Posts: A Concrete Poem

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About Phillip Dimitriadis

Carer/Teacher/Writer. Author of Fandemic: Travels in Footy Mythology. World view influenced by Johnny Cash, Krishnamurti, Larry David, Toni Morrison and Billy Picken.

Comments

  1. Pete Granger says

    Immediately after Buddy Franklin released a Sherrin 60 metres from the Punt Road end, having bounced the ball from the backline, handballed to himself, evaded opposition midfielders, and been squeezed on the Olympic stand boundary by several exhausted backmen …

  2. Stephen Cooke says

    Pete, can’t have been, have a look, it went through the middle

  3. Phil, you’re the new Yoko Ono

  4. And oh Phil … that’s Yoko the avant gard artist, not the musician (the good Yoko!)

  5. Skip of Skipton says

    There’s some sweet grant money and an installation at the old Vic Park awaiting that masterpiece, Phil.

  6. DBalassone says

    It’s always poetry to see the ball split the big sticks. This reminds me of the work of legendary Melbourne poet ? 0 (Pi O).

  7. Richo has a theory about goal posts. He reckons that the higher they get the closer they become – hence the gap shrinks as the posts are made taller..

    Richo saya he would have kicked 500 more goals in his career if goal posts were stumpy.

  8. Lord Bogan says

    T Bone, I’m sure Yoko would be flattered to have her name mentioned on the Footy Almanac.

    Damo, very familiar with PIO’s poetry having taught it to undergrads. He is a character who is also a very clever sound poet, particularly when speaking English with a Greek accent and the subtle intonations that are affected by living in Fitzroy in the 70s.

    Dips, Richo’s thesis may be debatable, but I swear that we’ve had more controversies since the posts grew. You’d think it would make decisions easier and that hasn’t been the case.

  9. Pete Granger says

    I think there is a certain truth to this. Footballers spend their whole lives spotting and delivering the ball at ground level. Kicking for goal is a different process all together. You are aiming for a spot in the sky – between two elevated sticks. Even if you were to spot a target in the grandstand, it is also elevated (well above ground level). If it were possible to remove the goals and grandstands and have a teamate stand 20 metres or so behind the imaginary goals in the appropriate place, I believe goalkicking accuracy would significantly improve. The trick is to coach forwards to imagine this player and ignore the sticks – unless of course you are Buddy. He has his own unique and complex way of finnessing the ball so that it moves laterally in the air from an acute angle – and I doubt he is employing an imaginary target to do so. But this same technique reduces his efficiency in straightforward kicks immediately in front of goals.

  10. That is brilliant, Phil.

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