Friday evening. I am on the footpath outside the North Fitzroy Arms on the phone to a Swedish car wrecker. The family Volvo has died. He has offered less than the value of the computer which we have recently had re-soldered so that the air-conditioner is not stuck on Saharan Gale. Max walks by chomping [Read more]
Feeling Greek
July 26, 2011 by 23 Comments
Some people in Australia think that I am Greek. (Ted Egan thinks I am George Megalogenis…I wish) And now that I have a son called Theo they really think I’m Greek. I look Greek. In Greece, when people asked me (more than once), “Where are you from?” I would say, “Australia.” They would say, “When [Read more]
Cadel Evans victory: best Australian sporting achievement ever?
July 25, 2011 by 44 Comments
I don’t particularly like comparisons – they’re a bit of fun, but they don’t mean much. In the realm of sporting achievements so many achievements have merit and I reckon it’s better to appreciate all of them for what the are. There are many ways to become the subject of a trivia question – you [Read more]
Tony Hachem: no dud brother
July 19, 2011 by 9 Comments
I always like to keep up with what the people in my neighbourhood are doing. Tony Hachem of Northcote, our suburb, has just been knocked out of the biggest and most important poker tournament on the planet, the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas. He has finished 37th in the huge field. The tournament [Read more]
The British Open blog
July 14, 2011 by 26 Comments
Now is not the time to tell you how I got there, but I will later. But I was at Royal St George’s in 1993 to see Norman win The Open. Given the course is on the coast at Sandwich it was a sub-editor’s delight. History and all that. I went to see The open, [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Celebrating Darren Lockyer
July 11, 2011 by 8 Comments
Darren Lockyer still has a few games of football left in him, but when he stood on the stage after Queensland’s victory last Wednesday night, the whole of the maroon world paused to listen and to reflect for a moment with him. With humility in his face, he turned to the crowd, and in a [Read more]
Harms on the intriguing Zurbo situation
July 2, 2011 by 44 Comments
From John Harms (this all happened last night, as Andy Murray was falling apart, before any knowledge of The Age publishing an excerpt of Matt Zurbo’s piece): I have removed Matt Zurbo’s piece ‘Grass Roots Hype’ from this site. I regret that I felt I had to do that. However, the piece was also [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Katter’s FNQ position stable thanks to good old rugby league
June 24, 2011 by 6 Comments
When, on Wednesday, Bob Katter rose to his feet in the lower house of the national parliament and defended Johnathan Thurstons, some condemned his actions. They said that Australian politics had fallen to the depths, and that it showed how disgraceful this parliament was. (“The worst in Australian history”). People weren’t of that view in [Read more]
Harmony Sainters’ style
June 22, 2011 by 12 Comments
Love and death. Or on the hip side of the Yarra: sex and death. That would be the St Kilda side. (Of the Yarra) Love and death. It’s the sum total of it all. Saturday night and I am in the kitchen dealing with kids. I have been occupying them, entertaining them, playing with them, [Read more]
Male identity crises and other truths
June 17, 2011 by 20 Comments
The world has changed. Back in the good old days, if you’d forgotten where you were, or who you were, all you needed to do was buy a beer and listen to the sports conversation around the bar. If the bloke behind the jump poured you a XXXX you knew you could look outside to [Read more]
How Clarko saved Geelong
June 16, 2011 by 11 Comments
Saturday afternoon. I am reading nineteenth century newspapers, writing about the 1898 Grand Final. And waiting for time to pass until I get the train to the MCG. Jungle Ruler has just saluted. I am containing myself. I am happy in the way that Crows fans are not, because on the television the Adelaide Football [Read more]
Cats play in the winter sun
June 5, 2011 by 24 Comments
The phone rings on Saturday morning. J. Dunne is in good spirits, enjoying the Barwon Heads sunshine, on a perfect winter’s day. He’s thinking footy (which usually means he’s considering backing the opponent) and wondering what my footy-plan is. I am slogging away at the desk, resisting the temptation to be reading the form guide. [Read more]
Carrara daze
June 2, 2011 by 5 Comments
Saturday night. Gold Coast v Geelong. The Ablett match – for most. And yes, that is a key part of it. But for me, something has been forgotten: this is also the Carrara match. Footy is back at Carrara. And as weird as it might sound, on Saturday night I was feeling a little nostalgic [Read more]
The Harms Dream
May 31, 2011 by 24 Comments
Gigs piece on the fixture, and its idiosyncrasies, injustices, inconsistencies, and conceptual weirdness, and his suggestion of a draw based on a Declaration of What is Good and Fair, and Inalienable in Football, is noble to say the least. Which, as commenters have noted almost universally in the words that follow, means that it is [Read more]
Knowing
May 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
by Rory Cahill Jamie. The MCG. 1996. Jamie just stood there and held it. Belly passed it to him, stepped away, and he grabbed it, just stood there, holding it. He didn’t really even know what it was. All he saw was the light, the green of the grass and the yawning stands that encircled [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Queensland, just.
May 26, 2011 by 4 Comments
Yet another fine, fine example of the State of Origin genre last night: Queensland come out powerfully with their two props creaming New South up the guts, and with the defence back-pedalling, Cam Smith, JT and Locky going nuts and throwing the ball around beautifully. They score and it looks like the same thing is [Read more]
Brighton FC’s only flag in 1948
May 15, 2011 by 5 Comments
This is a letter I received from Ian Bennett (of The Local Footy Show on Channel 31), who has unearthed remarkable film of the 1948 Brighton semi-final, preliminary final, and grand final. If you have any stories about this team or it’s players we would love to hear them. To find out more about the [Read more]
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