It’s all about presentation, isn’t it? Ignoring the deplorable state of the actual turf at Etihard Stadium, Channel 7 (Sydney) tonight gave a very good argument for their not being awarded the broadcasting rights for the AFL at the next round of bidding. Their commentary team is great: Bruce McAvaney, the fantastic Dennis Cometti, Leigh [Read more]
Racing: Crio to channel Shane Dye to get to Diamond Day at the Heath
February 19, 2010 by 17 Comments
By Chris Riordan The Caulfield meeting, with seven Group races, is a strong response to media naysayers who have focused on the unfortunate injuries and withdrawals of many Autumn drawcards. It’s a tough day on the punt and in these situations it’s always a sound strategy to turn to the last, where recovery or glory [Read more]
Book Review: All praise to exploration of Ablett enigma
February 19, 2010 by 6 Comments
Book: Playing God: The Rise and Fall of Gary Ablett Writer: Garry Linnell Publication: HarperCollins, 2003 Reviewer: Phillip Dimitriadis Some may consider Garry Linnell’s book, Playing God: The Rise and Fall of Gary Ablett to be a work of fact-based, journalistic non-fiction. It is an unauthorised biography that at times has an unnerving mix of [Read more]
Film: Australian rules? Not at the flicks, it doesn’t
February 19, 2010 by 14 Comments
By John Butler The recent experience of watching Springboks and All Blacks do battle in a Hollywood film has prompted some general reflections on how differing cinematic cultures approach sport. More particularly, it has given me cause to consider how sport has (or hasn’t) been treated in Australian cinema. Hollywood has long been the world’s [Read more]
NAB Cup, Round 1: Bulldogs see off brave Lions in Canberra slush
February 19, 2010 by 3 Comments
By Steve Healy Ah, Sunday afternoon footy on the radio… can it get any better than this? Fev’s first game for the Lions, Buchanan’s and Staker’s as well. The dark sky is looming outside my bedroom window, whereas the Canberra sky is even darker and Manuka oval has been three inches under water all day [Read more]
Film: Valentine’s Day and the Bear obsessities
February 18, 2010 by 14 Comments
By Tony Taylor Now this is how you do feel-good. Aunty’s had a couple of stabs at it this year but with Valentine’s Day we finally arrive: gorgeous family drama that’s funny, whimsical, warm-hearted and feels absolutely real. Rhys Muldoon is fab as Ben Valentine, the drifter manoeuvred into coaching a small town’s footy team, [Read more]
Local footy: Memorable administators in the Bendigo Football League
February 18, 2010 by 23 Comments
By Richard Jones JUST as in football’s playing ranks, there’s never a shortage of memorable characters running affairs at club or league levels. Here in the Bendigo league we’ve had controversial and colourful presidents and chairmen, feisty secretaries and treasurers, but also a sound quota of extremely gentlemanly and thoughtful people. But it doesn’t matter [Read more]
Film: An unreliable overview of sport on the screen
February 17, 2010 by 17 Comments
Seeing as I’ve been discussing the topic of sports films, I thought I might compile some personal favourites. I warn in advance, this list is highly subjective and far from comprehensive. I’ve included documentaries as well as cinematic features. So, in no particular order… Boxing As the most primal and basic of sporting conflicts, boxing [Read more]
World Footy: Expansion of footy gathers pace
February 17, 2010 by 1 Comment
By Brett Northey For some, Australian football’s hopes of international growth are misguided, whilst for others they are almost an obsession. Certainly throughout the 20th century the sport’s expansion had its peaks and troughs, its false dawns. But the past decade has seen steady progress and many good news stories. Even just focussing on the [Read more]
Footy: The best birthday present in the world
February 17, 2010 by 8 Comments
ANTHEA ABELL ‘Open your eyes you white maggot!’ The only place I was allowed to talk like this was at the footy. It was the Grand Final 1990. Collingwood were on the cusp of breaking a thirty-two year premiership drought. It was also the day after my fourteenth birthday. I was supposed to be having [Read more]
Footy: My lowdown on all clubs’ away guernseys
February 17, 2010 by 382 Comments
One of the biggest rising issues in the game these days is the sort of guernsey your club wears. If you grew up watching footy in the early 20th century, you would be shocked to know that the likes of Melbourne, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs have predominantly white strip when there is a clash. [Read more]
Footy: My season exploring a wonderful tradition
February 16, 2010 by 4 Comments
By James Gilchrist At the start of Wednesday Warriors, the book I wrote about the footy tradition at St Patrick’s, Ballarat, Matt “Twiggy” James, stands suspended on top of a ten metre pole, contemplating the “Leap of Faith”, part of a team building exercise with the St Pat’s First XVIII in the chill winter months [Read more]
NAB Cup, Round 1: Hawks to aim high, Tigers to finish low
February 16, 2010 by 3 Comments
By Richard Naco I approached this game with some trepidation. Channel 10 in Sydney stayed with their traditional AFL format & started the replay of this game well after 11pm, so as to not flood the Emerald City with too much AFL goodness too soon (the ‘play it mean/ keep ‘em keen’ approach, I guess). [Read more]
Footy: Casey Fields is a wonderful place
February 16, 2010 by 204 Comments
By Steve Healy Despite the fact that the NAB Cup was starting, the match I was most looking forward to last weekend was the Dees’ intra-club match. I have never been to Casey Fields before, even though I have planned to go a few times over the past couple of years, these plans haven’t eventuated. [Read more]
NAB Cup, Round 1: Eagles and Bombers get season off to a flying start
February 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
By Steve Healy Naitanui… Naitanui. He was the star of the night, the crowd pleaser; he was almost worth the price of admission. But even more astonishing, arguably, was the thirteen goals scored by the Eagles to turn the game around midway through the second quarter. One thing’s for sure: West Coast are going to [Read more]
NAB Cup, Round 1: Hawks look to be back to their best
February 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
By Steve Healy I turn on the TV, the Aurora Stadium light shine on to a brilliant surface, which is set for a game between 9th and 15th from last year, Hawthorn and Richmond. There’s all the evidence in the world that this will be a blow-out, but to be fair, indigenous stars Rioli, Gibson [Read more]
Footy: Geelong v Geelong … it doesn’t get any better
February 16, 2010 by 12 Comments
By Alex Wadelton When I first heard that the mighty Cats were coming to my adopted home of Sydney for an intraclub match, I giggled like a schoolgirl being attacked by a feather duster. Because living in Sydney and following Geelong is a lot like being one of Paris Hilton’s brain cells… lonely. So, having [Read more]
Crio’s Question: What’s your sports viewing pecking order
February 16, 2010 by 17 Comments
It became apparent to me on Sunday evening that I need to make some big decisions these days – and I’m not always good at that. This particular conundrum involved a clash between the Doggies v Lions from Canberra and the Sydney FC v Victory match. As usual, it was resolved by a visit to [Read more]
NAB Cup, Round 1: Hawks look ready to rumble
February 15, 2010 by 5 Comments
By Rick Kane Don’t tell me that Saturday night’s match between Hawthorn and Richmond was essentially irrelevant. I know, I get it. For starters, who gives two hoots about the NAB Cup? February is more about adjusting back into work schedules, rueing festivals missed and admonishing kids to finish their dinner, all of it. Footy [Read more]
Link: The top 100 tap beers
February 15, 2010 by 3 Comments
What? No Ballarat Bitter? No Abbots Lager? Maybe these people are on to something.
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