In 1980, Ron Barassi was still the biggest name in football. Looking back three decades, it’s easy to snigger at the temper tantrums and the wide lapels and see the caricature rather than the substance of the man. However, without doubt, Barassi had the single greatest influence in changing the way football was played during [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 10, Saturday 31 May, v North Melbourne, MCG
May 30, 2012 by 12 Comments
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 9, Saturday 24 May, v Melbourne, MCG
May 23, 2012 by 5 Comments
Last week’s epic victory over Carlton had all the electricity, tension, and dramatic emotional release that I imagine the connections of a winning Melbourne Cup horse would feel. Seven days on and back at the same venue, I wander casually into the cheer squad area, take my pick from rows of empty seats, sit back [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 8, Saturday 17 May, v Carlton, MCG
May 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It’s 12.30pm and the upper deck of the Southern Stand is already a sea of faces. Sure, the cool, showery weather has encouraged the early arrivals to grab the under cover seats, but this crowd isn’t just regulars huddled together for shelter. This is huge. I grab one of the few remaining areas of bench [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 7, Saturday 10 May, v Footscray, Western Oval
May 10, 2012 by 14 Comments
As we take our places behind the goals at the Barkly St end, the Richmond larrikins are in full voice. Mark Jackson, all jutting jaw and bleach-blond hair, is giving his Footscray reserves opponents a touch-up and the fans are loving it. Yes – that indi-bloody-vidual Mark Jackson! Melbourne, Geelong and St Kilda fans might [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 6, Saturday 3 May, v Geelong, VFL Park
May 3, 2012 by 1 Comment
Saturday 3 May, 4.30pm, Monash University Music Department. The date, time and place of my clarinet exam. It had been in the diary for weeks but as the day approached, I felt a growing frustration that I’d be so close yet so far from the event going on a bit further down Wellington Road: Geelong [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 5, Friday 25 April, v Fitzroy, MCG
April 25, 2012 by 3 Comments
I’ve barely been able to absorb the magnitude of the Collingwood victory when Round 5 is upon us. For Anzac Day falls on a Friday this year. Anzac Day Before 1995, when Essendon and Collingwood hatched a duopoly based on greed and self-interest, disguised under such epithets as “tradition” and “honouring the fallen”, the League [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 4, Saturday 19 April, v Collingwood, Victoria Park
April 19, 2012 by 20 Comments
Victoria Park I remember as a little kid being driven down the hill through Studley Park towards Collingwood and seeing in the distance the packed stands of Victoria Park on match-day. That vantage point, just near John Wren’s mansion, was as close as I ever got to the Magpies’ infamous old ground until this, my [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 3, Saturday 12 April v St Kilda, MCG
April 12, 2012 by 9 Comments
The bombshell from the Easter weekend exploded at St Kilda. The bubble of expectation at Moorabbin from the arrival of Jezza had been rapidly deflated by two sizeable losses. The story I heard was that the Saints’ President, Lindsay Fox, was so irate as he watched two St Kilda players collide in their bungling pursuit [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Round 2, Saturday 5 April v Essendon, MCG
April 4, 2012 by 9 Comments
by Sam Steele It’s the Easter weekend. The weather forecast is glorious. The family’s at Dromana, grabbing a last chance at some beach time before the onset of winter. It’s an annual tradition. Non-negotiable. For a footy-mad 16 year old, being stuck over an hour from Melbourne, without any means of transport, this is [Read more]
1980 – A Personal Footy Almanac
March 27, 2012 by 18 Comments
Round 1, Saturday 29 March v Hawthorn, Princes Park by Sam Steele I’m walking-running from the North Coburg tram through Princes Park towards the stadium that shares its name. Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, the No.1 hit at the time, is playing in my head (unassisted by any iPod, or even a Walkman). The [Read more]
1980 – A Personal Footy Almanac
March 21, 2012 by 16 Comments
by Sam Steele Introduction Thirty-two years on, it’s sobering to realise that half Richmond’s current fan base have no direct memories of our last Premiership. The optimistic ones talk about our next Flag, but with all the belief of world-weary office workers, mouthing their idle Monday-morning pipedream of one day winning Tattslotto. As one [Read more]
Decision Pending….
February 6, 2012 by 2 Comments
As I ponder the Australian cricket team’s 2011/12 dog’s-breakfast of a schedule, I see a sport undergoing a form of mid-life crisis, a game grappling with its very identity. In the fast-paced, highly competitive world of elite sport, international cricket’s administrators are directionless. Good, decisive governance of the international game is seriously lacking. The [Read more]
Knowing the Unknowable
October 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
by Sam Steele Twenty minute mark of the 3rd Quarter. Collingwood is five points ahead. I sense they’re going the better. I used to refer to it as the D’Amico Moment, but over the years have renamed it (more chastely) the Matera Moment, the Ellen Moment and the Dew Moment. Here was my big [Read more]
Recollections of a Memorable Debut
September 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Sometimes it’s the ordinary, mundane games that give us special memories. This is a story of two such matches, both Richmond v Sydney at the MCG, played 18 years apart. The first, on a blustery day in May 1993, was an awful spectacle. Both sides were rooted to the bottom of the ladder,Sydney in the [Read more]
The end of the level playing field?
July 13, 2011 by 13 Comments
by Sam Steele Caroline Wilson beat me to the jump yesterday with her article about the growing gap between the haves and have-nots. But my concern about this issue was sparked about a month ago by the massive contrast in the approach taken by the Melbourne and Collingwood in the lead-up to the [Read more]
A Dud Bet
July 7, 2011 by 20 Comments
For once, I’m doing pretty well in my footy tipping competition this year. Equal 6th out of 246 in fact. It’s a bit of fun and there’s the prospect of turning $20 into several hundred at season’s end. But last weekend my tips suddenly went pear-shaped and I found myself, late on Sunday, urging on [Read more]
A novel idea
June 29, 2011 by 3 Comments
by Sam Steele As the handsomely remunerated executives of the AFL turn their attention to the complexities of the 2012 draw, here’s a novel suggestion for nothing. What about restoring the tradition of Saturday afternoon at the MCG to its former glory? One of the things that my recent “Drouin Transfer” has made [Read more]
MID SEASON REVIEW – WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER…BEGINS
June 13, 2011 by 2 Comments
Brendan Schwab’s proposal for the creation of two divisions in the AFL, with promotion and relegation, though unlikely to gain much support, was nonetheless motivated by the very reasonable concern that an 18 team competition will produce too many meaningless matches in the latter half of the season. A quick mid-season report on the [Read more]
In Praise of Trent Cotchin
May 12, 2011 by 2 Comments
“Who’s your favourite player, dad?” It’s a question that stumps me. “I don’t have favourite players, mate”, I say, rather sheepishly. “Royce Hart was my hero as a kid, but I’ve never had favourites since then”. Billy gives me a glare and I hastily mutter something about admiring Lenny Hayes. But it’s clear my hesitant [Read more]
The Essence of the Game
April 11, 2011 by 9 Comments
During the recent discussion about the claim that the substitution rule has saved the game and that the Almanackery (aided by some bountiful Heathcote vines) influenced this development, JTH challenged us to identify the Essence of the Game. I thought I’d open the bowling. There’s potentially a PhD thesis in this, and God knows, it’s [Read more]
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