Match Report 2013_01_24

10-4 vs left footers
Tk (goals), CB 3, TW 2, GF 3, RH 2, JH
CB MOM

It was hot but not as hot as the week before.

We were taut. The taut six. Tighter than the week before.

The opposition were a bit shit. A bit shitter than the week before.

We had the Tokyo terror in goals who brought the composure and distribution that we needed at the baseline.

We had sleepy-eyed Hannan, his stoner evangelism dripping off him like anal leakage and causing the opposition to slide disconsolately into oily befuddlement.

And we capitalised on their befuddlement with goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal.
That made 10.

Myself and the lumberjack littered the goal mouth with a hat trick a piece. The captain and the purple head knocked in two each.

The opposition were enthusiastic and hungry although lacking in skills. Somewhat like the nannas you might think? But what do the nannas have in spades that this team lacks?

EXPERIENCE! That’s right kid, the nannas have experience. WHERE IT COUNTS. Under the hood. When the nannas actually manage to get that creaky engine to work, it hums, it glides, it purrs, it sizzles.

And there’s only so far hunger and enthusiasm can take you when you’re toe to toe with the hummingglidingpurringsizzling nanna meat machine.

That’s how we won it. We got our engine on. Thanks in no small part to the captain’s stirring halftime speech. Which was received in it’s entirety without the outrageous slings and arrows of interjection. Swallowed whole into the collective nanna cerebellum like a guinea pig into a gryphon’s putrid maw.

Example: the writer, from the sideline near the D; “Hinkley, header!” The ball sails the distance of the court, kisses the captain’s precise forehead and boo.. Yaah! Goal!

That’s all for now. Drinking with cocky and Rhian for cockys fortieth.

20130217 Nannas versus Vagabonds 3-6

JH(1), GF, DC(1), CB, TW(1), TH(coaching)

The Nans have never been hotter than we were on this day. It was 40 in the shade, and about 45 in the arena. We were hot, and that’s all that really matters. That’s what we tell people.

Tom hadn’t brought his insoles, so unfortunately he couldn’t play, but he did watch, and in watching, I think we all felt the support his eyes gave us.

First half we seemed to be dominant, but then Gilla started chucking the ball away, every fucking time Eddie, and it made it hard to find rhythm. The rhythm, the rhythm…The rhythm.

There was some good passing, and some good setups for goals, and a lot of post shots, where luck was a bit more with the fucken opposition that it was with fucken us. But in the end, that’s footy.
Right at the end Jim stepped up and got a sweet shit-hot penalty kick. And that’s what happened kid. True story.

Match Report 10th of January 2013

4-10* v South Melbourne AMC
DC(4,m), GF, RH, TH

A TRUE HERO OF NANNA

That is the mantle that sits proudly upon the shoulders of 4 of the finest Nannas to ever wear the brown and gold. Twas the first game of the New Year and most nobly did they enter the battle a full man short of a team. That is not to say that Gilla is a full man but it is to say that he deserted his brothers when they needed him most. Admittedly it was the 10th birthday of Northside and there was a veritable ocean of pert young ladies dashing their nubility upon the white cliffs of the proprietors eyeballs… but… no, we were pretty sure as we drove off without him that we were alone… so alone. Yes, we could have hired some sellsword to step into the breach, but locating the number of single futsal mercenary was beyond us so early in the year. I for one had been in the country less than 24 hours. And thus it was that we rode onto the field with Bish* the ref  as our goalie (will we ever learn?, the ref never goes in goals !). Our opponents, saxons amongst them, were far from the stiffest, ahem, we have come, ahem, up against and the nannas were well matched to the task. Alas the second half came around, the nannas ran out of juice and Bish stopped stopping the ball going in the net. It was unattractive.

After the game we went back to an empty house in north fitzroy (apart from the chickens) ate malaysian, drank beer, chatted with brassy, drank Oban and generally got pretty trashed. We were joined by Wal with a slab of beer direct from Croajingalong. Near the end of the evening Frasay took the opportunity to outline his ambitions for the Captain and I to star in a high intensity martial arts action film which we promptly began rehearsing.

* actual score was 4-14
** Not sure exactly what the refs name is

GoPro – a love story

It’s funny. I dropped my Hero 2 in the sea just out from the beach at Staffa Bay (East Coast, NZ (-35.561880, 174.495158)). It pretty much disappeared immediately (I was upside down skirted into a kayak so couldn’t really search for it that effectively) but at the time I really wasn’t that fussed. I’d kind of fallen out of love with the camera, the same camera that had paradigmally changed my view of what a camera is just a year before. I think it was the internal fogging (and maybe the boys’ nikons) that had taken the shine off. Maybe it was the fact that the newer Hero 3 had recently been released, or perhaps it was simply that the sun hadn’t really been shining much on the holiday. What ever it was I hardly even blinked when it left me to take videos with Tangaroa (I do love the idea that is was recording at the time and some diver will find it in 10 years with 4 hours of crazed seafloor action footage still on the SD card). Cut to a few days later, the sun comes out and I’m killing myself. I spent half a day in Whangarei trying to find a replacement (and a full-suit rashy for a semi-burnt Billie) to no avail – stinkin’ Whanagrei. Then spent the rest of the holiday growing increasingly agitated due to lack of waterproof camera action (as I was too stupid to remember that both boys had such things… idiot !). Anyway back in Melbourne I discover they are virtually impossible to get hold of due to massive worldwide over demand… thank goodness for the local suburban surfshop – one left, thank you.

