The best kick in the Riverland

  by Rob McLean This week in Football People, we take a look at the best kick in the Riverland, plus the Roo returns. http://www.countryfooty.com.au/FootballPeople.htm

backing into the swell

taking my lead from fellow floreat pican andrea mcnamara this week. i too was ‘by the sea’ for this game. actually, it was a lake – and we were in the middle of it. on an island about 3 hours north of stockholm called örjung. beautiful, peaceful place with classic swedish scenery – water, forest, [Read more]

Sat’dy footy 30 July 2011

  by Chris Riordan As a (much) younger teacher I used to play in some staff v student footy games. We had a fairly fit, active team and, with the Principal umpiring to our interests, scores were often settled. The kids wore the school jumper and we were “others”. One time I wedged in to [Read more]

Cadel est de deux ans de retard! (Cadel is two years late!)

    by David Downer   The honeymoon was over. Literally. Well, almost. Just a single day remained on our post-wedding European jaunt. A stunningly blue Summer’s day on the Champs-Elysees would provide the final chapter. Yeah, there were worse places to be.

Feeling Greek

Some people in Australia think that I am Greek. (Ted Egan thinks I am George Megalogenis…I wish) And now that I have a son called Theo they really think I’m Greek. I look Greek. In Greece, when people asked me (more than once), “Where are you from?” I would say, “Australia.” They would say, “When [Read more]

Short Sentence for Collingwood Supporter

  ‘Carlton… Essendon,’ said the big fella – he doesn’t talk in sentences yet after a big brain bleed left him with aphasia twelve months ago. ‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘Probably go, depends on the weather.’ ‘Carlton… Essendon,’ he repeated, ‘you, me.’ I suddenly twigged. He was offering to take me. Big gesture for a Collingwood [Read more]

Something happened down at Geelong on the way to the 2011 season

by Pete Edwards   It is well documented that this year was supposed to be the beginning of the end for the Cats, with analysts pointing to an ageing list, a passé style of football, and a couple of key defections. And given the shaky form they have shown in recent weeks, it still may [Read more]

Geelong West, a team you can’t resist

  by Glen Davis What’s the name of the team, many Almanackers might say, especially the younger ones. Geelong West Football Club as we knew it  is no more, amalgamating with St Peters in 1988. But prior to that they had strong, proud history. They won 25 Geelong District Football Association (GDFA) premierships, four Ballarat [Read more]

CYMS seniors slip to fourth

by Dene Macleod For a review of Saturday’s Senior match, plus all the latest club news, head to: http://www.williamstowncyms.com.au/football/?page_id=3826   The Seniors dropped to fourth following a 21 point loss to Peninsula in a game that had everything: it’s worth clicking on the link above to read Bill Deller’s review. Undefeated Banyule await at the [Read more]

Football’s Not Everything

    Murder was a talented kid, and trouble. A ratbag, a thief. Chockers with personality. I wasn’t wide-eyed, but I liked him a lot, anyway. Maybe because when I was a kid I was a bit of trouble. Maybe just because.   There doesn’t always have to be a reason.   He could play [Read more]

Neil Craig Resigns

Neil Craig has just announced his resignation as coach of Adelaide. He will take a leave of absence for an indefinite period before discussing any ongoing role at the club. Mark Bickley will fill in as caretaker until season’s end. Full details from the Crows website here. What do our South Australian Almanackers think? And [Read more]

The Footygods: Heracles

Heracles was strong, skilled and courageous. He shaved his head. But he had a temper and a woman sent him mad until he did some terrible, terrible things. The gods sent him away to see if he could save himself and he did. He killed the man eating birds and did all that had been [Read more]

Footy by the sea

In the lead-up to Thursday’s team being announced, we’d flagged a few players to be rested for the Gold Coast game. Not because we don’t respect the opposition, more because we do – so many connections with Collingwood in that team, you wouldn’t want to demoralise them by beating them by a record-winning margin. So [Read more]

Lorne Footy Club: Mind the Water

Lorne’s Stribling Reserve would have to be one of the most spectacular sporting arenas in Australia.  Standing high on the western side of the oval you overlook Louttit Bay and the Southern Ocean. But this has not always been the home ground for the Lorne Football and Netball clubs known as the Dolphins and the [Read more]

Cadel Evans victory: best Australian sporting achievement ever?

I don’t particularly like comparisons – they’re a bit of fun, but they don’t mean much. In the realm of sporting achievements so many achievements have merit and I reckon it’s better to appreciate all of them for what the are. There are many ways to become the subject of a trivia question – you [Read more]

Football Clubs in New South Wales

By Miles Wilks The most important aim with this book is to give some positive press to footy clubs in New South Wales. Few people (I would think) would realise that as many as 400 players have been recruited from NSW to the VFL/AFL. It was surprising for me anyway when I was researching the VFL/AFL archives and [Read more]

Crio’s Q: Sporting partnerships

Tiger’s split from long time caddy Steve Williams ends a long and incredibly successful partnership. Most of our images of Woods have his bagman somewhere in the frame – he became NZ’s most successful sportsman! Great partnerships live long in the memory… Barry Price to Peter McKenna. Angelo Dundee and Muhammad Ali. Graeme Wood and [Read more]

Oh Glorious Night

After sitting through the Carlton v Magpies game last Saturday, and been driven mad by opposition (Collingwood) supporters, I entered last night’s game Carlton v Essendon still cranky. I could not get over how much the Magpie supporters believe the ball is their right. They have manipulated the media (say no more) and the government [Read more]

Thriving on pain

They. Are. Freaks! Most all of them! I only started watching because of sleep problems. In the midnight, in the bush. And then I was interested, and then I was hooked. The cyclists of the Tour de France rolled and whirled across and up my telly every night. They pushed through pain, they went past [Read more]

A Heavenly Forum

Oppy and Mocky were chesting the bar, Looking down on the Tour from a heavenly star, “Doesn’t seem fair we’ve all fought so long, The Champs Elysee needs an Aussie Fair song.”   But things just don’t happen from man’s good intention, Just a small touch of luck – some divine intervention, So they called [Read more]