Here’s the thing . . . for 36 years of my life barracking for Collingwood has been a poisoned chalice. From an early age mythical losses have been chiseled into my mind. What hurts more than anything is that many of these tragic events could be described in just one or two words: Froggy’s goal, [Read more]
AFL Finals series: Pies provide a lesson in faith
September 13, 2009 by 17 Comments
By Phil Dimitriadis This is a reflection of the brittle faith expressed by a small group of Magpie fans at the MCG last night. The cliche ‘cut-throat’ final seemed appropriate halfway through the first quarter. The Crows have made a number of deep incisions into the weakening Collingwood body and are two goals away from [Read more]
AFL Semi-Finals: Never-say-die Pies prise prize from under Crows’ eyes
September 13, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Steve Fahey Floreat Pican John Ramsdale wrote last week of his sense of déjà vu in watching our ordinary performance in our opening finals appearance. This week the Pies’ stunning last-gasp win over the Crows gave me a double sense of déjà vu. Why a double sense ? Firstly because this game was nearly [Read more]
General Footy Writing: What on earth are Carlton and Judd up to?
September 9, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By Peter Schumacher Patrick Smith has been talking up the new culture at Carlton, a club he said was prepared to make tough decisions; witness the club-imposed imposition on three players who broke disciplinary rules. I could hardly believe it therefore when according to the 1pm ABC News Carlton is further appealing against Judd’s suspension. [Read more]
AFL Final — Week 1: A Tiger fan among Saints and Pies
September 8, 2009 by 6 Comments
September is one of my favourite months of the year. Full of high quality football matches and no Richmond thrashings. Dad and I always get full use out of our AFL memberships by going to as many finals as possible. This year we’ve got off to a good start as on Saturday we were at [Read more]
AFL Finals–Week 1: Yes we lost, but that’s all I know!
September 6, 2009 by 10 Comments
Father’s Day! To all the Almanac’s fathers: Happy Father’s Dday! I dedicate this entry to my Daddy, who I love so much that I cannot express just how much! As much as I love my Mum there’s always a part of me that loves Dad just that little bit more. I searched the net for [Read more]
General Footy Writing: All’s fair in love and footy
September 3, 2009 by 10 Comments
Ursula, Audrey and Herb were born nine weeks ahead of schedule in May 1997. For quite a few years we didn’t let on to the children the actual order of birth. We thought it might avoid the “I’m older than you” hierarchical claims. After all, that is how Mark Waugh got the nickname “Junior”. However, [Read more]
General Footy Writing: A Father’s Day reflection
September 2, 2009 by 10 Comments
By Steve Fahey One of the many things I am grateful to my parents for is my passion for the black and white. Dad’s passion for the Pies was life-long – he was raised in Langridge Street, Collingwood, upstairs from the fruit shop that my grandparents ran. Collingwood in the early 1930s was a struggling, [Read more]
AFL Round 22: Pies need to go back to the drawing board
September 1, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Tony Scully Evening, Floreat Picans, or should I say, Mourning? I went for a long and arduous pushbike ride on Sunday morning. As I struggled into a headwind (I was thinking of the match later in the day to take my mind off the pain) I was swooped by a zealous Magpie. I thought [Read more]
AFL Round 22: Arrrrggghhhh!!! Magpies force me to attack Nutella jar with a spoon
August 31, 2009 by 22 Comments
On Friday night I decided not to watch the footy after hearing that my favourite actor Colin Firth’s movie Nanny McPhee was on the TV. By the end of the movie I felt so very annoyed, I said: “Be damned Colin Firth! Why do you have to be 49 years old AND married?” Colin is [Read more]
AFL Round 22: We are Collingwood
August 31, 2009 by 3 Comments
The equation for this game was incredibly simple, even for Collingwood. All we had to do was not lose by more than twenty-two points. A loss by less than this amount would give us a game against the Cats next week (possibly minus Chapman and S. Johnson) and would also mean that we avoided Adelaide’s [Read more]
AFL Round 21: Walk across half-back upholds the Magpie name
August 26, 2009 by Leave a Comment
There have been many great football monikers down through the years, from the Flying Doormat to Plugger and the Galloping Gasometer. My favourite football name is fictional. It was the thinly veiled title given to the suburb of Collingwood by the writer Frank Hardy in his novel Pride Without Glory . . . Carringbush. David [Read more]
AFL Round 21: Pies score another win as I dread the end of the season
August 24, 2009 by 512 Comments
The footy season is nearly over and the big questions I’m asking are: * What am I supposed to do now? * How will I spend my weekends? * And more importantly, how will I survive? The seriousness of this matter is epic! Footy is the only reason to get out of bed on the [Read more]
AFL Round 21: What, me worry? Seems we have nothing to fear
August 24, 2009 by 5 Comments
By Suzy Lewis PESSIMISM: 1 : an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome 2 a : the doctrine that reality is essentially evil; b : the doctrine that evil overbalances happiness in life It was a blustery Melbourne day as I walked to the MCG through [Read more]
AFL Round 20: Pies continue merry march while Tigers confirm culture problem
August 17, 2009 by 11 Comments
By Paul O’Connell A gloomy Saturday morning was becoming by midday a warm sunny afternoon. At least I knew I could see, feel and smell the weather at the ‘G. It really felt like I was going to the footy, a rare Saturday avo just like in the good old days. I make no apology [Read more]
AFL Round 20: Pies sew up top-four spot by trouncing hapless Tigers in heated stoush
August 17, 2009 by 56 Comments
As we creep into the latter part of August everything begins to heat up. On the weather front the temperature gradually begins to slide up as we near spring and out on the footy field the intensity rises and many teams fight for a crucial spot inside the eight with finals just around the corner. [Read more]
Round 20: Farewell to a true Tiger champion
August 16, 2009 by 31 Comments
Today was always going to be a painful day. Collingwood are in fine form while Richmond are putting forward a case for relegation to be introduced to AFL. If it wasn’t bad enough to put up with an imminent thrashing against my least liked team in the AFL, earlier in the week it was announced [Read more]
AFL Round 20: Fight makes me flip but Pies right the ship
August 16, 2009 by 2 Comments
It got pretty crazy at school yesterday. It was a celebration day consisting of a Liturgy, house group activities, my friend Brittany’s birthday, food stalls, a DJ and in my case SingStar. Despite having to read about boring things, the girls and our teacher had a few laughs making the house meeting a lot more [Read more]
General Footy Writing: Collingwood for premiers; it’s written in the stars
August 12, 2009 by 9 Comments
TAURUS: Horoscope – August 12, 2009 Today you might have some important phone calls which you want to make, Danni, and you’ll want to get them out of the way before doing anything else, no matter what it is. You’ll definitely get your message across today, as your communicative abilities are very strong. Words combine [Read more]
AFL Round 20: Memories of past battles fail to deter me from seeking to share with Richmond people
August 11, 2009 by 1 Comment
Richmond’s success in the 1960s and ’70s means that I number quite a few Richmond supporters among my friends. It is Collingwood v Richmond this weekend. And not just “weekend”; it is a traditional Saturday afternoon game at the MCG. I am not the only Australian Rules football supporter who points out that one of [Read more]
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