720p at 120 fps
2.7k at 24fps
log curve recording at high bitrates
wifi remote

BOOM !

Match Report 2012.12.20

Nannas 0 Vs Vagabundos 5

AW, JH, GF, RH, TH1, TK(G MOM)

End of the year game. First game in the new season. Everyone just started Xmas holiday. Excitements for the end of the year break. Some of the Nannas were already vacation. Just before the end of Maya calendar. Venus is alined and empowering the human harmony. Stars shining. Busiest month in the life for everybody. Many Xmas parties already. The chance to go to the top of the ladder. Sense of the fresh start. Hope of miracles happen. Thinking all games have played. Thinking the years we spent. Looking the book documented the spirits of Nannas. Imagining all game we will play in the future. It was certainly best year for Nannas.

See you in 2013. Heading to Mimosa Rocks today

Match Report 2012.11.29

Nannas 5 Vs Pornstars 10

AW, DC2, JH, GF, RH, TH1, TW1, TK(G MOM)

Early and hot. It was reported as the deadly hottest day in November last 100 years. It went around 42 degrees. The traffic rage was reported as 140%. Certainly we loved the 6pm game.
Brain damage from a fever will not occur unless the fever is over 42C for an extended period of time. I wonder how long it is. I am not sure about my brain function but I want to be sure of the functions of my ball.

We had a best intention for the game. like we do for the finals. Really committed Nannas were on the field before 6pm for the warm up and we chased the opponent like hounds.

The result was loss but we had great speedy goals supported by magic pass works. We simply just needed more of them. I felt that the game was even first half. They gradually scored more than us and we had few slow defenses to let the guys in. We ended this season at the bottom of the ladder. We recharge our batteries and come back as the old lion riding on stallion.

Unfortunately, I missed the beach beer burger bonX session after this. Wait for the picture from the other Nannas.

MATCH REPORT 2012/11/1

The  Nannas vs Sth Melbourne afc

3.   –     4

DC1, RH, TW, TH. JH1, TK, CG mom1

A glorious performance rolls around in my head just like it was yesterday. As our seasons was on of the crapest and least brown, this was one of those games we really shoulda woulda win.

We applied the brown heat all night and even threatened an avalanche, BUT it was not to be.  Maybe it was the lack of the reach around, maybe it was the lack of the chassy in the map of Tassie move, or maybe it was the lack of  the extreme Greek. Whatever it was we fell just that little bit short.

The night was turned around by the loud call from JIM for KoRHIAN. There were groans but we all accepted the porking like men.

Lacking the cape we did what we had to and rounded off the night laughing like fools

 

 

Match Report 2012.11.22

Nannas 4 Vs Forfeit Team 7

DC, JH(1), AW, GF, TK(G), TW(3)

It was touted as the Nannas A team going out there to make things right for so many wrongs in this season. And I’d have to say we certainly had that look for the first half. Some nice solid passes, some moving into space and general awareness of where we were meant to be. It did help that the other team were a bit tired from a previous game.

The second half started off ok but we quickly lost power and allowed the opposition to make fools of us with some easy goals. We stopped checking our defence and left Kondo alone on a number of costly occasions. We certainly had them most of the time but unfortunately the scoreboard told a different story and really that is what counts at the end of your 36 min (just ask the Spanish futsal team).

I think it imperative that every Nanna watch some futsal vids during the week before every game for inspiration on how the game should be played.

There was a full cheer squad of too many kids to count. Dinner was for 3 Nannas and 7 kids in the gardens with fish & chips and beer while the sun went down. Nice.

 

Match Report 121115 – part the 2nd

Jim has pretty much said it all, well I’m assuming he has because his post looked really long (though I haven’t actually read it). So instead I have spent my time uploading a few old team photos… nothing special, but for the record – innit.

The Visitor Lights the Captains Fart
Old King Lion as backdrop
BPDP against the boards

But what is kind of special is the Nannas Ornaments font, a set of ornament glyphs (or dingbats if you prefer) based on the Nannas iconography. It’s not quite ready for public release but here’s a sneak peak (click image for the Character Map)… boom.

 

– – –

 

Match report 15 November 2012

DC (MOM), JH (MOM), TH, RH, AW

Nannas 1 play Hampton FC 3

We lost this one in the first thirty seconds. Tommy our keeper hadn’t arrived (so obviously it’s all his fault). I was going to deputise, warming up by getting people to kick balls at me. But then Phil noticed we were a man down and stepped up to do the honours. So, we lined up as five but we weren’t really five, not in spirit anyway. We were more dazed, casual bystanders, watching as our opponents put two very quick and easy goals passed us. I remember feeling at the time that this is how the Nannas will play for evermore: slow, limp, non-moving, non-competitive, almost not there. I remember also apologising to Phil like, shit sorry man, we are really crap.

