"They were slipping and sliding everywhere."

Old Melburnians stalwart Archie Salek has recounted the day his beloved magnets would not stick.

"The crowd was baying for blood. We were six goals down and I had bloody D.Holme as the rover," the 271-gamer said.

"The coach at the time was yelling at me, ‘you idiot Arch! What’s happening with the effing board?" It was mayhem."

DARK DAY FOR ARCHIE

But worse was to follow.

 "When I did have them in their places they wouldn’t stick and when I carried it to the huddle at three-quarter time they just fell all over the place and nobody knew where they were playing in the last quarter," he explained, a horrified look appearing on his face as he relived one of the darkest days of his football life.

"The supporters were laughing at me. Every time I tried to pick the magnets up from the turf more magnets would fall. Then I slipped and fell over. It was horrible."

"The worst thing was the supporters never got the chance to shout, "go OMs", at the end of the address. And I always get a kick from that."

Friendships are still strained from that day and while the incident is very rarely mentioned, it is always simmering just under the surface.

"Kenno was angry with me because our whole team thought they were playing in the forward line. He had six that day and thought himself a good chance to really get a bag," he explained.

"He wouldn’t talk to me for ages. And that hurt. I get a lot of mileage out of being associated with him."