AZAFL Round 2
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G'day everyone, welcome to the long awaited round 2 results and match
reports for the AZAFL.
Several members of the AZAFL spent the morning and part of Saturday
afternoon in a USFooty sponsored Coaching Clinic conducted by American
Revolution Head Coach Gary Hill. Representatives from each AZAFL club were
on hand to take part in the training. The AZAFL's goals are to have level 1
coaches for each club by next season. Thanks to Jeff Purcell, Steve Hoza
and Sam Conrad for their efforts in organizing the clinic. It was great to
see such a great turnout of players and league officials for this event.
Special thanks to Jeff Richards for offering his home as accommodations for
Gary's stay. Good onya Mates!
Round 2 action started with the 1-0 Scottsdale Dingos taking on the 0-1
Paradise Valley Gaels in the late afternoon first match of the day. The 4
PM start saw the temperature begin to plummet as the temperature rose on the
field. PV, roughed up a week earlier by Tempe took the ground determined to
even their record.
Alas, the banged-up and short-handed Dingos had other plans.
With the departure of their hard playing on-baller Matty Burke and broken
wrist of Trevor "Beav" O'Brien, the Dingos were justifiably anxious about
the match against the Gaels. However, the inexperience of some of the PV
exchange player showed through such as two magnificent throws by newcomer
Dan "Sling" Argon. Though they may not have the game experience, these
young players do show a bit of promise. Promise to do what exactly, remains
to be seen.
Australian Matty Bracher filled the absence of Matty Burke with some margin
of success for the unbeaten Dingos. His strong marks and booming 70m (read:
30m) kicks were reminiscent of some really famous but ancient AFL player
whose name currently escapes me or I never knew. Andrew "Floyd" Ashworth
took a number of uncontested yet picturesque marks and added several (4)
meaningless goals enroute to the 12-9-81 to 6-5-41 Scottsdale pasting of the
scrappy Gaels. Nate "Nooner" Rudlong booted two goals for the winning
cause. Chris "Boot" Vaine, Brad "Porkchop" Palumbo and Tony "Sarge" Pham
all supplied one goal for the Dingos. For PV, Charlie "Chucky", "Charles",
"Big C", "Big Hair" Hollingsworth, Johnny Challoner, George Delaportes, Noel
O'Culaian and Aiden Henderson each kicked one goal. As for me, my scoring
is apparently done for the season as predicted. At my current rate, I'll
most likely kick 64 goals in the first match of the 2009/2010 season
providing the USAFL lifts the ban on walkers used by players during matches.
Gary Hill was visibly impressed.
The second match of the day pitted the venerable Camelback Crushers against
the newcomer Tucson Javalinas. Out of respect for his alma mater, the U of
A, David "Clean" Hayden promptly kicked three goals. Upon the request of
just about everyone at the grounds, the footy was just as promptly inspected
for banned substances. None being found, Clean's goals were declared
official and the match was allowed to continue. Nevertheless, Clean
volunteered for a thorough pat down search of his person but was turned
down. Self-appointed league Sergeant-at-arms and enforcer "Buddy" Lee
Fraley wasn't available.
The barrage of scoring continued with Darren "Priscilla" Toohey booting a
career high seven (yup, that's not a typo) goals. Fed several times with
hand passes and kicks by teammate and stunt double Dan "D-Train" Reidy,
Priscilla was unstoppable. And accurate for once. Reidy added three goals,
Jim "Speedy" Hill kicked 2 and Doug "Doogie" Smith kicked one (his first
career goal) boosting the Crusher total.
The Tucson club was never shaken; playing hard with several passages of well
played footy found a measure of success in their short passing game. Paul
"Pablo" Thompson put his Ph.D. where his boot was and recorded the first
official Tucson Javalina goal and quickly stripped off his jumper; a la
Brandi Chastain's penalty kick; revealing, well, some things are best left
unsaid. The determined Irishman continued to press on during to course of
the match making several opportunities for his mates. Charles "Chuck"
McCarren Grymko (that's entirely too much name for this essayist) Anthony
"Squirrel" Starks, Rob "Blossom" Massey and Jason "Pickle" McPherson each
added one goal to the Javs effort.
Final score: Camelback 16-15-111 over Tucson 5-6-36
Gary Hill was positively mesmerized with what he had seen.
The final match was between the upstart powerhouse Chandler Outlaws v. the
defending Premiers, Tempe Devils in a battle of the unbeaten AZAFL clubs.
The Outlaws picked up right where they left off in the last round by
charging to an early lead against the over-matched Tempe club. Jeff
"Fingers" Purcell launched 3 goals and countless behinds (none of which went
unnoticed by Gary Hill) for his club. "Lightning" Steve Jerome booted 3 as
well for the Chandler boys. Darren "Priscilla" Toohey continued his
onslaught for the day kicking four more goals. Rob "Blossom" Massey added 2
goals for the Chandler club. Brad "Pope" Pope (now, there's a reach for a
nickname) and Jason "MacArthur" Park each kicked one goal. The Tempe club,
decimated by injury and attrition managed only one goal in the match.
Though valiantly contested by the Devils, the result was never in doubt
during this competition. There was one goal kicked by Tempe of which I
unfortunately neglected to record the name of the bloke who nailed the 6
pointer. The final of this contest was Chandler 14-15-99 over Tempe 1-2-8
Gary Hill had to be assisted from the grounds due to the overwhelming
magnitude of what he had witnessed.
Thanks to David Marli, Jeff Richards, Stan Jones, Jim Hill, Richie Clogan
and all those who continue to support the league with their umpiring
assistance. Remember, we need 2 field umpires, 2 boundary umpires and 2
goal umpires for each game. Contact Umpires@azafl.com to sign up. Do your
part to help the league and your mates by assisting in these duties. Be a
part of the rewarding and admired role of umpire in the AZAFL. Looks great
on a resum too.
Be sure to check the schedule for round 3 action. The PV Gaels travel to
Tucson for the first sanctioned Aussie Rules match to be held in that fair
city with both teams looking for their first victory of the season.
Scottsdale and Chandler take their unbeaten records in to matches against
Tempe and Camelback respectively (or better yet, disrespectively).
As always, recruit everywhere you go. You'd be surprised how many innocent
suckers, er, potential footy superstars out there are waiting to be
discovered.
John Meier
- John Meier
(136)
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