Two interesting WAFL pieces here from one of the Almanac’s men out west, Les Everett. First up, a summary of round two. http://australianrules.com.au/news/971/78/Royals-fly-home-and-fail-Bulldogs-get-there And second, a pre-season gimmick. The top 25 WAFL players over the past 25 years. http://australianrules.com.au/news/969/78/WAFL-top-25-over-the-past-25 It would be good to get other Almanackers’ thoughts on [Read more]
Footy’s home away from ‘drome
March 28, 2012 by 4 Comments
by Jeff Dowsing Since Roy Cazaly was a boy, a perennial issue facing football has been access to suitable venues to play and train. If it’s not a war between football and the local council, it’s a barney amongst the club’s pigskin punters and their ship of flannelled fools. The latest is the Kangaroos jettisoning the cricket club [Read more]
Ashes within reach as England lose their mojo
March 28, 2012 by 1 Comment
by Brendan McArdle The first two days’ play of the Test match in Galle between Sri Lanka and England have proven two things : England are a hopelessly incompetent team in the sub continent, and their hold on the title of no.1 Test team is very tenuous. Never mind the fact that England have bounced [Read more]
Hate for Essendon
March 28, 2012 by 14 Comments
by Josh Barnstable Hate is a very strong word. I try not to use it too much, but it doesn’t do itself justice when talking about the Essendon Football Club. As a North Melbourne supporter, I have grown up despising the red and black brothers. Older, richer and more successful brothers. In Grade 3, my [Read more]
The Danihers
March 28, 2012 by 4 Comments
by Rod Oaten It’s a long bow to draw the Port Fairy Folk Festival with the Essendon Football Club via the Danihers but seeing Anthony at the recent Festival, as I have for the last four or five years, sparked up the grey matter and the writing bug. I’ve been a regular at PFFF [Read more]
My experience with osteitis pubis
March 27, 2012 by 47 Comments
by Jackson Clark Osteitis pubis is one of the most frustrating injuries a young footballer can get. Commonly known as OP, the condition is inflammation of the pubic symphysis that leads to lower abdominal and pelvic pain. It severely drains a footballer’s power and kicking ability and creates a dull aching pain, which can sometimes [Read more]
Victorians giveth and Victorians taketh away
March 27, 2012 by 7 Comments
by Mark Simms As all seasoned footy fans know, one of the pleasures of the early season games lies in casting an eye over the new cattle at the club. Perhaps the summer has brought some bargain pick ups or even recruiting masterstrokes. This is particularly true in the Wafl these days, with so [Read more]
1980 – A Personal Footy Almanac
March 27, 2012 by 18 Comments
Round 1, Saturday 29 March v Hawthorn, Princes Park by Sam Steele I’m walking-running from the North Coburg tram through Princes Park towards the stadium that shares its name. Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, the No.1 hit at the time, is playing in my head (unassisted by any iPod, or even a Walkman). The [Read more]
Gawd – Walshy and Alf Gard
March 27, 2012 by 2 Comments
by Mark Schwerdt I wasn’t a huge racing person (although I went a bit in my late 70s Adelaide Uni days, and even saw Dulcify fly home on debut at Morphettville at the juicy odds of 330-1), but still remember Alf as the cranky old bugger who presented the day’s racing highlights on the ABC [Read more]
The footygods: Eileithyia
March 27, 2012 by 7 Comments
by Ian Latham Birth is a big thing. I’ve seen blokes cry talking about the birth of their kids. My wife did more than cry when giving birth to our kids. The ancient greeks had a goddess for birth called Eileithyia. She was also the goddess for labour pain, perhaps to show that you [Read more]
Crio’s Question: which individual can drag you to a contest?
March 27, 2012 by 10 Comments
by Chris Riordan News and Sport was silently on a TV in the corner. “I reckon I’ll go and watch a Storm game”, said Robbo, glancing up over a post-cricket drink. “D’ya like League?”,pestered a team-mate. “Nah…but Billy Slater’s on fire. He’s gotta be worth going to watch.” Sounds fair enough to me. We’ve had [Read more]
Why North Melbourne will win the premiership
March 27, 2012 by 4 Comments
THE OPTIMIST’S GUIDE TO SEASON 2012. PART TWELVE. By Alex Wadelton WHY NORTH MELBOURNE WILL WIN THE PREMIERSHIP Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner. Spirit, Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit… Shinboner Spirit. Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit? Shinboner Spirit Shinboner Spirit Shinboner [Read more]
Premier Cricket – Semi Final review
March 27, 2012 by 7 Comments
by Mic Rees Four teams entered the weekend’s action with premiership aspirations. Two remain “alive and kicking”, the other two bowing out in rather ignominious fashion. At Toorak Park Dandenong captain Darren Dempsey called correctly and sent Prahran in to bat, the opening pair of Stephen Seymour and Daniel Salpietro taking the score to [Read more]
AFL Media; footy’s vanilla slice
March 26, 2012 by 9 Comments
I always looked forward to coming home from school on Tuesday afternoons. It was the day Mum’s best friend would visit and invariably she’d leave behind a scrumptious little selection of cakes, or parts thereof. Ah, the cream bun was my favourite. The soft donut encasing cream and jam was the triple threat of bakery [Read more]
The View From Shepparton: Round 1 Pt. 1
March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
At last round one has started, and really I reckon that Greater Western Sydney were OK. Izzy has already received flack for not being up to it but despite my critical pre season comment, he might yet have something. It does appear though that they will have trouble getting a decent forward set [Read more]
Shaking off the giant pressure
March 26, 2012 by 2 Comments
The Sierra Madre is full of notoriously remote and lawless towns. A place where asking too many questions will only end in trouble and bemused shrugs from the locals afterwards. They’ve also never heard of Aussie Rules and certainly not the Sydney Swans. In other words the perfect bolt hole should tonight go drastically wrong. [Read more]
The Welcome Back Wrap
March 26, 2012 by 11 Comments
THE WELCOME BACK WRAP For the Philosophical Marngrook Follower Ciad Mile Failte. And what an off-season it’s been in Footy Eddie. The Bagginess has replaced the Sagginess in the grass coloured cloth beanie of The National Team. Although it must be said The Opposition appeared to have come out just for the left over pudding [Read more]
Big Day Not Out 2012
March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Inner Melbourne pub cricket has been a feature of the area since the 20th century, or at least the latter part of it. Various pubs play each other on Sundays, and some seriously, exciting cricket takes place. The culmination of the season is the Big Day Not Out, where the pubs compete to see who [Read more]
John K’s 2012 Footy Diary
March 26, 2012 by 1 Comment
Sunday, 25 March 2012 Round One, Week One 1. The season begins, oddly, with one game for the week – the Sydney derby between the Swans and the Giants. Matty Rendell goes down for a Thought Crime; Jim Stynes dies; Jason Akermanis says that Stynes was nasty on the field. He meant that as praise [Read more]
at the beginning….
March 26, 2012 by 4 Comments
I am ‘nobody’. I am ‘no one’ – and so’s my wife. We have been told daily for the past couple of years that ‘nobody’ wants the Giants; that ‘no one’ will go and watch. We have been told that in one of the largest, fastest growing, most diverse regions in Australia, that there is [Read more]
Recent Comments