Sunday 22 October - The Oval, London
Crowd: Approximately 12,000
Melbourne 12.10.82
Essendon 6.10.46
Melbourne win by 36 points
Goalkickers: Darren Bennett 5, Ricky Jackson 1, Luke Beveridge 1, Graham Hawkins 1, Dannie Seow 1, Jay Viney 1, Todd Viney 1
In greasy conditions Essendon went in with a tall team, and they were unable to break through Melbourne's strong defence.
President Stuart Spencer told the media "this match is fair dinkum", and the first fight started four minutes into the opening quarter, involving 28 of the 36 players.
Luke Beveridge was reported for unduly rough play during the second quarter but later cleared. Essendon's Tony Antrobus was reported for striking Sean Wight, but he wasn't cleared until the case was heard on Thursday 1 February 1990.
Best were Bennett, Mahoney and Jackson.
Video
Media
Guardian - 20/10/1989, 21/10/1989, 23/10/1989
Canberra Times - 24/10/1989
Age - 14/12/1989, 02/02/1990