AFL-Good Old Collingwood Forever (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio & Animation Notes-Leadership At Collingwood 1950-2001 Notes-Games Records Notes-Goals Records
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	118:57 (Case: 120)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (76:52)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Visual Entertainment Group	Starring	Eddie Maguire Lou Richards Bob Rose Des Tuddenham Tony Shaw Leigh Matthews Peter McKenna
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	None Given

    What we have here is a disc dedicated to the Collingwood Football Club, the self-proclaimed most famous sporting club in Australia. Unlike the other disc dedicated to the Magpies, Collingwood - Wall To Wall, this one is more than just a package of match highlights. It does feature a voice-over narration explaining much of what is going on, there are many interviews with former players and administrators, and of course there are plenty of highlights.

    With an introduction by the great man himself (current club president Eddie McGuire that is), we delve back as far as the video footage will allow, back to the early 1950s and the time of much success, with Lou Richards leading the team to a premiership in 1953. From here it is a trip down memory lane, with the likes of club legends Bobby Rose and Murray Weideman in the 1950s, right through the despairing years of the 1960s and 70s when grand finals were common (the club played in nine), but premiership success eluded the club completely. The 32 year drought was of course broken in 1990 when Leigh Matthews coached the team led by stalwart Tony Shaw to the flag with a hard fought win over bitter rival Essendon.

    Some of the footage has been cobbled together from news reports of the time, with the 1990 grand final win almost solely based around a television report from Channel Ten's Eddie McGuire (the very same). There is a definite "looking through rose-coloured glasses" feel to the whole thing, with only a few of the controversial or more distasteful episodes mentioned. The death of club legend Darren Millane in 1991 is covered in quite a bit of detail, but former president Alan McAlister's outburst about Aboriginal players is not mentioned, nor is the presidential takeover by Eddie McGuire. The last chapter covered is called The Malthouse Years, but aside from a little cheap promotional television footage of Mick Malthouse and captain Nathan Buckley emerging from under the cover of a SAAB convertible there is precious little game coverage.

    For the Collingwood fan with a passion for knowing just a little more about the club's good old days in the 1950s and the despair and desperate times of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, this disc is a good way of filling in much of the information.

Video

    The video quality on offer here is highly variable, since some of the source material even predates television broadcasts in the early 1950s. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and the transfer is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Again the source material is almost solely comprised of television quality footage, with a little early black and white film-based material also included.

   While the footage is of mixed vintages, it is mostly of reasonable quality. The 50 and 60s material is all black and white and the quality is highly variable as one could well imagine. Dirt, grain and noise is evident throughout in various quantities but is to the level expected. Whatever process was used to film outside broadcasts back in those days leaves a slight fish-eye look to the footage which takes a little getting used to. The boundary fence and grandstand all seem to bend around as the camera pans quickly to keep up with the on-field action. The quality improves dramatically once we hit the mid to late 1970s with the advent of colour television, but it is still a far cry from the quality of today's digital broadcasts.

    The colours are well enough rendered given the quality of the source material and there are no problems to contend with despite some of it certainly looking its age.

    No compression artefacts are evident, and aside from plenty of obvious analogue tape problems in the older footage and a little dirt and noise, it is mostly clear of other imperfections.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a dual layered disc with the layer change occurring at 76:52.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
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Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
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Audio

    The audio on the whole is quite good, with the introduction and conclusion by Eddie Maguire, the narrated voiceover and the various interviews with the players, coaches, and officials being delivered the clearest. The other match highlights see a mix of good, average, and poor quality audio recordings. All of this is as expected from material this age.

    There is only one audio track available, this being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack.

    Narrated dialogue is clear and concise at all times, but the soundtrack does become a little harsh when the commentators get carried away with excitement and the roar of the crowd tries to drown them out.

    There is no surround or subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Notes

    Static pages of small text that list Collingwood's coach, captain, Copeland Trophy winner (best & fairest), and the leading goal kicker for the seasons 1950-2001.

Notes

    More of the same text, listing the players who have played the most games at Collingwood.

Notes

    More text again, this time listing the leading goal scorers of all time for Collingwood.

    This disc is not available in Region 1.

    Good Old Collingwood Forever is a disc that is more than just a disc of Collingwood Football Club highlights, but it is also not quite a documentary of the famous club. It's more of a chronology, with key events covered, key people interviewed, and plenty of match highlights shown. Analysis is limited, and many of the more controversial moments are not covered.

    For the Magpie fan that has everything and is passionate about their team this disc is a great disc that offers many memorable moments the club has enjoyed.

    The video is average, but based on the source material is more than acceptable.

    The audio is functional and serves the vision well.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall