Almanac Teams: A Team of What The’s – Le La De Da

A Team of What The’s: Le La De Da

 

Inspired by one of the Footy Almanac’s premier wordsmiths, Mathilde de Hauteclocque, here is a team of The Somethings.

 

The 2018 Grand Final featured Jordan De Goey and Marc Le Cras. I believe that this may be a first in VFL/AFL history.

 

The team was a tough one to assemble as there were few candidates who had exemplary careers.

 

Alamanackers’ challenge with this team is to find out what the names actually mean. For instance; what’s a Nepveu, what’s a Wolde or what’s a Cras?

 

Nominations from leagues other than VFL/AFL always welcome.

 

 

 

B: Alle De Wolde (Haw)                    Brent Le Cras (Nth)                 Steve Da Rui (Carl)

 

 

HB: Matt De Boer (Freo)                    Maurie De Araugo (Stk)  Robert Di Rosa (Geel)

 

 

C: Benny Le Suer (Foot)                     Alan La Fontaine (Melb)         Tista De Lorenzo (Rich)

 

 

HF: Mark Le Cras (WCE)                     Jo De Medici (Sth)                   Jordan De Goey (Coll)

 

 

F: Norm Le Brun (Coll)                       Danny Del-Re (Foot)               Allan Le Nepveu (Haw)

 

 

Ruck: Fred Le Deax (Geel)          Nick Dal Santo (Stk)            Alby De Luca (Car)

 

 

IC: Fred De Abel (Haw) Ron De Iulio (Carl) Stan Le Lievre (Stk) Adrian De Luca (Carl)

 

 

Coach and Biographer: Mathilde de Hauteclocque (Why the lower case ‘ d ’ ?)

 

 

Entertainment: Ob La Di Ob La Da – The Beatles

 

 

 

About Phillip Dimitriadis

Carer/Teacher/Writer. Author of Fandemic: Travels in Footy Mythology. World view influenced by Johnny Cash, Krishnamurti, Larry David, Toni Morrison and Billy Picken.

Comments

  1. Mark Duffett says

    South Australian would appreciate extension to Germanic prefixes. I nominate Terry von Bertouch (North, Norwood) for rover: https://australianfootball.com/players/player/terry+von+bertouch/775

  2. Jack De Courcy played 3 tests for Australia in the 50’s.

    Keep them sides coming Phil.

    Glen!

  3. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    Mark, Good idea, however will assemble a team of Vons and Vans in the near future.

    Glen ! Nice cricket get. What does Courcy mean? The what?

    Alan La Fontaine in direct translation would be Alan The Fountain. If anglicized to assimilate,he would probably have been know as Alan Fountain. Not quite the same lilt as La Fontaine !

  4. Mark ‘Swish’ Schwerdt says

    You de Man, Phil.

    Replace The Beatles’ novelty song with The Real Thing, written by John De Jong

  5. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    Good call on the Real Thing, Swish. Australian classic written by that Young Talent Time bloke.
    Of course, it could have been worse. I might have gone with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAQSZhazYk8

  6. Well played Phil,Mark beat me to it re Terry Von Bertouch father of Nat and Laura father in law of
    James Gallagher and Jace Bode and of course premiership player for North and Norwood

  7. Three Dutch names there with one proving hard to crack.
    De Boer – the Farmer. Good name for someone who wants to own the footy paddock.
    De Wolde – probably derived from Middle Dutch and meaning ‘to want, or desire’. So it’s ‘Alle of the Desire’. A perfect name for a footy player.
    De Goey – my big Cassell’s Dutch Dictionary doesn’t help at all! But the original spelling would be De Goeij as there was no ‘y’ in the Dutch language until a hundred or so years ago. My cousins in the Netherlands still spell the family name ‘Muijt’

  8. Great work, LB.

    Looking forward to another summer of funny/unusual Almanac teams

  9. Onya Phil. Keeping the flame alive.
    Nathan Van Berlo – West Perth boy who played 205 games for the Crows. Assistant coach of the 2018 premiership winning West Coast Eagles. Or is that why you didn’t pick him Phil?
    Robert Di Pierdomenico. Name spelled with a capital P, and I reckon the conjunction was just an anglicisation – not his birth name.
    David Rhys Jones? Is a hyphen a separation or a conjunction?
    We need an MRP (Mathilde Review Committee) to decide the precise criteria for this team.
    Surely only one band for the pre-match entertainment.

