http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/afl/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Lets-include-our-neighbour-in-the-fun-and-games/ One element of the Rugby World Cup came through loud and clear. This was a Pacific event. Three Pacific island nations competed to rapturous receptions. When the Tongan team arrived in New Zealand they were greeted by 10,000 members of the Tongan community who lined the streets from Auckland airport. From Papua New Guinea to Samoa to Niue there were Pacific players representing teams from Wales to Australia to the All Blacks themselves. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Lets-include-our-neighbour-in-the-fun-and-games/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Lets-include-our-neighbour-in-the-fun-and-games/#item7020 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-name-is-emily-from-melbourne-and-i-hate-football/ I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-name-is-emily-from-melbourne-and-i-hate-football/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-name-is-emily-from-melbourne-and-i-hate-football/#item6805 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-cities-failure-to-plan-means-planning-to-fail/ Each weekend, Australians everywhere take up the colours of sporting codes. Soccer. AFL. In the right season, cricket. It’s common to play out the match ahead of time. Who’s performing well. Who had a shocker last week. If we’re lucky enough to be part of the live action you can see small plays around the goal that set up for the mark. Skirmishes off to the side that allow for the break away try. A late shuffle in the slips signalling something out wide. And as our eyeballs scan the field for the strategic moves of game play, we’re all doing something that serves as an analogy for the wider urban field of play. We’re witnessing a set of strategic plays unfold. Canadian Ice Hockey star, Wayne Gretzky was quoted as saying; ‘A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.’ Glory on the sporting field is all about anticipating where that puck/ball/catch is coming next. Imagine if that was how we ran our cities? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-cities-failure-to-plan-means-planning-to-fail/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-cities-failure-to-plan-means-planning-to-fail/#item6820 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-nothing-more-melbourne-than-afl/ I was never really an AFL fan.  Until last year’s final I was not able to confirm with confidence if, when a ball struck the outer post, it counted as a point or not.  Yet I was surprised that the Grand Final tie did not produce as much buzz or excitement around town as I would have expected.  The city should have been brimming with football fever during the week’s interlude between matches, but instead I found most talk of ‘footy’ sneered at as almost an embarrassing interruption to the weekend.  Though I might not have been much of a fan, I always had time for the role AFL played in the city’s spirit.  Thus, almost in defence of the game’s apparent decline in popularity, I feel obliged to pay homage to this most definitive affirmation of Melbourne’s identity. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-nothing-more-melbourne-than-afl/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-nothing-more-melbourne-than-afl/#item6836 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-mr-loaf-meats-afl-anything-could-happen/ Meat Loaf is one loose unit. That’s why anything could happen when the headline act for the pre-game entertainment at tomorrow’s AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and Geelong lets rip with a medley of his biggest hits. Five songs in twelve minutes will be some feat for a singer whose tracks are often “epic” in running time. Fingers crossed the whole show is a catastrophe because, let’s face it, the only reason anybody watches the grand final “entertainment” is to see one spectacular disaster. Good, bad or ugly, the “Bat Out of Hell” will be flat-out trying to upstage the biggest horror show involving song, dance and choreography ever seen at a major sporting event. The worst in history is Angry Anderson and the Batmobile. I remembered this atrocity after coming across a great article by leading sports blogger The Mad Chatter. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-mr-loaf-meats-afl-anything-could-happen/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-mr-loaf-meats-afl-anything-could-happen/#item6823 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/chasing-the-meaning-of-football-and-life/ To become a member of the Geelong Football Club you need a name, a birth date and an address. In March 2007 my wife Rachel was in the family way. Thanks to an ultrasound, a planned caesar, and a stable household, for yet-to-be born Harvey I already had the three pieces of information. So with Rachel twenty weeks pregnant, Harvey became a member of the Geelong Football Club: in utero. He is, to this day, officially the youngest ever member of the Cats. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/chasing-the-meaning-of-football-and-life/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/chasing-the-meaning-of-football-and-life/#item6806 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-depressing-truth-about-footballs-gambling-addiction/ It is hard to believe the NRL, a code which galvanises communities in two of the largest states in Australia, could be staring at financial collapse because of the Gillard Government’s gambling reforms. It is hard to believe that the AFL, the national game which enjoys the status of a religion in four states and one territory, is also facing ruin because of the mandatory pre-commitment proposal to make gamblers think about how much they are prepared to wager on poker machines before placing a bet. It is hard to believe because it is simply unbelievable. It is hard to believe because it is rubbish. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-depressing-truth-about-footballs-gambling-addiction/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-depressing-truth-about-footballs-gambling-addiction/#item6795 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pissing-away-the-future-with-pokies-then-and-now/ The Revesby Workers’ Club in Sydney’s far south-west used to do a lot for charities, pensioners and kids. It doesn’t anymore though, according to an article in the club’s latest quarterly magazine. “The poker machine tax is crippling us”, the club’s secretary says in the article. “We can’t afford to help the community anymore. We’re a club and our first duty is to our members – we have to provide amenities for them. It’s a shame we can’t do both.” Poker machine tax? Does that have anything to do with what NRL commentator Phil Gould was ranting about when the footy was on last Friday? Does it have something to do with that “footy tax” Eddie McGuire has been yapping about? Or whatever those WHO VOTED FOR A LICENCE TO PUNT? coasters at the club are all about? It sure sounds like it. But nope. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pissing-away-the-future-with-pokies-then-and-now/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pissing-away-the-future-with-pokies-then-and-now/#item6797 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Pies-have-the-game-plan-Hawks-have-a-dental-plan/ “They are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them.” No one is quite sure whether JK Rowling’s description of dementors was inspired by Collingwood fans but it would be safe to assume that at some point in her life, the Harry Potter author had the misfortune to spend time with the Magpie faithful - so chillingly accurate is her account of how their mere presence affect ordinary folk. It would be wrong to characterise all Collingwood supporters as ill-bred, gutter dwelling oxygen thieves more likely to break into your car than make a meaningful contribution to society, but one can understand why that perception exists. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Pies-have-the-game-plan-Hawks-have-a-dental-plan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Pies-have-the-game-plan-Hawks-have-a-dental-plan/#item6777 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-finals-bromance/ The impending footballing weekend is all about “bromance”, that modern term which refers to the state of male bonding when mateship goes all misty-eyed and meaningful. In the real world, men shake hands firmly, then brusquely ask “how’s it goin’ champ?”. Sport is different. When sportsmen step over that white line, they enter a beautiful parallel universe. They pat each other on the arse and tell each other “I love you like a brother”. And they mean it. Male team sport was made for man love. Not the Brokeback Mountain kind of love, (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but a special form of mutual admiration. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-finals-bromance/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-finals-bromance/#item6731 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 I hate football. There, I said it. Curse me. Stone me. lock me in a tiny room with At Home with Julia on loop. I deserve it all. It makes me a bit of an outcast, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring myself to care about a group of guys in short shorts lumbering after a piece of cow hide.  This is despite being born and bred in Melbourne, where AFL is the prevailing religion and all the players are Gods.