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the classic Australian migrant story from acclaimed writer and journalist tony de Bolfo. In 1994, Melbourne journalist tony De Bolfo developed a burning need to discover what prompted his grandfather and two brothers to leave their homeland in northern Italy for a new life in Australia. He turned to his great-uncle Igino De Bolfo, the only surviving member of the original trio who undertook that arduous 46-day voyage aboard the steamship Re d'Italia (King of Italy) 75 years ago. But what began as simple curiosity became an overwhelming obsession for tony, which led him on his own unbelievable voyage of discovery. Working from the original passenger list, he set out to uncover the life storie...
In 1996, the 113-year-old Fitzroy Football Club played its final game in the AFL. Financial pressures brought about by the steady professionalisation of the AFL respected neither the worth of the club's history nor the passion of its fans. Out of time and money, on 4 July 1996 Fitzroy was forced into a merger with the Brisbane Bears - creating the League's first, and thus far only, merged club. MERGER tells the story of that fateful year, from boardroom drama and intrigue to the wind and mud of the Whitten Oval, capturing the profound tragedy of Fitzroy's doomed plight. 'The demise of Fitzroy is a deep wound rather than a scar. A tear in the fabric of the game that will never truly repair.' - from the Foreword by Gerard Whateley
"Carlton fans adored him for his ability to win games off his own boot; opponents admired him for his seemingly superhuman feats. And today, AFL coaches still scour the fields for rookies of his ilk. But there's only one Anthony Koutoufides. For sixteen years, Kouta's name echoed throughout the stands. His one-handed pick-up brought him to the attention of his coach, but his strong mark, beautiful kick and sheer athleticism won over all the fans. A premiership player and twice All-Australian, Kouta certainly found success but his career wasn't always a fairytale. Chronic injuries restricted his game, personal tragedy left him reeling and when he was made captain, he had to lead the club through some of its darkest days. To farewell the game, Kouta tells all the pressures of mounting expectation, club politics, drug allegations and the changing face of football. He recounts his journey from the early days in Lalor to the big lights and pay packets of a national league, where controversy pops up at the slightest provocation. Insightful and entertaining, Kouta is a candid look at our beloved game from perhaps the greatest player of his era."--Provided by publisher.
At 18, Gerry Karidis migrated to Australia. After a decade of struggle he turned his entrepreneurial drive to property development. In this engaging memoir he reveals the extent of his involvement as 'the Adelaide connection' in the federal political crisis known as the Loans Affair of 1974-75 and just how close to success the money hunt came.
The book examines a period when football underwent a seismic and ineradicable change brought about by the determination of the Victorian Football League to wrest control of the game's development and destiny from the various state controlling bodies and the Australian Football Council. Whereas the VFL had initially been the first among equals, it gradually assumed the role of the sole and undisputed guardian of the code. The AFC, once football's ostensible national controlling body, became an irrelevance. Instead of a national sport with a national remit we ended up with an expanded VFL with a majority of Victorian member clubs supplemented by a token sprinkling of teams from interstate. Such teams were in most cases created from scratch and could in no way be said to derive directly from the states' unique and distinctive football traditions and culture. For some, it was a brave new world, but evolution does not inevitably entail improvement.
A revealing account of how four unassuming blokes from the bush endeared themselves to Australian Rules fans and became part of football folklore.
This book will revolutionise the history of Indigenous involvement in Australian football in the second half of the nineteenth century. It collects new evidence to show how Aboriginal people saw the cricket and football played by those who had taken their land and resources and forced their way into them in the missions and stations around the peripheries of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. They learned the game and brought their own skills to it, eventually winning local leagues and earning the respect of their contemporaries. They were prevented from reaching higher levels by the gatekeepers of the domestic game until late in the twentieth century. Their successors did not come from nowhere.
There is no greater prize in Australian team sport than the VFL/AFL premiership flag. Premiership players are forever recognised and their deeds of their teams long celebrated. This book, the first in a three-volume series, recounts in details the players, the officials, the matches and the other key events that shaped the premiership team every year. The Grand Finals themselves are also recounted in great detail while the key statistics for the premiership teams are also featured. This book covers Grand Finals from the period 1897-1938 and is the first volume in a series to provide a complete view of every premiership team in every year of Australia's elite football competition. Among the contributors are: Emma Quayle (The Age), Rohan Connolly (The Age), John Harms (The Footy Almanac), Paul Daffey (afl.com.au), Jim Main, Glenn McFarlane(Herald Sun), Michael Lovett (AFL Record) and Robert Pascoe.
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Winner of the ACT Book of the Year Award Shortlisted for the Ernest Scott Prize and CHASS Australia Prize It was the era of Hawke and Keating, Kylie and INXS, the America's Cup and the Bicentenary. It was perhaps the most controversial decade in Australian history, with high-flying entrepreneurs booming and busting, torrid debates over land rights and immigration, the advent of AIDS, a harsh recession and the rise of the New Right. It was a time when Australians fought for social change - on union picket lines, at rallies for women's rights and against nuclear weapons, and as part of a new environmental movement. And then there were the events that left many scratching their heads- Joh for Canberra . . . the Australia Card . . . Cliff Young. In The Eighties, Frank Bongiorno brings all this and more to life. He sheds new light on 'both the ordinary and extraordinary things that happened to Australia and Australians during this liveliest of decades'. 'The definitive account of an inspired, infuriating decade' - George Megalogenis 'A very impressive achievement' - The Monthly 'Meaty and entertaining' - The Australian