Happy New Year

Just a short note to wish everyone the very best for 2013 (and to let you know that in the few hours since midnight, despite extensive searching, I have been unable to find a single reason why Geelong won’t win the 2013 flag).

I trust the Christmas-New Year week has been an enjoyable one for everyone, as it has been in the Harms family. We gathered for the traditional Harms Christmas lunch in Hamilton (Victoria) where one of the highlights was the bowling machine purchased by Uncle Mick, ostensibly for his two primary school age kids but, if the truth be known, for himself. It provided some additional magic memories of a day when the weather was pure – 24 degrees and still – and the food and wine were just brilliant (butterfly lamb on the barbie, 1996 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz, 1999 Tyrrell’s Hunter Shiraz). Late-afternoon slips practice (using the bowling machine) was worth the price of admission.

No doubt these scenes were replicated in households and their yards across the nation. How I love the quarter-acre block!

Thanks to everyone – all the contributors and readers – who’ve been part of the Almanac during 2012. There is never a dull moment. Your enthusiasm has kept the website lively and entertaining, with a great variety of yarns. And the comments are always worth a read themselves.

Thanks go to Stephen Cooke for his role as website jack-of-all-trades. Cookie has given the site terrific direction. And to Phil Dimitriadis for his general involvement, but specifically his role with the Junior Almanac.

Much goes on behind the scenes and the Almanac is well-served by James Demetrie of Diskman. James has done a terrific job with the day-to-day IT demands, having built on the fine work of the team from Hap Hannan’s Friday Media. James is also helping us to establish simple and convenient processes by which our books, and publications by our contributors, are available for purchase through our website. (Spread the word)

Dips O’Donnell ensures we are careful with our spending and is working on tricks involving five loaves and two fishes (as we speak). More on that next month.

There will be a number of changes to the way things happen this year – minor tweaking more than anything else.

The principal change is this:

We will commission 18 writers per AFL round for the 2013 season. One for each club. These 18 pieces will be published on the website as soon as they are submitted – and we will be encouraging writers to submit them within 24 hours of the completion of the match.

So every fan will have their team’s match covered from the one-eyed perspective of a tribe-member. Of course, we hope that we get more pieces than two per game – that is one of the elements of the site which gives it such diversity and originality. No doubt we will: we have too many souls who can’t resist the pull of the keyboard after Tom Hawkins has kicked an after-the-siren goal against, well, anyone.

More on the processes once we’re all back at the desk and in the swing of things.

There’s a few other things happening as well.

In the meantime, enjoy the darts, and then the cricket, and the tennis, and I’ll see you in the waves at Mooloolaba.

Happy New Year,

JTH

 

 

About John Harms

JTH is a writer, publisher, speaker, historian. He is publisher and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au. He has written columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, Play On, The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story and Life As I Know It (with Michelle Payne). He appears (appeared?) on ABCTV's Offsiders. He can be contacted [email protected] He is married to The Handicapper and has three school-age kids - Theo, Anna, Evie. He might not be the worst putter in the world but he's in the worst four. His ambition was to lunch for Australia but it clashed with his other ambition - to shoot his age.

Comments

  1. Happy New year to you too John & the Almanac team – and to all the other Nackers who help make sport come to life beyond the field of play.

    And I see you’ve put in an early claim for the K.Rudd Trophy for Delusional Excellence Harmsie. (The Krudd would be only too happy to present it to another Queenslander) But allow me do de-delusion you. This is the year of Coach Hardnose’s Dirty Dozen. You just watch what Chokko does with those trouble rejects. And remember, you read it here first in The Almanac.

  2. Peter Schumacher says

    The Lions will win of course!

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