Sirengate Trivia Quiz

Answer: The siren sounded signalling the end of the game but the umpires didn't hear it and called for the match to go on.

With forty seconds on the clock St Kilda kicked a goal to bring them within one point of the Dockers after an errant kick from the Dockers lead to St Kilda gaining possession. The Dockers had at one stage been up by 33 points but midway through the third quarter, St Kilda had fought their way back into the match.
The ball was returned to the centre circle for clearance with the time clock now down to thirty seven seconds. St Kilda knocked it out of the middle and brought the ball within their 50m line. The clock was ticking down and a battle was on for possession with each team having the ball before losing it. At eight seconds left on the clock and still inside St Kilda's fifty, the ball was locked in to a pack and the umpire called for a bounce. The ball was knocked out, the clocked restarted and with seconds still ticking down dribbled across the ground as a pack again formed on the ball. The umpire blew his whistle to call for a bounce. At this point, the time clock which is not displayed at grounds, but visible to home viewers and the broadcast commentators disappeared from the television screen, which should indicate that the match had finished. The clock had showed 0.00. Commentators on the match were confused as to if the match had finished and were unsure themselves as to if the siren had sounded. The siren at the ground had previously been noted due to its low volume, though without any impact on the result of a match. Combined with the loudness of the 15000+ crowd at the match on the day, it was even harder to hear.
Dockers players, believing they had heard the siren, threw their hands in the air celebrating that they had won before realising that the umpire was going for a bounce and play was continuing. They started to argue that the siren had sounded, the umpire disagreed and continued with the bounce. The Dockers were unprepared for the bounce. The ball was knocked out and possession was taken by St Kilda and kicked through for a behind (one point), tying the match. The time keeper having being informed by a member of the crowd that the match was continuing, had sounded the siren again while the ball was in air. This time field umpires indicated that it had been heard.
The field umpires came together to confer on the claim that the siren had sounded twice. None of the field umpires claim to have heard the first siren. During the shot on goal Dockers' Daniel Gilmore bumped St Kildas' Stephen Baker, this was deemed illegal in the game and a free kick was awarded to St Kilda. He took a shot on goal which missed, going through for a behind.
At this time there was confusion as to whether the previous point stood and the second point meant that St Kilda had won, or if the first point was cancelled and the second point meant a draw. After review, the first point was declared to have been cancelled as it happened after the incident that led to the free kick. The goal umpires, who make note of scores during the match met in the middle of the field to compare scores. They signaled all correct to the scorekeeper and the score on the board St Kilda 13.16(94) to Dockers 14.10(94) was ruled to be correct.
The Dockers immediately lodged an appeal as to the outcome of the match, contesting that the siren sounded at the same time as the bounce had been called for and therefore the behinds, both the one from the contest, as well as the one from the free kick, occurred after the siren and should not stand.
In game time, an extra twelve seconds of play continued, though in real time it took almost six minutes to play out.
Most betting agencies paid out the match as a draw, but some paid the match as a gratuitous win for the Dockers.
The name 'Sirengate' was given by Channel Nine's "AFL Footy Show".

Answer: Dockers 2-2 and Saints 2-2

Sitting at two wins and losses each, the match had been touted as a must win for each side for paving their way for the rest of the season. Speculation as to the safety of the job of coach was beginning to stir for Dockers Chris Connolly.
The contest between the two was already heated due to a close victory and controversy in their last meeting at Subiaco Oval in Perth in the preceding season, with the Dockers snatching the victory in the final seconds of the game by five points. A contentious umpiring decision had gone the way of the Dockers, resulted in free kick and score on goal. There were allegations that one of the field umpires deliberately favoured giving free kicks to the Dockers. The matter was investigated and ruled to be unfounded.
The previous match at Aurora stadium between the two in Season 2005, was won by St Kilda by the margin of one point.
Another memorable, but far more humourous incident between the clubs, happened in 1999, when umpire Peter Carey took a spectacular mark (catch)from a kick by Dockers player Adrian Fletcher.

Answer: Aurora Stadium, Launceston

York Park or Aurora Stadium as it is known under sponsorship deals, is in Launceston, Tasmania. It's a small stadium holding a maximum crowd of just over 20000. It had been used as a home away from home ground by both St Kilda and Hawthorn since 2001. Other grounds in Tasmania that have used by the AFL include Bellerive Oval(sponsor name Bludstone arena) and North Hobart Oval.
Tasmania had already been in the news in the preceding week due to the Beaconsfield mine disaster, in which one miner was killed and two were still missing and the tenth anniversary of the events at Port Arthur.

Answer: Zero

Established in 1994 and debuting in the 1995 season, Fremantle had suffered crushing defeats, unexpected wins and matches that went down to the wire but never a draw. It wasn't until Round 8, 2013 that The Dockers would have another match end in a draw, this time against the Sydney Swans.
Across the AFL season, it's not unusual to have at least one or two of the matches played end in a draw.

Answer: Chris Connolly, head coach, Fremantle Dockers

Coaches in AFL matches have a box in the stands from which they observe the match. They communicate with the players' bench via telephone. Only players, runners or medical staff for the club are permitted to be on field during the course of play.
Chris Connolly was observing the final moments from the box, after he heard the siren sound he stood up to leave the box. Watching the chaos on the field after the bounce and knock out by St Kilda he came down and stormed onto the field. He become involved in a verbal altercation with St Kilda player Lenny Hayes as well as shouting out to the match umpires. Scwabb, Hart and Thomas were all down on the interchange area or edge of the field.
As he was on field before St Kilda had taken their free kick and the match was declared over by the umpires, he was threatened with a fine for interfering in the game. His fate would depend on the outcome of the appeal.

