Emma Race: Do you love the Hawthorn Football Club or do you love just the men's team?' Hawks Insiders Live event - 2024

28 August 2024, Glenferrie Hotel, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

The Hawks Insiders hosted af series of panels at a live event in August including an AFLW panel which featured Lucy Race, Julia Faragher and Hawthorn’s #1 ticket holder Emma Race.

As part of the AFLW panel Emma was asked about the significance of the 2024 season for the team and supporters. Her answer was proud and passionate and evoked rousing applause from the packed audience of predominantly male fans.

As the Hawthorn AFLW team storm up the ladder heading into the mid way point of the season, it presents a great opportunity to revisit Emma’s impassioned message to footy fans, that it is not too late to be early adopters of the women’s game.

I constantly see this beautiful community of Hawthorn supporters who truly are family, band together. We've been tested over times, not necessarily just on the field.

I'm a very competitive person and I see that there is an opportunity for an AFLW team to get the full support of their members in a way that hasn't really been taken up. You know, when we talk about AFLW, the Brisbane Lions have been completely dominant, a lot of the interstate clubs are incredibly dominant in the AFLW. Being a Victorian club and being one of the last to enter the competition has set us back a little bit. We've had some things that have made up the distance, but when we look at the comparison, the Brisbane Lions have been in five Grand Finals and won two of them. For Hawthorn this will be our third season in the competition yet we have about one and a half thousand more AFLW members than the Brisbane Lions.

This season, we've got an opportunity to gather our 86000 members and say, do you love the Hawthorn Football Club, or do you just love the men's team?

We've had so many panels up here celebrating Hawks people who died a very long time ago and our love for them and their commitment to the club. We are about history. We are about legacy. And we're all about loving the brown and gold, whether it's at Box Hill or whether it's at Hawthorn. The opportunity that we have in the present is to make a difference to the story of this club. To stick our flag in the soil and say to every person who loves Australian Rules Football, that this club is different because this club truly values every single person who wears the brown and gold.

We've got the opportunity to support our women's team with as much passion as we support our men's team along with our blind team, our wheelchair team. This season, that might look like getting a membership. It might look like going to your first game. It might just be logging on and watching online. The truth is this, the women's team will not succeed without our support. And the reason for that is because the AFL will hold growth of the AFLW until they see us wanting to support it.

The women only get eleven games in ten weeks to make their mark. So it's kind of like dog years really. Every game counts more than one of the men’s games. We've got to make our mark straight away, come out of the blocks flying and we have to win the first four games or we are probably not playing finals. In the same way that every game counts, every membership- it really counts. Every time you watch it, at the ground or on TV it really counts in the women's game. When you do that, more commercial partners come on board, because they see the numbers, they see the data. When that happens, more money comes into the game, more professionalism comes into game, because we can pay the players more. The people who play AFLW are literally leaving their blood sweat and tears out there and then they're also copping hate online in volumes and in hideous violent rhetoric which no one deserves. So, there's a way that we can actually make a difference.

I believe in this club. I always have.

You know, for 47 years of my life, I was a Hawthorn supporter with no W team. So what I guess I am saying is, if you had the pleasure of watching people who look like you play the game I would love you to throw your support now behind people who are playing the game who look like us.

Michael Sheen: 'Let's give em some sugar boys!' Imaginary pep talk for Welsh team in Qatar - 2022

9 September 2022, London, UK
Yma o hyd , Yma o hyd (We are still here, we are still here)

I hear the voices singing. Speed your journey, bois bach, [good heavens]

One nation, singing with one voice, a song of hope, a song of courage.

A victory song that floats through the valleys, like a red mist, rolls over the mountain tops, like crimson thunder.

A red storm is coming to the gates of Qatar.

It crackles, with the spirit of ‘58 and Jimmy Murphy’s boys. It turns the pages of the history books and finds Rob’s page, waiting, still to be written. [Rob Page is the coach]

What would you write in there, boys? Dare you write your names on that page? We haven’t waited 64 years and come half way around the world to be troubled by a neighbour from back home.

When the English coming knock on our door, let‘s give them some sugar, boys, let’s give them some Welsh sugar. They’ve always said we are too small, we are too slow, we are too weak, too full of fear. But yma o hyd (‘Still here’, the title of a famous Welsh nationalistic folk song), you sons of Speed, and they fall around us.

