What a round it’s been in Footy Eddie. Geelong emphatically announced that they are TTTBFTF as they sat The Cakewalking Collingwoods on their backsides in front of the 88,115 Faithful, Punters & SOTG at The G, not to mention the Whole Football World catching the action on Channel Kerry. The Kennel Coughs exposed The NMFC [Read more]
Kicking Goals: Sport in Australian National Identity
May 22, 2010 by 2 Comments
My book Kicking Goals was published in March. It takes a fresh look at the common image of Australia as a sporting nation. Sporting passions have ebbed and flowed since Archer won the first Melbourne Cup in 1861. Tracing these, the book emphasises the differing ways Australians have loved our sports, saluted our national symbols, [Read more]
150 Years and No Gay Footballer? That’s Queer.
May 22, 2010 by 6 Comments
By Phil Dimitriadis In almost one hundred and fifty years, there is no explicit history about a homosexual Australian Rules player at the highest level. This does not reflect the cultural realities of the society that plays and watches the game. If ten percent of the population were gay then out of the six hundred [Read more]
THE PRE WRAP – ROUND IX
May 21, 2010 by 2 Comments
What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. Of course there’s the Big One tonight. We’ll all be tuned in for that. Although our hearts go out to those devotees of Better Homes & Gardens who will find themselves at a loose end. Surely Channel Kerry has a second band they can broadcast it on? [Read more]
The Monthly Teams
May 21, 2010 by 16 Comments
By Steve Healy In recent times I have taken an interest in the birthdates of players. This interest sparked a ridiculous idea in my head to do some research and select the best players born in each month and see which the strongest side is. I have judged my selections based on career form, along [Read more]
Home ground disadvantage – North Melbourne’s Western Oval dominance 1973-1995
May 20, 2010 by 10 Comments
When North Melbourne take on the Western Bulldogs this weekend at the concrete canyon located in Melbourne’s Docklands, discernable home ground advantage will favour neither team. In what was viewed as perhaps the toughest assignment in the days when there was, with respect to the VFL teams located in the Garden City, home ground advantage, [Read more]
Bloody Collingwood
May 20, 2010 by 10 Comments
By Ged McMahon I hate Collingwood. I have hated them for a long time. There are many reasons for this hatred but I think the best way to sum up my argument is to borrow a quote I heard from Dr Turf a few years ago … “I hate Collingwood so much that if they [Read more]
Footy in NSW 1883
May 20, 2010 by 1 Comment
The following article was published in the Maitland Mercury, and Hunter River General Advertiser Thursday 19 July 1883. It is astonishingly long and speaks to the idea that footy was getting a strong foothold in NSW. There seemed to develop an intense and passionate culture that only a few short years later was no more [Read more]
John Smith
May 20, 2010 by 3 Comments
by Ed Harcourt John Smith plays for Geelong. His disposal this season has been first class, his versatily around the grounds is respected by his peers, and his use of the ball in and around the packs is unusually very classy to watch. Over the past few seasons I’ve been a fan of his game, [Read more]
The Albatross Rules, Chapter 11 – Round 4, Mt Desperate Desperados (away): On a Hiding to Nothing
May 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The climb up Mt Desperate was the first major obstacle the pioneering miners had encountered after two hundred miles of flat land as they headed into the gold bearing hills. Not so much a mountain as a steep rise to an elevated plateau it claimed numerous diggers who failed to heed the need for caution. [Read more]
The priceless value of perseverance
May 18, 2010 by 18 Comments
by Damian O’Donnell I had a great week end. It wasn’t great because of some extraordinary event, a fabulous party or even because the Cats had another thumping win. No, it was great because I went to the nursery with my 15 year old daughter and learned a wonderful lesson in perseverance.
Footy at Manuka: a preview
May 17, 2010 by 12 Comments
It’s a big weekend for Canberra footy fans. Yes, the Brumbies have the toughest possible opponent, away, in Christchurch. Yes, the Raiders will probably lead the Storm at half-time. And, yes they will sing ‘Abide With Me’ at Wembley on Saturday night before the FA Cup final. But when all is said and done, and [Read more]
The View From Shepparton: Round 8
May 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Geelong and Collingwood are light years ahead of the rest of the competition and next Friday night we will find out which team is the best at the moment. In respect of last Friday night’s game I really thought that Freo would get up. I felt that the Magpies would be useless away in that [Read more]
THE WRAP – ROUND VIII
May 17, 2010 by 1 Comment
What a round it’s been in Footy Eddie. On Friday night The Pies sent The Barry Crockers an unequivocal message about playing at The Elite Level. Those Crazy Cats from Sleepy Hollow did the same for Vossy’s Lions. North drew deep on the Shinboner Spirit to hang on against The Fast Finishing Chardonnays and West [Read more]
Calling all Almanackers
May 17, 2010 by 44 Comments
It’s a beautiful day in Melbourne and, in a particular quirk that seems to only occur here, the crowd is turning out in force to watch Hawthorn and Richmond — 14th play 16th on the ladder. As I take advantage of the free wireless afforded to me at the ground, I ponder all the other [Read more]
URGENT HELP SOS
May 15, 2010 by 16 Comments
Okay so I need your help! I’m getting myself a new pretty Collingwood jumper but I have no idea what number to go for. I don’t like big numbers like 34 or 38. I don’t like low numbers like 1-6. I can’t get Medders because he’s like twenty-eight years old which means he won’t be [Read more]
When the world went slightly wacko for a little minute
May 15, 2010 by 8 Comments
Reported in the Argus, Saturday 13 May 1933 FOOTBALL COALITION. ASSOCIATION’S POSITION. ‘Might Adopt Soccer or Rugby.” A possibility that the Victorian Football Association might abandon the Australian game and take up soccer or Rugby unless it can make satisfactory arrangements with the Victorian Football League for some form of amalgamation was discussed yesterday by [Read more]
My take on the Hamstring Injuries and Game Speed…
May 15, 2010 by 2 Comments
Now I’ll keep this short because this is all it needs to be to explain what I think is happening in the game of football with these injuries. As the speed of the game increases, the physical stress on the player increases. Now this increase in stress and exertion requires more time to recover from [Read more]
The real founders of Aussie Rules?
May 15, 2010 by 11 Comments
By Tony Ward Tony is author of the recently published Sport in Australian National Identity: Kicking Goals (Routledge). Paperback ISBN 978-0415575553, published 31 March 2010 in UK – copies available: £26.99 plus shipping, from www.routledge.com/books/ $50 including shipping, from www.bookdepository.co.uk There’s been a decent tussle over the last couple of years on who can claim [Read more]
Pitch Invading
May 15, 2010 by 1 Comment
By Ged McMahon Last week, a pitch invading baseball fan was chased around in circles and tasered by security staff. It was grandly theatrical and I must admit that I found it highly amusing. Far more amusing than my own personal pitch invasion story. I can’t even remember the exact year, but I was very [Read more]
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