Gigs piece on the fixture, and its idiosyncrasies, injustices, inconsistencies, and conceptual weirdness, and his suggestion of a draw based on a Declaration of What is Good and Fair, and Inalienable in Football, is noble to say the least. Which, as commenters have noted almost universally in the words that follow, means that it is [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Queensland, just.
May 26, 2011 by 4 Comments
Yet another fine, fine example of the State of Origin genre last night: Queensland come out powerfully with their two props creaming New South up the guts, and with the defence back-pedalling, Cam Smith, JT and Locky going nuts and throwing the ball around beautifully. They score and it looks like the same thing is [Read more]
Brighton FC’s only flag in 1948
May 15, 2011 by 5 Comments
This is a letter I received from Ian Bennett (of The Local Footy Show on Channel 31), who has unearthed remarkable film of the 1948 Brighton semi-final, preliminary final, and grand final. If you have any stories about this team or it’s players we would love to hear them. To find out more about the [Read more]
Joel Selwood. Joel Selwood. Joel Selwood.
May 14, 2011 by 52 Comments
The novelist Anson Cameron says that were Shakespeare alive today he’d spend his waking moments thinking of words that rhyme with Selwood. Because Selwood is the topic of the modern day. He deserves poetry: sonnets which capture his quintessence; and epic poems which tell the tales of when he roamed the MCG, when he led [Read more]
Geelong-Collingwood preview
May 13, 2011 by 27 Comments
I love a day like this, when everyone is thinking about the footy tonight. Game-plans, formulated ages ago, are being put in to action. Or plans are being made via email right now. Pre-match beers. Or lunch for those who have their lives well-organised. Watching the hours. Waiting to meet up with friends and family. [Read more]
Great footy matches which have made it into your family mythology
May 11, 2011 by 20 Comments
In the Harms family mythology there are many footy matches which are remembered. Not all fondly I might add. Almost all of them involve the Geelong Football Club. Many involve the despised Pies. Which footy match has made it into your family’s mythology; a story which is told and re-told.
Last recruit
April 19, 2011 by 1 Comment
It’s that time of the year in bush footy. No matter what the code, presidents and committees, sponsors and hangers-on, club men who have worked hard all summer are trying to put the finishing touches on their team lists. They’re selling hope.
Port no match for the Cats at Kardinia
April 13, 2011 by 12 Comments
Sunday afternoon. I am in the position; the same position I’ve been in for almost a fortnight. In bed, leg up. I have a maroon plaster cast from toe-to knee. I am feeling very Queensland and very Fred Flintstone. And pretty sore. A bowtie-wearing surgeon has put my right foot back together. He is a [Read more]
How The Footy Almanac saved football
April 4, 2011 by 46 Comments
The Footy Almanac has saved football. The Richmond footy club almost saved footy a few years ago, but here at the Almanac we’ve done it properly. The Tiges almost saved footy when they lost to Geelong by 157 points one Sunday evening in May, 2007. At a time when the Swans and West Coast had [Read more]
Almanac Golf: Tony Ongarello and the WAGS Dinner
April 4, 2011 by 6 Comments
John Harms met Tony Ongarello under unusual circumstances – during a dinner at Metropolitan Golf Club.
Harms on Round 1
March 28, 2011 by 16 Comments
Thursday evening. I am thankful for football. Football takes Anna and me to the North Fitzroy Arms where we join the footy tipping comp, and catch up with the grey-haired wits who gather there. Anna has a lemonade-Coke (as we call it on our household). We head home. An hour off the opening bounce. Fish [Read more]
Willaston Dreams
March 20, 2011 by 1 Comment
Pictures by Almanacker Peter Argent It’s a great time of the year for footballers around the country. Wherever they might be. Some have been hard at it all summer. Running with squinted eyes through the shimmery white heat, loving and hating (at once) the beads of sweat which trickle between their shoulder blades, down the [Read more]
Theo takes a great leap forward at Princes Park
March 13, 2011 by 23 Comments
Saturday morning. Sunny and mild, but the breeze picking up, and bringing with it northern stickiness. Family Harms is pottering about: no plans. I am thinking about Collingwood. They have done it pretty easily the night before. Dawes and Daisy Thomas continue to mature. They are good, and there is much improvement in the squad [Read more]
Tip the Top 8 comp
March 8, 2011 by 1 Comment
Each season Loose Men Charities and The Footy Almanac crew hold a tip the top eight competition. The idea is to select the finishing order (at the end of the home and away season) of the AFL’s top eight. It’s $10 to enter. Half the cash goes to the winner, and half goes to a [Read more]
Mathematicians who have kicked on
March 2, 2011 by 35 Comments
March 1 was International Maths Day. And so my mind was turned to Maths. As a Maths-History graduate I am always looking to those Mathematicians who have kicked on, in the hope I might uncover their secrets. I’ll start the discussion by mentioning Melbourne Vixen and Australian netballer Julie Corletto, who is a Maths graduate. [Read more]
Flares for Dot Balls Campaign
February 20, 2011 by 16 Comments
Add your name to this petition I hope to take to those who run Cricket Australia. We the undersigned believe that bowlers are copping the raw prawn in T20 cricket and believe that flares should whoosh heavenward when the bowler delivers a dot ball:
Tennis, snoring and the punt: a reflection
January 28, 2011 by 4 Comments
A few years ago, when I was writing Memoirs of a Mug Punter, I got in to a lovely routine. I’d start writing just after AM finished and stick at it (with occasional glances at the form guide) until midday or so. Then I’d have a bit of lunch. On a good day: left-over pizza. [Read more]
Know your tennis crowd
January 21, 2011 by 11 Comments
Melbourne is abuzz with the excitement of The Australian Open. Well. Sort of. Channel 7 tells us it is, and Channel 7 is abuzz with tennis, and hilariously funny gaffs which allow Todd Woodbridge to liken himself to S.K. Warne (Todd Woodbridge is like S.K. Warne the way Maggie Thatcher is like Juliet Binoche). Yes, [Read more]
Harms on footy commentators
John Harms measures the current crop of footy commentators according to the Sid Waddell scale. Check out his article from the Age, and return to leave your comment. Footy talk: too good to be scripted www.theage.com.au