On 23 July 1983, an Australian rules football match was played between  and Geelong West at the Williamstown Football Ground. The match was part of the Victorian Football Association's thirds division, which operated as an Under-18s competition. The match saw the highest ever score in Australian rules football, in any league and at any grade, with Williamstown winning by 675 points.

Background

In 1983, the VFA reduced the age eligibility of the thirds competition, changing it from an Under-19s competition to an Under-18s competition. Away games were also a particular problem for many clubs, as the younger-aged players generally preferred to play in local junior competitions than travel the often long distances to play an Association away game, particularly as none were old enough to hold driver's licences.

No club was worse affected by the changes to the competition than Geelong West, whose travelling distances for away games exceeded those of any other club. It seldom attracted more than fifteen players to training, and forfeited two games early in the 1983 season simply through lack of players.

Match summary
Only twelve Geelong West players took the field – one fewer and it would have been forced to forfeit. Under the thirds rules at the time, there were sixteen players per team on the ground at a time. Williamstown had seventeen players on the day, including one on the bench.

Williamstown's Stephen Cooke dominated the match, with 46 goals out of 54 scoring shots, along with a total of 30 marks. Cooke was later quoted as saying that the Geelong West side – who had already had four players suffer injuries in the first half – was "coaxed out at half time".

All 17 Williamstown players scored at last one goal.

Scoreboard

Aftermath
Williamstown's score of 687 remains the highest in Australian rules football, in any league and at any grade. Geelong West fared little better the previous week, conceding 88.23 (551) against Coburg. Following these two losses, Geelong West withdrew its Thirds team for the rest of the season.

Only one Williamstown player who took part in this match, Philip Brook, went onto play for the club's senior side.

References

Australian rules football games
1983 in Australian rules football
Victorian Football League