But then Tommy showed up and for some reason we awoke. I am not sure if it was his presence (if he had been there from the beginning things could have been so different; it’s so all his fault), or if it was us going behind to those two early goals.

So, we started to play and for the rest of match we were good. Our passing and movement seemed to benefit from our limited number. Or maybe it was those who were playing (a new Nanna A perhaps), or maybe it was being on court all match that gave us cohesion and momentum. The only sticking point was their goalie: he was hard to beat. The Captain (he truly is a beautiful man) did it once but no one else could. I remember being one on one with their shot stopper about four or five times and each time he beat away my shot or shut me down before I got a chance to shoot. I also remember another three or four that I pinged from outside three-point range, only for him to again beat them away.

Talking about goalies, Tommy had a very good night in goals (he shoulda been there from the beginning, things could have been so different). He was pulling out saves from everywhere (he surely would have stopped those two early ones).  It was like having Gilla in goals but without the hair and funk (and Tommy is better looking too). But then I fucked him (Tommy, that is). Their keeper was coming out of his goals, taking pot shots at our goal from halfway and beyond. From one of these shots, I kinda felt like an opponent was behind me, and that it would be a good idea to stick out a foot to try to deflect it. As I said to Tommy after, it was only half a thought, which are the worst kind, because I only succeeded in deflecting the ball past Tommy and into our goals (this was my fault and I take full responsibility). This was very bad for us (and I was post match very surprised when I was named MOM, given this transgression), for only minutes before the Captain got his goal, and we were looking likely to overrun them.

Everyone hates losing to the Annual.

Cheersquad of all time

Lost 6-3 or something like that

Well the highlight of the game was the cheersquad which turned up, in quantity not seen since the early nanna days. Miri, and a massive posse of kids: Otis, El, Lou, Zavie, Poppy, and Rocket. It was great to see. And although we lost, we had some shining moments. I seemed to pick up the MOM as everyone threw me a spare vote, which all added up.

Goals were Gill, although claimed by Dinger (formerly known as Cheezles). Dinger was i’n the D, and seemingly the ball sailed past his head into the net. Tao popped one i’n from the corner. Jim knocked a lovely header. The crowd went wild. Jim had some great passes. Rhian just missed a difficult angled header. Tao put up some solid defence.

Post game we all busted back to the ‘Roy for burgers. I was the pickup man, but got stalled chatting up a client. Cocky nearly lost it, but managed to keep his cool. We sat on milk crates in Northside Records.

MATCH REPORT 25 /10 /12

RH MOM – we lost, I think I got a goal, maybe someone else did.

Picture This –

A man, a botanist, a man who has spent his life amongst plants of all varieties. This man finds himself traveling through a desert, for many years, a desert only sparsely populated by withered, dry cacti. A cruel hot wind blew incessantly accross the mans face, burning away any remnants of moisture from his lips. One day, let’s say it’s his birthday, maybe his fortieth birthday, he struggles over an especially high sand dune and in front of him is a forest of unimaginable beauty. A forest full of every plant he has ever seen, all the plants from his memory, and many he has forgotten all layed before him and arranged in such beauty that he almost cannot look at it. This man races down the sand and frolics in the forest, removing his clothes and becoming one with the flora. He spends many days and nights in ecstasy, soaking in the plants, the flowers, the leaves. He discovers that this forest has been planted by his friends, he is lost for words, he cannot believe that his friends would do such a thing and create something of such beauty. After some time his friends return  and ask this man to add to the forest, using only what he has……

This is where I find myself dear Nannas, how can a man, even a captain, write a report when all the reports of a lifetime have been placed before him and presented in all their perfection?

I have received the perfect gift, some say it’s impossible to conceive of the perfect gift, others say you can think such thoughts but never produce such greatness in reality. The Nannas have thought the unthinkable then built the unbuildable. For this I am, and always will be, eternally grateful.

The most beautiful part of the present is that it is only volume one – and five days after presentation the Nannas return to the court and the story continues.

We lost, again, but we ate and drank and abused each other, and that is the true Nanna story.

 

Match report 18 October 2012

DC 3, GF, JH (mercy fuck MOM), RH, AW, TW

Nannas 4 play St Kilda 10

T’was a chastening night for the Nannas. We met a somewhat recent foe, but one we had had success against not so long ago, not least in the granny at the end of last year. On that occasion we held their attack in check and got quite a few goals our self (with Chassy playing out of his skin).

This time out, while our attack was serviceable if not brilliant, we had no Chas and we did not hold them in any way shape or form at the back.

The first half was predicable. We were strong and true, letting in a couple (at least one by the keeper was very soft, who completely misjudged the strength of a shot) and got a few of our own.

Cocky had a better night of it, as compared with last week. He snared a couple from pure persistence, dispossessing opponents deep in their half and making them pay each time.

Tao too got on the scoresheet in the first half, running from deep around most of their team to pop up in front of goals and slot home: the goal of the match, from this correspondent’s point of view.

Half time score, 4-3 (I think).

Second half

Then the second half happened and with it about three or four early goals to the opposition. The Nannas need to concentrate on their second half starts, as this is not the first time we have been competitive leading in to the break but out the other side, very quickly letting the game slip from our grasp.

