Andrew Starkie says Clarke is Australia’s best batsman and therefore should move to number 3. Discuss.
Boxing: A Man’s Limitations
October 21, 2012 by 8 Comments
Andrew Starkie thinks that Anthony Mundine has done himself no favours (again) with his recent comments.
Spread the blame for drug cheating
October 17, 2012 by 12 Comments
If Armstrong is guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs he should be stripped of his seven tour titles. It’s simple: taking PEDs is cheating.
A grand final and a solemn march
October 5, 2012 by 10 Comments
Andrew Starkie attends the Grand Final then joins in the Peace March on Sydney Road the following day.
People and Memories – Part 6: Joan Etherington, Melbourne FC
September 25, 2012 by 4 Comments
Joan Etherington has her feet up in front of the TV when I arrive at her Blackburn unit, in Melbourne’s east. Her Melbourne scarf hangs on the coat stand and the living room walls are covered with family photos. Beautiful grand-daughters smile out at her from exotic European and African settings. Over cups of [Read more]
AFL Finals Week 1 – West Coast Eagles v North Melbourne: Finals footy from the text book
September 10, 2012 by 15 Comments
North were humiliated.
North played scared, says Andrew Starkie. They melted when the game was hot. Once the goals started at the other end, they folded. Except for Swallow and Jack.
People and Memories: John Raleigh
September 3, 2012 by 1 Comment
For John Raleigh, lifelong North Melbourne supporter, the mid-1990s were strange times. He developed an attitude he’d rarely shown in his football life. An attitude usually associated with followers of larger, more successful clubs. Arrogance. ‘The ’90s were great,’ he says in the front room of his St. Helena home. ‘From ’94 onwards, for the [Read more]
AFL Round 21 – Collingwood v North Melbourne: The family club
August 23, 2012 by 4 Comments
Nephew Lukey was the lone family representative at Etihad on Saturday night. He went with his mate and his dad from across the road. My sister Anne had spent the week counselling him on appropriate behaviour in the face of both victory and defeat. Lukey doesn’t always handle either imposter too well. No prizes for [Read more]
People and Memories – part 3: Gerard Egan
August 20, 2012 by 3 Comments
People and Memories Gerard Egan – Richmond FC With only three finals campaigns and equally exasperating off-field fortunes since Richmond’s last Premiership in 1980, why do Tiger supporters keep the faith? For Gerard Egan, Richmond Cheer Squad Chairman, the answer is obvious. ‘Belief. We are eternally optimistic. Every year we turn up and think this [Read more]
‘People and Memories’ Part 2
August 13, 2012 by 3 Comments
Ian Gust – Carlton FC ‘Football was a means for me to become an assimilated Australian. Coming from a European background with parents speaking with accents, we were considered exotic. Football gave me a common language and links with people who’d usually consider me a foreigner.’ Medical virologist, Professor Ian ‘Gusty’ Gust (AO), sits [Read more]
‘People and Memories’, part 1
August 7, 2012 by 6 Comments
Everyone has a story to tell and I love hearing about people’s footy journeys. Why they support their teams; about their heroes; the triumphs and heartaches; how they maintain hope during dark times; who has accompanied them on their journey; and, if they’re older, about life ‘back in the day’. This season I’ve had the [Read more]
A family day out
July 9, 2012 by 12 Comments
North Melbourne versus West Coast Eagles My sister, Anne, has taken the family down to Hobart for the weekend. It’s the Cadbury Factory in the morning and footy at Bellerive in the arvo. Brother-in-law, Dean, has pulled a few strings and they’ll be in the rooms after the game. Lukey’s been practising the theme song [Read more]
What sport does to us
June 27, 2012 by 1 Comment
I love sport for the emotions and reactions it evokes in us. Like many others, I watched Black Caviar’s heart-stopping win early Sunday morning from my lounge room. It was too cold for Fed Square. Television is best when you can actually feel the tension coming through the screen. This was definitely the case from [Read more]
Is Brad Scott kidding?
June 4, 2012 by 23 Comments
Aberration? Aberration? Does Brad Scott expect North Melbourne members to swallow that? After being smashed by 115 points by Hawthorn on Saturday – a previously out of form Hawthorn, mind you – coach Brad Scott faced the media and declared it an ‘aberration’. Not a typical North Melbourne performance. In two weeks time, after the [Read more]
I should have listened
May 22, 2012 by 15 Comments
The little voice in my head said, ‘Don’t do it. You might regret it’. The little voice always says this. As always, I ignored it. I went and declared North Melbourne had ‘arrived’ after defeating Geelong in round 3. And we were going to play finals in 2012, and we were going to shake things [Read more]
For the love of professional sport
May 17, 2012 by 6 Comments
For the love of professional sport It’s easy to be cynical towards professional sport. I can be and I sense your average Almanacker (those old enough to be cynical) is a true believer who fears something is being lost. That our sports stars, clubs, franchises and competitions, have become distant, unaffordable, inaccessible, compromised, bastardised, less [Read more]
It isn’t rocket science
May 14, 2012 by 8 Comments
Round 7 North Melbourne versus Western Bulldogs Footy. It’s not rocket science, mate. It’s not bloody rocket science. It’s pretty bloody simple. It’s like life: do the right things, you win. If you don’t, you won’t. If you get numbers at the contest; win the ball; pick the correct option; [Read more]
Divided Attention Ends Well
April 16, 2012 by 9 Comments
North Melbourne versus Geelong The baby’s due today and I’m at the footy. Now, that’s a sentence I never expected to write! Males readers are thinking: gutsy effort mate, but you might pay for it down the track. Female readers: selfish so-and-so, hope you pay for it down the track. The baby [Read more]
The AFL’s Crucible
April 9, 2012 by 29 Comments
Events in recent weeks have the AFL resembling Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, a play based on the witch-hunts of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. Puritan Salem disintegrated under the paranoia and hysteria caused by accusations of witchcraft and cavorting with the devil. Simmering resentments and jealousies resurfaced and villagers settled old scores by condemning neighbours [Read more]
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