How you remember Darren Milburn likely depends on who you barrack for.
For supporters of 16 other teams, you may remember him as a decent player.
For Geelong supporters, he is the All-Australian defender. He is the dual premiership player. And he is the quiet, unassuming team man in a side that had stars aplenty.
But what if you’re a Carlton supporter? How do you view Darren Milburn?
If you are a Blues supporter, it is likely that one incident dominates your memory of Milburn’s 292 games. You know the one, right? It was the one that had supporters look as likely as they’ve ever been to jump the fence and assault a player.
Round 22 of the 2001 season was the home and away swansong for Stephen Silvagni. The Blues would play in a couple of finals after finishing fifth, but the final round of the season was Silvagni’s last game at Princes Park, and 26,000 Carlton fans turned up to farewell their champ.
The Blues were cruising to a win, up by 48-points at three-quarter time and extending their lead as the final quarter progressed. It has been a bruising encounter, with Brett Ratten limping off and Craig Bradley leaving the ground with blood streaming from his nose. Despite being a poor team, and only able to register three goals for the game, the Cats were right up for the physical stuff. Meanwhile, Carlton were more looking to nurse their players through the last quarter of the season. If it is a coach’s nightmare to lose a player to injury in the last game of the season, particularly with the result beyond doubt, then this clash would have had Wayne Britain in a cold sweat.
Silvagni has had his critics over the years, with some claiming he was prone to holding and grappling with his direct opponents whilst playing full-back. Hell, if I were charged with playing on Lockett, Dunstall, and Ablett week-to-week, I may have held on a fair bit, as well. Irrespective of your opinion of Silvagni, you could never, ever question his courage. It was on full display as the final quarter wound down in this one.
Adrian Hickmott caught a glimpse of Silvagni running forward as he made a U-turn in the middle and chipped the footy toward him. It was just a bit too long for SoS to mark, but he was putting in the big ones to make the ground. Silvagni kept his eyes on the footy – he would never dream of doing anything else, but coming the other way with a head of steam, having seen the play unfold, was Milburn.
Playing his 85th game, Milburn dropped the hammer and closed in fast on the unsuspecting Silvagni, launching at him as the footy arrived. Silvagni stretched for it, Milburn tucked up, expecting contact. The result was ugly, with Silvagni taking the full force of Milburn’s hip to the face.
He was out before he hit the turf.
Geelong fans argue that Milburn had a play on the footy, and from the angle behind him, it looks as though he does, maintaining his feet and chasing down the footy as it spilled from the clash, but the hard camera caught the hit for what it was – a decision to bunch up and take Silvagni out.
And he did that, to great effect.
The scenes that followed added to the drama, with Milburn clapping as he left the ground, further infuriating Carlton supporters, some of whom had to be restrained by ground security as they scaled the fence to threaten the Geelong defender. Another sat behind the Geelong dugout, hammering on the perspex of the bench and pointing at Milburn. Security quickly moved in to settle things down there, as well.
This was as club doctors placed a neck brace on the Carlton legend and removed him from the arena on a stretcher.
In the years since, this is an incident that has been brought up by fans of both teams, with Milburn remaining unapologetic about the incident.
“I would have done the same thing every other time,” stated Milburn when asked whether he’d do anything differently if the opportunity presented itself. “It’s just part of footy, and I’d expect someone in the same position to do exactly the same to me.”
Amazingly, Silvagni kind of agrees.
”Look, I’ve got no issue. At the end of the day, what happens on the ground stays on the ground,” he told Mike Sheahan during an Open Mike interview.
“What he did… in terms of the split second (decision) and what he did, it happened. What happened after that, with the clapping, if he had his time over again he probably wouldn’t do it. We all make blues… we all make blues.”
I reckon SoS may forgive more readily than the Carlton faithful.
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