I had the same feeling reading about ‘the AFL’s second most annoying Jeff’ and his pontifical ruling on Ballantyne’s kick, as I did in February when I heard about the Big A admitting that the sole purpose of the pre-season mickey mouse comp was to hog the headlines. What many had long suspected is now [Read more]
AFL – Pay the Advantage Rule
July 29, 2011 by 2 Comments
I think its time the authorities fixed the advantage rule, as it is certainly one of the most frustrating and contentious aspects of the game. I can’t see any reason to not follow the example set in one of the rugby codes (union I think) where the referee doesn’t always blow the whistle at the first [Read more]
The Recurring Dream
July 29, 2011 by 13 Comments
Every once in a while I have this dream. It is April 1990. The light is always the same. The last waves of summer have passed but there is still enough warmth to obfuscate the chill in the air. Footy season has commenced with its majestic ephemera and hyperbole. I’m part of a team. [Read more]
Anticipation
July 28, 2011 by 5 Comments
I’ve been looking forward to this game all year. I cut a few extra loads of wood on Friday, finishing past sunset, just to be tired. To sleep early, but couldn’t. I should have gone to the pub, done my routine. Watched some AFL while nursing a few beers, letting small Friday talk bounce off [Read more]
One Hundred Years Ago: Round 13, 15th July, 1911
July 28, 2011 by 18 Comments
Even at this early stage in the VFL’s existence, football had insinuated itself through all levels of Melbourne society, managing to simultaneously exemplify and transcend class divisions within the city. For a clear example of this you needed to look no further than the Essendon and Collingwood clubs as they prepared to face each other [Read more]
Neil Who?
July 28, 2011 by 10 Comments
When Neil Craig was appointed to the senior coaching role at the end of 2004, the common reaction outside of South Australia was “Neil who?”. He was a man who did not follow the usual path to AFL coaching. He had no AFL playing experience, although he did play over 300 games in the SANFL. [Read more]
Hotel Docklands-ifornia
July 27, 2011 by 2 Comments
by Anthony Thomas MYSTERY surrounds the discovery of a woman in the toilets at Etihad Stadium suffering from cold, two days after the Melbourne venue was last used. It’s believed the 57-year-old woman had spent two days locked inside the ground in central Melbourne following the AFL match between Geelong and Richmond on [Read more]
Geelong West, a team you can’t resist
July 26, 2011 by 15 Comments
by Glen Davis What’s the name of the team, many Almanackers might say, especially the younger ones. Geelong West Football Club as we knew it is no more, amalgamating with St Peters in 1988. But prior to that they had strong, proud history. They won 25 Geelong District Football Association (GDFA) premierships, four Ballarat [Read more]
Football’s Not Everything
July 25, 2011 by 8 Comments
Murder was a talented kid, and trouble. A ratbag, a thief. Chockers with personality. I wasn’t wide-eyed, but I liked him a lot, anyway. Maybe because when I was a kid I was a bit of trouble. Maybe just because. There doesn’t always have to be a reason. He could play [Read more]
Neil Craig Resigns
July 25, 2011 by 8 Comments
Neil Craig has just announced his resignation as coach of Adelaide. He will take a leave of absence for an indefinite period before discussing any ongoing role at the club. Mark Bickley will fill in as caretaker until season’s end. Full details from the Crows website here. What do our South Australian Almanackers think? And [Read more]
Football Clubs in New South Wales
July 25, 2011 by 3 Comments
By Miles Wilks The most important aim with this book is to give some positive press to footy clubs in New South Wales. Few people (I would think) would realise that as many as 400 players have been recruited from NSW to the VFL/AFL. It was surprising for me anyway when I was researching the VFL/AFL archives and [Read more]
Memo Blues: Win, and kill off the new anti-Ratts swarm NOW
July 22, 2011 by 7 Comments
On The Gruen Transfer last night Russell Howcroft said ‘all advertising works, just some works better’. I feel the same about talk-back radio and ‘comment’ facilities on news sites: it’s all at least somewhat annoying. And football talk-back is generally more than ‘somewhat’. Cicadas are responsible for that God-awful racket you hear in the summer, at [Read more]
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND XVIII
July 22, 2011 by 9 Comments
FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. Collingate has extended it’s creepy testicles tentacles to include the troubled denizens of The Culture Club. Leigh Montagna has been cited as sharing a betting account with his brother. Gee whiz. But it looks like the key to all this – as [Read more]
The footy gods: Hubris
July 22, 2011 by 8 Comments
By Ian Latham The ancient Greeks knew one thing. Do not pretend to be one of the footy gods. They called that hubris. And if you were found to be hubristic, well, that meant trouble; with a capital T. Nemesis would fly down to find you. She would spin her wheel of fortune and [Read more]
Odyssey of USA Saint
July 22, 2011 by 15 Comments
It all started at a bus stop 36 years ago. Little things beget big things. At that bus stop, I met my future wife on a double blind date when the pairing was determined by who boarded a bus first (she chose not to). Then in the early 80s, we could only afford to send [Read more]
Knights vs Van Der Haar
July 22, 2011 by 17 Comments
These are the things I’d pay good money to see. Goodes on Pavlich. Judd and Barlow, toe-to-toe, kick-for-kick. Pendlebury and Hayes. Both of them tackle as much as they win the ball for themselves. Goddamn, I loved it when Pike played on Hird. Total opposites, in every way. Both proud men. How clever was the [Read more]
Mining young footy talent at Roxby Downs
July 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I’d like to introduce Rob McLean who writes a popular country footy column called Footy People. (Ed) Rob is an SA based football fanatic who once dreamed of playing in Central District’s first premiership side At 34 and a half, he still believes he could play in a Doggies premiership, but instead is winding up his career [Read more]
Bring back the biff? I hope not.
July 21, 2011 by 3 Comments
Embedded into this story are two YouTube videos. One is full of shameless violence. The other is a package of highlights from Crib Point Football Club’s 1985 Premiership year. You don’t often get to see video footage of grass roots footy and footage of grass roots footy from the 1980s is even rarer. I’ll start [Read more]
One Hundred Years Ago: Round 12, 8th July, 1911
July 21, 2011 by 13 Comments
A ‘grey, windless, foggy afternoon’ was the setting for round 12, the coldest football match-day recorded to this time. The temperature wouldn’t rise above 7.1 °C (44.8 °F) as six clubs began the day within close proximity of a top four position. 20,000 spectators ignored the conditions and flocked to Brunswick St to watch fourth [Read more]
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