The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, because of the black and white striped jerseys worn by the players, is an Australian rules football club, playing in the elite Australian Football League.

The Magpies are known for its passionate supporting base, and have traditionally been the team other fans "love to hate", due perhaps to their on-field successes combined with a "rough and ready" attitude in line with its working-class roots. The national league may have diluted this feeling somewhat, but rivalries with fellow Victorian clubs Carlton, Essendon and Richmond remain fierce.

Collingwood is notable for holding the greatest run of successive premierships - four in a row from 1927-1930. But equally renowned has been their tendency to lose grand finals in recent times. Their 1958 victory was to be their last for 32 years. During this drought, fans remarkably had to endure no less than nine fruitless grand finals (1960, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1977 (draw, then loss), 1979, 1980, 1981), inspiring the term "Colliwobbles" to signify a choking phenomenon. The 1990 team coached by Leigh Matthews brought relief in a one-way affair against Essendon.

The team then fell into a state of decline, before being rejuvenated by its new president, Eddie McGuire, who led an on-field and off-field modernisation mission which helped the team to reach the grand final in 2002 and 2003. Ironically, it was Leigh Matthews who coached the Brisbane Lions to victory on both occasions.

AFL/VFL Premierships:

1902, 1903, 1910, 1917, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1953, 1958, 1990.

Brownlow Medal winners:

• Syd Coventry (1927)
• Albert Collier (1929)
• Harry Collier (1930 tied)
• Marcus Whelan (1939)
• Desmond Fothergill (1940)
• Len Thompson (1972)
• Peter Moore (1979)
• Nathan Buckley (2003 tied)

Team of the Century

Collingwood announced its team of the century on June 14 1997, celebrating 100 years since the beginning of the VFL.

External link

• Official Website of the Collingwood Football Club