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.
Flamboyance in goal umpiring; efficiency in junior team management.
June 3, 2011 by 10 Comments
by Jill Stoll Kurt has wanted to play in a ‘proper’ AFL team – “not Auskick, Mum!” – for the past year. We signed him on for the Under 9’s at our local club, the Everton Wolves, in Brisabne’s north, in March. Good decision. The first date for the ‘cubs’ was a ‘Meet the Pack’ [Read more]
The Record Records
June 2, 2011 by 5 Comments
Having read this article on the GFC website, I was compelled to delve into the record books. With my trusty deerstalker and magnifying glass, I was pleased to find that not only do Geelong famously hold the record for highest score in a VFL/AFL match, but they hold many other lesser known records. Here are [Read more]
Saints run the Heave Ho ragged
June 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
I was nervous but excited going into a Patersons stadium match with my beloved Saints taking on the loathed Dockers. I was skeptical about the fact Blake was starting in the ruck, McEvoy being an emergency, but then again the giant 7 foot Docker Sandilands was out with turf toe, an injury usually occurring in [Read more]
THE THERMOS IS EMPTY
June 2, 2011 by 8 Comments
After years of crisis, Saturday after Saturday of hoping, Fitzroy Football club finally died. For our mob it ended at the M.C.G with that game against Richmond. The last game on TV against Freemantle just didn’t seem real somehow. Almost 12 months on I still can’t believe that game couldn’t have been moved to Melbourne. [Read more]
One Hundred Years Ago: Round 5, 27th May, 1911
June 2, 2011 by 12 Comments
On the Friday evening prior to Round 5, a joint conference of VFL and VFA representatives had met to discuss the control of football in Victoria. They produced the startling recommendation that the two organisations should amalgamate into one controlling body, appointing a board with equal representation for both parties. This offered the prospect that [Read more]
Sat’dy arvo at the footy…
June 2, 2011 by 21 Comments
What a great Saturday of footy is in our backyard here in Melbourne this weekend – no excuses for not getting to enjoy a game somewhere in your region. Even the AFL has a suburban Saturday highlight with the real Western Derby taking place at Kardinia Park; although, despite it being an easy train trip [Read more]
The Final Game
June 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
If you could die peacefullyon a footy ground, where would it be? Centre circle, goal square, back pocket? And wouldn’t it be handy if there was a cemetery, with headstones a bit like goalposts, just behind the scoreboard? While visiting the Oakleigh ground this week Vin Maskell met an old Devils’ supporter. More details at [Read more]
Carrara daze
June 2, 2011 by 5 Comments
Saturday night. Gold Coast v Geelong. The Ablett match – for most. And yes, that is a key part of it. But for me, something has been forgotten: this is also the Carrara match. Footy is back at Carrara. And as weird as it might sound, on Saturday night I was feeling a little nostalgic [Read more]
Ranking Baseball’s Best Ballparks
June 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By NATE SILVER <http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/author/nate-silver/> I’m working on an article about the New York Mets — but that subject is perhaps too depressing for a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. The article, in any event, will focus on the Mets’ attendance and whether there are any signals that the club’s off-the-field problems <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/sports/baseball/mets-fred-wilpon-puts-his-fans-cap-on-and-speaks-his-mind.html?_r=1> have begun to hurt [Read more]
Round 11 midweek grab
June 2, 2011 by 3 Comments
We had dinner with Sara and Sophie last Sunday night; that was pleasant – these are fine women. Baked chicken and olives, lettuce wedges, a dessert of cooked apple, nuts and yoghurt. Red wine, green tea. A lovely night. May comes to a close – above average rain and the coldest sequence of autumn days [Read more]
Dave Nadel’s Dream Response
June 2, 2011 by 4 Comments
I prefer the idea of the existing comp divided into two geographical conferences. I have been arguing this for a while although the model I argued was based on sixteen teams which would have allowed for 22 rounds with each team playing members of their own conference twice and the other conference once. Twenty teams [Read more]
NackiLeaks Expose’ – John Harms Dream (Extended and Unauthorised Version)
June 2, 2011 by 3 Comments
DRAFT MEDIA RELEASE (Embargoed until after Geelong go through season undefeated) Mr John Harms, the newly appointed Marketing Director of the Competition formerly known as the AFL, took pleasure in announcing today that “a great Australian company in James Hardie Industries will become the League’s major corporate sponsor from 2012 onwards.” Mr Harms said that [Read more]
The 38 special
June 2, 2011 by 21 Comments
by Ben Birchall As a Blue Bagger, I’m sure I’m not alone in my…I’ll say it…love for Jeffy Garlett. Not only do I admire his flash, skill and tackling, I love the fact that he doesn’t look like he should be out there. It’s a fear that Brad Fisher shared in the small paper (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/jeff-garlett-didnt-look-for-trouble-it-found-him/story-e6frf9jf-1226034947318 [Read more]
Unfamiliar territory
June 1, 2011 by 2 Comments
There’s something strange in the footy air at the moment, and it’s not wet woollen jumpers left for too long in the sports bag. Like all Magpie fans I’m often accused of being one-eyed. Fair enough … I am. For the most part. I have to admit that over the years I’ve had a grudging [Read more]
The Bye
June 1, 2011 by 4 Comments
by Tony Robb As we approach to middle of the year I think it’s prudent to assess the success and failure of the league newcomer. The Bye. Coached by Adrian Anderson the new kids on the block have flown under the radar avoiding much of the scrutiny that is been applied to several coaches [Read more]
Recent Comments