Sporting Champs and Political Chumps

This Saturday is the Big Fixture; it's one of the biggest rivalries in the GPS (Greater Public Schools) calendar, and the only one that matters in this particular house: King's versus Newington. To explain, each of the 8 schools in the GPS play each other in a league format, with most boys being involved each Saturday playing football (soccer) or rugby (football) in the winter. Each week is a huge block fixture across all age ranges and levels which runs all day at one school. Kit coaches the U15C football team at King's, and I take the U16B rugby team at New.

The King's School is in Parramatta, which is pretty much a city of it's own in Sydney's west. Both our matches kick off at 9am, so we may make a day of it in the west, before the big 1st XV rugby clash at 3.15. It's being billed as a big clash: King's has 8 boys selected for the NSW Schools team (including several Australian Schoolboys' players);  however, New 1st XV currently sits atop the Premiership and, like our 1st XI, is unbeaten. 


Unbelievably there's only 2 weeks of the winter sports season left.... then a couple of weeks of athletics and then the cricket season returns! The end of the rugby season coincides with Federal Election day here. Voting is complusory (nationals will be fined if they don't) and takes place on a Saturday. It has been a thoroughly depressing affair; the soundbyte-ridden, vacuous and vapid campaigns have had the effect of destroying my cynicism about British politicians - who seem principled and intelligent compared to this mob.

By general agreement Julia Gillard has about the worst accent it is possible to have (we had to turn off the tv when she was being interviewed the other night). Having knifed K-Rudd in the back in a sudden, overnight coup there is only one reason to vote for her: the idea of opposition leader Tony Abbott winning is simply terrifying; this is the former monk who didn't know NZ was in recession, said climate change was "absolute cr@p", doesn't want a mining tax and wants to abandon the National Broadband Network. Here's the 'Chaser' on a day in the life of the Mad Monk. 

The saving grace of the election are the superb Clarke & Dawe - the closest thing we get to Bremner, Bird & Fortune in terms of political satire on the ABC. Here they are sending up the quality of debate about Politics and Asylum Seekers - the staple of any election campaign and a tool for the opposition to whip the fear of God in to the electorate.


To lighten the tone, here's a picture of me and my housemates in Asetra at the weekend: