Every match that Collingwood plays feels like it's the most important game in the world.

But the truth is that some games matter more than others. And some have impacts that last for decades, even if that significance isn't always apparent at the time.

So here is a trawl through the history books to come up with the most significant games in Magpie history. These aren't just the biggest wins or the most memorable days, but the games that had a significant influence on the club's history.

We've excluded all finals, simply because otherwise the list would almost be completely taken up with premierships and a few painful Grand Final losses. But the home-and-away games covered in this series have had a huge impact on the club – sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. They've led to club turmoil, coaches being sacked, major changes in the game or sometimes set us on the path to a flag.

Whatever the outcome, these games represent major turning points in our club's story. And they're worth recalling.

The Collier ban that cost dearly: Round Five, 1938

"Yes, I potted Jack Carney all right ... It was a silly darned thing to do. The bell had gone. We were over the boundary line. But I thought I got away with it."

Collingwood captain Harry Collier knew he had done the wrong thing when he gave Carlton's Jack Carney a whack to the face immediately after the game in round five in 1938. But as he walked off Victoria Park he thought the incident had gone undetected.

The Magpies had lost the game by 16 points after having led by 39 points at half time. That was frustrating enough for the skipper, but when Collier went to shake hands with Blues captain-coach Brighton Diggins, Carney directed some vitriol in his direction.

Remembering Carney had had a run-in with his brother Albert the last time the teams had met, and frustrated by the post-game comments directed to him, Collier's natural reaction was to strike out.

More than a few of the 38,000 in attendance had seen the incident, though Collier was confident the umpires hadn't, and that he had managed to get away with it.

That punch would lead to one of the most controversial - and undoubtedly one of the most costly - suspensions in Collingwood Football Club history.

Ultimately Collier would come to think that it cost the Magpies the 1938 premiership.

Years later he would recall: "At the end of the day, I went down to shake Brighton Diggins' hand because they'd just knocked us off ... the next minute Carney comes up alongside of me, and passed a remark. I couldn't tell you what he said - you couldn't put it in (a family newspaper). But I wasn't happy, so all I did was turn around - I didn't punch him - I sort of pushed him and said: 'Don't argue.'"

But in a column for the Argus in 1954 - long after the true implications of the incident had been realised - Collier explained the conversation he had with his brother in the rooms after the game 16 years earlier. Harry had confessed to Albert, who was injured and not playing that day, "I gave the little bloke (Carney) a smack in the eye".

His brother replied: "Anyone get on to you?" He replied: "No." Albert added: "You were a damn fool to do it that way. What in hell got into you? Anyway, you got away with it."

The only problem was, he hadn't.

By the time he had emerged from the showers that night, Collingwood official Bob Rush sought Collier out to tell him that "the umps had missed it, but some official was going to put me in."



Harry Collier, pictured in his pomp.

Carlton laid an official complaint only a few days after the game, naming Collier as the culprit, adding another layer to the already sizeable enmity between the two clubs.

By the time the league's investigation looked into the matter and met to decide what would happen next, Collier had already played two more games.

A hearing was held, and on several occasions during it, Collier was asked to reveal what Carney had said to him to inflame the situation, with one delegate even asking if he was prepared to write the conversation down if he wasn't prepared to say it publicly. Each time the Magpies rover refused, even if that didn't help his own cause, or suit the retaliation claims the club was trying to run with.

Collier was found guilty of striking, which always seemed likely. Before sentencing, Collier was asked if he had anything to say to the panel, to which he added: "I have played 231 games, and have never been rubbed out." Most believed he would get some leniency for his good record.

But the penalty proved far more severe than anyone could have imagined, with the chairman, Mr Roberts, explaining: "the League takes a serious view of such action by one of its players, and in arriving in its decision took into consideration the years of service of player Collier, his frankness, and his expressions of regret."

To his dismay, and to the shock of the club and footy fans in general, Collier was suspended for the remainder of the season - including the finals - for his first offence in 13 seasons of VFL football.

"They heard the case," Collier said in the Argus in 1954, "and very decently (tongue in cheek) said they would take into account my previous good record of not having been disqualified. So they scrubbed me out till the end of the season."

It was a body blow for Collingwood's premiership hopes, as the club was aiming to atone for the previous year's Grand Final loss to Geelong.

Privately, the Magpies believed it was yet another example of the forces working against the club, as it had been with Gordon Coventry's similarly controversial ban in 1936. On that occasion, at least, the Magpies had still managed to win the flag.

This time threatened to be different.

It was left to Magpie supporters - and "other fair-minded followers of the game" - to appeal the Collier case in the hope that the ban could at least be reduced. More than 2500 signatures had been secured to bring about a challenge, including from more than 1000 Collingwood members.

Collier had already missed seven games to that stage in early August when the petition was considered by the VFL, while the Magpies captain kept training in the hope that the ban would be amended.

The petition noted Collier had "a fine record in his 13 years of senior football, and that while it is not desired to go into the merits of the case, it is considered that the penalty imposed was harsh ... it is (hoped) the investigation committee will consider reducing the sentence to enable Collier to play again before the seasons ends."

Members of the Victorian Football League refused the appeal by the barest of margins - 11 to 10.

Adding salt to the wound, a few rival clubs dismissed the petition outright, saying the fact that fans had brought the action was simply a mask for Collingwood being behind the action.

North Melbourne delegate, Mr. J. F. Meere, said: "If letters of this kind can be accepted from every Tom, Dick and Harry, there would be an untold stream of them."

In response, Collingwood's Bob Rush answered back: "I must remind you that every Tom, Dick and Harry to the number of 2500 supporters of our game have asked for its consideration."

The penalty stood.

Collingwood had to play out the rest of the 1938 season without their inspirational captain Harry Collier. The Magpies defeated the Blues in the corresponding match in Round 16 that season, and ended up finishing in fourth spot on the ladder, while Carlton ended up in top position.

The two protagonists played off in the 1938 Grand Final, and it was a tight encounter. Albert Collier played when he probably shouldn't have - with his knee issues rendering him ineffectual - and Harry watched jealously from the grandstand.

The Blues ended up winning a tight tussle by 15 points, with Harry maintaining to his dying day that if he had played, the result would have been different.

That wasn't him being egotistical, he just knew that if the VFL investigations committee had given a more appropriate penalty in the Carney case, the Magpies would most likely have had an extra premiership pennant in its possession.

That would have broken at least what turned out to be a string of four successive Grand Final losses from 1937 through to 1940.

Turning Points
Written by Glenn McFarlane and Michael Roberts

Turning Points: A game of belief.

Turning Points: The first game.

Turning Points: History's ugly repeat.

Turning Points: Honouring the greater good.

Turning Points: A turning point for football.

Turning Points: How we landed McHale.

Turning Points: Ending the Cat empire.

Turning Points: The practice match that led to a revolution.

Turning Points: Starting from the bottom.

Turning Points: Attacking the Cats.

Turning Points: The drama before the revival.

Turning Points: The loss that elevated Lethal.

Turning Points: The miracle of '58.

Turning Points: Whispers lead to coaching roars.

Turning Points: The break that felled Carman.