I was beginning to think I’d lost almost all enthusiasm for Australian Football. Barely skimming the news, catching a few minutes of a game here and there, a near-unbridgeable four points off the leader in the tipping comp. It doesn’t help being a Swans fan. Early this season, they cost me a mobile phone; hurled [Read more]
A Fixturing Fix
August 12, 2011 by 2 Comments
It seems that lately the AFL draw has become public enemy number one. Apparently, a system that consistently delivers the best 8 teams of the season to the finals is deeply flawed because each side doesn’t play each other an equal number of times. On the face of it this is a logical argument. If [Read more]
Sal’s Tips: Round 21
August 12, 2011 by 4 Comments
Hello Again All, Again this week I found myself as a tormented soul. After agreeing with Jeff Kennett last week, I found myself this week agreeing with Mick on the widening gap between top and bottom teams. Fortunately order was restored with Kennett blowing out again with his patronising crap on Tasmania and more thought [Read more]
Kapunda to GWS
August 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
This week’s Football People piece by Rob McLean takes a look at how Kapunda boy Johnathan Giles is going in Greater Western Sydney. He also shares some of his memories of being a kid at Kapunda’s Dutton Park. http://www.countryfooty.com.au/FootballPeople.htm
From Windy Hill to the Western Oval, Maribyrnong & Moonee Valley
August 12, 2011 by 13 Comments
Saturday nights “derby” at Docklands Stadium will see the Dons path to September action hitting a bump in the road or the Dogs being mathematically eliminated from this seasons finals equation. Perusing the playing lists of the past 40 years I noticed a little traffic alongMt Alexander Road, past the Racecourse and ontoGeelong Roadresulting from [Read more]
The footy gods: Tyche
August 12, 2011 by 1 Comment
Tyche was the daughter of Zeus. She would spin a ball in her fingers to explain luck. The ball might bounce one way and you could win the game. Bounce the other way and you were gone. And all that planning and all that effort comes to nothing.
A Tale Of Two Presses
August 12, 2011 by 27 Comments
Allan Jeans believed football was a simple game – “We have the ball, they have the ball or the ball is in dispute.” Not so simple are the plans devised to meet that axiom. The biggest developments in on-field strategies in recent times have revolved around what to do when “they” have the ball.
Crio’s Racing: ‘Time Honoured” Spring
August 11, 2011 by 3 Comments
Peter Lawrence is a former Committeeman with the Melbourne Racing Club. Fawning to him, former colleagues have shafted legendary sports identity (and remaining link to the Williamstown Racing Club) J.J. Liston, renaming from 2010 a time-honoured “Spring”-board for WFA stardom. The horses, of course, know nothing of this blight and the owners and trainers still [Read more]
Adapted Fencing
August 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment
“Keep your guard up, with your arm out straight. Move the blade with your wrist,” My Dad said as he fixed my grip on the weapon. “En guarde, evut pre , alles vous en. “Quarte, Octave, Septime, Quinte.” I parried as he said the numbers corresponding to the positions but I was being pushed [Read more]
Footy grounds of yore
August 11, 2011 by 5 Comments
The older you get the more your mind drifts back to earlier times, not that they were all good, as some would have you make out, but when it comes to sport and football in particular, all the memories are good. Footy grounds, especially the eleven suburban grounds of the old VFL, bring back happy [Read more]
Fantasy and reality
August 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment
It’s easy to confuse fantasy with reality in sports. Three months ago even the thought that the Saints would be contenders for the finals – let alone a home final – was pure fantasy. Or that Justin Koschitzke would be a difference-maker. Now? Sometimes the line is clear. Dream Team is pure fantasy – pick [Read more]
The Forgotten Man
August 11, 2011 by 1 Comment
Following his ongoing battle with a mystery illness, the continued search for a midfielder and the recent emergence of Tom Cleverley, it would be easy for most people to forget about Darren Fletcher. On the eve of United’s defeat by Liverpool on March 6, the midfielder came down with a temperate and was subsequently named [Read more]
Old School Sports Medicine
August 11, 2011 by 2 Comments
John Mosig noted the delicate way the injured player (on left) was carted off. Much less ceremony than today.
One Hundred Years Ago: Round 15, 29th July, 1911
August 11, 2011 by 10 Comments
Any hope that St Kilda might resolve the internal conflict of the previous weekend soon dissipated as the following week unfolded. The committee stuck fast to their position in relation to withdrawing dressing room passes. At Tuesday training the players voted unanimously that ‘the indignity to which Messrs Eicke and Hogan had been subjected [Read more]
Haiku Bob Round 20: somewhere the moon
August 11, 2011 by 4 Comments
winter rain — the ball tossed between bodies of water somewhere the moon — Port players have trouble finding the ball soggy night — Blair uses his lack of height night rain — Collingwood players add to the glitter non-stop rain — a dyke erected across [Read more]
Something funny happened to me on the way home from Goodison Park
August 10, 2011 by 10 Comments
by Dave Goodwin Thatcher’s Britain. 1987. My first trip to the old dart, with my lovely young bride. A rite of passage. We were scheduled to drive from Oxford to Scotland. A diversion was needed and I had consulted the draw. A single ticket was procured – Everton v Manchester United at Goodison [Read more]
One Point
August 10, 2011 by 3 Comments
The Ressies had it in the bag. The mob we were playing had to beat us to take our spot in the finals, but didn’t. On a day forecast for rain, the clouds danced over the mountain without stopping to even look. Hell, it wasn’t weather, it was scenery. Under that, on the [Read more]
somewhere the moon
August 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
winter rain — the ball tossed between bodies of water somewhere the moon — Port players have trouble finding the ball soggy night — Blair uses his lack of height night rain — Collingwood players add to the glitter non-stop rain — a dyke erected across the half-back line [Read more]
A T20 match with relevance
August 10, 2011 by 3 Comments
by Brendan McArdle As a general rule the conservatives among us take a bit of convincing about the significance or otherwise of two T20 matches played immediately before a five match ODI series with three Test matches to follow. But without doubt the second of the Sri Lanka – Australia matches played on Monday was as exciting [Read more]
DA’s Clue of the Round (21)
August 10, 2011 by 4 Comments
Another diversion for the devotees: If OSTRICH = CHRIS SCOTT And BANTER = BRETT RATTEN Then what prominent players of 2011 (from four different clubs again) equal the words below? ALCHEMIST BARONETS CHAMPED SWATHE Solution to DA’s Clue of the Round (20): Mark LeCras (mark/clears/lacers) Visit David’s site at http://davidastle.com.
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