Almanac Sports History: ASSH and a ripper sports quiz question
I first got involved with the Australian Society for Sports History in 1995. I was a PhD student at the University of Queensland where the ASSH conference was to be held. I presented a paper on cricket and Federation which showed that the founding fathers were struggling to get colonists interested in the issue. They were more interested in the fortunes of Joe Darling’s Australians and their 1899 Ashes campaign. Interesting that Australia had a cricket team before it was an entity – something which has been the subject of academic and mainstream writing over the years. Sport had a social, cultural and political impact.
At that conference I met numerous people who were interested in the history of sport in Australia, and in writng. Many friendships were ignited in that week. Like all conferences, the informal interactions over beer, wine and Samboy barbecue chips were as important as the sessions themselves. I would say more so.
I recall an evening in the St Lucia village (a legendary haunt), right on the edge of the campus, discussing sports writing, and literature generally, with Roy Hay, Bernard Whimpress and the late J. Neville Turner and others. Dave Nadel was also in the mix.
That week I also met G.C.J.D. Haigh – in circumstances that I later described in Confessions of a Thirteenth Man (1999). He was writing a piece for his then employer Rupert Murdoch at The Australian. Gideon was to visit Brisbane from time to time in the ensuing years.
ASSH really is a fraternity – albeit somewhat fragmented by geography. Practicality demands that each state has (or has had) a chapter. They get together (usually monthly) to enjoy dinner and a few drinks and to hear from a speaker. Enthusiasm for a chapter rises and falls with the availability of an energetic facilitator. Given people’s busy lives (especially those in the academies), sometimes chapters go through quiet times.
The South Australian chapter is particularly active. It’s led by Bernard Whimpress and it meets on the first Wednesday of each month – these days at the Kentish Arms in North Adelaide. The membership is enthusiastic – and includes numerous researchers and writers from all walks of life who take their turn to present a topic of interest to them. Some of the sports and history enthusiasts come along just to hear what’s going on. And have a chat.
Occasionally a member (Bernard, Mike Sexton and others) publishes a book and the South Australian ASSH crew have another excuse to get together – a launch. [Bernard, perhaps you can mention a few recent books in the comments below.]
At the December-Christmas gathering, the traditional quiz is held. Much-loved, it is compiled by John Mitchell who understands the sweet spot of quizzes – not easy but not ridiculously, obscurely impossible.
This year it included a question John had heard just days before when listening to Rod Quinn on overnights on the ABC.
I present it here thanks to Almanac writers and ASSH members Paul Nankivell and Peter Crossing who alerted me to it, thereby ruining a couple of days of my life while I tried to nut it out.
Feel free to tackle it – but please don’t post the answer in the comments below. Instead, send me your thoughts at [email protected]
Here it is:
Which is the next sporting nickname in the following sequence?
Blues, Swans, Bulldogs, Dragons, Broncos, Bulldogs, Broncos, Sea Eagles, Roosters, Sharks, ……. ?
If frustration gets the better of readers, I will feed you a couple of clues in the coming days. In the comments section below.
In the meantime, here are some links: one to the ASSH national site which includes info about membership and the ASSH journal, and the other which gives info on each chapter.
https://sporthistory.org/chapters/
About John Harms
JTH is a writer, publisher, speaker, historian. He is publisher and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au. He has written columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, Play On, The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story and Life As I Know It (with Michelle Payne). He appears (appeared?) on ABCTV's Offsiders. He can be contacted [email protected] He is married to The Handicapper and has three school-age kids - Theo, Anna, Evie. He might not be the worst putter in the world but he's in the worst four. His ambition was to lunch for Australia but it clashed with his other ambition - to shoot his age.
Nice summary of the ASSH, John. I hope it continues for some time yet. Les Everett was terrific at connecting me with various people in Perth back in 2016 when I presented to the local chapter there.
And I think I’ve cracked the code. But I won’t say anything here…
Thanks for the article, John.
As for you ASSH played a life-changing moment in my life. The Australian Society for Sports History was formed at the end of the fourth Sporting Traditions conference held at the MCG in 1983 which was the first I attended. Again, it was the informal meetings and discussions over dinner which had enormous impact. I particularly remember an exciting gathering in the rear bar of the old Parade Hotel, East Melbourne – where Tom Wills & Co. framed the first laws of Aussie Rules – as being the moment when I decided I’d move from journalism (I’d been editor of the SA Footy Budget for five years and just authored The South Australian Football Story) to history. Others in the bar were Ross Peacock (Melbourne Cricket Club librarian), Wray Vamplew, Roy Hay, Bill Murray, Brian Stoddart etc. A shame such a landmark pub was later closed.
I’ve been convening our local ASSH group since 1996 and it’s time for a succession plan and the need to get a few new members under fifty. We’ve been meeting monthly at the West Adelaide FC at Richmond Oval for the last couple of years but have spread ourselves around various pubs for most of our history – Southwark, Seven Stars, Royal (Kent Town), Whitmore, Goodwood Park, British, Kentish Arms, Union and so on. The Kentish Arms was our longest residency but that was long ago (2001-07).
Our next meeting on Wednesday 1 February will feature Almanacker Peter Crossing speaking about the biography he is writing on cricketer/umpire Jack Scott, an important figure in Australian cricket spanning a period either side of both World Wars. If interested please contact me here or by phone 0447 003 654. We l meet the first Wednesdays of the month unless advised otherwise.
A number of local members of the group are active in writing and publishing including (in the last year or so):
Mike Sexton, The Summer of Barry and Three Summers of Garry Sobers
John Lysikatos, Victor Richardson: A Great All-Round Sportsman
Ben Porter, 10 Clubs for 27 Years: The Golden Age of the SANFL
Lee Harradine, Flags, Spoons and Knives
John Althorp, A Good Way of Life and Yeeoh!
Rob O’Shannassy and Bernard Whimpress, Adelaide University Cricket Club: A History
Robert Laidlaw and Robin Mulholland, Sonny: Sonny Morey biography
Peter Argent, journalism and photographs for numerous publications
Bernard Whimpress, Adelaide Oval: A History 1865-1939
If anyone wants further background on the ASSH (SA) group I produced a history, Twenty Years On, in 2016 and this is available along with many of my niche publications from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/bernardwhimpress
I’d be there with bells on if I lived in Adelaide Bernard. I have most of the books that you’ve mentioned, including 20 Years On. However, I’d fail the under fifty test miserably.