Floreat Pica Society: Pendles hangs on to win prestigious Horsburgh Medal

By Steve Fahey

gala festive occasion; festive gathering for sports

galah (slang) fool, simpleton, show-off

The fifth annual gathering of the Floreat Pica Society was again a gala/galah evening, with twenty-something Floreat Picans gathered to celebrate another year’s pleasure and pain watching the Pies and to count the votes after Round 17 for the prestigious Michael Horsburgh Medal.

Amid much banter, serious trade talk and frivolity, the formalities of the evening began with Tim leading a rousing rendition of Good Old Collingwood. Heaven knows how loud we will sing it should we ever be celebrating a flag.

Some Floreat Pica highlights were briefly noted, including :

  • Over 600 emails circulated during the season, of which :

F 400 made reference to one or more of Dick, Cox, Goldsack or Sidebottom

F 212 mentioned umpiring (with Paul H contributing approximately half of these !)

F 118 mentioned the coaching situation (thanks especially to TAFKATBM, Haiku Bob and Tim)

F 85 mentioned green tea (thanks Liam)

note –all stats are a figment of my imagination

§ A record number of writers, with Suzy, Rub and Mick Ramsdale making spectacular debuts

§ Liam (age 13) again being our youngest match report writer

§ The first incidence of a player being awarded votes in both the Horsburgh and the Danny Roach in the same game (thanks Medallion Club Mick and Tim, especially Tim !)

§ Great efforts by all, with special thanks to Haiku Bob for his weekly Pieku contribution and to John Ramsdale for collating the time capsules.

A straw poll of some topical issues followed with results being :

§ A strong majority don’t want Fev

§ Jolly is unanimously approved of

§ Jolly for Josh plus pick 14 was about 60/40

§ Jolly for Josh straight swap nearly unanimously approved of

§ Leon offered for suitable trade about 50/50

§ A small minority want Taz back

Each Floreat Pican then briefly mentioned their season highlight and lowlight with the finals win over the Crows and the Anzac Day loss being top of the pops in each category.

The all-important Horsburgh Medal voting then took place with the votes ushered in under strict security by our youngest members in attendance, Franki (aged 5 and Ned, turning 8 this Wednesday). Holly and Liam updated the leaderboard as the votes were read out by Craig “Golden Tonsils” Atherton (who channelled the nuances of Andrew Demetriou, Ross Oakley and especially Jack Hamilton), Horsburgh Medal first-timers Suzy and The Piesimist, and the experienced Phil.

In the closest finish yet, the runaway leader Pendles was pegged back by both his broken leg and Didak, Swan, Max and Heath Shaw. Pendles managed to hang on in a nail-biter, with none of the pursuers bothering the scorer in our Preliminary Final debacle, a bit symptomatic of the game really !! Pendles nominated Richard to receive his medal in his absence, just as Swanny did in 2008.

Final voting was :

19 – Pendles
17 – Swan, Didak

14 – Heath, Max

12 – Tarkyn
10 – Leon,

7 – Beams, O’Bree
5- Josh, Harry
3 – Jack, Presti, Wood, L Brown, Sidebottom

2 – Dick, Benny J
1 – The Mop, Medhurst, Travis, Toovs

Pendles joins Jimmy Clement, Bucks, Tarkyn and Swanny as the past winners. While the voting was again quite different from the difficult to follow system of the Copeland, an astute observer (Paul Fahey) noted that the top of our order was pretty much the order in the Brownlow voting, which was :

Scott Pendlebury 13
Alan Didak, Dane Swan 12
Leon Davis 10
Josh Fraser 6
*Heath Shaw, Dayne Beams 5
*Nick Maxwell, Tarkyn Lockyer 3
Travis Cloke 2
*John Anthony, Brad Dick, Paul Medhurst, Simon Prestigiacomo 1
.

The annual teams trivia quiz completed the formalities of the evening, with Stork, Paul Fahey, Kevin Ramsdale and myself preparing four questions each on a variety of themes, and some additional questions solely for the junior members in attendance. The quiz was a bit like an intra-club practice match – there was some competition, but no one bothered too much with the scores.

Thus another Horsburgh medal function is over and another season is over. Many thanks to all who contributed by performing tasks at the function, including Kevin Fahey, who took some photos which you will see soon.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed through the year. While ultimately the club was unsuccessful in its tilt at the flag, as usual, we had a pretty reasonable ride as supporters, and what else would you rather be doing than following the Pies.

As my brother Paul wrote after the Preliminary Final loss: “I love going to the footy with my sons decked out in their Collingwood gear and we will be there screaming in Round One next year!”

Indeed.

Floreat Pica

Steve

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