Captain pointed out after the game that most of their team can run, pass, dribble and generally play soccer. An interesting comment. Obviously the point being that some/most Nannas can’t, or the opposition can do all these things better than us. Probably a fair point but for most of the first half we definitely held our own. What was more evident though, was that the Nannas did start to drop their intensity in the second half. There were couple of times when Nannas could be see standing around watching the play instead of being an active participant in it. This is where the Nannas have become less competitive this year, as teams usually find they can run over the top of us in the second half as the Nanns start to flag, or generally become disinterested in the contest.

Upper management recommendation #1
All Nannas take part in conditioning and competiveness training pre-season.

 Goalie’s point of view.

First, it should be said that about three or four goals the goalie let in were particularly soft. He does need to have some time having people kick soccer balls at him at pace, from up close, from range, from all different angles, from crosses, from volleys, from everywhere if he is going to be a regular stand in for other Nanna keepers.

On the flip side, it was interesting to see the difference this keeper made in terms of distribution. Usually the Nannas live off scraps, a lot of long balls trying to pull off the Nanna Sucker Punch™, or see the opposition’s goal or the wall above their goal peppered (this is especially true when our first-choice keeper plays). But when the Nannas get a bit more regular and consistent ball, and if they run to space and their efforts are rewarded with a pass, they do start to get interested in playing, trying to string passes together, link and run; they do start to get some confidence in their foot skills and their play does become somewhat less haphazard and more controlled.

Upper management recommendation #2
All keepers go through distribution training, which will involve classes on: taking the best option; controlling the pace of the game; being an option at the back; limited but strategic use of the Nanna Sucker Punch™; throwing to a Nannas’ chest, head or feet and knowing when and how to accomplish these; knowing when to put the ball at a Nannas’ feet or out in front of him, that is, identifying when a team mate is moving and then choosing the appropriate way to pass to him; the look away; the feint; the cut out; the loop; the weighted drop; the all out throw; the worm burner; the head hunter; the chest tickler; the curve ball; the leg and off break; the off the opposition’s goalies goal; the Garry Owen; and last but not least, when the goalie should come out of his area.

Match report 11 October 2012

DC, GF, JH 3 (MOM), TH 1, RH, TK

Nannas 4 play ??? 6

 

Five things we learned about the Nannas

  1. GHBG may be dead
    Chas has been going on about the Nans playing clean for years now, and from last night’s evidence he may have a point. The two main standard bearers for the unclean approach, Jim and Ghee, abstained pre-game, as a control. Well, Jim hit three fairly good goals and Ghee, although he didn’t get on the scoresheet, was a tower of strength in defence.
    Of course the third standard bearer for GHBG, Cocky, was a shadow of himself, playing a particularly shit game. So there may be evidence for some Nans to GHBG and some to not.  Further testing will be conducted.
  2. The Nannas are in a funk
    Maybe it because we were up against four at the start of last night’s game (which always lures us in to a false sense of security), maybe it was the earliness of the fixture, maybe it was because Cocky is working on a very big and complex project at the moment, or that RMIT really has gotten to Ghee and Jim, or that the Coach and Captain have been pulling too many late nighters due to their respective birthdays. Whatever it was the Nannas were awful last night, especially in the first half. We were slow, we stood around for half the game waiting for the ball to come to us. There was no passion, no enthusiasm, little in the way of that special Nanna hunger and anger that usually makes us competitive.
  3. Don’t get on the wrong side of the coach
    Well, the Coach was angry. First he was seen arguing with the ref, and then he began yelling at the Nannas. But after that he soon found a place to really vent his fury, which was at a member of the opposition. His first entanglement with him, early in the second half, saw Coach trip his prey over and then land on top of him. But that wasn’t enough for the Coach, for after a penalty was given he did pretty much the same thing on the way back to stand on the mark, again using the object of his hatred to break his fall.
    That was only an entrée. He really went for this guy and not content to use him as a crash mat like he did twice before, he employed the now patented ball palm move and for good measure drove the dude’s head in to the hard floor of Wesley. The lesson: don’t get on the wrong of the Coach. He will tell you something different, but don’t be fooled, if you get him mad, he hurt you and hurt you, and hurt you again.
  4.  The Nanna Achilles heal strikes again
    The Captain and Coach have work to do. The Nannas lost again last night due to our inability to hold on to the ball. Not only that, we gave away at least four very soft goals after passing to a direct opponent. At least two of these four goals, an opponent got the ball with only the keeper to beat, and there was one where the opponent didn’t even have to do that, all he had to do was shoot into an open goal.
    Usually kicking the ball away is something that our #1 keeper is guilty of (we have tried to implement the one in three rule but they don’t call him a small business owner for nothing), but last night striker felt it would be a good idea to kick the ball away. Of course Kondo gave one again too but after last night’s performance Cocky will struggle to hold his place next week.
  5. The Nannas are losing games they should win
    Yes, they did have Phil in their team, who made a big difference. Yes, they did score one particularly good goal that I remember. Yes the Nannas started off real slow. Yes, we could have and probably should have put a couple past them in the first couple of minutes of the game when they were only four. But no, the Nannas aren’t playing that badly. We did pick it up in the second half, and put some moves together, got some goals, and for the most part held firm at the back. I know it smacks of coulda, woulda, shoulda, but we should have won this one. 

