Deuce

Still in Brisbane for the Brisbane International. Attended the evening session tonight. This match a men's singles between Gregor Dimitrov (number 3 in the world from Bulgaria) and Kyle Edmund (number 50 in the world from Britain).

Love all

In Brisbane for the Brisbane International tennis tournament. Attended the day session today. The first match was a womens single quarter final between two names unknown to us.

Sign of the times

In Centennial Park; a cricket match between two women's teams.

Australia 2-0

It has been a good day for Australia.

This morning the announcement that the Government decreed voluntary survey which few Australians felt was necessary had returned a 61.6% vote in favour of marriage equality effectively committing the Australian Parliament to introduce the necessary legislation; something that should have been done without an expensive tax payer funded process.

Australia 1 win.

This evening Australia's soccer team, the Socceroos, defeated Honduras in the last chance play off match to qualify for the World Cup Finals 2018 in Russia.

Australia 2 wins.

Rainbow football

Anyone for tennis?

Whilst in Brisbane we attended three sessions at the Brisbane International Tennis tournament. Amongst the name players we saw were Angelique Kerber, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic.

And, they're off....

The annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race always provides a spectacular sight with its start and early moments played out on Sydney Harbour and through the Heads into the Tasman Sea.

I am lucky to have a view of the start from my apartment, albeit from a long way behind the starting line with the fleet sailing further away from my location.

Some photos from today's start;

Sixty yachts tacking for position ahead of the start

The starter's gun fires and they're off

The maxi yachts surge to the lead

Before the start 10 helicopters buzz overhead like mosquitos

City to Surf 2016

This annual fun run is underway as I key in this post. The run is from the Central Business District to Bondi Beach; something like 14 kilometres from memory. The elite athletes complete the course in about 45 minutes but others run or walk the course (which includes some horrendous hills) over a period of 2/3 hours.


This year the field is expected to be about 80,000.

Early runners in the field passing through Edgecliff, where I live;



The same runners (possibly) moments later passing through Double Bay to my east:

No bundle of joy

This week several Australian tennis players were 'bundled out' of tennis tournaments.

That sentence is a curiosity and periodically words to those effect generate a bemused discussion in this country. I am traversing old ground by entering the conversation, but here goes.

'Bundled out'. A strange expression which is used over and over by sports commentators but only, it seems, under certain conditions.

First, we only ever seem to hear it used in relation to tennis. No one ever said that Ian Thorpe was 'bundled out' of a swimming event nor that Jason Day was 'bundled out' of a golf tournament.

Second, it seems you can only be 'bundled out' in the early rounds, say rounds 1 to 3, of a tennis tournament. No one ever said Lleyton Hewitt was 'bundled out' of the semi finals nor that Pat Rafter was 'bundled out' of the final. No, if you are going to be 'bundled out' it must be early in the tournament.

Third, to be 'bundled out' you generally have to be Australian. Neither Roger Federer nor Novak Djokovic, nor any other non-Australian ever seems to be 'bundled out'. They just lose or at worst are knocked out. As though they were boxers?

Fourth, you must always be 'bundled out'. Surely if you can be 'bundled out' then you should be able to be 'bundled in'. Yet no one ever said that Thanasi Kokkinakis or Nick Kyrgios were 'bundled into' the second round at Wimbledon.

So, if you can't be 'bundled in' then why do we say someone was 'bundled out'. Why not just say they were 'bundled'? The media could report that I was 'bundled' from the first round at Wimbledon. (I'm sure that I would be!)

It is all a bundle of 'tosh' really so I'll put an end to it with a photograph of non-Australian Rafael Nadal sadly 'bundled out' in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open.

(Source: AP)

Brisbane

Yes, once again I am in Brisbane. A belated Christmas come New Year reunion with good friends dating back from our days on posting together in Beijing. A friendship now more than thirty five years old.

One of the main events organised for this gathering was a couple of nights attending the Brisbane International tennis tournament. For some years MT has wanted us to spend time in Melbourne at the Australian Open tournament but this always looked too expensive for some of our Brisbane based friends. Having caucused unsuccessfully about a Melbourne visit MT last year suggested the Brisbane alternative and this was agreed to and organised.

In one of life's ironies MT fell quite ill and was hospitalised last weekend on the eve of our gathering. She has missed out entirely on this visit of which she was the principal architect. She has been discharged from hospital and appears to be on the mend but her doctor vetoed her travel and so she has ended up watching the tennis from home on television instead. At her insistence we've had to describe the colour of the clothes we are wearing so she can pick us out in the crowd scenes. Unsurprisingly she has not seen us on either night.

