It was raining hard on a mid-winter Tuesday night; the oval full of water and mud; everything well dark. The club had fallen hard. We were in what, D-division? Something involving knuckles and no hope. We’d won one game, they’d sacked the coach. Eight of us had bothered to show up. We milled around the [Read more]
The 21st Annual LADDER LADDER Competition
March 19, 2011 by 9 Comments
What the hell is a LADDER LADDER competition, I hear the uninitiated ask? Well it’s NOT the Tip The Top 8 comp. That is indeed another fine way to have fun with footy and you can find the details of that one right here. The LADDER LADDER Competition is simple: it’s a comp that requires [Read more]
Giga Bites 6 – Director’s Cut
March 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Below is an extended version of Giga Bites, which appeared in the Saturday Age on 12th March, 2011. Giga Bites Andrew Gigacz AN ELUSIVE MATCH-UP It may surprise some footy fans that, despite being two powerhouses of the AFL, last night’s NAB Cup Grand Final was only the second time in a hundred years that [Read more]
THE WELCOME BACK WRAP
March 18, 2011 by 10 Comments
For the Philosophical Marngrook Follower What an off-season it’s been in Footy Eddie. Lots of juicy stuff for the Yellow Press. The Fev, Chicken Lips Nixon & the now 17 year old chick, Bomber’s Betrayal, the return of The Culture Club, an Ashes Creaming, and on top of all that, we have a new Reigning [Read more]
In Pre Season, Speculation Springs Eternal
March 18, 2011 by 15 Comments
Conventional football wisdom appears to have undergone a major reversal in recent times. Not so long ago, it was a given that winning back-to-back flags was a task achievable by only the greatest teams. History still supports this view. Yet recently, every reigning premier begins the season lauded as a dynasty in waiting. Numerous are [Read more]
Almanac Racing: Moonee Valley, Caulfield
March 18, 2011 by 4 Comments
I’ve felt a bit sorry for Moonee Valley’s Fridays “under lights” this season with wretched weather blighting their chances of getting a sporting foothold. This is the last non-footy weekend, so it is to be hoped that the Alister Clark Stakes (3yr.olds, Gr2, 2040m) meeting gets a good crowd and the interest can then be [Read more]
Folking it up at Port Fairy
March 18, 2011 by 11 Comments
It might be called a Folk Festival but Port Fairy encompasses much, much more than that one genre. Our posse, mostly from the suburb of Preston, makes up five families of ten adults and eleven kids. In that mob, as many as 100 concerts are attended. In some instances, during the course of a day [Read more]
The ball is in dispute…
March 17, 2011 by 6 Comments
There is not a single holy grail of football; it is a different thing to each man. Some crave September silverware and the reflected glory of team success. Fathers dream of lacing up the first pair of boots on their offspring and watching them take the field. The purist, however, must one day embark on [Read more]
Essendon’s everlasting legends
March 17, 2011 by 1 Comment
There has never been a shortage of legends at Windy Hill. Dick Reynolds was announced Essendon’s greatest player of all time at a September function in 2002. King Dick was a four time premiership player, won Essendon’s best and fairest seven times and claimed three Brownlow Medals in a career that spanned some 320 games. [Read more]
In A-league of Its Own – Grand Final edition
March 17, 2011 by 7 Comments
Tom’s weekly outlook on the A-League Well, what a climax to an amazing A-League season. The Version 6 Grand Final last Sunday was one of the all time great games of domestic football in Australia. In front of a crowd of over 50,000 and many more watching from around Australia and the world, pre-match favourites [Read more]
The Age of Coaches
March 17, 2011 by 6 Comments
One of the beauties of Australian Rules Football, our game, is that it is a living thing. As much as some people yearn for the past, which is usually their youth, life changes, and football does too. Every decade or two a change in style or innovation has taken the game forward. Changes [Read more]
(Almost) no band envy at Golden Plains
March 16, 2011 by 13 Comments
by Andrew Fithall There is a phenomenon at multi-stage music festivals known as “band envy”. Similar to order envy at a restaurant, it arises when someone raves about a performance they have just witnessed when the choice you have just made was a little underwhelming. At Golden Plains, this phenomenon is less prevalent, the main [Read more]
Pre Season Cup – Animal Challenge
March 16, 2011 by 1 Comment
by Bill Walker’s taxi driver The big animals were playing the little animals in the annual pre-season challenge match. At half time the score was Big Animals 11 – 12 (78) Little Animals 0 – 0 (0) The Little Animals’ coach addressed his players at half time “We’re getting a flogging. We need to lift [Read more]
Footy kicking on in Coffs Harbour
March 15, 2011 by 5 Comments
by “Rocket” Rod Gillet The Sydney Swans defeated last year’s AFL runner-up St Kilda in a NAB Challenge match at the BCU Stadium in Coffs Harbour by 31 points last Saturday night. Almost 5000 attended the fixture on a unseasonably cool night on the north coast of NSW. One of those in attendance was my [Read more]
Black Caviar does a Thommo
March 15, 2011 by 10 Comments
Jeffrey Robert Thomson REF (the E stands for extremely, exceptionally etc) was able to propel a cricket ball at velocities that, on occasion, probably exceeded 160 km/h. At these kinetic energy levels, pink plastic cricket boxes designed to protect a batsman’s ability to procreate were unable to absorb the impulsive force of cricket ball on [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – The making of a Swannies fan
March 15, 2011 by 10 Comments
by David Butler I am the Sydney equivalent of a “Broadie Boy”, brought up amongst the factories and workshops of western Sydney. I spent the seventies negotiating the bland tarmac between brutal suburban Rugby League grounds. Belmore Oval, Leichhardt Oval, Redfern Oval and Cumberland Oval. I watched as the first scrum erupted, as always, with [Read more]
One for the ages
March 15, 2011 by 3 Comments
Brisbane Roar vs Central Coast Mariners 2-2 full time 4-2 on penalties Lang Park 13/3/2011 Crowd 50 128 By Hamish Townsend The problem with soccer in Australia is that it has no weight. Thousands of people like me love the game, but having wiped their ethnic history and any sense of tribalism it feels like [Read more]
ACT Comets – time to bring them back?
March 15, 2011 by 13 Comments
In a recent lecture [to a bunch of Knackers, and the world in general], Gideon Haigh said he believed we are witnessing the fourth major epoch in cricket as we know it. Each previous period instigated significant change to cricket. The first was when English cricket ‘died’ in 1882 and the Ashes cremated. The second was Bodyline [Read more]
John Button Oration
March 15, 2011 by 2 Comments
Button Oration to Highlight Founder of Australian Rules Football The Hon. John Button once said of the Geelong Cats, “The pain I can handle, it’s the hope that’s so tough!” Button’s passion for sport, Australian culture and history will be remembered at the inaugural Geelong Cats Sports Foundation Hon John Button Oration, to be held [Read more]
Crio’s Q: Keep The Faith
March 14, 2011 by 19 Comments
I somehow knew that the Brisbane Roar were still a chance. Even inside the last 5 minutes a neutral supporter, such as me, hung on to the unlikely. But it is not always so easy to “keep the faith”. How often have you ripped up a betting ticket, left in time-on or switched off the [Read more]
Recent Comments