If you can get through the Good Friday doldrums – hint: Singapore races on TVN from 230pm! – the reward is a fantastic weekend of punting options. On this particular forum I shall ignore AFL and the furore surrounding the betting explosion, which, by any measure, has been immense and intrusive. And, though this page [Read more]
Half-watched
April 22, 2011 by 3 Comments
You know that game kids play when there is something spooky like a scary movie and you watch between your fingers because you kinda don’t want to watch and you kinda do. I half-watched St.Kilda half-play last night on the TV. It was the most reluctant I have ever been to watch a game. Gone [Read more]
My Friend Gary
April 22, 2011 by 17 Comments
Prep can be a tough gig when you have a thermos of fried rice rather than a Vegemite sandwich. Sure, I got a knowing nod from the Wong sisters, and the insatiable competitive beast that was Andrew Sun, who, even at the ripe old age of five, had the age-old Chinese tradition of comparison perfected. “My [Read more]
Stawell – The Hush
April 21, 2011 by 2 Comments
John’s story about Ken Trewick was a ripper and it brought to mind many happy memories of Stawell from a time long past. While Trewick’s story is, was and always will be part of the folklore of Stawell it made me think about the thousands of runners who, over the past 130 years or so, [Read more]
Sav Rocca – my childhood hero
April 21, 2011 by 8 Comments
Unable to sleep in bed at 2:30am is a good time for me to be having a nice scan of the sports section in the Herald Sun website. A familiar face catches my eye. It is the face of my childhood hero, Sav Rocca. Growing up and watching Collingwood, Sav was my everything. Being too [Read more]
The Pre-Wrap: Round V
April 21, 2011 by 4 Comments
FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN What a week it’s been in Footy Eddie. Lots of hype around the place. The Dawes ruling was one that caught our eye. Down at the old BGS – and remember, so dogged in defeat, that’s where they learn to play the game – they call that one ‘the look [Read more]
Saturday night footy
April 21, 2011 by 5 Comments
The years click over, but the leathery crack of a good pack mark still makes me horny. It’s only reserves now, but so what? They can hurt you, and try to hurt you, but don’t know how to be a bastard with their bodies when the ball’s in the air. I lead with my [Read more]
LET’S JUST CALL IT ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL, OR SOCCER FOR SHORT!
April 21, 2011 by 23 Comments
The final session of Gaelic football for kids in Abu Dhabi last Sunday involved a match against the parents at the British School – delicious irony in that given the history between the Irish and the English. But that’s another story. The kids call it “Gaelic”, but the parents call it football, after all, its [Read more]
Oakbank
April 21, 2011 by 12 Comments
By Chris Riordan In South Australia, people know how often they’ve “been to Oakbank”. For well over 130 years, generations have journeyed in to the Hills and been intoxicated by the magic that is nowadays promoted (debatably) as the biggest picnic race carnival in the world. The road there, formerly a winding trip across the [Read more]
Eagles soar a long way from home
April 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Sallese Gibson Online at http://sallesegibson.wordpress.com/ It’s February in Toronto – outside, it’s snowing and the temperature is sitting at a chilly -10 °C. But that doesn’t stop the Toronto Eagles. It’s pre-season training as usual, no matter the weather. While it may be a completely unknown concept to most locals, the Eagles are determined to [Read more]
Canberra Track Memories
April 20, 2011 by 2 Comments
One might assume that Canberra racehorse trainers somehow reflect the people themselves. Staid, comfortable, educated and well travelled. That assumption would be well wide of the mark. I have owned numerous horses over the past 10 or 12 years and been involved with numerous trainers. As in other parts of the country Canberra trainers are [Read more]
The beautiful game
April 20, 2011 by 16 Comments
By Ged McMahon Early in the week I scoffed when someone referred to soccer as “the beautiful game”. Soccer has just never grabbed me. My main beef is the constant diving and staging for free kicks. This is at severe odds to the “show no pain to the opposition” approach of Aussie Rules. Last weekend [Read more]
Haiku Bob Rd 4: last of the snow
April 20, 2011 by 3 Comments
It’s fair to say I’m a little confused. Not (just) because I’m on the other side of the world while my beloved Pies enjoy their most purple of purple of patches in living memory! As a haiku poet, I’m a captive of nature and the cycle of the seasons. It’s as it should be. Part [Read more]
SANFL Trumps AFL
April 20, 2011 by 7 Comments
I went to two? football matches in Adelaide on the weekend. One was great football and the other was Port Adelaide v Crows. Give me a SANFL game any time. Last Friday night at Norwood we witnessed not only a great game of football but football in all its glory. A crowd of over 8,000 [Read more]
KICK TO KICK
April 20, 2011 by 19 Comments
Let’s try and get to ten in a row without hitting the ground. OK! One. Two. Three. Use your opposite side. Guide the ball down with your left hand. Head over the ball. Better. Six. Seven. Take the ball in your hands. Nine. Ten. Good! Keep going! It’s Tuesday before Easter at Mum and Dad’s [Read more]
The Beginnings of Obsession
April 19, 2011 by 18 Comments
By Holly Fahey (almost 15) Yesterday I attended, along with Paul, Jacob and Joel, a Thommo’s Team 13 clinic in Brunswick Street. After much resentment towards going (“I’m too old”, “I do have a life you know, dad”) I decided on Sunday evening that I would go, just so I could get the signatures of [Read more]
Last recruit
April 19, 2011 by 1 Comment
It’s that time of the year in bush footy. No matter what the code, presidents and committees, sponsors and hangers-on, club men who have worked hard all summer are trying to put the finishing touches on their team lists. They’re selling hope.
Stawell Dreaming
April 19, 2011 by 13 Comments
Something is stirring. It might be because the leaves are fading to nothing in the trees, it might be the chill that greets me each morning as I open the front door and toss the tea leaves onto the camellias, or it might be something from within; something that won’t go away. About now the [Read more]
Off Season?? Game On!!
April 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Damn the torpedos and hoist the mainsail, I’ve got an idea. I know we should be gearing up for season proper, honing our Richmond jokes, Arelditing one eye shut and devising an app to decode Razor Ray Chamberlin, but think on this. I have enjoyed the off-season more than any self respecting football purist has [Read more]
Don’t worry Chappy, there’s no chance of that!
April 19, 2011 by 40 Comments
By Sasha Lennon I read this morning that Geelong star Paul Chapman says he’s still hurting from the 2008 Grand Final loss to Hawthorn, so much so that he has vowed “never again” will the Cats lose to the Hawks on that biggest of days. Well let me be the first one to offer you [Read more]
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