Sport

Sport exudes passion in individuals, communities and nations

Bushwhacked

“Get your hands off him ya dirty piece a ‘Rat shit”, spits a stout Stawell man. The Aararat player looks up sharply and gives him a savage finger, provoking another…

Going with the flow

It begins at the historic Yarrawonga Weir with a blast from a Crimean War blunderbuss, a great puff of screeching sulphur-crested cockatoos, a churn of white water, and intense barracking…

In The Creek with The Croc

ARTICLES, Sport
Getting to know Brad Beven is going to be easy. He’s a friendly bloke – and it’s not as though he could avoid anyone if he wasn’t. After arriving in…

Professional pugs

Last Friday, sixteen men from Joe Cursio’s Fightfit gym in South Melbourne, almost all of them white-collar workers, became professional boxers for a day so they could square off against…

Sideline Fever

Issues, OPINION

All over the world, sporting officials are under siege. Australia’s figures disclose a crisis. A record 75% of kids who begin umpiring Australian Rules Football are dropping out. Rugby League’s rate is 60%. The number of people officiating in sporting events has fallen by a confounding 26%. It’s not a silent epidemic. There’s no mystery about it. The entire world witnesses it daily, on television screens, at major and minor sporting events, and, crucially, in junior ranks. Here are some examples of what they’ve seen just at the elite level:

Wakool water

The Wakool River is at last in full flow, but signs of the recent drought are defiant. Tired towns. Creeks like collapsed arteries. Weeds that only thrive in thirsty river…

High-Tension

Tug-of-war has contributed more colloquialisms than almost any other sport, among them “digging in one’s heels”, “pulling one’s weight”, “straining against the rope” and of course, the figurative “anchor”. Before…