by Jonathan Rivett I won’t use “roller coaster”. I refuse to flog that dead-horse metaphor. It’s not that it’s a fatally flawed analogy – if you think of the roller coaster car as your emotions and then make the track the experience in question, it works reasonably well. It’s also not that it’s been monumentally [Read more]
Oh Cyril
June 6, 2011 by 13 Comments
As a Hawthorn supporter who owns and still listens to every Australian Crawl album, I love it every time Cyril Rioli kicks a goal and the Hawks supporters break into song with “Oh Cyril, I would do anything just to be like him”. It’s a tongue-in-cheek take on the classic song Errol from 1981’s Sirocco, [Read more]
The Replay Replay
June 6, 2011 by 2 Comments
Rematch – noun a second match between teams, challengers, etc.; return match. or Replay – noun a repetition, recurrence, or re-enactment. Saturday June 4th, the 2010 Grand Final Replay Replay. No, it’s not an Albert E. Arkwright stutter from Open All Hours, this “Replay Replay” business is serious! For years the media have pumped up the first [Read more]
Blues Overcome Sunday Twilight Zone
June 6, 2011 by 16 Comments
I’ve always struggled to get into the Sunday evening twilight fixture. It feels too much like that final slot on a music festival bill, after the headliners have played. Most people have already moved on. The main action is past. It’s just a consolation for those who don’t want to go home yet. I attended [Read more]
Almanac Cycling: Tour de Bush – and other places
June 5, 2011 by 3 Comments
The Tour de France is an event I look forward to every year. I adore the stunning scenery and it reminds me of the true joy of bike riding. Freedom and fresh air. It was one of my favourite childhood pastimes when growing up in country Victoria. Glorious independence on two wheels. I rode my [Read more]
Preparing (again) for the Big Blow
June 5, 2011 by 2 Comments
by Joseph Walker I’m walking through the gates at school anxious and ready for the Big Blow. It’s two days after the Grand Final Replay, and I’m a Saints supporter. First comes Callum. He’s one of my best mates and a die-hard Magpie. Behind him are Stefan and Liam. They’re also really good friends of mine [Read more]
Other than football…
June 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, on Saturday 4th June, I joined a friend from the budding Glen Eira Artists Society at a stall in Carnegie. It was part of the support provided by friends and colleagues and community to the artist Anthony Breslin. Several years ago, Anthony used his life savings and substantial borrowings to buy an old church. [Read more]
Big Numbers Favour the Dees
June 5, 2011 by 2 Comments
So it’s The Dons v The Dees at the G. It’s got a good ring about it, and I’m looking forward to a great game of footy. A couple of things have me slightly disturbed, it’s a night game which I’m not overly excited about and Essendon are coming off a rest weekend. Luckily it’s [Read more]
Cats play in the winter sun
June 5, 2011 by 24 Comments
The phone rings on Saturday morning. J. Dunne is in good spirits, enjoying the Barwon Heads sunshine, on a perfect winter’s day. He’s thinking footy (which usually means he’s considering backing the opponent) and wondering what my footy-plan is. I am slogging away at the desk, resisting the temptation to be reading the form guide. [Read more]
Confident Pies cause bootyshake syndrome
June 5, 2011 by 6 Comments
For those of you who were looking forward to a match report by yours truly on the Pies vs Saints game i do sincerely apologise. As the season flowed it was said the threat to Collingwood would be the Eagles- well, we beat them. Then people said no, the Saints are still the worst threat to [Read more]
Hot Chocolate and Cold Bombers
June 4, 2011 by 8 Comments
Recently, three year 11’s and myself started a business. It was called Choc&Chops, we sold hot chocolate and hot chips to the rest of the school at lunchtime (the ‘chops’ is a dig at the New Zealand accent). This was THE assessment task for Business Management unit 1. The four of us had to venture [Read more]
The Beatification of Saint Sandra: The Father/Son mule.
June 4, 2011 by 1 Comment
The night before the 1990 Grand Final I was a ticketless 14 year-old in an adequate hotel room in Dubbo. This is how near perfect father/son moments happen.
Crio’s Racing: AUSTRALIAN HURDLE AND STEEPLE MEETING 2011
June 3, 2011 by 6 Comments
Here’s what’ll happen. It did last year: A mini-bus will pull up just as I am getting to the gates and out will tumble a small and motley group with rag-tag placards. They’ll wait for the pre-arranged TV camera and then froth at the lens like so many others who somehow yearn to be on [Read more]
An open letter to Tom Hawkins
June 3, 2011 by 4 Comments
Dear Tom, As a Geelong supporter who hasn’t played a game of football since primary school and thought that Henry Playfair could gave been anything, I think I am highly qualified to give advice to you on how to get the best out of yourself on a football field. When you burst onto the scene [Read more]
When Greg Met the Butcher
June 3, 2011 by 2 Comments
A Football Fable (Colours and clubs have been changed to protect the colours and clubs) I Footballers up and back through the Wimmera Knew well the name Greg Trotter His number sixteen and his muscular arms Strung tight like a horse’s hindquarter They cowardly stepped away When they saw that number they knew But men [Read more]
Round 11 Blog
June 3, 2011 by 13 Comments
Another big week in football knackers! (oops, that’s probably already copyrighted). Melbourne get the opportunity to wear a few bruises against Essendon tonight. A real test of Tony Robb’s bye theory. The Bulldogs travel down to Catland with their expectations lower than at any time in recent years. Is this the opportunity for a surprise? [Read more]
NMFC 1871: Just for recreation’s sake
June 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Reverend Shinboner goes back through the annals of North Melbourne Football Club’s history, reliving one season from each decade, starting with 1871. The club was just about to embark on their third winter of football. The suburb: North Melbourne, known as Hotham at the time, was a largely industrial suburb with some 13,500 residents, significantly more than [Read more]
Sunday Sessions
June 3, 2011 by 5 Comments
Sunday Sesh’s are the best. There’s something lazy about them. Sloppy. All the gloss and polish of game day and Sat night has been belted off. We’re in a new player’s shed, in town, eating deer on a spit, either drinking slow, easy and constant, or going the hack. The Swans are playing the Hawks [Read more]
Pandora’s box opened?
June 3, 2011 by 5 Comments
Anyone who’s read any of my articles on footy almanac would’ve realized how much males love playing AFL on Elcho Island. Basically the only community on Elcho Island (Galiwinku) is home to 2,200 individuals, yet the senior competition has 9 teams and over 350 participants! Last weekend the senior Grand Final was played in front [Read more]
Tigers see the light
June 3, 2011 by 5 Comments
Nestled in Victoria’s high country about a one-and-a-half hour drive north of Melbourne is the town of Yea.It wasoriginally known as Muddy Creek settlement after the Yea River which was called Muddy Creek until 1878. The town was named after a Colonel Lacy Yea who was killed in the Crimean War.
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