Round 13, 2006

 

 

Despite the rain and another insipid Geelong loss, the weekend was sufficiently redeemed by Collingwood’s woeful loss to Richmond at the MCG, as footballinvective.com's favourite bunch of supporters, Tiger fans, once again whipped themselves into a frenzy of expectant premiership glory,

 

Chris Newman must have taken things a bit too literally when he tried to emulate his hero, fashion designer Nathan Brown, but ended up resembling him in unforseen ways. But Newman's leg wasn't the only thing to come out of the match severely damaged, with Collingwood’s credibility also suffering a similar fate. In this week of World Cup fever, Collingwood’s effort echoed that of Brazil – a high-profile team with truckloads of overzealous supporters and vacuous bandwagon jumpers, but a team which turned out to be highly over-rated. Geelong, on the other hand, was more akin to the hapless also-rans of Togo or Serbia-Montenegro, and its destiny in 2006 seems to be nothing more than a whipping boy for opponents with more guts, commitment and general credibility. At the very least, Geelong should have taken a leaf from Argentina’s book last Friday by losing ungraciously and starting a wild all-in brawl after the game – to show its supporters that the softest team in the AFL still has a modicum of fighting spirit left.

 

To stretch the World Cup metaphor even further, England yet again lost in a penalty shoot out, demonstrating that the old Aussie Rules adage is just as relevant to the round ball game as well: Bad Kicking is Bad Football. 

 

Adelaide meanwhile, is shaping up to be the France of the AFL – each last won the ultimate prize in 1998 and each is now showing that they are again the Real Deal. Andrew McLeod is the Zinedine Zidane of Aussie Rules – both were B.O.G. back in ’98 when their team last lifted the cup, and both showed on the weekend that they are still world-beaters on their day. The Zenedine Love Machine takes on the Italian modelling squad this Monday in Berlin, and Zidane will no doubt be hoping to achieve another Norm Smith Medal to match the two in McLeod's trophy cabinet.

 

Hawthorn stooped to a new low against the Saints on Saturday, going down by more than ten goals in a lacklustre performance. Coach Alistair Clarkson can probably empathise with England coach Sven Goran Erikson, as supporters now start to blame the man at the helm for the failure of his charges. He must wish he shared some of the good fortune of Neil Craig, who this week was re-signed by the Crows, despite the Adelaide Advertiser imploring them to sign him for life:

 

 

But the biggest story of the week was surely the one to come out the Adelaide Advertiser (where else) which served up a classic tale of South Australian rivalry and passion that will surely surpass anything we see on or off the field this year:

Footy feud at factory turns bloody
Renato Castello
02jul06

A DECADE-long feud between two factory workers over the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide ended in a forklift duel that left one with a bloodied face and the other unemployed.

After a history of workplace pranks, jibes and racial insults, Crows fan and Greek-born Simeon Christopoulos, 63, hit Power fan and Italian-born Frank Cappelluti, 58, after the pair locked forklifts on the factory floor of Kilburn steel firm, Korvest.

Mr Cappelluti, of Pooraka, suffered a cut lip and his boss, Mr Christopoulos, who had worked with the company for 34 years, was sacked.

The Forklift Showdown - revealed in court documents - was the culmination of ongoing bickering between the pair at the factory.

In one altercation, Mr Cappelluti – armed with electric hair-clippers – had jokingly threatened to shave Mr Christopoulos's head "like one of his football heroes".

Their volatile relationship was further fuelled by "tensions" over their ethnic heritages and physical altercations, including an incident when Mr Christopoulos "unexpectedly" hit Mr Cappelluti in the neck during a smoko break.

"You could joke with each other, but with Sim, you couldn't joke with him, but it was all right for him to throw s . . t at me," Mr Cappelluti said this week.

"I love me Power, but Sim, one minute he was a Carlton supporter, the next a Crows supporter.

"He had two scarfs – one for the Crows and one for Carlton. If the Crows were losing, he'd wear the Carlton scarf and if Carlton were losing, he'd wear the Crows scarf."

In his testimony, Mr Christopoulos said he was driving his forklift on March 31 last year at the factory when Mr Cappelluti backed his forklift into him and laughed.

Mr Christopoulos then threw a punch which Mr Cappelluti ducked, but a second punch landed, splitting his lip.

Deputy President Hampton noted there were "tensions" in the relationship due to "practical jokes", references to each other's heritage and "their different allegiances to their two AFL teams based in SA".

 

Hero of the Week: Neil Craig. "Coach for Life" of the Crows. But don't get too excited about his achievements this week. After all, he only beat Geelong.

 

Cult Figure of the Week: Frank Cappelluti of Pooraka. Winner of the Forklift Showdown. "I love me Port"

 

Clanger of the Week: Simeon Christopoulos, loser of the Forklift Showdown. A fair weather Crows supporter - no room for them in the Greatest State in the World. Some would say rough justice was done by Signor Cappelluti.