The match was played between the St Kilda and Fremantle Football Clubs at Aurora Stadium (then the sponsor name of York Park) in Launceston, Tasmania.

Four days later, the AFL Commission determined that the match should have been ended when the first siren sounded and St Kilda was stripped of its last behind, resulting in the victory and the full four premiership points being awarded to Fremantle.

The match before that, held at Aurora Stadium, was won by St Kilda by one behind, scored by Aaron Hamill in the final minute following a contentious holding-the-ball decision.

The Fremantle players, who had converged around the ball-up celebrating and remonstrating with Nicholls, were unprepared when the ball spilled out of the contest and was cleared to St Kilda's Steven Baker.

Unaware that the siren had sounded previously, Nicholls ruled that Baker's shot had been within game time, and also that Gilmore's late bump was illegal.

A number of Fremantle players, particularly Des Headland, overheard Nicholls stating that the point would not stand and again began to celebrate in the belief that they had been awarded the match, not realising that Baker had received a free kick.

St Kilda captain Lenny Hayes yelled at Connolly to leave the ground, and former teammate Heath Black, now playing for Fremantle, stepped in to separate the two.

At this point, the two goal umpires from either end met at the centre of the ground to compare their score sheets, as is standard practice after the conclusion of AFL matches.

There remains some doubt as to whether any of the three umpires did hear the siren; however, in any event, none chose to bring play to an end as required by Rule 10.4.2.

[6] As the goal umpires were signalling that the scores were correct, Nine Network reporter Michael Roberts interviewed Chris Connolly on the ground.

"[7] A few minutes later in the changerooms, Roberts conducted an interview with the St Kilda coach, Grant Thomas, who acknowledged that the Saints had played poorly and were happy to escape with a draw.

[8] In his post-match conference, Connolly stubbornly described the match as "a great win by the boys" and stated that "the Fremantle Football Club will leave no stone unturned for our 35,000 supporters to get these four points."

The West Australian and Nine Network's The Footy Show dubbed the incident Sirengate, the -gate suffix being a reference to the Watergate scandal.

The key factor was that the timekeeper had not fulfilled his duties by failing to sound the siren continuously until the umpires acknowledged the end of the game.

[10] An upgrade of the York Park siren was implemented by the grounds manager, former Western Bulldogs player Robert Groenewegen, in May 2006, in anticipation of the Round 12 game at the venue.

Because Connolly had walked onto the ground before the umpires had officially ended the game (after Steven Baker's secondary kick), he had contravened the rule, which would usually result in a fine and a "please explain" from the AFL but no other penalty.

Before the result was officially overturned, it was thought that the two points potentially lost by the siren mistake could be the difference between making or missing the finals.

[14] There have been several occasions in Australian rules history of winning or decisive scores being kicked after the siren or bell had sounded, but failed to be heard, with a variety of outcomes to protests.

Protests of this nature were considerably more likely to be upheld prior to 1911, when the Laws of the Game were first amended to include the clause "the field umpire shall be the sole judge as to the first sound of the bell.