And the winner is…George Grossek, the world’s chattiest newsagent. Pop in to Westgarth and say g’day.
The Footy Almanac Tipping Competition 2019 was fiercely contested. Thanks for being involved. (And if you haven’t paid your $10 please do. EFT to Malarkey Publications BSB 633000 A/C 154103428)
Kedronsappa5 flew out of the blocks. Early on he was 20th in the entire country, one off the lead across all 600,000+ tippers. Being both a Carlton fan and cavalier tipster he faltered mid-season but got back in contention towards the later rounds.
Plugging away was another Carlton fan, Blue Heaven, who then got going, shot to the top of the leaderboard and waited for the challengers to come.
A few of the youngsters made their run at him. Pepperoni (Grade 6 at Merri Creek PS) and Jude Giuliano (aged 13, and one of the Giuliano flock of Swans) and Anna Harms (Grade 4 at Merri Creek PS) all tipped brilliantly. Eventually Jude snuck clear of the other kids so she wins the kids’ competition, from Pepperoni and Anna. Jude also finished equal second in the big competition – an outstanding result.
Jude shared second place with Stumpy, who is actually Dogs fan and Doggies Almanac contributor Phil Gleeson. But they just couldn’t get to Blue Heaven who nailed three 50-50s one weekend (about Round 21) and ended up winning with a massive score of 138.
So who is Blue Heaven? He’s the Carlton nutter who runs Westgarth News on High Street. If you go in there, give yourself 15 minutes or so as George will regale you with golfing tales, footy gossip, and theories on most things, and then insist you join one of his many syndicates, (some named at the Collingwood FC’s expense.)
Cash prizes go to George ($700), Stumpy ($100), Jude ($100 plus $100) and Pepperoni ($50).
The Teams Event was won by: Geelong (again). Their team (the top four tipsters) was P. Flynn, me, the ever-reliable 22Gladiators (who is up the top every season) and Anna Harms. We each win a free Almanac lunch at the North Fitzroy Arms.
And then there are the round prizes – of a book from the Almanac shop. If you have won a round prize please send me an email with your choice of book and your postal address. [email protected]
R1 Kedronsappa5 8
R2 Tassie Woodsman 8
R3 Andrea Harding 8
R4 Rusty Berther 8
R5 Davesport 8
R6 John Milton 9 (4)
R7 Andy and Lou 9 (11)
R8 Catfan 9 (4)
R9 Mr T 9 (5)
R10 Sam Atcho 9 (4)
R11 Benno 9 (26)
R12 The Handicapper 5 (13)
R13 Evie 6 (1)
Iron Mike 6 (1)
R14 John Tuck 6 (5)
R15 Serious55 7 (4)
R16 David Bridie 7 (3)
R17 Cyndi 8 (10)
R18 Andrewig 8 (1)
R19 Foxman (79) 9 (9)
R20 Digby Blacker 8 (2)
R21 Haiku Bob 9 (48)
R22 Blood Brother 8 (36)
R23 Xavier Giuliano 9 (34)
Check out the final standings at https://www.footytips.com.au/
About John Harms
JTH is a writer, publisher, speaker, historian. He is publisher and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au. He has written columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, Play On, The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story and Life As I Know It (with Michelle Payne). He appears (appeared?) on ABCTV's Offsiders. He can be contacted [email protected] He is married to The Handicapper and has three school-age kids - Theo, Anna, Evie. He might not be the worst putter in the world but he's in the worst four. His ambition was to lunch for Australia but it clashed with his other ambition - to shoot his age.
Well done JTH, great comp. For me it was middle territory compared to being at the top last year and at the bottom the year before . Cheers mate. from Adelaide.. Nearly forgot, the Pies to beat Geelong in the first qualifying final and go all the way this year – GO PIES
Thanks David.
Looking forward to Friday night – victory will go to the team that turns up to play. (How’s that for insight!) Absolute 50-50 final in my mind.