It was of some little consolation to MT that the seats she booked for us were excellent. Here is the view we had on the first night;

We saw Bernard Tomic play Radek Stepanek. Local 'boy' Tomic won but his performance was not exactly stellar. However the play was very close and the likely outcome looked uncertain until the final points.

RS, who ate sushi purchased at the courts, fell violently ill the next day with food poisoning. Our reunion was starting to look jinxed!

The next night - and with a substitute attendee for the recovering RS - we had these seats. Just a little to the right of where we had sat the previous night and still a very good view.

This time we watched Roger Federer play Tobias Kamke. The quality of play - especially from Federer - was a class above what was on show the earlier night but the match itself was less interesting simply because the tension of wondering who would win was absent. Nonetheless it was a treat to see a champion player performing in the flesh.

None of us purchased sushi for dinner this night.

I'm returning to Sydney tomorrow.

From Fools to Shakespeare

It is a wonder that the Rugby League football code still exists in Australia. Often seen as a sport of bash and barge its players and officials are rarely off the front pages for all manner of indecencies and petty criminality.

Last night the 2015 Grand Final was staged in Sydney. (Any USA readers for Grand Final substitute Super Bowl.) Yesterday morning ahead of the match news reports filtered through that one former champion player was dropped from the host broadcaster's commentary team after having allegedly verbally assaulted a woman with sexual innuendo at an airport before allegedly taking a nap on the floor in a drunken stupor. Almost every major Rugby League match seems to be preceded by a front page scandal.

Somehow, the sport survives and even thrives despite itself.

Last night's match has become an instant classic. The first half was an unusually open and thrilling affair. At half time social media reported it was the highest scoring first half for a Grand Final in over sixty years. Only two points separated the two sides, perennial champions the Broncos and perennial strugglers the Cowboys. The likely winner was still well disguised at the break.

The second half was chalk to the first half's cheese. The match turned into an arm wrestle with play repeatedly going from end to end and back again like a basketball match but without any scoring. Apart from two points from a penalty goal within minutes of the restart there was no further scoring in the half and with only ten seconds remaining it seemed the Broncos would hold on for yet another win.

Then came the final five seconds and the match assumed a level of drama befitting a Shakespearean drama. Literally as the time clock showed zero seconds left to play the Cowboys improbably, unbelievably and thrillingly somehow conjured this tying score;

(Getty Images, Cameron Spencer)

And then it was left to the Cowboy's own champion player to take centre stage after the full time siren and then into Golden Point extra time eventually to secure a stunning and memorable win.

(AAP: Dean Lewins)

From one champion player's shame to another champion player's destiny. From Fools to Shakespeare.

One 'S' and one 'T' too many

Daylight saving time commenced overnight in those Australian states that participate.

I like it.

What I don't like is that rogue 'S' that sometimes accompanies it. My body cringes every time I hear certain television weather presenters (and others) refer to daylight savings. Please cease and desist this display of sibilance.

The one similar practice that irritates me even more is the rogue 'T' that emerges every year in June. The Championships at Wimbledon may well be enjoyed with strawberries and cream but never with 'T'. There is a place called Wimbledon. If there is also a place called Wimbleton then be assured it does not host a major tennis tournament.

Rant over.

Kick to kick and I'll be kicking myself

It has been an odd week. There is so much I should have done but set to one side instead. It seemed as though I had no time available to get things done, yet I had fewer commitments than usual. Where has the week and my time gone?

This is a long weekend in Sydney with a public holiday on Monday. Early summer conditions are forecast. I should try not to waste it but the temptations of indoor televised distraction are only too obvious. It is that weekend again.

This afternoon from Melbourne;

Australian Football League Grand Final

Tomorrow evening in Sydney;

National Rugby League Grand Final

Better switch off the MacBook, get off my arse and get going outdoors. Otherwise I'll be kicking myself.

The not so beautiful game

In light of Mr Blatter's re-election as the head of the world's football body FIFA the following table - widely circulated - provides startling, indeed shocking, information. It says something about Mr Blatter that as his organisation's President he didn't have the decency to accept responsibility, even if it was only symbolic, for its abysmal activities. It is also a sad commentary on those many national Federations who stand by this failed executive, evidently preferring the benefits of corrupt largesse to being a member of an honest, reputable structure.

Fun and games at the football

An unusual event at the Anzac Day Roosters v Dragons National Rugby League match yesterday. Play was suspended for thirty minutes when a severe storm hit the ground. It wasn't just the torrential rain which made play difficult enough and flooded parts of the field within minutes but the lightning and heavy hail which forced the players from the field.

The temperature dropped from 25.9º to 14.4º.

