By JJ Leahy Team sports, whether you play them or watch them, are all about tribalism – Country against Country, State against State, City Against City, District against District, Town Against Town, Suburb against Suburb, Village against Village, School against School, Club against Club, Us against Them. The Football Federation of Australia attempted to redefine [Read more]
The Sheffield Shield – A Faded Glory
October 13, 2011 by 4 Comments
by JJ Leahy Many years ago, there were summers when no visiting cricket team toured Australia and no Australian team ventured offshore. The Sheffield Shield was the pinnacle of the sporting summer. The Test players turned out for their sides including the greats Bradman, Miller, Grimmet, O’Reilly, Benaud, etc. Big crowds attended the matches, media coverage was extensive, [Read more]
Scanlens footy card week….AKA ‘The Trade Period’
October 12, 2011 by 7 Comments
by Rick Newbery Personally I find this part of The AFL Year an absolute bore. I wish I could just sleep through this week of bluff, bluster and bulldust, and somebody wakes me up when it’s over and tells me who my club picked up, who we lost and what draft picks (if any) [Read more]
Another piece of Chocolate Cake
October 12, 2011 by 13 Comments
My Friend The Chocolate Cake Venue: Newport Substation Friday, October 7. Review by Darren Dawson Almost since their inception, My Friend The Chocolate Cake have been favourites of my wife and I. We first saw the Cake at the Universal in Fitzroy in the early 90’s, a memorable occasion during which Archie Roach and the late [Read more]
Sometimes you get that old lost feeling…
October 12, 2011 by 1 Comment
by Andrew Stafford IT always feels worse in the morning. I’ve supported Collingwood all my life. It’s not my fault; Magpies supporters are generally born, not made. I’m a third-generation Collingwood supporter; my grandmother’s best friend was the sister of Frank Tuck. Uncle Frank, as he was known to my mother’s family at that [Read more]
For success, just add a dash
October 12, 2011 by 23 Comments
by Pete Edwards It was a pleasant day for June. The Cats’ form had been fluctuating wildly, and they were coming off a draw at home against Brisbane the week before. The game against the Bulldogs that afternoon was a must-win. To beat the rush, I got to Kardinia Park early to watch the [Read more]
Rodge and Tobe
October 11, 2011 by 5 Comments
Yesterday, on dusk, I found Rodge and Tobe sitting on Rodge’s ute, which was backed up to a pile of road gravel beside a gully hair pin. I pull in, sore and grotty from work. “Old Dog!” Rodge smiled, throwing his hands in the air. “What’s up, blokes?” ‘We were nicking some Shire gravel [Read more]
Ode to a Magpie
October 11, 2011 by 8 Comments
This anonymous poem was handed to my cousin John Scopas by an old Collingwood fan. He passed it on to me in the hope that it will get a run on the site and that we may yet find the author. I have cleaned up a fair bit of punctuation (written by a Collingwood [Read more]
So called experts
October 11, 2011 by 6 Comments
by Chris Riordan “That bloody David King”, began a typically irate SEN caller, “has no idea. He obviously hates Geelong. He never picked ‘em. He can’t be called an expert.” Who can? Another “King”, Tony “The King” Bourke, had plenty of disciples in his heyday as Chief Racing scribe at The Age. I once, [Read more]
21 straight – one perfect day, one perfect season.
October 10, 2011 by 2 Comments
When it disposed of its oldest and fiercest rival Williamstown by more than nine goals on Grand Final day, the Port Melbourne Football Club ended the longest pennant drought in the famous club’s history, a barren stretch dating back to 1982 when Gary Brice’s underdogs upset Ray Shaw’s heavily favoredPrestonto win the decider by 7 [Read more]
WE ARE GEELONG
October 10, 2011 by 2 Comments
In life we have some wonderful experiences that can be fleeting or last forever as in a marriage. My marriage to theGeelongfootball Club has lasted for well over 60 years. My other marriages in total have been over 50 years but still no telegram from BettyWindsor. Let me tell you about my last four [Read more]
I saw red
October 10, 2011 by 4 Comments
During a Cats home game towards the end of the 2001 season, I made a bold prediction that had the half dozen or so mates I was with laughing derisively. “Cameron Ling will captain the Cats one day.”
Post Season Pursuits: Extreme Gardening
October 10, 2011 by 3 Comments
With the enormity of the challenge in front of me, my summer sport of choice seemed like the wrong option. An hour in, and I was already questioning whether I had the commitment and strength of character to succeed in a pursuit endured by millions across the globe. I needed something to get me through [Read more]
The Rugby World Cup so far
October 10, 2011 by 1 Comment
Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool Matches : The Davids v The Goliaths by J J Leahy Only four nations have won the six Rugby World Cups held to date – South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. A fifth country, France, have played in two Grand Finals. These are “The Goliaths”. The remaining 14 countries [Read more]
2011 Grand Final: Anyone for Lacrosse?
October 10, 2011 by 5 Comments
“Oh. Is that all?” Helen wants some more to read. Monday morning. October 3. Helen and I have been for a walk along the foreshore – Scarborough to Trigg Beach. Perth. Western Australia. Our bodies and minds are still operating on Victorian time so when you wake at six o’clock in the morning, you may [Read more]
A physically, not mentally, sore loser.
October 10, 2011 by 6 Comments
A lot of things in life are often referred to as being a marathon; school, work, even life itself. In fact more than one scribe, in searching for padding for their requisite column inches, during Grand Final week, called the AFL season a Marathon. For the purposes of full disclosure, I’ll come straight out and [Read more]
Yellow wins in ten syllables
October 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Australia shrug South Africa out of the World Cup; then Woodville-West Torrens stop the Dogs five years deep in victory to snare an unlikely cup. Their thick-set ruckman wins the medal and, on stage, says: “We’ll never fucking forget this.” And we will never forget those words, the TV says, drier than salt in [Read more]
Love and Football I
October 9, 2011 by 10 Comments
The most goddamn fantastic thing I have seen in football happened in the Bay, where not enough good things happened. I was at war with most everybody at the time. But, this one nothing day, not hot or cold, a sky going nowhere, I had come into town for supplies. I was talking [Read more]
Its Eade time at Collingwood
October 9, 2011 by 18 Comments
I guess everyone has heard about the new addition to Collingwood, I personally beamed at headlines such as ‘Eade joins Magpies’- when did I ever leave?! However, the media were referring to ex-Bulldogs coach, now Collingwood’s new ‘director of coaching’- oooooohh fancy! Now I don’t know how other Collingwood supporters may feel about this, since [Read more]
On the Question of Sumich
October 9, 2011 by 5 Comments
‘Desperate and Dateless’ of Northern Tasmania writes: “Talk us through the Sumich defection. I would expect that would be the biggest thing to happen in WA since Bondy fell from grace. The rest of the football world’s equivalent of Barass going toCarlton. Surely you are able to enlighten us eastern infidels.” Well DD, we [Read more]
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