User:Teratix/Geelong Melbourne 186 draft

 On 30 July 2011, the Australian rules football clubs Geelong and Melbourne played a home-and-away match at Skilled Stadium, during round 19 of that year's Australian Football League season. Geelong scored 37 goals and 11 behinds for a total of 233 points, defeating Melbourne by a 186-point margin.

Geelong were heavy favourites going into the match; they were placed second in the league, separated from first-place Collingwood only by percentage. After a narrow loss to West Coast in round 16 – just their second for the year – Geelong had posted victories over bottom-half teams Brisbane and Richmond in the two weeks before the match. Melbourne, following their round 16 bye, had defeated last-placed Port Adelaide to put themselves in contention for a top-eight finish and thus reaching the 2011 AFL finals series. However, they faced a challenging three-game span against high-ranking sides – they had lost to Hawthorn the previous week and were set to face Carlton after the Geelong match. failed to overcome were eleventh on the ladder but remained in contention, depending on how well they performed in their six remaining home-and-away matches.

Among Melbourne supporters, the defeat is so notorious it is sometimes referred to only by their club's margin of defeat – "186".

Background
Melbourne and Geelong are the world's oldest football clubs that are currently professional; both were formally established in 1859. Some of Melbourne's members drew up the first laws of Australian rules football that same year and parts of Geelong's own code were integrated in 1860. Both clubs were founding members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877 and the Victorian Football League twenty years later. The two enjoyed success over the course of the 20th century: by 1965, Melbourne had won twelve premierships and Geelong had won six. However, at this stage both clubs entered long premiership droughts, persisting into the 21st century.

In 2007, Geelong finished first in the league and broke their 44-year premiership drought with a 119-point grand final victory over Port Adelaide. It was their first win in an AFL Grand Final since 1963. Further successes followed: returning to the grand final in 2008, another premiership in 2009, and only falling short of another appearance in 2010 after losing to eventual premiers Collingwood in the preliminary final.

Melbourne's record over this period was far less successful. Their coach Neale Daniher resigned in 2007 after the club lost its first nine matches, and was replaced by Dean Bailey for the 2008 season. In Bailey's first year – a season where Geelong topped the ladder – Melbourne finished on the bottom.