Category Archives: Sport

Our renovation – My home gym

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Over the last few years, fitness has become quite a significant part of my life. It wasn’t something I originally set out to make a major part of my routine. I’ve always done some form of excercise, but I don’t think it was truly part of my life, I just fitted it in.

That all changed  with a rather unflattering realisation while changing a car tyre. I went to get up from the footpath and struggled to keep my balance.

Something  wasn’t right. I was too young for this and something needed to change. I’d ridden bikes for years and, as I said earlier, I always considered myself reasonably active, but I wasn’t actually getting any fitter. In fact, my weight was gradually going up. This was even after I retired and I was no longer entertaining a few times a week. I was however not really watching my diet and I was having a glass of wine most nights. I was also struggling to keep up with my riding group.

Eventually my doctor made the fairly obvious observation that I could probably afford to shed a few kilos.

It was time to do something about it.

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The Long Wait Is Over: Reflections on Arsenal’s Title-Winning Season

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Source- Yahoo Sports

For an Arsenal supporter living in Australia, late nights and early mornings come with the territory. Yet without doubt, this has been the most stressful season I can remember following any team. That includes my lifelong support of Sturt in the SANFL and the Adelaide Crows in the AFL.

As I’ve written before, I can’t remember exactly why I became an Arsenal supporter. What I do know is that my support stretches back to my high school years in the early 1970s. Back then, following English football from Australia required patience.

Source – Retrosepcto.co.uK

The only way to keep up with results was through the classified sports results on the radio early on Sunday mornings or by reading The Advertiser a day or two later. The only live football we saw was the FA Cup Final and the European Cup Final. There was also a weekly highlights package from either the BBC or ITV—I honestly can’t remember which. Every week I eagerly waited for Shoot magazine to arrive. By the time it reached Australia by boat, the news was already weeks old, but it still provided that vital  connection to the club.

Towards the end of the 1980s, the occasional First Division match began appearing on Australian television, including the incredible final game of the 1988-89 season. Gradually, coverage improved until there was usually one match on television each week. Then came Pay TV, bringing regular access to the Premier League, along with other European leagues and competitions.

With improved coverage and a career spent working for an international professional services firm, my interest grew into what can only be described as a passion. Sometimes I wonder whether Arsenal has become my true favourite team, even ahead of the Adelaide Crows.

Years of watching matches in the middle of the night have helped me perfect what I call the “silent roar” — that moment when Arsenal score at three o’clock in the morning and celebrating too loudly would wake the entire household. Continue reading →

A footy fan -it’s better being there

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Early in The Showdown – 26 July 2025

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve had 2 quite contrasting football experiences. The first was last Saturday night, at what was one of the worst possible Adelaide nights. Very cold, windy and very wet, still The Showdown was on. Of course I went. Then last night when we were in Queensland to get away from the cold  where I watched the game on TV.

The Adelaide Crows have been ordinary at best for a number of years of years, but this year they are in very good form and are legitimate contenders for the AFL Premiership.

AFL Premiership table (Top 8)  – Adelaide are top – it’s mid round, so they could finish the weekend in second place.

For those not familiar with the AFL, The Showdown is the local derby between the 2 Adelaide teams, The Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. It’s an intense rivalry, that across the 58 meetings sees Adelaide on 30 wins and Port 28. Form has traditionally not necessarily dictated the winner, with the games always hard fought and often very close.

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As time passes by our interest change – activities and hobbies I’ve outgrown or lost interest in

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Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

– Jetpack prompt

As I reinvigorate my blog I’m experimenting with different approaches to posts. In my early stages I used regular prompts as an approach, so here I go.

Riding in Sicily

There are many activities and hobbies I’ve grown out of. No surprise there, I’m on the wrong side of 65.

The one that quickly came to mind was stamp collecting. As a primary school child and early teenager, I was an avid collector. I wasn’t the beneficiary of a parent or grand parent’s collection, so I started from scratch. I say that because I used to look on at envy at those who had old albums full of interesting stamps. Mine however was just ‘bog standard’. Aussie stamps collected from envelopes, swapped and bought over time. For a while my sister and I went to a local stamp club where we’d buy a few stamps, as my own swaps weren’t of much interest. I also built up a collection of First Day Covers. However, as I grew older I simply lost interest, and today I’m not sure I even know where my stamp collection is.

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Legacy fan

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I have been an Arsenal fan from afar for the best part of 50 years. Living on the other side of the world meant that I either had to be near the radio for the classified results on a Sunday morning or hope our local daily had enough column space to print the results. on a Monday or Tuesday. I used to read Shoot magazine with my copy arriving at the newsagent weeks after it came out in England. The only TV coverage was Match of the Day The Big Match hosted by Brian Moore and the FA Cup final.

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