCG in what could possibly have been the last time to see their teams play in their own right.
The ground had “NO MERGER” signs everywhere with both Melbourne and Hawthorn fans holding them up in defiance.
Jason Dunstall kicked 10 goals for the Hawks, with his sixth being his 100th for the 1996 season.
Hawthorn would win the game by one point and club stalwart full-back Chris Langford took off his jumper and held it above his head heading back into the change rooms.
The Hawks would make the 1996 finals, heading to Sydney and going down by 1 goal to the Swans the following week.
Jason Dunstall, who kicked 10 in the merger match would suffer a knee injury in the qualifying final.
Two weeks after the game, members of both Melbourne and Hawthorn would vote on a merger.
Inspired by club legend Don Scott ripping a velcro Hawk off a Melbourne jumper in an emotional Town Hall meeting, the Hawthorn members voted no.
Over at Melbourne, they voted yes for a merger. Only just.
The “Melbourne Hawks” never happened and both clubs continued in their own right.
1968 – 6 Sixes for Sobers
Sir Garfield Sobers became the first man in first-class Cricket to strike six sixes in one over on this day 52 years ago.
Sobers achieved this pheonominal feat when playing English County Cricket for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan.
The unfortunate bowler who copped a battering from Sobers was Malcolm Nash.
Nash was asked to bowl spin by his captain, to stop the flow of runs but it backfired spectacularly.
While Nash did cop six sixes at the hands of Sobers, he didn’t have as bad a day as you’d may have thought finishing with figures for 4/100.
At the end of the over, Sobers raised the bat to acknoledge his unthinkable achievement at the time, but he still had a game of Cricket to win for Nottinghamshire for whom he was skipper.
Sobers finished unbeaten on 76 runs, declaring at 5/394 and set up a 166 run win for his team.