As each club reviews its performance in 2011, there will be perceptions of success for those that have achieved more than expected, and recriminations for those that have not. A host of questions will be asked. Did we improve this year? Did we perform more consistently? Were we more competitive? Did we win as many [Read more]
A draw or a Fixture by John Sandy
September 8, 2011 by 4 Comments
Some months ago when stuck in a car with three kids on the road to nowhere I bored my wife by creating a couple of possible options for ‘the league’ to create a fair and transparent fixture draw that was based on a formula depending on where teams finished the previous season. A [Read more]
Recollections of a Memorable Debut
September 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Sometimes it’s the ordinary, mundane games that give us special memories. This is a story of two such matches, both Richmond v Sydney at the MCG, played 18 years apart. The first, on a blustery day in May 1993, was an awful spectacle. Both sides were rooted to the bottom of the ladder,Sydney in the [Read more]
ALMANAC RD24 SWANS V LIONS
September 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Let me introduce you to Bob. He is softly spoken, barracks for the Sydney Swans and most of the time is invisible (He has been known to take form in figurines, footballs and various other Swans memorabilia.) Dad, an old Bloods supporter, (and the whole side of his family) managed to get me to support [Read more]
DA’s Clue of the Round (25)
September 7, 2011 by 10 Comments
For all your puzzling requirements, visit David Astle at http://davidastle.com/. Here’s David’s footy clue for this week: If Joy, Ghost or Winona could serve as the comical nickname of Bombers’ Patrick RYDER (think about it for a moment), can you figure out these other imaginary nicknames? We’ve chosen one player from each of the competing [Read more]
Train to Kandy
September 7, 2011 by 1 Comment
by Bob Utber Forget about the cricket, the train trip from Colombo Fort to Kandy was worth its weight in chocolates. The British (as the locals call them) built the railway in the 1860’s as their route to the tea plantations that they were establishing. The engineering skills of the Brits can still be seen. [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Channelling Tricky
September 7, 2011 by 10 Comments
I was born into an Aussie Rules family and growing up on an aboriginal mission in central Australia I was totally unaware of the existence of Rugby League for the first ten years of my life. When I was in year three my parents went on a sojourn to Europe for three months and as [Read more]
I’m in one. Now to win it.
September 7, 2011 by 3 Comments
Earned a ticket to the big dance. Imperial Football Club sent four teams up to Mannum on a hot windy 27 degree day and each team earned themselves a ticket to the big dance at Meningie on 17 September. The Under 15s after having the week off did the job against Mypolonga and won [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – There’s always next year
September 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
“What we do tonight echoes in eternity” With those immortal words, the Gladiator Russell Crowe fired up his band of underdogs to bravely take on the might of the Romans. The Gladiator of course now owns the South Sydney Rabbitohs, who with a last premiership win way back in 1971 could be put in a [Read more]
Under the Southern Cross
September 7, 2011 by 5 Comments
by John Green Who would have thought it? Richmond playing September footy. Up the escalators from Southern Cross Station. It’s the annual Eureka game honouring the birth of Australian democracy on the Ballarat goldfields in 1854 and the contribution of Australia’s workers to the development of our nation. That’s the miners, not the soldiers [Read more]
Homeground
September 7, 2011 by 1 Comment
By Andrew Starkie In September, 1991, favourites Old Collegians Warriors lost the Warrnambool and District Football League Grand Final to the Merrivale Tigers. Earlier this year, the drink company, Gatorade approached media personality, Dave Hughes, to be the ‘face’ of their marketing campaign,’Gatorade Replay’, which offers amateur sporting teams the opportunity [Read more]
Footy Pictures by Jim Pavlidis and lunch with my mum
September 7, 2011 by 2 Comments
by Yvette Wroby I love meeting the real people at Almanac events after I have read their pieces or seen their art work. There’s a community of twisted, interesting people all linked by words and creativity. So I took my Mum on Saturday to Jim Pavlidis and his fourteen wonderful, iconoclastic masterpieces. I [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Making the Most of a Dead Rubber
September 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I met a couple of Canberra Raiders when I was in year one at school. It was a uniform free day and I happened to be wearing my Canberra Raiders jersey. Two up and coming Raiders players were visiting to promote Rugby League at the grass roots level. The players happened to be Ricky Stuart [Read more]
The true key to AFL premiership glory
September 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
What is the biggest guide to which club will achieve premiership success in the AFL this season? Most people would suggest winning form is the key. While those more superstitious might say that luck on the day is all that is needed? Well, it is neither of the above, nor is it anything else that [Read more]
Good signs in Galle. To be confirmed in Kandy?
September 6, 2011 by 5 Comments
The positive signs that were evident during the one-day series were on show again during last week’s morale-boosting Test win in Galle, and, despite the loss of Ricky Ponting, the Aussies will head into Thursday’s second Test in Kandy in buoyant spirits. Michael Clarke couldn’t have hoped for a better start to his permanent leadership campaign. His [Read more]
Doesn’t anyone know a Grand Final’s at stake?
September 6, 2011 by 2 Comments
For Tony Wilson and so many others, the resting of players in Round 24 had potentially dire consequences. Find out why by checking out Tony’s magnificent piece, “Doesn’t anyone know a Grand Final’s at stake?” on his website.
Football and music. Part I.
September 6, 2011 by 23 Comments
Tonight in Tassie, outside, the city streets were still with cold. Empty. Inside, sitting in the warm seaweed sway of a noisy Friday night pub, I was watching the footy on a small monitor above the wine fridge, while the band, behind me, did their thing. The football looked strange. A pocket of [Read more]
The best of 2011?
September 6, 2011 by 12 Comments
Well, folks. Here it is, the All Australian Squad for season 2011. Tell us who’s in that should be out and who’s out that should be in. And which of the 40 should make it to the final 22?
Something’s not right
September 6, 2011 by 47 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz Something’s not right. It can’t be. Not when supporters of the same footy team turn on each other. But so it was on Saturday afternoon when I joined my three mates for our regular day at a Bulldogs home game. It’s what we’ve always done; for years at Western Oval, [Read more]
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