Five cinema movies seen before lockdown (and some binges) by Richard Jones

We managed to squeeze in five movies ranging from excellent to reasonably good at the cinemas early in 2020 before they were forced to shut as COVID-19 struck.
Dave Warner Top 30 countdown by Rick Kane
Dave Warner is a Western Australian living treasure. He is a successful writer with his latest two – yes, two! – books (crime novel, Over My Dead Body and the Marlion Kickett bio, Belief) released in the last few months! Continue reading
What’s what with the WAFL

• Logan McDonald. All photos by Les Everett.
Normally around this time of the year I can let you know what I’ve let the AFL recruiters know about the riches in the WAFL – Kelly, Broad, Ryan, Baker, Pickett, Menegola, that kind of thing – 2020 was a bit different, maybe you noticed.
Book awards rich in history by Vin Maskell

Country footy writer Paul Daffey showed magnanimity in the face of dashed hopes and grace in the face of disappointment when his book The Totem Poles of Ouyen United, Travels in Country Footy missed out on winning the 2020 History Publication Award that is part of the Victorian Community History Awards. The awards were announced late October. Continue reading
Beyond Belief. Marlion Pickett’s story

We all know Marlion Pickett’s story. From prison through the WAFL to the AFL premiership with Richmond (twice). That’s ok for a quick footy chat but a book needed the right writer. Continue reading
Flashback: Eaglehawk’s Team of Century by Richard Jones
Fifteen years back in the mid-Noughties Eaglehawk Football and Netball Club’s footy Team of the Century was announced. At an All Seasons Resort gala function in August 2005, attended by 550 people, the Two Blues’ greatest players of the preceding 125 years (1880 to 2005) were named. Footballing greats in David Parkin, the late Bobby Davis and Mike Brady of Up There Cazaly fame were the Hawks’ special guests. Continue reading
The long list of former BFNL clubs, 1880 to 1910 by Richard Jones
The Bendigo Football Netball League, formerly known simply as the Bendigo Football Association, encompasses a fairly long list of clubs which once belonged to it.
Continue readingBendigo FL club colours down the decades by Richard Jones
Have you ever wondered why your club’s players run out wearing a particular coloured guernsey? I have, not only as a supporter, but as a match reporter and broadcaster over four decades. In the Bendigo FNL there are some famous jumpers, none more so than Sandhurst’s maroon and blue. Continue reading
Pond in the Wheatbelt by Song List Rat

If you leave the soggy snot green south coast and head north east for about 400km you cross through the guts of Western Australia‘s wheatbelt. In those 400km you cross isohyet after isohyet of diminishing rainfall. A rainfall believed to be so low by the early European explorers that no crops would ever grow here. Continue reading