  10. Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt says

  11. Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt says

    West Adelaide had

    Brian De Brough ’61 premiership player
    Dirk De Jong ’83 premiership player

  12. Phillip Dimitriadis says
  13. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    Great minds Swish !!

  14. Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt says

    You beat me by a minute Phil – all yours

  15. Yes, Phil !! I had thought of that!

  16. Mathilde de Hauteclocque says

    I am humbled and deeply impressed, Phil. Can’t believe you managed that request!! a superb spread!

    I’m guessing Nepveu is an old/alternate spelling of ‘neveu’ or nephew?

    As for the small ‘d’ in ‘de’ … the de is the nobiliary particle – Dad is a Count!
    Although the ‘de’ has apparently never been PROOF of nobility, surnames with the non-noble use of the particle ‘de’ ended up having one word names eg. Dupont. In which case I think it got capitalised.
    The noble ‘de’ literally ties the human to the lands so you have the ‘of’ and then the ‘nom du terre’ – name of country. Our name, de Hauteclocque literally means ‘of the high bell tower’ clocque being the ancient spelling of ‘cloche’ or bell. So, Mathilde de Hauteclocque means Mighty Battle Maiden of the High Bell Tower.

  17. My understanding on some of these surnames.

    De Boer. (Like earlier, Boer is “farmer” so De Boer is “the farmer.)

    Di Rosa. (I think Rosa is Italian for rose.)

    La Fontaine. (Lit. “The Fountain” in French.)

    De Lorenzo. (Laurence.)

    De Medici. (Maybe given to someone in Italy who was a doctor.)

    Le Brun. (The Brown?)

    Del-Re. (King.)

    Le Nepveu. (Sounds like “The Nephew.)

    Le Deux. (Deux is French for 2.)

    Dal Santo. (Appropriately drafted to “The Saint”s.)

    De Luca. (Luca is another way of saying Luke.)

    De Iulio. (Iulio would have to be Italian for “July.”)

    Le Lievre. (French for “Hare” as in the animal and, incidentally, in a convoluted way, Le Lievre is the French form of my surname.)

  18. G’day Phil. i have no idea of the meaning of Courcy. No French blood lines for me.

    Terry de Koning, Footscray ruckman of the early 1980’s. Mic Rees certainly remembers him.

    Glen!

  19. Can I add Dennis Le Gassick. He played about eight games for Collingwood in the 60s, mostly as a half back flanker. His claim to fame? I went to primary school with him. He sounded and acted like a classic Anglo Aussie but he looked French.

  20. Trucker Slim says
  21. Trucker Slim says
  22. Trucker Slim says

    Iris DeMent (close enough and this song will swallow you in!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikZwgj89HI

  23. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    TISM’s last great album: https://youtu.be/e4kj5cvP70Y

  24. G’day Phil.

    There’s a Bill De Gruchy who played one game for Geelong in the first decade of the 20th century.

    I won’t mention Keith De Jong ,the Sinhalese born spinner, who played a few first class games for Queensland back in the 81/82 season.

    Glen!

  25. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    I think de rigeurmortis has finally set in on this thread.
    Thank you DJ’s La Baulderstone, De Schwerdt, Del Slim and Le Smokie for the musical contributions !
    MdH – Or Comtesse of the High Bell Tower , thank you kindly for the suggestion and inspiration.
    Adam – Remarkable job on the etymology of the surnames. Cheers
    Glen ! Vaguely remember Terry De Koning in the ’80s. Can’t remember B. De Gruchy (The Grouch?)
    Nice get Dave with Le Gassick. I wonder if he had problems with indigestion?
    Your contributions are always appreciated.

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