Is motor racing a sport?

John Harms asks the same old question that pops up each year at the North Fitzroy Arms: is motor racing a sport? http://tatts.com/news/2012/3/14/john-harms-on-the-australian-grand-prix

How to survive THE Malthouse

by Danni Eid “Mick Malthouse is very keen ….in your press conference assignment.” The above sentence that doesn’t seem to make sense isn’t a hidden message. Basically it’s all my brain had to take in before I went into meltdown mode. Mick Malthouse is keen to be interviewed by my class mates, by us, BY [Read more]

Politics, power and emotion in The Club

by Phil Dimitriadis Club politics do not always sit comfortably with the ideas of the coach and his methods of disciplining errant players. In The Club, prize recruit Geoff Hayward is a protected species according to President Ted Parker because he paid an extra ten thousand dollars out of his own pocket to ensure that [Read more]

Harry O, who do you think you are?

  by Jeff Dowsing It’s come to my attention there’s a growing band of footy fans out there hating on Collingwood’s Harry O’Brien.  And perhaps surprisingly, based on various fan forums, blogs and social media platforms, Magpie supporters count among the premiership player’s harshest critics.  I’d repeat the meatier nuggets of intelligentsia here but for [Read more]

50 years on – Square and Rochy resume the rivalry

  by Rod Gillett Last year the Golden Square Football Club went through the Bendigo Football League unbeaten to win the premiership. It matched the feat of the Rochester “Invincibles” who were premiers and champions in the same league in 1962. Rochy beat Golden Square in the grand final that year. Both clubs are understandably [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – NRL Round 2, 2012: Manly v Tigers

There is a saying of the Buddha that “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned”. It’s true. Ever since the Round 21, 2011 clash between Manly and Wests Tigers I have been unable to use my [Read more]

Almanac Rugby league – NRL Round 2, 2012: Gold Coast v Canberra

Building a side with locals juniors by Chris Parkinson It’s not always easy being a Raiders fan; it seems like a lifetime ago that the Green Machine was at the peak of their powers. Canberra was a different place back then, buses were painted in the team colours and school tuck shops served up lime [Read more]

Deeper Water

  by Andrew Starkie Growing up in the south-west, Labour Day weekend used to signal the end of summer.  The first icy rains and wind would sweep up from the Southern Ocean, turning the camping grounds at the Port Fairy Folk Festival into a sodden, bleak mess. This long weekend, Linda and I put the [Read more]

Corowa Cup 2012

  by Glen Davis Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny , a good start to the Labour Day weekend. Maryanne and I headed up the Hume to Corowa, in expectation of a good day at the Cup. Our last day at Corowa races on Saturday January 28 was good all round, with me in particular [Read more]

Choose your poision – the Top 8 Swedish style

  by Rob Scott The Swedish ice hockey (Elitserien) regular season came to a thrilling conclusion during the week as the top teams battled for places in the playoffs (slutspel) and the bottom teams tried to avoid relegation. Positions were so tight that almost every goal scored during the final round resulted in a change [Read more]

Ed Cowan on his Test summer

Ed Cowan on his summer of Test cricket. http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/555688.html    

Premier Cricket: Round 16 review

With the finals commencing next weekend, six of the eight teams that qualified for the post season suffered loses in the final Home and Away round for 2011/12. Here’s a look at Saturdays action. Having wrapped up the minor premiership last start, Carlton visited Toorak Park to face second placed Prahran in what could be [Read more]

NAB Cup 2012: North v Bulldogs in Ballarat

Water, water, everywhere. A fitting summation of what has become of the country town of Numurkah, my home town (sort of). In the past, when people would ask where you’re from, they would screw up their face and muse “Numur-what?” Now when we tell them, they know instantly that we’ve been living on an island, [Read more]

Welcome to the new Coach

With less than three weeks to go to the start of the football season, there are a number of new coaches anxiously counting the hours until Round 1. For some of them, this time will be one of either confidence that they have inherited a well-managed list with great potential, or a realisation that there’s [Read more]

The Dogs are Barking

The Dogs came out barking in this highly anticipated match. Talk earlier in the week focussed on whether Frank Pritchard was going to cop a suspension for his high shot on Penrith winger David Simmons. He got a week. Most of the betting agencies – if not all, had the Dragons as favourites to win [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Reunion Rugby League

By Pete Abela The last time I went to the footy with Robbo was on the 2nd of July, 1989. The match on that occasion was between South Sydney (who would go on to be minor premiers) and Penrith (who finished second that year, but bombed out of the semis). In those days, the Panthers [Read more]

crio’s Q?…strut your stuff

I’m in Adelaide. Cup Eve and just back from the Highway Inn. There’s been spirited discussion on all sorts of various topics and I’ve mostly kept my counsel. But there was one niggly moment. Eric Cantona’s famed scissor kick came up in discussion, prompting me to declare his body language as the most positive I’d [Read more]

Wollongong Surfer

Photo by Keiran Deck A perfect way to spend a long weekend.

New Zealand Trip Pt. 1

  Had my recent trip to New Zealand’s North Island been graphed on its intensity levels, it would have looked similar to the electrocardiogram of a healthy 21-year-old; high peaks and moderate troughs. This was fitting because the reason for our visit was to celebrate my 21st birthday. The sweet lung-lolly found in rural New [Read more]

What Makes a Good Pre-Season?

What makes a good game of the West Coast Eagles and the Saints in the last Pre-Season match? (Warning:  the following is very one-eyed)  Winning:  so much for that for St.Kilda, one win of the three rounder (note 34 degrees at night), a splosh around in the rain and floods, playing amongst ourselves at Wangaratta [Read more]