By Paul Daffey I enjoyed Irishman Cormac McCormack’s piece on the lack of humour and connection in the AFL, and although I can’t help but think that Cormac is looking at sport in his homeland through porter-coloured glasses, I agree with much of what he says.
Weekend Read: Irish and Australian football are different and that’s a good thing
July 3, 2009 by 7 Comments
AFL Round 14: St Kilda v Geelong: Cats by a whisker
July 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By Ben Jensen This is the clash of the season. Although both sides are unbeaten, the Saints have been smashing sides with such regularity that they’ve got a percentage of 177.5%, to the Cats’ 149.7%. The Geelong back six will be tested by St Kilda forwards led by Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Stephen Milne and [Read more]
General Sportswriting: My ten best sports films
July 3, 2009 by 26 Comments
By Paul Daffey Rocky (1976): While the later Rocky sequels are rightly regarded as cinematic featherweights, the original Rocky outstrips all contenders in the battle for the heavyweight sporting film of the world. One of only two sports films to win the Oscar Award for Best Picture, it features a storyline that happens to feature [Read more]
Jones Files: My ten best sports films
July 3, 2009 by 1 Comment
By Richard Jones Raging Bull (1980): Robert DeNiro at his absolute best as world middleweight champion Jake LaMotta in an era when boxers in this division were the best ever. The self-destructive, paranoid Jake has two memorable fights with Sugar Ray Robinson (Johnny Barnes), but he’s dysfunctional in family matters. As Jake, DeNiro won the [Read more]
General Footy Writing: 2008 draft to be considered among the best
July 3, 2009 by 4 Comments
I think in a few years time, we’ll be talking about the 2008 national draft as a draft to match the super-draft of 2001 which saw Chris Judd, Luke Ball and Luke Hodge start their careers. The 2008 top-10 saw the likes of Daniel Rich, Jack Watts, Jack Ziebell, Nick Naitanui and Stephen Hill taken [Read more]
The Gigs Guide to School-holiday Fun
July 3, 2009 by 6 Comments
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS IN THE ’70S – WESTERN SUBURBS STYLE By Andrew Gigacz School holidays are here again and parents everywhere have got their kids organised for a five-day tennis program, a one-day Flash animation course or an all-day video gaming fest at someone’s house. Thinking back to my childhood term breaks, my family had no [Read more]
Sports science: AFL players should practice kicking far more often
July 2, 2009 by 16 Comments
By Clint Youlden I’m a sports scientist who specialises in biomechanics. As a sports scientist who’s interested in footy, it destroys me to see the lack of effort that AFL players put into practising kicking. I heard Matthew Richardson say that “players would have 40 to 50 shots on goal a week … but you [Read more]
General Footy Writing: I’ve decided what I want to be
July 2, 2009 by 2 Comments
ByDanielle Eid We all grow up with a career in mind. When you’re a five year old girl, you want to be a princess. Younger boys want to be firefighters or superheroes. We grow up with an imaginative, “anything is possible” attitude, which dissolves by the time you hit high school. In the early years [Read more]
Yarra Man: I love the quirks of local footy grounds
July 2, 2009 by 3 Comments
By Tavis Perry A mate of mine says Ovens and Murray Football League club Corowa-Rutherglen has the best ground he’s seen in country footy. Indeed, when I played at the John Foord Oval for the first time earlier this year I was struck by its tranquillity and scenic appeal. It’s surrounded by immense gum trees, [Read more]
Funny teams: Dale Thomas in, Nick Stevens out of line-up of two-first-namers
July 2, 2009 by 7 Comments
By Tom Riordan You’d think that the school holidays would bring a break to writing, compiling, or even thinking. But on the first day of the holidays I had the idea, after watching the promising debut of Liam Anthony for North Melbourne at the MCG the day before, of naming a team of AFL players [Read more]
In the Sheds: Buckling up for a game of footy
July 1, 2009 by 4 Comments
By Paul Daffey THE Victorian Amateur Football Association is a Melbourne-wide competition, so clubs accept that occasionally they have to travel across town. Not so long ago that meant that clubs based around the VAFA heartland of the inner eastern suburbs had to cross the river (shudder) to play St Bernard’s at West Essendon or [Read more]
Middle East Correspondent: Huey’s cherry-ripe for the Swans job
July 1, 2009 by 5 Comments
By Rod Gillett The news that Sydney Swans chief executive officer Myles Baron-Hay is stepping down at the end of the season will spark speculation in the Melbourne media about a replacement from the football managerial stocks, with all the usual suspects being given a run. The best man to run the club in my [Read more]
View From Shepparton: AFL Round 13
July 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By Peter Schumacher Well this was a pretty straightforward round in terms of expected results; indeed in one tipping competition I picked 7 winners. The Lions continue to look good but given their opponents this was not difficult. In fact I reckon that Brisbane, and Geelong for that matter, could have been a little upset [Read more]
Haiku Bob: Round 13 – the lull between goals
July 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment
the lull between goals saturday afternoon the full forward rips the ball from the sky Didak props the way the forward line opens up before and after the final siren – Dick’s grin Harry begins the journey back to where he was before the goal [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Round 13 Stat. Declaration
June 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment
ERATOSTHENES’ GUIDE TO TIPPING 8 WINNERS Mathematicians use the “Sieve of Eratosthenes” to come up with all the prime numbers in a list from 2 to any specified integer. The process involves eliminating all multiples of 2 (which is a prime) and then 3 (which is next prime) and so on until only the prime [Read more]
General Footy Writing: It’s hard trying to watch the footy when the broadcaster goes bust
June 30, 2009 by 1 Comment
By Ben Jensen Sometimes I hate being a footy fan outside Australia. I had it all worked out last year; got myself a Setanta Sports subscription; at only £9.99 a month I was supposedly going to get four games live a week. That’s almost better than back home! By the time the Cats and Port [Read more]
Irish correspondent: Flat-beer season needs a few bubbles
June 30, 2009 by 8 Comments
By Peter Lenaghan Thank God for Antrim. The romance the northern county is generating this summer in Ireland seems desperately needed. On Saturday afternoon I hopped in the car and went for a drive into the Midlands. The motorway takes me out of Dublin and through the green countryside of County Kildare and County Laois, [Read more]
The Big Clash: Saints and Cats match should be a beauty if these precedents are a guide
June 30, 2009 by 10 Comments
By Damian Watson In the light of the big clash between the two undefeated teams St Kilda and Geelong on Sunday, I’ve had a look at some of the biggest build-ups to home-and-away games. As I am only 14 years old, I wasn’t around to feel the vibe of the big matches in the 1960s, ’70s, [Read more]
General Footy Writing: How a Tiger got his stripes (part 1)
June 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By Sam Steele It was not until 1970 when I was six years old that I even discovered the existence of Australian football. Unlike so many Australian families in which footy allegiance, like religion, is rock solid and and never to be questioned, or those in which rivalries flourish, in my family the game was [Read more]
AFL Round 13: North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs: I’m not disappointed because I don’t expect to win
June 30, 2009 by 9 Comments
By Josh Barnstable Waking up early, I get that feeling that my fellow country kids may get when you wake up on the morning of going to an AFL match, whether you’re seeing your team play or just two neutral clubs battle it out. Anyway it’s 7.30 and I’m up, which is unusual on a [Read more]
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