It was my old man that infected me with a love of the Geelong Football Club. A childhood decade watching Gary Ablett Snr every weekend would probably conform most any young lad to the club. The old man loved the Cats – he loved them until he could love them no more. After a third [Read more]
Hallelujah, what a Season!
June 5, 2012 by 1 Comment
The Cats are my first (footy) love. And my second and third. But aside from parochialism and loyalty, I just love football. I love a good game. I love the skill and the passion and the determination and desperation. I’ve been blessed, after the 44 years of wandering in the wilderness to see the Cats [Read more]
Tasmanian launch – 2011 Footy Almanac
June 5, 2012 by 13 Comments
Local legend Max Brown chats with John Harms at the Wynyard footy club rooms. Dips and Pamela Sherpa selling truck loads of books to the Wynyard crowd. The Alamanac touring party at the local footy oval. Wynyard gets up – and didn’t they need the win.
The View From Shepparton – Round 10
June 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
James Polkinghorne, (James Polkinghorne?, yes well I had never heard of him either), you bloody ripper. Forget Buddy’s 13, forget Melbourne getting over Essendon, forget the Richmond St Kilda epic…… Well OK I’ll grant that that is asking for an awful lot of forgetfulness but all the same that goal which I am sure was [Read more]
The Baby Blues
June 4, 2012 by 15 Comments
Da da da da daa, da da da da daa. They are the Baby Blues, They are the old light baby Blues. People bag Eddie and the Essendon leadership because The Pies and The Bombers won’t wear ridiculous “Away” strips. But they turn up at all their matches looking like Collingwood and Essendon (even when [Read more]
Blame it on the Train
June 3, 2012 by 3 Comments
Like most footballing folk, I was captivated by Friday night’s game between the Tiges and Saints. Again, like most people I spoke to, I had tipped St Kilda. However as the game went on I became caught up in the rollicking juggernaut of fervour that the Richmond fans were generating. As the final siren sounded, [Read more]
Ovens and Murray down Hampden League in VCFL Inter League clash
June 3, 2012 by 10 Comments
The Victorian Country Football Championships made their way to Carlton’s Visy Park last Sunday where the fifth ranked Ovens and Murray League took on the sixth ranked Hampden League. With the unfortunate aspect of both teams having to travel to meet each other around half-way fans of both sides could be excused for not turning [Read more]
crio’s Q?
June 3, 2012 by 6 Comments
Do team playing styles reflect their coach’s personality or is that too simplistic? Lyon considered, perhaps boring Sanderson capable, innovative.Ultimately effective. Blighty enigmatic. Leigh Matthews indomitable. A winner.
Do we have the greatest game of all?
June 1, 2012 by 5 Comments
Dear Fellow Football Fans, I need your help. The game of Australian Rules football, and in particular, the AFL, has changed dramatically over the last two and a half decades. At the end of the 1986 season the Christopher Skase owned Seven Network purchased the rights to broadcast the VFL for just $6 million. Many [Read more]
Perry Ultimatum
June 1, 2012 by 5 Comments
The very vocal ultimatum given to Ellyse Perry by her W-League club, Canberra United, will stir-up the lefties’ free-will fibres. Still, it’s a necessary decision for the respectability of Women’s sport. Ellyse Perry, Australian fast bowler. Photo: canberratimes.com.au Ellyse Perry has been a popular media phenom since she made the Australian sides for both soccer [Read more]
Hawthorn: the myth is solidified
June 1, 2012 by 1 Comment
This is the second in a multi-part series on the building of the current Hawthorn team. To see part one go to: http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=38530 As the 2002 season dawned there was a lot of optimism from Hawthorn fans, still bitter over the loss of Croad the fan base still reasoned, with some justification, that he was [Read more]
Migrants and Footy Excerpts
May 31, 2012 by 4 Comments
Phil Dimitriadis The stories have started to come in for the upcoming book about migrants and footy. Today we feature passages from Peter Zitterschlager and Roy Hay. Peter’s background is a mix of German, Slovenian and Footscratian while Roy hails from Scotland and has ties with soccer royalty in the old country, while supporting Geelong [Read more]
Writing Frank
May 30, 2012 by 3 Comments
By Nancy Sugarman The only sound on the phone was from Frank. A long whistling sigh, like someone expiring. I didn’t know what to say. He cried softly when he told me. Not sobbing, [Read more]
Aussie Rules in the home of American Heroics
May 30, 2012 by 3 Comments
USAFL Philadelphia Tournament Women’s match: Boston/Montreal vs New York/Baltimore/Ontario Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park Saturday May 19 If the city of Philadelphia were an AFL team, I guess it would have to be Fremantle. Philly’s an easy place to like, an unpretentious hybrid of blue-collar and bohemian that spurns efforts to get too slick, prefering to [Read more]
Job opportunities with AFL NT
May 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Tavis Perry of the AFL NT says there are some terrific opporunities available in the organisation, including his former job as a Regional Development Manager based at Elcho Island; a remote location based 500km east of Darwin where one of the biggest Indigenous communities in Australia, Galiwinku, is situated (read an account of it here). [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Redemption Rugby League
May 28, 2012 by 2 Comments
The last time Penrith played Manly they lost 30-0 and I wrote what may have been the shortest match report in Footy Almanac history. Fast forward a few weeks and things aren’t looking much better for the Panthers. Only the eels are keeping them out of the wooden spoon position and it seems as if [Read more]
Pies and Zen rule
May 27, 2012 by 1 Comment
famous a celebrated (for quality etc.) ; well known ; (colloq.) excellent I had a very unusual pre-game routine for our blockbuster against the Crows. I attended a silent retreat for the day as part of a mindfulness meditation course I am undertaking. How does this have any relevance to the game? Well, limited, but [Read more]
crio’s Q: Sporting careers cut short?
May 27, 2012 by 24 Comments
Lenny Hayes played a milestone game this weekend. He is a linchpin in the side. One of the most highly regarded players in the AFL. He’s also just back from a second re-co. I remember my old man saying that he did a cartilage and that was it. Some blokes are doomed. Others make incredible [Read more]
Saint Lenny of St Kilda
May 25, 2012 by 15 Comments
Sports of All Sorts
May 21, 2012 by 10 Comments
Sports of all sorts By Anastasia Dimitriadis Grade 6 As a little child, sport has always and still [Read more]
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