By Rod Oaten Oh, for the nostalgia of the good old VFA Grand Final. It was an unsophisticated, grass roots event, full of tribal loyalty and tension between the supporters. No corporate boxes, but then I guess corporations didn’t get involved with what really was working-class footy. You would often see a club president or [Read more]
State Footy: Phil Cleary plays big part in glorious VFA Grand Final memories
September 25, 2009 by 2 Comments
State Footy: VFA memories flood back as Preston attack overpowers Port in Preliminary Final
September 22, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Off to North Port Oval for the Preliminary Final between Preston, now known as Northern Bullants, and Port Melbourne, always known as The Borough. I missed the first 10 minutes because of my partner’s very important birthday lunch/celebrations at a very swish Melbourne hotel. I could barely wobble my way out of the hotel because [Read more]
Local Footy: Greeny and Unicorns delight after Grand Final win over Oakleigh
September 13, 2009 by 1 Comment
By Rod Oaten I was in a dilemma on Saturday morning, two Grand Finals on either side of town: Fitzroy playing out Essendon way and Melbourne High School Old Boys playing Oakleigh down at Sandringham. The north wind was blowing a tornado-like gale, so I planned the ride on the bike from Carlton North to [Read more]
AFL Finals — Week 1: Top End memories take edge off a Bomber fan’s pain
September 5, 2009 by 1 Comment
I made a great discovery some 12 weeks ago: the best way to meet your indigenous brothers in the Top End is to wear an Essendon cap. I reckon I had at least 4 conversations a day in Darwin and its surrounds by people calling out, “GO BOMBERS!”. I really enjoyed the chance to chat [Read more]
General Footy Writing: The day we took Geoff Leek to training
June 17, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Rod Oaten It wasn’t easy being an Essendon supporter and living in North Caulfield, but Mum and Dad moved out there from the beloved north-western suburb after they got married so there wasn’t much I could do about it. I used to love Essendon not only because of its footy team but because planes [Read more]
AFL Round 11: The Dons v Tyson Edwards’ receding hairline
June 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by Rod Oaten Two things wrong with this game, the Dons are playing at the ground behind Spencer Street Railway Station and they are playing an interstate team, called Adelaide. This footy ground is like a giant fish bowl even more so when it started to drizzle and they closed the roof. Not my ideal [Read more]
AFL Round 10: Cats just too good
June 1, 2009 by 3 Comments
By Rod Oaten Geelong 20.14 (134) d Essendon 11.4 (70) I had my misgivings about this match, first of all it’s at Docklands, I can’t recall what they call it these days and frankly don’t care either . This Docklands “Fish Bowl” is a crap ground as far as I’m concerned. Let’s face it there [Read more]
Round 9: Richmond v Essendon: Dream land gives way to dreamtime victory
May 24, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Rod Oaten When you follow the Essendon footy club for more than 60 years you have a store of great memories, and in the first half of this match at the ’G the Dons were playing lacklustre, indecisive and error-prone footy, while Richmond were too good at getting the ball out of the centre [Read more]
Essendon fan gets the same old feeling
May 4, 2009 by 2 Comments
by Rod Oaten I guess it started some 15 years ago as a Da/Father/Son day but Da gave up about 5 years ago due to age, he is now over 92, and stays in his aged care facility in Northcote and listens on the radio. Family days at the footy have always been important to [Read more]
Recent Comments