Match Report 121004

9-3 Loss to Hyderoos

DC, GF, CG, JH 1, TH 2 MOM

Once Old King Lion went on a secret mission. People didn’t know what he was doing. It was a very secret mission. It was hard for Old King Lion because he was a pretty friendly old lion and secrecy was not in his nature. But the mission was extremely important, perhaps the most important mission Old King Lion would ever undertake. The reward for success would be immense, but if he failed the consequences would be catastrophic. All of Old King Lion’s constituent parts were required to operate at the highest level, acting perfectly in synchronicity with the rest of the constituent parts, there was no margin for error or not giving 100% by even one of the constituent parts because that would wreck it for the rest of the constituent parts and if there’s one thing Old King Lion’s constituent parts never want to do it’s let down the other constituent parts. The secret mission was long and hard, and its nature was such that there was a very real danger of Old King Lion’s constituent parts would not act in perfect synchronicity and as a result the mission would fail. As the secret mission continued the constituent parts struggled to remain in perfect synchronicity, some of them grew tired, some of them did not have the skills, but despite the hardships they continued with the secret mission because it was so important, and despite the hardships they did manage to stay in perfect synchronicity, and you know what? Old King Lion completed that hard secret mission like a fucking hero. And each one of the constituent parts was a fucking hero. They had walked the tightrope of danger over the Niagra falls of doom and they didn’t fall off even though they probably should have.

Now at this stage most of you are like; ‘Coach… wtf are you talking about’, and some of you are probably like ‘um… have you been chroming’, and some of you might be just be thinking ‘…’ which is a neat way of representing a bewildered expression literarily that David Foster Wallace invented. Well my not so bright Nanna brethren this is what’s known as an analogy. We talk of one thing by illustrating it using another thing. ‘But what’, you ask, ‘is it analogous to (of?)? Well that’s the beauty of this analogy its analogous to(of?) a couple of things. Firstly it obviously speaks of the match this last week past, this is after all a match report. And last week the Nannas found themselves on a secret mission deep behind enemy lines, against a foe who had not lost a game, and the Nannas had to be 100% focused 100% of the time to win and we were and we did and we walked that tightrope of danger over the Niagra falls of doom and survived like heroes. But then it turned out that 100% of them time was only about the first half of the first half which we did successfully win, but we might have fallen of the tightrope a bit for the rest of the time and gotten mashed up and drowned pretty bad in the Niagra falls which are pretty serious falls. But that’s not important and not really the analogy I am talking about. What you need to remember is that a lion on a secret mission is a pretty crazy thing, lion’s don’t go on secret missions they just walk around eating whatever the fuck they want to eat, and what else do we know about Old King Lion? That’s right, he’s more of a Mind Lion than anything else. Remember when he was messing with physics and making the ball disappear on the field through brain power, remember when fought a gryphon on a mental mountain. Now do you see the secret mission we have been on? Now do you understand the clandestine undertaking we have be attempting all these long years. If I’ve done my job properly you won’t. At least not consciously, but deep in the hidden processes of your mind I have secretly programmed you to be better Old King Lion constituent parts, deep in your brain’s reptilian core you now have the key to truly become greater than Old King Lion constituent parts and become as one OLD KING LION.

MATCH REPORT 20th Sep 2012

THE NANNAS vs To be updated

2 : 5

CB1, JH, GF, RH, TH1, TK(Mom GK)

Well well well. This pitch of debney park reminds some kind of jail or caged place for the fight.
So we perform well at this place always as it has our flavor. The game started our lead. CB and TH pushed long goal in and the score ended 2-1.

Somehow we lost 2 goals quickly at the start of the second half. It was such a tough time for myself. I felt like a 2 knock down just happened after the winning round. We stood up well but could not get more score after. It was a really good game for the passing and communicating. We had some positive feeling even we lost the game.

The cook was CB. He took us to Laksa King then all of us had different kind of laksa noodles. Everyone was very satisfied by the performance of the place. Probably all gave highest 6 points.
It was some kind of strange good night after the loss. Strange. I was lucky this was not the cage fight uses other things.

Victory is only way to survive this world.

Match report 13092012

Nannas (5) plays Hampton FC (3)

CB (1), DC (2), GF, CG, JH (1), RH, TH,  TW

MOM: JH

Well, we pulled out a big win against an old foe. At the start of the game it didn’t seem probable. Even though it was an early one, 6 pm, we were gaping at eight, and they call it gaping for a reason. What’s more, Tao and I weren’t talking after a mid-week tiff. And the first words that came out of Chas’s mouth when he saw me were, ‘the last time I spoke to you, I called you a dick.’

Yes, there were fractures in the Nanna outfit but these were definitely off-field fractures. As we lined up for the first whistle five men shaped themselves into a team, a brown hue descended over the hallowed halls of Wesley, and the Nanna cheer squad started its shrill sound track.

