EDITOR COLIN DUCK tallies up the scores and reveals that the growing team of Sportshounds are hitting winners in all directions:
Five weeks. More than 150 stories. Hundreds of pictures, cartoons and illustrations. That’s the latest score from Sportshound.com.au, now the home of more than 30 of Australia’s best sportswriters, photographers and illustrators. Sportshounds began with a team of three but we have recruited handsomely from the ranks of working, retired and semi-retired newspaper men and women.
This week we signed up the brilliant GEORGE HADDON, one of the most decorated artists in the country. As he will tell you, his youthful tennis ambitions fell short of Wimbledon so he turned to art. Countless awards later, including three Walkleys, demonstrate that art was the clear winner.
With George, GEOFF HOOK and SIMON SCHNEIDER combining their talents, Sportshounds has a creative team to rival far bigger news organisations. When it comes to flair and knowledge it is tough to top Sportshounds which boasts more than 1,000 years of sportswriting experience.
Another recent graduate to the Sportshounds kennel is COLIN DALE. Son of Essendon star Alan Dale, who played in the 1950 premiership side alongside the legendary John Coleman, Colin never quite made those dizzy heights on the football field. Instead, he gained a cadetship at The Herald and after working in Flinders and Fleet Streets he turned his attention to beer. Serious drinking. Not so much by himself but by the tens of thousands of thirsty tourists he has bussed to Munich Oktoberfests and other festive international events for the past 32 years. Now based mainly in Melbourne he will be writing from here and from some of his ongoing travels to sporting events around the world. This week he brought us a backstage report on The Coodabeens, the record-breaking champions of radio laughter.
Talking of champions, Sportshounds Chief Writer, RON REED, paid tribute to the Golden Girl, BETTY CUTHBERT, in a memorable column based on his personal conversations with the first lady of Australian athletics over many years which featured both in the Herald Sun and on Sportshounds.com.au. His words were echoed by leading athletics writer and coach MIKE HURST.
During the week, Reed also revealed how former Test captain GREG CHAPPELL is leading a crusade to aid the homeless.
When JOBE WATSON announced his retirement, Bomber stalwart CHRIS de KRETSER saluted his career and author DAN EDDY provided us with an extract on Jobe from his new book on Essendon history, Always Striving.
As Eddie McGuire is prone to say, what a big week it was in football – both on and off the field. Champions lined up to announce their retirements, Rodney Eade had his unrequested departure announced for him, and Eddie stormed back into the driver’s seat at The Footy Show with a blaze of publicity, ready to take on the TV usurper The Front Bar. Ron Reed and Terry Brown reviewed the two shows, were reasonably impressed with what they saw, and we can now sit back in front of our sets as they fight it out over the concluding rounds of the season.
Finally, as a man who has caught but one fish in his life, and didn’t enjoy the experience, I must commend our fishing column each week by STEVE COOPER. He has somehow mastered the art of making fishing an entertaining subject and his latest work on the Tiwi Islands will make you all eager to get there – fish, or preferably in my case, no fish!
COMING UP SOON
- Cricket expert IAN CALLEN is ready to surprise Australian fans by identifying the world’s best current all-rounder — and he’s lying in wait for STEVE SMITH and his team.
- Meet the talented storyteller who is about to reveal some very surprising inside stories about life inside Australia’s only professional cycling team. Even MICK MALTHOUSE has been mightily impressed by a sneak preview of what he has to offer.
Colin Duck was the last Editor of The Sun before it merged with The Herald. Before that he was Editor of the Sunday Press and Deputy Editor of The Herald. After the Herald Sun merger Duck moved into newspaper and magazine management.
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