By: ADAM SMITH
Such was the Bay's confidence, their banner read `21 today' -- a reference to the expected 21st win of the season -- while a premiership dinner had been organised at Wrest Point Casino that night.
However what occurred on September 15, 1973, will go down as one of the greatest football upsets in the state.
Led by coach Alan Appleton and dynamic skipper Malcolm Bugg, the Tigers defied the odds to score a 20-point win.
Yesterday, the Hobart team was announced as this year's AFL Tasmania Hall of Fame inductee in the special category known as the Giant Killers of Tasmanian Football.
Joining the Tigers is East Launceston's 1967 NTFA Premiership victory over North Launceston and Penguin's stunning upset against Cooee in the 1977 NWFU grand final.
Despite virtually the entire Southern Tasmanian community not giving the Tigers a chance, Appleton was always confident the Seagulls could be toppled. ``We had nothing to lose and everything to gain,'' Appleton said. ``As it turned out the pressure we applied to Sandy Bay, which they hadn't been put under before, it just blew them away.
``We backed ourselves to the hilt. We sent one bookmaker broke out at Glenorchy and we sent a couple of Sandy Bay supporters to take out personal loans to pay their debts.''
Last Modified on 17/05/2009 07:29