Playing footy for Brigades at Northampton in 1987 I was once sent off for abusing the umpire. I said "awwww" [sic]. OK, so it was only for the rest of the quarter in a pre-season lightning carnival, but the umpire was a real estate agent.
An email arrives from Bruce:
A story from my Grandfather playing in the Millewa league before the war. A pretty harsh tribunal for a man to miss a grand final for use of the word 'arse'. Makes a punch in the guts 50m off the ball look like assault.
You know what they say: The more things change, the more things change. Barry Hall would have got life at that tribunal.
At a guess I'd say Bruce had just read the wonderful Football Stories From Country Victoria.
Thanks for the email, Bruce, and thanks for the link, Brownie.
You are most welcome TT - as you know I am a huge footy fan ... well, huge anyway.
Out here in the west, they still talk about the Dunnstown v Hepburn Springs clash of 2001.
3 broken bones and 4 ambulances before the first bounce.
Ballarat cops chief said it was the worst violence he had seen.
Play on.
Posted by: Brownie | 05 June 2008 at 19:40
I love the GNFL Sponsors VB, also and their Rams "we've got 'em" ... dragging on the ground.
I might be related to their Legend Mrs Edna Simkin if her ancestors are from Carlton Cambridgeshire like my Simkins.
We're all Legends, and
I hope your Grandfather didn't need therapy after that ruling, the arses.
Posted by: Dysthymiac | 05 June 2008 at 19:48
I've added the full story to my blog http://dilletante.tenpm.com.au/?p=47> here.
There's more to it than just the report.
I've done a bit of archeology via the miracle of google maps to show you the sites of the battlefields in question.
Posted by: Bruce | 05 June 2008 at 21:59
Bugger! Didn't close my tag properly.
Posted by: Bruce | 05 June 2008 at 22:01
I got a yellow card in Indoor Soccer about two years ago for shouting an expletive.
Only problem I had with that was I was swearing because I'd just torn all the ligaments and tendons off both sides of my ankle.
Posted by: Keri | 06 June 2008 at 09:42
How 'bout when Johnson (Essendon) got pinged 50m for calling someone a... "low dog" I think it was?
The umpy was mic'ed at the time, and IIRC he invoked the previously unknown "you can't say that" rule.
Football was the winner that day.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 06 June 2008 at 15:07