Anzac Day commemoration pre-game

The storm hits and the crowd scatters for shelter

Rain in the lights

Players return after the storm interruption

For the record: Full time Roosters 12 Dragons 14.

From time to time

Robert Allenby

Robert Allenby is an Australian professional golfer who is in the news at the moment for other than his golfing skills. Mr Allenby recently turned up one morning in Hawaii bruised and looking the worse for wear claiming he had been drugged and kidnapped from a bar and beaten by person or persons unknown. Later bystander accounts have provided different versions of events.

I'm not buying into which of the accounts is, or may be, the accurate one. That is none of my business. What intrigues me is Mr Allenby's consistent assertion that he has no recollection of events between 11.06pm and 1.27am. These are such precise times. Generally people refer to 'about' times. It seems to me that 'about 11pm or about 1.20am' is the more usual statement.

I wonder why Mr Allenby is so precise? Is that just his nature? Is this is a reflection of 21st century living with the increasing reliance on digital material such as smart phones and tablets?

Just curious.

Off they go....

One of the world's major ocean races, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race gets underway from Sydney Harbour every Boxing Day at 1pm.

Here are the yachts tacking about 10 minutes before the starting gun as seen down harbour from my apartment.

The same moment on the television coverage.

(Channel 7)

The moment of the starting gun.

The same moment on the television coverage.

(Channel 7)

The race is over 628 nautical miles. Depending on weather conditions and the capacity of the yacht the first across the finishing line might only take a couple of days but it is not unusual for the slowest of the competitors to reach the finish after January 1st.

This is the 70th race of this annual event.

I've experienced better weeks

It has been an unhappy week.

The untimely death, days before his 26th birthday, of cricketer Phillip Hughes following an awful injury whilst playing cricket has shocked and gripped many Australians in a way rarely seen. It might be difficult for overseas readers who have heard this news and who are not in cricket playing countries to understand the extent of the general distress being expressed but Hughes somehow embodied so much of how Australians see themselves and see their heroes. The news of his passing upset me as it did so many others.

Phillip Hughes

The outpouring of grief around the world has been astonishing. This claim is not just hyperbole. On radio just minutes ago I heard that there have been 98,000,000 'views' around the world of photos on Instagram of cricket bats being displayed to mark Hughes passing. That's NINETY-EIGHT MILLION clicks on the internet in ONE day. Amazing.

Perhaps my emotion is amplified by another awful loss virtually simultaneous with that of Hughes. My volunteer co-worker of eight years at the Nursing Home, Da, passed away this morning little more than 12 hours later than Hughes after suffering a massive stroke on Wednesday morning also only a little more than 12 hours following Hughes' injury.

Da had been in good health, was only 67, ate healthily, exercised daily and simply was the last person I would imagine to be near the end of her days.

Both deaths reinforce the point; make the most of every day. Don't take life for granted, don't procrastinate about following your dreams and don't put off to another day telling your loved ones how much they mean to you. You may never get that chance.

A night at the football

The day after returning to Australia I attended the 2014 National Rugby League Grand Final which had more interest than usual with foundation club South Sydney (partly owned by Russell Crowe) qualifying for the first time in 43 years and seeking their first Premiership in all those years having previously won a record 20 Premierships in the preceding 59 years.

The pre match 'entertainment' at the NRL Grand Final is traditionally noisy, smokey and incomprehensible and so it was yet again this year.

The pre match noise and smoke

South Sydney won the match over neighbouring club Canterbury Bankstown in a match that was far closer than the final score suggests and were deserving winners thus completing the 'fairy tale' year.

The match is over. Players, officials and the crowd rise to enjoy the moment.

The crowd, most of the 83,833 of whom favoured South Sydney on the night, soak up the result.

Thank you linesmen, thank you ball boys

Today's touring was of Wimbledon; or should I say the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. That's the sort of club it is. Traditional, rule bound and very historic. Well, mostly historic, there are some nods to the 21st Century.

Centre Court

Show Court No 1

Henman's Hill or, if you prefer Murray's Mound, being mowed

Outside courts

Nobody, not even the Club's 500 or so members, can play these courts which apparently are used only during the two weeks of the Championships. No walking on the grass, not even the grass in the public areas. No photos of anyone wearing white tennis clothes; they may be members whose privacy must be protected. Despite the rules, the guided tour and the associated museum were very interesting and worth the trip to south-west London if you are so inclined.

I did come away with a photo of the current Champion at the post match interview centre;

Gosh, he looks familiar!

Following that tour - and a fish and chips lunch in Wimbledon's cafe - I travelled four stops back up the district line to Fulham Broadway which was my local station when I lived in London 1974/75.

The street where I lived

Mine was the upstairs flat