Round 19 – Collingwood v West Coast: Footy and music in Carringbush

Footy and a great gig. What more can you ask for! Luke Reynolds has a memorable day out with his younger sister.

Round 19 – Collingwood v West Coast: More Darce, less farce

Jeff Dowsing catches a star-studded Almanac cast at Victoria Park, before watching the “freakish” D Moore in both full flight and full story-of-2016 at the MCG.

Round 19 – Collingwood v West Coast: Believe, Pies, Believe.

Cam Hooke previews Collingwood v West Coast, suggesting it is the first game of the 2017 campaign. [Cam Hooke is a fair dinkum supporter – JTH]

Round 9 – Hawthorn v Sydney: Yes Bloods – what a win! And a trip down memory lane.

Jan Courtin returned to Melbourne to watch her Swans against Richmond and Hawthorn, a journey that included a win and a loss and a trip down memory lane.

Round 2 – Collingwood v Richmond: That mob from Victoria Park

For John Green, losing to the old enemy at Victoria Park in the old days was virtually a foregone conclusion. Which makes losing to a weakened Collingwood at the ‘G so much harder to take.

Era, era on the wall; 1987-1999

Jeff Dowsing continues his series on the eras of VFL/AFL footy with a look a 1987-99.

Remembering Hafey’s Heroes

Collingwood under Tom Hafey produced some of the most memorable footy – and players – in the club’s illustrious history. While the ultimate prize eluded Hafey’s Heroes, Jeff Dowsing revisits his childhood and recalls some fond memories of the late 70s when’T-shirt Tommy’ was at the helm of his beloved Woodsmen.

Vic Park 1979: An Initiation of Filth and Fury.

Phil Dimitriadis remembers some of his early ‘role models’ from a time when going to the footy was an earthy and parochial ritual. (STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING – Ed).

AFL Round 9 – Collingwood v Sydney: A long way from Victoria Park

Swans fan Keiran Croker wanders past Victoria Park – remembering the time he saw South Melbourne break a 20-year drought at the ground – on his way to the MCG. No matter the time or place, the sweet feeling of beating the Pies remains.

VFL – Collingwood v Essendon: Return to Vic Park

Rod Oaten heads off to Victoria Park. What was once an act of bravery is now more like a timeless picnic.

AFL Round 8 – Collingwood v Geelong: Alter ego

No stereotypes in this match report from Collingwood tragic James Gilchrist. No love for the umpires either.

Memoir: Melbourne’s good fortune

I live in Yarraville, work in Parkville, and study in Hawthorn. I ride my bike, drive a car and use public transport. On any given day, it is not unusual for me to travel past half a dozen footy grounds ‘home’ to current AFL clubs. On a welcome spring day, with only one lecture scheduled in the mid afternoon, I set off on my bike to stop and visit these places.

1984

(or These here are crazy times Pt II) Like most knackers I’m loving Sam Steele’s time warp. It may have been at my mob’s expense, yet I envy Stainless’ uncanny recollections of Richmond’s path to glory, the characters, and the suburban fortresses of the day.  All I can remember of 1980 is the shattering Grand Final humiliation [Read more]

Victoria Park’s retro reno

In the final instalment of my nostalgic Collingwood-Victoria Park trilogy, I take a look at the Victoria Park redevelopment. It’s ironic something that once united and defined Collingwood supporters has become a source of angst and division.  Especially at a time which could be considered the club’s high noon.

Sixteenth, broke and shizenhousen

In lieu of a Sensational Games precursor to the Magpies – Bulldogs clash, here’s a personal account of a game that for ‘Pie fans was anything but sensational. They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn. Well by 5pm on 28 August 1999, it was so dark in Collingwood town that to quote [Read more]

More on the Victoria Park installation

Duke Albada is the artist who put together the installation at Victoria Park. As Vin Maskell pointed out recently it features many writers and fans some of whom are part of The Footy Almanac crew. Here are some further words from Duke:   MANY THANKS to all contributors! This link leads to a short video [Read more]

Victoria Park Knackers

Picture by Vin Maskell Some illustrious Knacker alumni are amongst the list of contributors to Duke Albada’s sound installation at Victoria Park.

Almanackers immortalised at Victoria Park

by Vin Maskell Pamela Sherpa, Haiku Bob, John Harms and Vin Maskell are amongst several Almanackers who are part of a permanent sound installation to be officially unveiled at Victoria Park this Sunday afternoon, 4 December. The sound installation is called For The Love Of It and is located in a walkway of the Sherrin Stand. It is one [Read more]

Deconstructing Collingwood, part 2

Is an old VFL footy ground still a fair dinkum footy ground if it doesn’t have a fair-dinkum old-fashioned scoreboard? The Collingwood landmark what was the 1966 Victoria Park scoreboard was pulled down last January, as part of turning the ground into a community space.

Deconstructing Collingwood

Collingwood is in a re-building phase. Not the team, but the old ground. The Magpies haven’t played an AFL game at Victoria Park since 1999. Local teams, including the Collingwood reserves in the VFL, have been playing on the oval for nigh on a decade as parts of the ground have fallen into disrepair.