Answer: Fraser Gehrig

The report was thrown out by the review panel the next day. Gehrig claimed that he was hit first by Carr, but it was unseen by the umpires. As he struck Carr with an open hand and in a pushing motion it was ruled to not be a strike. Gehrig was known to be a hot head and had been to the tribunal several times through his career.

He had previously played for the Dockers' cross town rivals West Coast Eagles. Throughout the match there had been plenty of ribbing between Gehrig and the Dockers players causing him to lose his cool giving away five free kicks, three of which resulted in fifty metre penalties.

The benching of Gehrig allowed St Kilda to focus on the game. They managed to claw back the lead the Dockers had. He returned later in the match and clashed again with Dockers players in the chaos of the final moments, this time being the instigator of taunts rather than the receiver. Other players in the match that were reported and faced fines or suspensions were Max Hudgton(StK) fined $2400 for spitting, Lenny Hayes(StK) one week ban for striking and Jeff Farmer(FD) who was banned for two weeks, also for striking.

Answer: Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston

Two weeks after 'Sirengate', the sirens were replaced. They proved successful in the next match held in Round 12 between Hawthorn and Richmond. Further matches were held in Round 16 between St Kilda and Adelaide Crows and Round 21 between Hawthorn and Kangaroos. The new siren design was built by a company that had already fitted out other AFL and NRL (National Rugby League) venues.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery is located in Launceston. The sirens are part of the local history section.

Answer: Vozzo, Kennedy and Nicholls

All umpires were highly skilled and qualified for their on-field roles, they all continued to umpire after the match.
Matthew Nicholls was the umpire who took to the ball for the bounce and allowed play to continue when the siren sounded. In his career he has umpired over 200 AFL games including Grand Finals.
Hayden Kennedy retired in 2011 after umpiring 495 AFL matches including five Grand Finals.
Michael Vozzo, since retired, umpired 281 in AFL including two Grand Finals.
There are three field umpires in a match of AFL, two boundary umpires for each side of the field and two goal umpires. An emergency umpire is available for times when an umpire is off for injury or the blood rule. Although not named as an umpire there are stewards who monitor the interchange area to make sure all player interchanges occur by the rules.
Umpires in AFL have the unfortunate nickname of 'maggot', largely used by the crowd when the decision has not gone the way of their team.

Answer: The missing miners were discovered to be alive

A small earthquake, measuring just 2.2, occurred on 25th April 2006. There was a rock collapse in the underground mine in Beaconsfield. Seventeen miners were below when it occurred, fourteen escaped unhurt, leaving three unaccounted for. The body of the first(Larry Knight) was found on 27th April 2006. After blasting and digging to where they believed the missing pair(Brant Webb and Todd Russell) to be, contact was made much to the relief of all involved. However, it wasn't until 9th May, 2006 that they were able to walk out of the mine, finally free.
At the beginning of the match tribute was paid to the deceased, the missing and all those involved in the rescue and recovery effort.
'Sirengate' and the trapped miners were the top news stories through the week.

Answer: Wednesday, 3rd May

For only the second time in AFL/VFL (Victorian Football League-former name) history a match was decided by the AFL Commission. The first, occurring in 1900 also involved St Kilda, which resulted in a win to them by the margin of one point. This time the results went against them and the match win went to the Dockers.
The time keeper stated that he had sounded the siren at the point the time clock disappeared on TV footage, saw that the Dockers were celebrating and saw the umpire call for the ball and believed that they had understood the match was over. At this point he turned his attention to bookkeeping duties and did not notice play had continued. It was only when a member of the crowd knocked on the window he realised the match was still in play and sounded the siren again. The emergency umpire, who was on the bench, confirmed that this was the time that the first siren sounded.
The Commission declared that the time keeper, in keeping with the rules of the game, hadn't sounded the siren for long enough to signal end of play and made sure that the field umpires signaled that play had ended. The score at the time, with the Dockers leading by the margin of one point, was ruled the official result.
With the Commission's decision, the investigation into the behaviour of the Dockers' coach Chris Connolly was dropped, as play was ruled to be over when he stormed onto the field.
Betting agencies, having paid out for the result of the draw on the day, refused to pay out on the win.
The two teams met again in Round 20 at Subiaco Oval with the Dockers winning convincingly 17.12(114) to 7.14(56).
At the end of the season the Dockers record was 15(wins)-7(losses)and finished in third place on the ladder. St Kildas' record was 14-8 and finished in sixth place. Had the results of the day stood both teams would have finished with an equal result of 14-7-1(draw), however given St Kilda had a better percentage they would have held a higher place on the ladder.
Both teams went on to play in the finals series and were eliminated.
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas was sacked at the end of the 2006 season, though the circumstances of his sacking came from performances later in the season rather than because of 'Sirengate'. He was replaced by Ross Lyons, who in 2011, was successfully poached by the Fremantle Dockers, further adding to the controversies and rivalries between the two clubs.
Chris Connolly resigned as coach of Fremantle Dockers midway through the following 2007 season.