The Nanns got off to a strong start with Cocky slotting home after a triangle of passing starting at back. 1 zip. Then they pulled one back when the ball dropped fortuitously for their striker to steady and shoot. 1-1. Then they got another as there was some slack marking at the back: one Nanna trailed his direct opponent in front of goal. The ball came in, the opponent scored and the said Nanna could be seen hanging his head all the way back to the start line. 2-1.

Then came our second, which the Captain got. I vaguely remember him being one on one with the keeper and slotting home. But that’s all I remember. Because it is the Captain, I am more than sure that the lead up involved him taking down a couple of the opposition and putting some moves on the rest on his way to goal. 2 apiece.

Then came our third, which was somewhat controversial. The lead up went like this. Chas took the ball from the back. I was to his left in acres of space. I demanded the ball, I pleaded for it, I begged. But Chassy went looking for something else, not finding it. Then, on our very next play, Chas again took the ball from the back. This time I wasn’t in acres of space but the Captain was, not only that, the Captain was in a perfect position to attack the goal. Again Chassy took another option, slamming home a shot from about half way. It is true that I chastised Chassy for his options, saying something like ‘it’s a good thing you scored Chassy,’ bumping him with my shoulder. Chassy, on a high after such a classy goal, was understandably aggrieved. And it befalls me to again apologise to Chassy. He did score a corker taking us to a half time lead of 3-2 (all’s well that ends well).

The second half started with the Nannas going further in front. The keeper, I can’t really remember what he was trying to achieve, came out of his goals and tried with a long pass to find a teammate. I got in the way of that pass and seeing that he was out of his goal, endeavoured to pop it over his head on the way to the back of his net. The ball did bounce up nicely for me, and even though I was facing askew, which at the time seemed to increase the level of difficulty, from the moment I hit it I knew it was home.  4-2.

At this stage of the game a couple of things started to happen. The Nannas became slow on defence, more standing around than taking an active interest in running back with their opponents. And the enemy started to come at us. These two things brought on a number of notable events. First there was Gilla, all on his own against two of them, sliding out of his area, saving an almost certain goal, but giving away a penalty in the process. In a lot of ways I am not surprised their striker couldn’t find the target from the ensuing penalty. Gilla is big if anything in goals, with a special ability of being able to thrown his body horizontal in a split second. He also has a way of applying pressure without even trying. If you have ever played golf with him, you will know what I mean.

Second, Gilla was called on to defend another penalty, again not his fault. The Captain passed it back to me, and two of the enemy ran at me. I got caught in the headlights, I froze, and all I could do was turn my back on the advancing hoards, succeeding only in coughing up possession. Gill did his best from the scuffle that followed but he was outnumbered and on the back foot, fouling both of them who came at him. Then he lined up for another penalty: he got his hands to it, he took a lot of pace of it, he almost deflected it outside the goals. Almost. 4-3.

Up until this point in the second half we were like old king lion trying to have an afternoon snooze in the sun, and they, like an annoying insect, kept buzzing around us, trying to bite us. They came again, again and again. But (for the most part) old king lion kept them at arms length with his massive paw, patiently waiting for his moment to rise and strike out at his annoyer. That moment came as they buzzed at us one last time but lost the ball mid-court. It fell to me. I had a Nanna on each side of me as I strode forward, and only the keeper in front. As their goal stop came at me, I slid a pass left to Cocky who put it away. 5-3.

Apart from a mild skirmish, initiated by me, that’s the way it ended.

Then we went for Vietnamese soup noodle and beer. I went home well satisfied.

Special mention goes to Fraser. He still stands too much on his heels, especially when the ball is coming at him, but there were very deft touches from the big man. His foot skills are definitely improving.

Special mention to Tao and Chas. I will try to lighten up on the (good natured) abuse in flurry land (not that you don’t deserve it).

MATCH REPORT 6th Sep 2012

THE NANNAS vs Tom and Jerry

4 : 6

DC1, CG, GF1, RH, TW1, TK1

Nannas were running well.

So much running this evening. It was like the cartoon show I liked when I was a kid.

In the reality, a mice can’t beat a cat but is it true??
Some books say that fighting ability of a cat is equal to a mankind. Because cats bring better aggressive instinct.

Is it true? This sounds right to me. Possibly.. If we know how to use everything we have, we can kick any ass really.

However I liked the friendship of the cat and the mice showing their love through the violence. Real friendship is always tough. There is a myth related to the last episode of the program in my country. It goes like this “The mice challenged a slow looking cat after his best enemy cat passed away. He thought he can use same tricks to beat up the cat but non of the tricks worked. The mice finally noticed that his best enemy’s friendship in the slow cat’s jaw…

Don’t tell this to fans..

We were holding the balls well and matching up the speed and tightness against this young skilled team. We missed to stop several strikes as they were always moving to find the spot. We do remember this for the next game. The last half was even better than first half. Tighter mark next game gentlemen.

Great goal GF!

