There will be blood

by PAUL DAFFEY

IT'S taken me a long time to write the rundown of the Sydney launch of The Footy Almanac 2007, in part because I was involved in a car accident straight afterwards and it took a while to recover. I was in the passenger seat of a small delivery van driven by Ab ("the concreter from Wagga Wagga", as described by Rocket Rod Gillett in one of his Sydney reports for the Almanac), when a four-cylinder car screamed through a red light and T-boned us from the passenger side. (I'd never heard the verb "to T-bone" before this incident.)

launch

Rod Gillett, Rhys Muldoon and Paul Daffey at the Sydney launch of the The Footy Almanac 2007.

I was lucky to escape with heavy concussion, while Ab had a ricked neck and plenty of bruises. Rocket, who was sitting on a box of books in the back of the van, was bounced around like a bee in a bottle but he, too, escaped with bruises - quite unbelievable considering the car was tipped over and finished lying on its side. "How do you like Sydney?," Rocket and Ab asked me as we were getting checked out in emergency at the Royal North Shore Hospital (where the staff were brilliant.)

To go to the beginning of this particular Sunday in December, Rocket and I started by manning a stand at the inaugural Footy Trade Show at the Sydney Football Stadium. The show was organised by Craig Davis, the former VFL forward and long-time general manager of AFL/NSW-ACT. I thought Davo did a good job, but he must have done something wrong because the next week he was made redundant after almost 20 years in his job. Football people in the Sydney area were outraged, believing that Davo had been a tireless worker who always had the game's welfare at heart.

We sold a few Almanacs at the trade show but the main part of the gig for Rocket was chatting to old mates from the Riverina. Rocket in the 1970s was heavily involved with the Rivcoll Bushpigs, the club from the old Riverina College of Advanced Education in Wagga. In the '80s, after moving to Sydney, he was the president of the NSW Football League. Barry Malone, long-time secretary of the Hume league, and Pat Daniher, president of the Northern Riverina league, were among those who stopped by our stall for a chat with Rocket.

There were a few dozen stall-holders at the trade show, including Mizuno boots, Sekem footy jumpers and Vili's Pies. I'm not sure how much business was done, but it seemed an idea worth repeating, and not just in Sydney. Any regional town of reasonable size should be able to attract enough stall-holders to make a footy trade show worthwhile.

After the trade show, we headed back to the Alexandria Hotel in Sydney's inner south for the launch. It was a top choice of venue, as it's arguably Sydney's main footy pub and yet it's got a bit of style. (See, they need not be mutually exclusive.) Publican Darren "Harry" McAsey was among the Swans players who left Melbourne in 1982 to embark on the Sydney venture. Harry played more than 40 games at half-back in the Swans' early years in Sydney, initially under the coaching of Ricky Quade and finally under Tom Hafey, and now runs a fine pub where current Sydney players hold the odd function.

Rocket and I were unloading books at the pub when our Sydney launcher strolled up. Rhys Muldoon, a famous actor (Grass Roots and, yes, parents among you, he's on Play School) and mad Saints fan (he lived in St Kilda with actor mates in the '80s), had read a good part of the book and loved it and, having introduced himself, volunteered to write reports on Sydney and St Kilda games in 2008. I accepted, of course.

Rhys explained a little about his role as the coach in the upcoming country footy telemovie Valentine's Day, which was shot at Rushworth in northern Victoria. But, really, he wanted to talk AFL. He wanted to know what was wrong with Richmond (a subject worthy of not just pub conversation, but a book) and wondered if I knew anything about the machinations at Moorabbin. I could tell him nothing. He knew move about what makes St Kilda tick than anyone I've met (Russell Holmesby aside).

The launch's early period was low-key, with the party split into roughly two camps: mates of Rocket, all of whom had played in the Sydney Football League and some of whom had played with the Swans (did you know that 1980s back pocket Ian Roberts played 150 games?); and mates of Almanac writer Rob Clarkson, who, having written reports from Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, is our East Coast Correspondent. Rob has just moved to Sydney. His offsiders were fellow expats, from Melbourne and Perth, and his Sydney girlfriend and her friends, who were lovely, if unsure about the footy goings-on.

After half an hour, Rhys called everyone to order. The launch was performed by Sydney legend Des Butterworth (aka Rhys Muldoon), who had everyone laughing into their schooners. When Des had finished, Rhys thought it was a bit early to wind up proceedings, so he asked me a question about the book. Then he asked who I thought would make the 2008 grand final (I said West Coast would be one team, which drew derision and even anger). Then came a question from the floor about the state of the AFL. Then another question. For the next 90 minutes we had an informal discussion about footy - every aspect of footy - with the odd reference back to the Almanac.

The people loved it. Les "Muscles" Mildenhall was a small fella in a blue Jackie Howe singlet, dungaree shorts and a pork-pie sunhat. He had played several seasons on a wing in the Swans' reserves in the '80s, having been recruited from Wollongong. In the bar after proceedings had wound up, Les made a point of saying that they didn't often get that level of footy discussion in Sydney. He was really thankful that I had made the journey north, ostensibly to facilitate that discussion. Others made similar comments on the footy chat. Then they bought books. Davo was so pleased about the chat that he bought three boxes of books to be distributed to his staff throughout NSW. (He later made sure the bill was paid before he his tenure was wound up.)

Rob Clarkson and friends were settling in for a session when I had to scramble out the door if I were to catch my lift in Ab's van back to Rocket's home on the North Shore. In the van, we were all feeling up about the mood of the launch. Not long after crossing the Harbour Bridge, I received a phone call from my Almanac cohort John Harms, who had rung to say that he was on ABC Grandstand with Gerard Whateley. I still had the phone near my ear and was pointing towards the car radio when everything went blank. A couple of minutes later, I awoke to the sight of tarmac below me as my seat belt held me suspended in the air. The van had settled on the driver's side.

The rest of the evening was pandemonium, involving ambulances and medicos and being asked repeatedly about my recollections. It was a crazy end to the Sydney launch. But to answer the question from Ab and Rocket as we lay on our hospital beds, it made no difference to my appreciation of the day. I loved my visit north, and I have every intention of returning to launch the 2008 Almanac, no doubt at Harry's Alexandria Hotel.

Hopefully, I'll be able to complete the next leg and fulfil my obligations in Perth, at the North Fremantle Oval, as well.

The Footy Almanac 2007: The AFL season one game at a time edited by John Harms and Paul Daffey is published by Malarkey Publications. It is available in good bookshops or through The Age Store on 1300 656 052.

Signed copies can be ordered through Malarkey Publications

Apart from bookshops you'll find the The Footy Almanac 2007: The AFL season one game at a time at Newmarket Newsagency, Racecourse Rd, Flemington and Ascot Vale Sports and Trophies, Epsom Rd, Ascot Vale in Melbourne and in Perth at the Fremantle Team Store at Fremantle Oval and U-Brewit, Bannister Rd, Canning Vale.

18 January 2008

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