By Rob McLean There is something exhilarating about watching a sporting team winning against all expectations, particularly when it is your own. Central District went into yesterday’s top of the table SANFL clash at Elizabeth Oval undermanned and many observers expected the Bulldogs to concede top spot and possibly the minor premiership to a confident [Read more]
Aussies Ward off Sri Lanka
September 4, 2011 by 8 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz The inevitability of Australia taking the last five wickets and taking a 1-0 lead against Sri Lanka was delayed by several events. Firstly by another almost inevitable occurrence, morning rain in Galle, after just a few minutes of play. Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews had time only to take the [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Finals Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
September 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Come back to 1995 with me for a moment. The ARL expanded their competition by introducing four new teams – the Western Reds, the South Queensland Crushers (featuring the incomparable St John Ellis), the Auckland (subsequently New Zealand) Warriors and the North Queensland Cowboys. With my early childhood years split between Mackay and Brisbane, I [Read more]
Is this the season for the drought to end?
September 3, 2011 by 6 Comments
I’ve hit record button on Foxtel for the Cats v Swans game and headed off to Port Melbourne to see if my VFL side can win 18 on the trot and remain undefeated in the main season. Its been a while since I have not made the trip down Princes Highway for [Read more]
Day 3 at Galle; mixed metaphors at the G.
September 3, 2011 by 2 Comments
DAY THREE AT GALLE I often wonder what journalists do when there is no play. They sit and chat about yesterday’s play and so it was this morning. Strangely there is no music that Marvin Gay wrote about yesterday but the atmosphere is one of happiness which to me epitomises life in Galle. After [Read more]
Collingwood’s Loss is Australia’s Gain
September 3, 2011 by 7 Comments
“My fellow Australians, I speak to you tonight to announce that I will be standing down immediately as Prime Minister of this great country. Over the past year I have given my all to this country that I love so much, and that has given me so much. But I have to acknowledge that the [Read more]
Marvin Vaas survives day three
September 3, 2011 by 5 Comments
Sri Lanka v Australia First Test Day 3 by Marvin Vaas We’re finally becoming accustomed to the vehicular madness that is the A2 Galle-Colombo road. The journey to the ground hasn’t been without its considerable scares though. Across the road from the Galle market, hundreds gather on the beach wishing to purchase some fresh-off-the-boat Indian [Read more]
Round 24: Blog
September 3, 2011 by 63 Comments
So what to make of that effort? Or lack thereof. Lucky we’ve been assured there’s no such thing as tanking. It would have been more polite for the Pies to alert everyone (ala the Hawks) that they were taking all this Irrelevant Round stuff to heart. Might have saved people the effort of turning up. [Read more]
In praise of the Red Lions and varsity footy
September 2, 2011 by 8 Comments
The Red Lions play in two grand finals tomorrow following a brekkie where Derek Humphrey-Smith will be the guest speaker.
FIONA AND ME
September 2, 2011 by 3 Comments
There is nothing better than being in the right place at the right time and so it was for me today. Just before play as I wandered around the ground I stumbled across Fiona Copeland who was anxiously waiting for her son’s first appearance at the bowling crease for Australia. She introduced herself and we [Read more]
WHERE ARE THE TONY LOCKETTS?
September 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
Remember when Tony Lockett kicked his 1300th goal? There’s a video on Youtube. Watch him as he lines up the kick. One after another he performs the motions that comprise his routine. First he bends and rubs the grass with his right-hand. Both hands then straddle the balls’ laces as they hang, ape like, in [Read more]
Crio’s Racing: Craiglee Stakes
September 2, 2011 by 17 Comments
Craiglee Stakes was always a day to get to Flemington, scour the doubles charts and focus on the weeks ahead. Traditionally the minor round was over and so the rhythm of the footy season was broken. Footy and Netball clubs flirted on the lawns on end of season trips and the sun occasionally made an [Read more]
Sal’s Tips Round 24
September 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
What a great idea from the AFL to have a theme for the final round of footy – The Seinfeld Round – the round about nothing! Only two games that can vaguely shape the 8 in determining where Sydney and St Kilda wrestle and other games that might determine draft pick 15 and 16. The [Read more]
More from Marvin Vaas
September 2, 2011 by 19 Comments
Sri Lanka v Australia First Test Day 2 by Marvin Vaas As sporting grounds become increasingly sterile and homogenised, the Galle International Stadium remains one of world cricket’s gems. The fort and the Indian Ocean provide spectacular backdrops. Outside the ground at the pavilion end, chaos reigns. Dogs, the occasional cow or goat, tuk-tuks, cars, [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Hope is a glorious thing
September 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Strangely a game with no sense of ‘The Grudge’. This on the most hate-fuelled, bloodthirsty, full-mooned weekends in recent memory, some say in a decade, strangely with this match post ‘Battle of Brookie’ the only game without a ‘Let’s get it on’. As usual, New Zealand were referred to as the ‘Dark Horse’ of the [Read more]
Doco: the 1971 Grand Final.
September 1, 2011 by 8 Comments
Channel 9 (Sunday, Sep 4, 12 noon) is showing the first in the series of documentaries on Grand Finals – 1971. I have it on good authority that it is pretty well done. Interested to know where you were to watch that Grand Final, or whether you have seen it since. Impressions?
Lockett to Winmar
September 1, 2011 by 32 Comments
Winmar to Lockett. Lillee to Marsh. Just saying it sounds beaut. In footy, in my generation, it was “Winmar to Lockett!” Oh, yeah! Winmar. To. Locket. Just to hear those words again. Before my time it was Farmer to Goggin. We are all history, or soon will be. I would [Read more]
One Hundred Years Ago: Round 18, 2nd September, 1911
September 1, 2011 by 12 Comments
The scandals of the VFL in this period seem wild and woolly by today’s standards, but it must be said they don’t look out of place with the general conduct of Melbourne society at the time. Both state and city were in many ways still recovering from the most controversial period in their history, when [Read more]
I want my Mummy
September 1, 2011 by 13 Comments
I have a soft spot for the Swans. I’m sure many people do. My dad was a Bloods man, and his stories of Pratt and Skilton kept me spellbound as a youngster. They were my unofficial “second side”. It became official when they moved to Sydney. Purely on romantic terms, the Swans were, of all [Read more]
Country Footy People
September 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
This week’s Football People yarn takes a look at the ABC radio’s coverage of regional SA footy grand finals. http://www.countryfooty.com.au/FootballPeople.htm
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