Autumn in Melbourne and another AFL season has begun —not that the game ever goes away round here. Not when the make up of some club’s “leadership group” (the players deemed least likely to snap bra straps in nightclubs, I assume) is considered worthy of a back page lead in summer. But the early salvos [Read more]
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND III
April 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. The Fix is in the news again. (Don’t you mean fixture Wrap – Ed) Everyone’s onto it. You can’t pick up a rag or tune into the electronic medjah without copping an eye or ear full of it. You know – about [Read more]
Sal’s Tips: Round 3
April 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Greetings All, Well round 2 certainly put the competition into perspective with not only poor match ups but pretty ordinary scheduling to go with it! The average margin for the round of 55 points, but over 62 if you take out the Easter Monday special. I wrote last year of the two speed competition, [Read more]
A search for two women of Fitzroy
April 12, 2012 by 4 Comments
The Fremantle Dockers had one of their finest times before and after round 22 of 1996. It was a sad time. Fitzroy played their last AFL game against Fremantle on 1 September. The AFL didn’t do much to mark the occasion but the Dockers, in just their second season, realised its importance. They helped a [Read more]
Anyone out there holding an AFL Retro?
April 12, 2012 by 7 Comments
The winner of the Norm Smith medal usually doubles up with an AFL premiership winner’s medal. After three gut-busting hours, only flag-winning adrenaline could allow Mr Norm to lump half a stone of metal around his neck on the lap of honour. I say this because I have recently worn a Jock McHale medal [Read more]
Rout of the Blues
April 12, 2012 by 11 Comments
Collingwood’s 50 Most Sensational Games Round 4 1969 Collingwood 5.3.33 9.8.62 21.13.139 23.15.153 Carlton 6.5.41 10.7.67 10.9.69 13.11.89 VENUE: Princes Park DATE: Saturday 26 April CROWD: 39,120 UMPIRE: Sleeth
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]
DA Puzzle of the Round (3)
April 11, 2012 by 8 Comments
For David Astle’s carnival of words, puzzles and more words click HERE! But first, try this: If Heineken can infiltrate the next Bond movie, then what stops alcohol brands sneaking onto the AFL playing lists? If Filipino beer is getting behind the Brisbane coach, then he must be San Miguel Voss, while a Kiwi brewery [Read more]
The View from Shepparton – Round 2
April 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
by Peter Schumacher Thursday night. Was uneasy about being at home by myself when the Minister for Domestic Affairs was at a Maundy Thursday Church service which in theory I too should have been attending. Too bad, quarter time, Lions up by a couple of points and playing well enough to make me think about [Read more]
Footy on Eurosport
April 9, 2012 by 9 Comments
By Jim Newkirk It is 8am on a fabulously beautiful Sunday, spring morning – no clouds, no wind, 19 degrees. It promises to be a great day, and I’m off to the footy. It feels a bit like those times 20 or so years ago when the boys and I would head out to the [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]
You can’t choose your family…or your Footy club!!!
April 8, 2012 by 7 Comments
In case it escaped your attention last year, esteemed journalist Patrick Smith took the astonishing step of turning his back on four generations of Essendon-supporting tradition, trading the Bombers in for my club Richmond! Smith’s actions were in protest of his ‘former clubs’ handling of the controversial James Hird and Mark Thompson coaching appointments, using [Read more]
A push and a rush and the game is ours
April 6, 2012 by 12 Comments
Collingwood’s 50 Most Sensational Games Round 4, 1987 Collingwood 2.4.16 4.10.34 7.11.53 16.14.110 Richmond 3.5.23 7.7.49 14.8.92 15.10.100 VENUE: VFL Park DATE: Saturday 20 April CROWD: 36,749 UMPIRES: Robinson, Forster COLLINGWOOD B Christian Gayfer Kerrison HB Brown Manson Keays C Millane Turner Bradbury HF Fielke Starcevich Rizonico F Banks Taylor Croall FOLL Cloke, Atkins, Ryan [Read more]
From Father To Son
April 5, 2012 by 4 Comments
Dear Harley, I was eight months from meeting you but I couldn’t stop thinking of you when I walked to the MCG on a warm March night. Your mum and I had not long found out that you would be joining us in November. I was meeting Paul to watch the Cats and the Hawks. [Read more]
What’s Going on?
April 5, 2012 by 10 Comments
In my months with the Almanac, I have been incredibly impressed with not just the standard of writing, humour and general football wisdom, but also with the sensitivity and care many writers show when dealing with serious football issues. In recent weeks, and again in the past few days, the issue of how football manages [Read more]
The Pre Wrap – Round 2
April 5, 2012 by 4 Comments
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND II FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. Scarlett’s equation to achieve the 3-match ban reads something like Harmsie’s calculations for the winner of the Top Eight call at the Almanac GF Lunch. All that was missing was divide by the number [Read more]
Sal’s Tips: Round 2, 2012
April 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Greetings to one all and hope everyone has a great Easter break, The commentators have waxed lyrical about the opening round of the season and with some justification I might say, I enjoyed each of the games that I sat down to watch and the ones I didn’t were pretty good too apparently. But [Read more]
The Lance Perkins end (of Kardinia Park).
April 5, 2012 by 13 Comments
Round 1 1967 – Geelong v Collingwood, Kardinia Park by Burkie (John) I think it might have been Malcolm Blight who, when asked one year about the significance of the opening round for a team, said something along the lines that it was probably the least important game of the season. [Read more]
The Footygods: Hermes
April 5, 2012 by 1 Comment
The Greeks found Hermes difficult to define. Some called him the god for travellers. Some said that he was the god for those who wandered past their own boundaries. But perhaps they re the different ways of saying the same thing. And he was the god for athletics and luck and a whole lot of [Read more]
Hurry up Junior
April 5, 2012 by 13 Comments
The due date has come and gone and junior still has not pulled the rip cord and entered the world. Mum to be now moves around the house with the mobility of Justin Madden and the frustration of Tony Jewell. I am much like Mark Neeld – full of good ideas about process and strategy, [Read more]
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