Picture by Vin Maskell Some illustrious Knacker alumni are amongst the list of contributors to Duke Albada’s sound installation at Victoria Park.
Almanackers immortalised at Victoria Park
November 29, 2011 by 4 Comments
by Vin Maskell Pamela Sherpa, Haiku Bob, John Harms and Vin Maskell are amongst several Almanackers who are part of a permanent sound installation to be officially unveiled at Victoria Park this Sunday afternoon, 4 December. The sound installation is called For The Love Of It and is located in a walkway of the Sherrin Stand. It is one [Read more]
Century up for Adelaide Oval scoreboard
November 3, 2011 by 1 Comment
The Adelaide Oval scoreboard turned 100 years old on 3 November.
The 1993 waiting room
September 25, 2011 by 7 Comments
For Vin Maskell, Grand Finals meant something different after 1993 I haven’t missed the start of the big game since 1977, when the Grand Final was first televised direct. For a few years it was a time for old school mates to get together. Then it became a time for old school mates [Read more]
Grand Final Scoreboards
September 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Scoreboard Pressure, the website dedicated to scoreboards, is featuring Grand Final scoreboards over the next few weeks. First up are scoreboards from the 1977 VFL, 1986 WAFL, 1990 TFL, 1998 VFL(VFA) Grand Finals. Part 2’s looking like: 1973 WAFL, 1999 AFL, 2002 WAFL, 2008 VFL and 2010 GSFL (WA). Then part 3 will be a [Read more]
My favourite drop-kick, part 9
September 8, 2011 by 8 Comments
The Drop-Kick Premiership Team Vin Maskell It is said that a champion team will always beat a team of champions, but what if that team of champions is a team of champion drop-kicks? The selection criteria for this team are to be a premiership player and for there to be a reference to the player’s [Read more]
29 wins and (no longer) counting
August 31, 2011 by 16 Comments
by Vin Maskell What’s that old adage about journalism? Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Or, in the case of the Geelong Advertiser last weekend, never let the results of a footy match get in the way of a rather confident celebratory newspaper special edition poster.
Deep inside the Junction Oval scoreboard
July 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment
When was the Junction Oval scoreboard built? What is its official name? Who rolls the numbers from inside the scoreboard? How many pulleys and panels are part of the scoreboard? Who is Julia and how old is she? What is the future of the Junction Oval scoreboard? You’ll find the answers to these questions [Read more]
The curious charm of empty Etihad
July 11, 2011 by 2 Comments
Interesting creature, the Foxtel Cup. A new competition, it’s a made-for-pay-TV knockout competition between sixteen clubs from the WAFL, the SANFL, the VFL and other state and territory leagues. The fixture has to fit in with clubs’ byes, availability of grounds, and Foxtel programming. That programming also calls for short quarters of about 20 [Read more]
The barren backyard
June 23, 2011 by 10 Comments
I am standing on the Newtown & Chilwell football ground, looking across the grass to my distant past. I started playing here 40 years ago – not for the red-and-black Eagles, just for fun. A kick of the footy after school at the Elderslie Terrace end of the ground with my neighbour John. Two kids, [Read more]
Foggy Fearon Footy
June 19, 2011 by 17 Comments
Last week Margaret McCarthy wrote in the Almanac about the joys of learning kick-to-kick with a group of blokes in Williamstown each Sunday morning. The thick fog at the Fearon Reserve on Sunday 12 June did not deter these early rising stars. In fact, they seemed to revel in the relatively unique conditions. (For country [Read more]
Time ticking for the Port Melbourne scoreboard
June 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Peter Vesty is not sentimental about his home away from home for the past 30 years, the Port Melbourne scoreboard. “I’d like to blow it up or burn it down,” he says, in-between hanging up numbers for a reserves match between Port Melbourne and Werribee. Read more about Peter Vesty and about the 80 year [Read more]
The Final Game
June 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
If you could die peacefullyon a footy ground, where would it be? Centre circle, goal square, back pocket? And wouldn’t it be handy if there was a cemetery, with headstones a bit like goalposts, just behind the scoreboard? While visiting the Oakleigh ground this week Vin Maskell met an old Devils’ supporter. More details at [Read more]
My favourite drop-kick: part 8
May 24, 2011 by 1 Comment
by Vin Maskell The Australian Rules Drop-Kick Appreciation Society is delighted to announce that poet, mathematician and Fitzroy fan Tom Petsinis has been inducted into the society’s Hall of Fame (Literature). Petsinis’ 2006 book Four Quarters includes the 12 verse, 48 line poem Drop Kick. It is a lovely ode to the lost art, [Read more]
Deconstructing Collingwood, part 2
May 19, 2011 by 1 Comment
Is an old VFL footy ground still a fair dinkum footy ground if it doesn’t have a fair-dinkum old-fashioned scoreboard? The Collingwood landmark what was the 1966 Victoria Park scoreboard was pulled down last January, as part of turning the ground into a community space.
Deconstructing Collingwood
May 9, 2011 by 21 Comments
Collingwood is in a re-building phase. Not the team, but the old ground. The Magpies haven’t played an AFL game at Victoria Park since 1999. Local teams, including the Collingwood reserves in the VFL, have been playing on the oval for nigh on a decade as parts of the ground have fallen into disrepair.
My (not so) favourite drop-kick, part 7
May 5, 2011 by 5 Comments
Vin Maskell hears the ugly truth in part seven of his meandering series. The train stuttered and stopped as it tried to pull out of the station. “Passengers,” announced the driver, “we’ve had to stop because some drop-kick in a red cap is trying to force open the doors.” You know the game is just [Read more]
Scoreboard Pressure, the website
April 19, 2011 by 2 Comments
Almanackers Les Everett and Vin Maskell have never met but they share an affinity for photographing and philosophising about scoreboards. scoreboardpressure.com is a fledgling website inspired by Australian Rules football scoreboards. The blog celebrates the fact that while all footy scoreboards have the same basic function, they can differ from ground to ground, and from [Read more]
My favourite drop kick, part 6
April 15, 2011 by 7 Comments
Vin Maskell continues his whimsical series. Moggs Creek, on the Great Ocean Road near Lorne, doesn’t have a footy oval. The creek doesn’t even have much water. But I’ve got an old football down there, in the three-generation family beach-house. Its scratches are not from backyard trees or goal posts or the streets of the [Read more]
My favourite drop kick, part five
March 23, 2011 by 16 Comments
The latest in Vin Maskell’s occasional, indulgent series The new edition of The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers once again records the careers of thousands of players, listing their vital statistics and describing their skills and style of play. Of all those players, going back to 1897, only 57 are noted for their talent for the [Read more]
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