Some games of AFL football can drag on a bit, but the longest? Well, that's no contest. It's a match in 1996 which began on a Saturday night and ended the following Tuesday evening.
We're talking, of course, about the night the lights went out at Waverley, which happened in this equivalent Round 10 some 28 years ago during a game between St Kilda and Essendon.
Essendon entered the contest on a three-game winning streak and were ensconced inside the top eight. The Saints had with much fanfare won the pre-season Ansett Cup at this same venue in front of nearly 70,000 people, but were only muddling through the season proper in 11th position.
And that's how things were playing out before 44,000 fans on a chilly evening, the Bombers holding a comfortable 20-point lead with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, and the ball dribbling over the boundary line in Essendon's forward-pocket.
But before either side's ruckman could contest the resultant boundary throw-in, darkness suddenly descended over the ground.
A fault at a nearby United Energy substation had caused the Waverley floodlights lights to go out, leading to mass confusion for the players and the 43,925 fans crammed into the stands. The players expected the lights to return, but when it became apparent the blackout was not going to end any time soon, both teams headed to the rooms.
And so ensued scenes both comical and dangerous as those present grappled with the near pitch-black.
One of the lingering images comes from Channel 7's match coverage, and host Malcolm Blight explaining to viewers what had happened by torch light, looking more like he was presenting a late-night horror movie.
It was a similar deal in the press box, where my "Sunday Age" colleague Michael Lovett and David Saunders from the daily attempted to make sense of and report on what was going on for the newspaper, thankful at least for full battery charge on our then still pretty rudimentary laptops, and for enough light coming from the "play" light on our little tape recorders to be able to see what we were typing.
I'd already been at the MCG that afternoon covering a big Carlton-Richmond clash in front of 60,000 people, and only decided to stay on the Monash Freeway past my normal Burke Road exit and keep going to "Arctic Park" purely on a whim, expecting to be able to basically put my feet up and relax.
"That will teach me," I grumbled to my press colleagues as the newsworthiness of this unprecedented situation became immediately apparent.
And the story would get bigger still as with the minutes ticking away, no resumption of play imminent, and no information coming over the speakers, it's fair to say the crowd became a little "antsy".
One large group of spectators ventured on to the field in the darkness and began lighting bonfires from rubbish and newspapers. Another decided to "souvenir" a point post at the main scoreboard end, ripping it out and triumphantly carrying it on a lap of "dishonour".
Essendon player Gary O'Donnell recalled a sense of anarchy gripping the crowd, as a "mob mentality" took hold. "I was a bit concerned about the security," he said, in something of an understatement.
Things weren't much better down the race, with emergency lighting providing the only brightness in the rooms as the players rummaged for their belongings.
In the immediate aftermath, O'Donnell wasn't keen on a replay. "With the schedules clubs have between now and the finals, it would be too hard," he said. Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy offered his regulation unique perspective on the situation. "We challenge the sport and the administration all the time, don't we?"
As emergency meetings of AFL, club and ground officials took place in the dark, league chief executive Ross Oakley said a commission meeting would be held as soon as possible. Even that, however, was complicated by the fact it was a long weekend for Queen's Birthday.
Oakley called the ground invasion "pretty disgraceful" and admitted to feeling "a bit shellshocked" by the unthinkable episode and the chaos which had followed. "I don't think you could ever have a hard and fast rule about what has happened here tonight," he said.
Finally, almost an hour after the blackout commenced, the match was officially cancelled. In the aftermath, many players urged for both teams to be awarded the four points, but the AFL had other ideas.
After much deliberation, the league decided to complete the match on the following Tuesday night over two 12-minute halves.
More controversy followed, as both clubs were allowed to change their teams for the match's belated finale, controversially allowing Essendon star James Hird to recover from a fractured finger which had precluded him from playing on the Saturday.
Hird, perhaps fortunately for the AFL, didn't poll a Brownlow Medal vote from his 24-minute cameo on the Tuesday evening. Fortunately, because he'd end up sharing the medal that year with Brisbane's Michael Voss. Think of the resultant controversy had he won outright with votes from that game.
And Part II of this accidental epic? Despite the unusual Tuesday 7.30pm timeslot, another 17,000-plus turned out to see just on a quarter of football.
St Kilda got the first goal after the resumption, but it was Essendon which prevailed, kicking another four goals to the Saints' three to win by an eventual 22 points, a game beginning at 7.40pm on Saturday 8th June finally concluded at 8pm on Tuesday 11th June, three days and 20 minutes later.
Now that gives new meaning to the old coaching instruction about concentrating for the full four quarters!
You can read more of Rohan Connolly's work at Footyology.