WHILE its 150th anniversary year provides a moment in history to enjoy the rise of Australian football, it also gives pause to reflect on the decline of the game's oldest club. In the 50 years since the code's centenary, the Melbourne Football Club has plunged from its zenith to its possible nadir.

It will be hard to know, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tomorrow, whether to rejoice or lament. The Queen's Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood celebrates what is arguably the greatest rivalry in the history of the game. Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the match that drew the largest home-and-away crowd in history so far. Yet this year's encounter evokes little excitement. With the fall in the Demons' fortunes, those of the famous fixture have also collapsed.

Records, they say, are made to be broken. Last weekend, Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran 100 metres in 9.72 seconds. Last year, Roger Federer equalled Bjorn Borg's five straight Wimbledons. Tiger Woods is closing on Jack Nicklaus. Bob Beamon's long jump mark eventually tumbled.

Then there are statistics that are determined by factors other than human performance. In the case of AFL crowds, the capacity of the MCG has, possibly for all time, put some records out of reach. The home-and-away high of 99,346 is almost certainly carved into the concrete of the new MCG grandstands, to stand as long as they do.

It was a glorious serendipity that produced such a figure in the game's centenary year. Football was booming in the post-war period and so was the city of Melbourne. The 1956 Olympic Games had brought new life and confidence and had, no doubt, boosted the public's sporting awareness. That awareness would also have been stimulated by such a compelling football rivalry as the one played out between 1955 and 1964.

No two club cultures could have provided as close to a head-on collision as those of Melbourne and Collingwood. This was the nearest thing, in our relatively egalitarian society, to blue blood versus blue collar, to the Members' versus the Outer. And over a 10-year period, the Demons and Magpies were the competition's dominant clubs. In the midst of it fell 1958.

Melbourne had easily beaten Collingwood in the grand finals of 1955 and '56. In the first of them, Noel McMahen flattened Bob Rose, and then in the last quarter "Bluey" Adams came off Melbourne's bench and ran head first into star Magpie wingman, Des Healey, fracturing the Collingwood man's skull. If there wasn't feeling in the encounters before, there certainly was now.

The next year, in the lead-up to the Olympics, the MCG's expanded capacity was such that a record crowd of 115,802 saw the big game. It was dominated by Melbourne. The Demons then beat Essendon in 1957 to be in a position to challenge Collingwood's prized record of four straight premierships, achieved from 1927 to 1930. And, as it turned out, it would be the Collingwood men of 1958 who bore the responsibility of defending their club's honour.

By mid-season, the two rivals were again the competition pace-setters. The Queen's Birthday holiday occurred in round 10, at which stage the Demons had lost only one game — by one point to St Kilda — and the Magpies had lost two.

And so it was, on June 16, 1958, that all roads led to the MCG. There were 99,346 at the ground, the first-ever crowd of more than 90,000 for a home-and-away game and a figure that has never since been eclipsed. Bearing in mind that there hasn't been a grand final attendance of that size for more than 20 years, it's a record that may well stand forever.

As was usually the case back then, the Demons prevailed with a little in hand. They skipped away early, led by 11 points at half-time, and maintained that lead at the end despite a last quarter Collingwood revival.

Football folklore would have one of its richest chapters written three months later. Having not scored a win in its past 10 games against the mortal enemy, and after being routed by 45 points in the second semi-final, Collingwood found a way to win when it most counted. It would be the Magpies' only win over the Demons on the MCG during the "Melbourne decade". All things considered, the 1958 VFL grand final warrants consideration as the most significant game in football history.

Melbourne responded savagely. It won the flag in each of the next two years, restricting the Magpies to a humiliating score of 2.2.14 in 1960. But the Grand Old Flag would be raised only once more between then and now. After a famous four-point win over the Magpies in 1964, the sudden, albeit temporary, sacking of legendary coach Norm Smith in the middle of 1965 took the club from powerhouse to poverty at the stroke of a pen.

Nothing has been the same since. The Demons have long battled for support and respect. Now they are struggling to hold the fixture that for 50 years has symbolised the game's greatest rivalry. It truly is a crying shame.