They come like small soldiers over the horizon, one by one, indiscernible at first. Signs. An article about the benefits of off season altitude training, Arizona or the Himalayas. It doesn’t amount to anything. Sometime later, the next time you turn to look ahead, there are more of them. They are armed. The plea from [Read more]
Swans, Hawks and Corrugated Tin
September 17, 2011 by 2 Comments
Swans, Hawks and Corrugated Tin. Roland’s home is, basically, a pile of corrugated tin and mice, in a paddock, in nowhere. But the wood-fire’s a corker, the telly works, and he’s a great mate. We had the idiot box and music on, his girlfriend, free from her kids for the night, rotten, laughing, falling [Read more]
Adam Goodes
September 16, 2011 by 15 Comments
A test of a sporting moment is whether you remember it. By that I mean you don’t half-remember it, but really remember it. Moments which you don’t have to go into the record books to check; moments where the details of time and place are superfluous. Moments so powerful they form the basis for your [Read more]
Swans Go Ape
September 13, 2011 by 1 Comment
“IT WAS partly ape, with a tiny brain, long arms, a chimp-size body and ape-like heels. But it was also partly human, with long thumbs, short fingers, an advanced ankle and a brain that looked like it had begun to rewire.” Original, non-clichéd quotes can be hard to find in Aussie Rules and this gem [Read more]
GONE: It’s all Over, Including the Shouting
September 11, 2011 by 8 Comments
It’s 6.30am Sunday morning and my mind is buzzing. It’s over, finito, Sydney Swans bundled St.Kilda out of the finals with a decisive, confident win. They did it well from the beginning, pressure, pressure, pressure and we never had it in us to respond with success. Perhaps the year from hell finally took its toll [Read more]
Recollections of a Memorable Debut
September 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Sometimes it’s the ordinary, mundane games that give us special memories. This is a story of two such matches, both Richmond v Sydney at the MCG, played 18 years apart. The first, on a blustery day in May 1993, was an awful spectacle. Both sides were rooted to the bottom of the ladder,Sydney in the [Read more]
ALMANAC RD24 SWANS V LIONS
September 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Let me introduce you to Bob. He is softly spoken, barracks for the Sydney Swans and most of the time is invisible (He has been known to take form in figurines, footballs and various other Swans memorabilia.) Dad, an old Bloods supporter, (and the whole side of his family) managed to get me to support [Read more]
Is this the season for the drought to end?
September 3, 2011 by 6 Comments
I’ve hit record button on Foxtel for the Cats v Swans game and headed off to Port Melbourne to see if my VFL side can win 18 on the trot and remain undefeated in the main season. Its been a while since I have not made the trip down Princes Highway for [Read more]
I want my Mummy
September 1, 2011 by 13 Comments
I have a soft spot for the Swans. I’m sure many people do. My dad was a Bloods man, and his stories of Pratt and Skilton kept me spellbound as a youngster. They were my unofficial “second side”. It became official when they moved to Sydney. Purely on romantic terms, the Swans were, of all [Read more]
Fortress K.P.
August 29, 2011 by 15 Comments
By Chris Bracher I have been going there for forty years. I lived in Winchelsea and Kardinia Park was my “local” VFL ground. Once a year I would persuade my less than enthusiastic Dad to take me to see my beloved red and white play. South was never much good when I was a kid [Read more]
The Footygods: the Trojan wars
August 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The Trojans were unbeatable at home. They had a walled city by the water. They were able to defend easily and they could sweep out of their city to attack their enemy. They could always replenish their wounded soldiers. After a few years, the invading armies started thinking that they couldn’t win. The Trojan wars [Read more]
Dream Over?
August 28, 2011 by 2 Comments
Sydney and St.Kilda: two teams infamous for their slow style of football, and boring – at times frustrating – game plan. The flood, stoppage football and backwards kicking, were what most would have been expecting out of this game. Both though, found themselves playing a ‘mini-final’ in round 22 at ANZ stadium. For St.Kilda, a [Read more]
How could the Cats lose at home?
August 28, 2011 by 19 Comments
27th August 2011 Geelong v’s Sydney Skilled Stadium – 2.10 pm Matthew Clark “What did I do wrong??” “What do you mean??” “Well, we never lose at Geelong. Someone must have done something wrong. Maybe it was me!!” Could it be that us turning up to the game 3 minutes late unsettled the Cats? [Read more]
Spirits High, Goal Achieved
August 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
As part of our unit 2 of Outdoor and Environmental Studies, we are forced to travel up to the high country, hike with ridiculous snow gear on, pitch a tent and freeze our asses off. But don’t get me wrong, I love the outdoors and challenging myself to an adventure, but does it have to [Read more]
The Footygods: Elpis
August 22, 2011 by 2 Comments
The greeks were funny about hope. Some of them thought that there wasn’t much point having hope because the gods would do you in anyway. Some thought that hope only existed to make your suffering even worse. But they did give hope a minor goddess; Elpis; a young woman who held flowers in her hands. [Read more]
Sydney Musings
August 12, 2011 by 6 Comments
I was beginning to think I’d lost almost all enthusiasm for Australian Football. Barely skimming the news, catching a few minutes of a game here and there, a near-unbridgeable four points off the leader in the tipping comp. It doesn’t help being a Swans fan. Early this season, they cost me a mobile phone; hurled [Read more]
No Dream Ending for Swans
August 7, 2011 by 2 Comments
Arms outstretched Adam Goodes plucked the ball from the air to take the mark in the dying seconds before the final siren. Steadying himself he strode forward and snapped out a long kick. A collective breath was drawn as the ball spiraled towards goal. Then forty thousand voices howled out in delight and despair as [Read more]
The Footy Gods: an introduction
July 19, 2011 by 25 Comments
by Ian Latham In millennia past, the Greeks believed that the gods could determine our future. At times they would act with justice. At times, they would punish you just to prove that they could. But there was little that humans could do to influence them. To make matters worse, they sometimes took human [Read more]
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