By John Robotham The portents weren’t good. My seven-year-old daughter, Lucy, was conflicted – wearing a garish purple coat over her knee-length Rabbitohs jumper, circa 1999 – a look that amused many. As we joined the river of purple flowing down Batman Avenue she felt more self-conscious, pulling the coat tight around her. [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – NRL Finals 2012, Week 1: Melbourne v Souths – Rabbitohs in the lights
September for losers (reprise)
September is a non-event for those of us who rarely see AFL finals action. Unless we swallow our pride and follow someone else’s team. Always full of hope at the start of the season, we keep September free until the last minute just in case, resisting the urge to plan a weekend away an overseas [Read more]
Geelong Era at an End
2007 Coming off an horrific 2006 season, and with coach Mark Thompson given the last year of his contract to turn things around, Geelong launched an aggressive and ruthless campaign to win the flag and break a 44 year drought down at Kardinia Park. Characterised by daring, up-the-middle, play on at all costs, all [Read more]
Off Season Odyssey – Part 12: Aussie Humour
AUSSIE HUMOUR. “No tribal colours,” the bouncer tells me, holding his hand out. We both look at the North jumper I’m wearing. “It’s okay, he’s with the band,” Gav says. “I know the band,” the bouncer says. He’s from Warrnambool. So are the Monaros. Like the King and Queen are from England, and David Boon [Read more]
1980 A Personal Footy Almanac – Second Semi Final, Saturday 13 September, v Geelong, VFL Park
(For Geelong fans still licking their wounds from Saturday night…sorry, folks, I can’t help the timing of this piece…) A roar goes up as umpire John Sutcliffe signals a free kick in the Richmond forward line. In the tense early moments of a big semi-final, it’s pretty typical of the men in white to assert [Read more]
WAFL: Royals bow out, Sharks shape up
THE home teams won the WAFL semi-finals on Saturday setting up an interesting preliminary final at Bassendean Oval next Sunday.
AFL Finals Week 1: The View from Shepparton
I hope the tribunal throws the book at Chris Tarrant I love players that play the man and not the ball. I have had a sneaking respect for the Pies for most of the year but now hope that they get walloped.
Off Season Odyssey – Part 11: New Year’s Without Resolutions
Off Season Odyssey Pt11. New Year’s Without Resolutions. Princetown has a beaut oval. Round. Hard. There’s no team any more, no town. Just the reedy wetlands that is the last gasp of the Gellibrand River, where farmers, back in the day, paddled their milk downstream, on longboats, to the Saturday market. Just coastal [Read more]
AFL Finals Week 1 – Adelaide v Sydney: Behind Enemy Lines
The Crows fan did not seem happy to see me.
“You again” he growled before breaking into a wry smile. “Jesus I’d almost forgotten about today’s game. Then here you are again in that damn jumper reminding me all over.”
Almanac Footy History: Clegg’s Match
1949 Brownlow Medalist Ron Clegg played a match for South Melbourne in 1951 of such dominance that is still referred to as “Clegg’s Match”. Richard Davis reports.
AFL Finals Week 1: TV Ringside? Just Buddy and Taz
Nightclub veterans Tarrant and Franklin kicked off proceedings as the Hawks and Pies squared off on Friday Night. In moves reminiscent of TV Ringside, the AFL might look to this boxing as a form of pre-game entertainment.
crio’s Q: MRP shambles
Mark Fraser. Peter Carey. Paul Broderick. The MRP. “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”. Apparently there is widespread dissatisfaction (dismay/distrust) with the AFL’s Match Review Panel. It’s a soft target. Who’s got a solution?
AFL Finals – Week 1: The 2012 ‘Mopsy’ Fraser Cup
All power to the Funky Purps, this is their highest point, even better than when they made a prelim against Sydney, to beat the reigning premier on their home turf and knock ‘em out of the finals, it’s a great day for the Purps. Perhaps it’s their Great Day for 2012 and nothing else will come of it.
AFL Finals Week 1: The Finals Wrap
Hawthorn, Fremantle and West Coast were just bullies on the weekend, says The Wrapster.
AFL Finals Week 1 – West Coast Eagles v North Melbourne: Finals footy from the text book
North were humiliated.
North played scared, says Andrew Starkie. They melted when the game was hot. Once the goals started at the other end, they folded. Except for Swallow and Jack.
Finals post-mortem: Condolences for John Harms
All condolence messages for John Harms and other supporters of Geelong and the North Melbourne Football Club can be left here. We trust you will be sensitive at this time, particularly you Collingwood supporters. Harms hopes to recover enough to put pen to paper soon.
A Grandfather’s Legacy
By Georgia Blom As you walk through the bronze gates of the stadium which I call my second home, with my second family and those who have one thing in common with you. The smell of hot pies, chips and a warm drink is something that every football fan understands, weather you live in Melbourne [Read more]
The Footygods: the Algea
The Footygods must have enjoyed Saturday. Adelaide and Geelong thought they just had to turn up to win. A mate of mine from Adelaide said that most people there thought that the cup was in the bag. The crows had stormed home to second. They had beaten the swans early and others had beaten them [Read more]
Howzat
Gideon Haigh will revisit World Series Cricket in a talk at the State Library tomorrow night. We revisit his article on the Supertest held at Waverley Park originally posted last month.











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