the F rant

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll shake your head.

FOOTY: Sport in general

Footy’s back, and wasn’t it a wonderful weekend of footy!  I was lucky enough to be able to have watched five games in full – footy bliss.  I also watched highlights of the other matches, and “On The Couch” and “Footy Classifieds”, so I feel I’m in a position of authority to put together my AFL team of the week for round one – the best players from across the AFL –  in every position, across every line, as based on their performance in round 1.

Here it is:
B: Alan Toovey (Coll), Simon Prestigiacomo (Coll), Tarkyn Lockyer (Coll)
HB: Harry O’Brien(Coll), Nick Maxwell (Coll), Heath Shaw (Coll)
C: Luke Ball (Coll), Dane Swan (Coll), Ben Johnson (Coll)
HF: Josh Fraser (Coll), John Anthony (Coll), Alan Didak (Coll)
F: Paul Medhurst (Coll), Travis Cloke (Coll), Leon Davis (Coll)
Foll: Darren Jolly (Coll), Scott Pendlebury (Coll), Dale Thomas (Coll)
I/C: Shane O’Bree (Coll), Sharrod Wellingham (Coll), Steele Sidebottom (Coll), Leigh Brown (Coll)
Emerg: Kane Cornes (Port), Michael Barlow (Freo), Luke Hodge (Haw), Jared Brennan (Bris)

FOOTY: Sport in general afl, FOOTY: Sport in general

Borat obviously took over the closed caption system at the Nine Network for last night’as “Footy Show” Grand Final special.

As reported in The Age, when Mike Brady got up to sing his famous football anthem, Up There Cazaly, hearing impaired people <insert joke here> saw this caption…

FOOTY: Sport in general closed caption, footy show, grand final, hearing impaired, mike brady, up there cazaly

Goodbye Anthony Rocca РA wonderful servant, a leader, a warrior for the Collingwood Football Club.  All the best, big fella.

FOOTY: Sport in general afl, anthony rocca, collingwood, retirement

“There is an international register of Magpie clubs.”

…so wrote John Harms in The Age, in this great piece:¬†The Creature is back, this time in a global conspiracy.

FOOTY: Sport in general afl, collingwood, football, geelong, magpies

Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, is making a sensational return to Formula 1.

After the horrific accident at the Hungaroring, when a piece of debris (a suspension coil) struck Felipe Massa’s helmet at over 220kmh, Schumacher will step into the driver’s seat for the next race – the European Grand Prix in Valencia – and may well complete the season for lo Scuderia Ferrari.

The tifosi are going nuts Рthis is HUGE news.  Forza Felipe, Forza Schumi, Forza Ferrari!

FOOTY: Sport in general f1, ferrari, massa, schumacher

The media is filled with stories of Nathan Buckley‘s return to Collingwood – as assistant coach under Mick Malthouse for the next two years (before presumably taking on the head role in 2012). ¬†I, for one, am rapt that the club has landed Bucks, but at this point, I’m a bit baffled as to how it will work.

The Club are covering the media conference live on their site (at 11:00am), using CoverItLive.com – the live chat software. Simultaneously, the Herald-Sun will be covering the media conference live on their site, using CoverItLive also…

From the club:

From the Herald-Sun:

If this isn’t a perfect example of how any company can be a media company, I don’t know what is. ¬†Any company can use this software to communicate directly with stakeholders. ¬†Politicians should be using live chat to speak to constituents. ¬†CFOs and CEOs should be using live chat for analysts “calls”, FMCG companies should be providing thought leadership by allowing public access to the makers of the product – getting direct feedback. ¬†There is almost no limit to the applications possible with live chat. ¬†Immediate, simple and FREE!

[UPDATE 10:59am: The Age has a live video stream of the event!]

CARNA PIES!

FOOTY: Sport in general, FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends collingwood, live chat, magpies, media, nathan buckley, social media, video streaming

Former Ballon D’Or winner and all round nice guy, Brazilian¬†Kak√° (real name: Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite)¬†has made a¬†‚Ǩ65m move from AC Milan to Real Madrid. ¬†It is the second biggest transfer in soccer history, just narrowly behind former Juventus star¬†Zin√©dine Zidane‘s move to Real Madrid in 2001 (‚Ǩ76m).

The obvious question Рhow the hell can Real Madrid afford to keep splurging on such expensive players?  In recent years it has bought players such as Zizou, David Beckham, Fabio Cannavaro, Robinho, Ronaldo, Rudd van Nistelrooj Рand either retired them, sold them for much less or lost them on a free transfer.  Like most professional Australian sporting clubs, Real Madrid is owned by its members, so has no sugar daddy or major investor to sink funds into the organisation.  The answer; it is a financial powerhouse.

Real has annual revenues of approximately €275m (the biggest earning club in the world), and earns annual profits of approximately €55m.  Accounting firm BBDO reckons Real Madrid is the most valuable sporting brand in Europe, with a brand value of €1,063,000,000.

All that and they still haven’t won any silverware of note in years…!

The Economist has put together a lovely chart based on Deloitte‘s analysis of European soccer / football, that looks at the sustainability of teams based on wages as a share of total revenues. ¬†Interesting stuff…

But it’s not all money and glamour in the world of European soccer. ¬†The formerly mighty English Premier League club, Newcastle United, is up for sale. ¬†In an absolutely cringe-worthy and embarrassing sign of desparation, the club has created an email address (admin@nufc.co.uk) so that interested parties can contact them and make a bid for the famous club. ¬†Drop ‘em a line and let us know how you go.

[UPDATE 11/06/09]: Real Madrid have now just bought Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo (another Ballon D’Or winner) for a staggering ‚Ǩ94m (¬£80m) – the player is yet to agree terms with Real, but surely it couldn’t be too hard – reports are saying he’ll be paid ‚Ǩ400,000 per week – the same amount that Kak√° is getting.

FOOTY: Sport in general, FREEDOM: Economics, Politics and Business, FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends ac milan, football, kaka, marketing, real madrid, soccer, sport business, transfer