With this September a bit less busy than Hawks fans would have liked, we thought we would take a trip down memory lane to more exciting events that occurred on the same date. 

On this occasion, we take you back to 23^rd of September…… 1961. It was the Hawks’ first ever appearance in a Grand Final since their inception into the VFL in 1925 and they were up against Footscray.  

Hawthorn enters today’s game as the raging favourites to take out the premiership in their first appearance on a Grand Final day in the club’s history. 

The Hawks finished this year as minor premiers, after winning 14 of their 18 home and away matches this year. 

Led by Graham Arthur in his second year as captain, the Hawks overcame Melbourne in their semi-final a fortnight ago to book themselves a place in today’s premiership decider. 

While the Bulldogs beat the Ron Barassi-led Demons in their preliminary final last week by 27 points. The Dogs’ win ended a run of seven consecutive Grand Final appearances for Melbourne.

Interestingly, today’s match-up is the first in VFL history to not involve any of the original eight clubs that formed the VFL 64 years ago, with those being Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St. Kilda and South Melbourne.

QT: Footscray captain-coach Ted Whitten won the toss and elected to kick to the Punt Rd end of the MCG.

But it was Hawthorn rover Ian Law who got his side off to a good start, kicking the first goal of the game after he swooped on a loose ball 30 yards out from goal.

Footscray rallied their way back into the quarter though and they have taken a 10-point lead into the first break.

HT: The 107,935-strong crowd watched on as the Bulldogs continued to hold sway in the second term.

Hawthorn slowly began to gain some momentum but were unable to show it on the scoreboard, kicking just one goal from their six shots at goal for the quarter. 

Footscray, who have had two less shots at goal for the game so far, remain ahead by eight points as the players go into the rooms for half-time.

3QT: Hawthorn coach John Kennedy, hungry for success after his ten-year playing career failed to bring him any premiership glory, must have inspired his troops with his words in the main break.

The Hawks began to take control of the game in the third term as Brendan Edwards, who is playing in his 100^th VFL game started to dominate in the midfield.

The brown and gold kicked 6.6 in the “premiership quarter” to Footscray’s 1.1 to create a 27-point buffer going into the final break. 

They now seem well on their way to their first premiership cup.

FT: The Hawks followed on from a dominant third term to continue to capitalise on the youthful Bulldogs outfit.

Ted Whitten kicked his third goal of the game in the final term but it was too little too late for the five-time Charles Sutton Medallist as his side were overcome by a 10-goal second half by the Hawks. 

Hawthorn saluted their first premiership victory in front of a passionate MCG crowd.

After the game, Hawks coach Kennedy said the win was a great thing for those who had followed the club through all the “bad years”.

“Until then, before and through the match, I had been absorbed with the conviction that we were fighting for something that was our right, to be up there with the best of them,” Kennedy said post-match.