30082012 Nannas v VJF.C – Nanna win by forfeit

The kids at school used to call me SuperMiss, such was my perchant for uncoordinated misses of things.
And like Hans Gruber’s sole remaining relative would agree (if there was one and he was also in the burglary business), Old Habits Die Hard.
And so this missing habit, that I mentioned, became ingrained.
If I had one dollar for every time I heard “Ya missed it again huh Fraser? Too bad!”, I’d be a rich man.
But lately, that has all changed. I am delighted to announce my second man of the match in two weeks.
In the last year, I’ve got from sport pariah to sport Hero. But lets not make me sound like a dick with a swell head.
Lets just all acknowledge that I may be turning into a supernova or a superhero or something crazy.
The game itself was a suicide mission for the nannas, but as it was a forfeit fungame, which didn’t count, we can rack that up to training, and experience.
Men, that was the best game of any sport I’ve ever played. It felt like a demonic occupier with amazing soccer skills had possessed my form, and this macabre puppetmaster, was playing the game for me.
Or maybe it was the night beams meditation. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get possessed, but then, how the hell did I play like that? I kept going over it and over it…where did my speed come from, I’ve never had speed before. And then I figured it out.

Kettle Bells. What’s your weight?

South Melbourne A M C VS Nannas 23082012

8-4 SM AMC. CB(1) DC(1) JH(1) CG(G) RH GF(MOM 1) TW AW

I am just going to say right off the bat, I have no idea who got the goals for us, but I remember Chaz, sweet Chaz plastering the enemy goal with a massive corner shot. And I set one up for the Cockromancer, and figure he got another one, but, I don’t know. Tao might have got one. Stranger things have happened.

I’m feeling good about this season brother Nans. We’re using our heads and passing to make opportunities. Our defense is still a little out of whack, but on the whole we’re looking a lot tighter and more aggressive than we were the beginning of last season. So keep it up fellas, and let’s play like we are machine, with nanna pride. The pride a cougar knows. And one final thought, “night beams”.

After the game, everyone was like, “How the heck did we just get our asses kicked?” I still don’t know, but I think Woody shut our unit down, and we had men out there practically playing blind. You do not want to get field blindness. And the opponents are an interesting bunch. They are continually improving. Their learning curve is something to be considered, I wouldn’t say respected because they sucker punched us, but they certainly improve each week, and we need eyes on these guys.

If this was a cop movie, and the serial killer was playing games with the cop, and the cops partner would say to him, “This crazy fuck’s got a real hard-on for you Lt. McAllister”…well, these guys had a real hard-on for the Nannas. Metaphorically.

We went to Carolina and drank warm beer and ate pizzas and said adieu to Andy who bid fareWal to his friends.

Season Stats Winter 2012

The stats are long overdue and for that I am sorry  but they were worth the wait.
No triple crown but a double for Cocky and what a double, standout season, it’s lucky the trade window has closed.
Deserved win for the powerhouse up front, the goal scoring machine, he’s beautiful, like a flower, a tough flower, not a pansie, maybe a magnolia.

And to the mighty Ghee Frasay,  Mr always-there, solid and dependable the daffodil of the Nannas.

Well done Nannas

MATCHREPORT 02102012

THE NANNAS    v    THE LEGACY

9      :        2

GF1, CG1, CB2, RH3, TW2

This was the night that Every nanna scored and we smashed them. It will go down in the annals as one of the brownest moments in Nanna history. We were only five men and it was a week we HAD to win to get in the finals.

All the cards were on the table and we knew exactly what we had to do.

To make things more beautiful it was a three way tie for mom!

 

MATCH REPORT 26072012

THE NANNAS v St KILDA

5    :      2

CG1, AW, TW1, TH, GF, JH1, CB1, RH1

 

The gaping eight. The nannas faced off against the top of the table and showed the lader just who the real contenders were. Eight brown men who passed the ball like it was on fire. Just the one touch, cross court, high lobs, headers, back heals. You name it the Nannas made it happen. All but the reach around got down for this game.

Admittedly st kilda missed a payer or two, but hell, we were missing Takeshi AND Crooked, did you hear us whinge? NO. We played foir the colour brown. The game was insanely good with the Nannas taking it to another brown level. Past light brown and straight to deep brown.

We love the nannas.

The nannas love to win again.

This was the night we touched the big brassy. Thats right it was the HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE That DEMANDED our attention after the gig. A few nanna’s couldn’t make it but most found out that they had the one of the nights of their life. The eight brothers that played brass instruments were joined by a drummer and these guys dropped a super tight beat all night long. The nanna’s danced and laughed and danced again and realised that funky brass music might be their calling. At least I’m sure it was Guy who professed the deepest love and then as all the Nannas were rapping with gabriel the trumpet player he discovered how artistic all Aussies (and kiwis) were. Repping the goodness men! 

match report 19 July 2012

7-3 ? v French Vikings ?

DC4m •, JH3 • CGgk • TW • CB • GF • RH

 

The Captain’s return and another resounding win for the nannas. The early game was a forfeit so we ended up playing the same team as last week. Originally thought to be of Scandinavian extraction, what with their long blonde trusses, turns out they were in fact francophones.

