Running for Glory

By Anna Ly Genazzano FCJ College I remember going to my very first Twilight Sports in grade three and running my first sprint against all my classmates. Ready, set, go! The loud bang of the gun shot in the air and I ran. My feet left the starting line and my hopes and dreams of [Read more]

Like a moth to a front porch light

By Jim Fidler What is it about those MCG lights from a distance? Despite having seen the lights of the MCG many times they are like a front porch light in summer and we are all the willing insects. Irresistible. The walk up to the ground has always created such a great sense of anticipation [Read more]

Gold Coast footy alive and well

      By Cheryl Critchley “Gee-long, Gee-long, Gee-long!” Some things never change, even 1800km from Sleepy Hollow. We’re at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast and the Cats’ Cheer Squad sounds as hick as ever. “Gee-long, Gee-long!” The small but dedicated band of “Southerners” is surrounded by Suns supporters decked out in their still [Read more]

Just off the pace

I was checking out the results of The Footy Almanac Tipping Competition (for which the prize is half a dozen bottles of red) and I noticed that Neil Kimpton was three clear on a score of 99. To be three clear in a comp of 80+ tippers seemed to me to be statistically significant. “99,” [Read more]

Some thoughts on making some pizza money from Round 16.

JTH arguing the case for the Swans – yet again. Here he tries to find a winner in Round 16. http://tatts.com/news/2012/7/9/afl-round-16

Fev v Baz: fading stars still have spark

A country football meeting of two controversial characters – Brendan Fevola and Barry Hall – was always bound to capture the imagination. Not since Ned Kelly rode a stolen mare into town has Wangaratta been graced with characters as polarising. Click here to read Rob Harris’s terrific account of the Wangaratta Rovers vs Yarrawonga Pigeons [Read more]

Budgerigars and partial rainbows

By John Burke It’s a chilly July day and I’m heading down to Kardinia Park (or Petrol Park as a wag mate calls it, harking back a ground sponsor or two) to see my beloved Cats for the first time at home this year. I’ve been away in warmer climes for a couple of months, [Read more]

I put the sticker on the car

By Rick Kane Well, we’ve passed the mid-point of the 2012 AFL season. As a Hawks fan I’m feeling pretty good. I would like to have been at least one more win to the good that’s for sure. And I dearly would have loved to have peeled the Cats monkey from our back but you [Read more]

Round 15 preview

Harms, coming off a 9 from 9, tries to find a winner for Round 15. http://tatts.com/news/2012/7/3/afl-round-15

I can’t actually remember, but…

By Gemma Sibillin The first time I ever went to a game of footy? I wouldn’t have a clue. I don’t remember much about the actual game. Sorry to disappoint, but I can’t actually remember who won. But I’ll try my very best to remember as much as I can. I’m not sure whether it [Read more]

Us against the Dockers

By Andrea Macnamara Friday night, match preparation for Saturday: comfort food, a bottle of red and Hawks vs Blues on the telly. Whichever way the game falls, I can’t be disappointed. If the Hawks get beaten then they’re not as good as we fear they are. And if the Blues get beaten, say no more. [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The Revolution can wait: radical Brisbane and rugby league

Queensland remains a wonderful place, full of obvious contradictions; the sort of contradictions which are hidden away in other places, the ones that work hard to present an air of sophistication and urbanity. Queensland’s down-on-the-farm, rent-a-holiday-unit-to-a-southerner conservatism prevails. But from colonial times Queensland has given rise to a small, energetic group of progressives; intellectuals and [Read more]

Handling the Giants

By Tony Scully   Pies V Wedgies MCG Sat 23rd June 2012   At the Risk of not keeping the lid on it,this game had all the portents of being two of the three most likely combatants in October.   That having been said my pre-game thoughts went to:   1/ Will our backline be [Read more]

The Summer I Know

By Anna Shiel The long awaited season had come into reach. From the lazy holiday sleep-in, the family awake from their sweltered snooze. You throw on some shorts and a loose singlet to head towards the local corner shop. You stroll to the corner shop, well known to your childhood, with the paint dated, defeated [Read more]

The summer I’d been waiting for…

By Eliza Karlson My earphones are in and my iPod is on full blast. The air-conditioner is on high and as I look out the window I can see the mountains forming and can feel the road slowly winding along. The car is packed so full that I can’t see anyone else, as my view [Read more]

When the Pies met the Hawks

By Jessica Landy I am leaving for America in two days and it’s probably the most important AFL game of the year. If Collingwood wins we are in the grand final for the second consecutive year. Collingwood haven’t defended a premiership since 1936. My dad had almost just broken my heart. He had forgotten that [Read more]

Of Bogans and Burqas

By Phil Dimitriadis The AFL celebrates multicultural round this week. Its catchcry is: “Many cultures, one game”. Possibly, but there is more to promoting cross-cultural understanding than just vacuous slogans and panegyric rhetoric. People from diverse cultural backgrounds are still seen as a novelty and until this changes  Australian football will not realistically reflect the [Read more]

More Please

Another lovely piece of film-making.    

Endless Summer

By Caitlyn Kennedy I love summer. I love the feeling of being hot, I love lying on warm concrete, I love diving into cool water, I love the different fruits of the summer, the late nights and the long days on the beach. I love how summer is completely carefree, no rules, no regulations, just [Read more]

My First Footy Match

By Constance Iliadis After numerous years of watching the odd footy game on TV and watching my dad and sisters go berserk over what I thought was a bunch of silly men chasing around a leather ball full of air and occasionally kicking it through some poles, they invited me to the footy. I have [Read more]