Anyway, it was pretty much business as usual. Jim slammed in two of his now trademark corner shots, one from each end of the court this time. These were added to by another fro Jims second hat-trick in a row. Le Coq sportif had to go one better than last week and put in 4 with notable assists from BestLooking (especially the last one, textbook, I think it was 5 passes , starting with Giller in goal, cross court twice, then a final cross super tight and low from Tao… tap in.) I also have to mention the corner, I was kind of hiding in the shadows by the wall completely unmarked, some nice decoy running from the nannas in the circle and then jim laid it off into so much space i could run right round the ball and shoot with the right… nice. It should also be mentioned that they also had a ring in who was having a bad day in goal, at one point he rolled the ball out straight to a waiting nanna who kicked it straight back into the goal. nice.

P&O Gill were supporting and dinner was cancelled due to a few factors but a handful of Nannas (well a hand with only 4 fingers) went to UAE and drank  pomegranate juice and ate lamb. We were meant to listen to the captains stories from his European coach ride but The 4 hour mark had passed an as everyone knows the international rule of listening to travel stories is only 25mins, so we instead talked of things local and trival ( and software), luckily I had heard a few from Tessa earlier.

datestamp: Tapatalk is a piece of junk • Retina display will take 4 weeks to deliver • CS6 is killing it • London Olympics open in a week *yawn* • More talk of Rudd ousting Gillard *yarn* • ASG commission goes up to 50% *gulp* • Cheezles begins watching blocking vids • TheFunkyNanna becomes a label mogul (this is old, but news to the author) • dude dressed as batman goes postal in a US cinema during a midnight screening of  Nolans #3, Christan Ble flies in to console victims •

Match report 12 July 2012

Another mighty win for the nanna A team, 6-3, two hat-tricks, some nice passing, jim obeying the golden rule and hitting them real sweet, giller making very upper nanagement like sounds at the halftime pep talk, some tired legs in the second half, a new ref, a vist from Phil and to top it off a go-pro time lapse to document it all… Yay

MATCH REPORT 120712

3-6 Win Vs Sth Melb AMC

CG (G), DC (3)(MOM), JH (3), GF, TK, TW (MOM)

It was a great night for the Nanna’s A++ team. This new group of guys have come out of the wood work, possibly from the level below, and were looking good with a few players that seamed to know what they were doing. We let them get the better of us a few times and that proved costly…… for a while.

Le Coq put a few nice ones in and then assisted in 2 lovely passes from the same corner to give Jim the opportunity to slam a couple of identical looking goals. Both Jim and Dan made hat tricks on the night.

Dan’s cook was fantastic as he took us to the sister pub to the Station Hotel in footscry but this one is in Sth Melbourne. Fine beer and good steak. Though I had the fish and chips. Still very good. Kondo chose well and had the mussels while Cheazles had a burger.

Match report part III –

3-4 v Pornstars

GF (2 MOM), DC (MOM), TK (MOM), CG, JH (1),TH, AW

It was a great game to be noted. Nannas was leading the game till last 5 min against this known outlaw p gangs. The score was 3-2. Our solid 3 goals were giving us time to breath and space to play.

Only problem was they got a header goal just 20cm in front of me. Holy shit, I should have moved a second faster and smashed the head and punched the ball. That was the moment when a sniper find the enemy sniper pointing you corner of his sight or a boxer receiving KO hook when he missed the uppercut. This changed all story of the night.

Team, thanks for the MOM…

Lesson from this for me was “when you strike, fucking strike extra hard”

Match report part II –

3-4 v Pornstars

GF (2 MOM), DC (MOM), TK (MOM), CG, JH (1),TH, AW

there’s not a lot I need to add to the visitors report (apart from how much it sucked to lose to these guys) so I’ll just add some date stamps.

the big news is the discovery of an elementary particle that would bear all the hallmarks of the Higgs Boson. I’ve tried wrapping my head around the numbers a few times with absolutely no success but there is a cool little animated ‘for dummies’ guide which i’ll try and fine the link for. | erm, what else. The 70-200 finally arrived and partially alleviated my buyers regret | The forum is in the doldrums | teh captain has returned from his carriage ride around ausrto-hungary | Chaspergers has headed to the old country with his son and heir | bestLooking took eldest daughter skiing for the first time, boom | The visitor got high mid portrait and then disappeared into a neutral vortex | It’s really freaking cold

MATCH REPORT 120706

2-5 Loss to VJFC

CB, CG (G), GF, JH, TH (1), TW (1)(MOM)

It’s been a long time between MOMs and I would have to say the match report heading protocol has gone to shit. Even Striker, usually the most outspoken about such things, couldn’t get it right. No wonder Cheezles’ heading was a bit mixed up. Mind you he did, amazingly, manage to get some of it right.

Now back to the game. It was always going to be a hard one against a pretty decent opponent especially when they were sporting a new, possibly imported, player who had some very nice moves.

We held our own for most of the match. Coach put away our first from a nice cross goals pass from your truly. I was on the receiving end of a nice pass from Jimbob and managed to sneak one passed the goalie off my left hitting the bar and ending up in the other side of the goals. My heart did miss a beat at that moment.

Unfortunately we left our opponents alone a few 2 many times and in our desperation to get an equalising goal instead allowed them to get 2 more.

We had a new ref who could have been a bit harsher with the cards, instead giving me one for a bit of lip. None the less he was very good, no matter what Gilla says. Hopefully Gill won’t scare this one away.