We are still here.

Sheen delivered an equally rousing speech for the Welsh team at the Homeless World Cup.

Brian Schatz: "It was beautiful to see his dream come true a century later", honour Olympic surfing gold medallist Carissa Moore - 2021

3 August 2021, Senate floor, Washington DC, USA

Thank you, Mr. President. Last week the world saw something that it had never seen before -- surfing as an Olympic sport. The story of how this happened begins with a native Hawaiian named Duke. He learned to swim at Waikiki Beach and went on to win five Olympic swimming medals, including three golds. He pioneered a flutter kick now used by most freestyle swimmers. He was a visionary who after winning gold in the 1912 Olympics pressed the International Olympic committee to make surfing an Olympic sport. He traveled the world to promote surfing, bringing it to the continental United States and to Australia and elsewhere and became known as the father of modern surfing. But more than anything else, Duke Kahanamoku was an ambassador of Hawaii. A reporter once asked him if it was a bigger thrill to win gold or ride those waves. He answered that surfing was a bigger thrill. One century later, Duke's vision of Olympic surfing became a reality. There is nothing more fitting than Hawaii's Carissa Moore winning the first Olympic medal. Look no further than Carissa . Like Duke she shares his native Hawaiian roots and starting surfing at Waikiki beach as a young child. She attended my alma mater, a school that has graduated more than 30 Olympians and President Obama. She became the youngest person ever to win a surfing medal at age three. Today she stands alone as the world's top-ranked surfer. There is a saying that the best surfer is the one having the most fun. And that's unquestionably the case with carissa. She is actually the best surfer, and she's also having the most fun. She has this incredible combination of speed and power in the water and a remarkable humility she carries with herself everywhere she goes. She is an intense competitor who wants to win every event she enters but also wants to see her opponents and more importantly the sport of surfing succeed. She has a passion to be admired and a joy that is infectious. She is, in short, the rare athlete who must be seen to be believed. I know because i have seen it and now the whole world knows, too. After she won the gold medal last week, Carissa spoke of Duke. Quote, “it was beautiful to see his dream come true a century later”. She might as well have been speaking for all of Hawaii. Today we honor Duke and the legacy he left. We honor Carissa Moore for her commitment to inspire the next generation of surfers, especially young girls. And we celebrate the sport of surfing finally getting the recognition that it deserves. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Pierre de Coubertin: 'Build this grand and beneficial enterprise', Union of French Societies of Athletic Sports (USFSA) - 1892

25 November 1892, Paris, France

This is an excerpt from a 1992 speech the manuscript of which was recently rediscovered. It sold for $8.8 million making it the most valuable sports memorabilia of all time.

There are some people you call utopians when they tell you that wars are bound to vanish and you are not totally wrong, but others believe that the occasions for wars will eventually disappear and to my mind this is not a utopia. It is clear and obvious that the telegraph, the railway, the telephone, the passionate research in the field of science, congresses, world fairs did more for peace than all the treaties and all the diplomatic conventions. Well, I do hope that athletics will do even more. Those who saw 30,000 people run under the rain to attend a football game will not regard this as an exaggeration. Let us export rowers, runners, fencers: this is the free trade of the future, and the day when it is part of the mores of old Europe the cause for peace will receive a powerful and new support. This is enough to encourage your humble servant to think now of the second half of this program. He hopes you will give him a hand as you have helped him so far, and with you he will be allowed to go on and build this grand and beneficial enterprise, on a basis true to the conditions of modern life: the reinstatement of the Olympic Games.

Juan Antonio Samaranch: 'The best Olympic Games ever!', Closing Ceremony Sydney Olympics - 2000

These are my last Games as president of the International Olympic Committee. They could not have been better. Therefore I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world, the best Olympic Games ever!

Sebastian Coe: 'All my life I have loved sport', Opening of London Olympic Games - 2012

27 July 2012, London, United Kingdom

All my life I have loved sport. You have to love sport to compete at it. There is a truth to sport, a purity, a drama, an intensity, a spirit that makes it irresistible to take part in and irresistible to watch.

London 2012 seeks to capture all of this. London 2012 will inspire a generation.
In every Olympic sport there is all that matters in life. Humans stretched to the limit of their abilities, inspired by what they can achieve, driven by their talent to work harder than they can believe possible, living for the moment but making an indelible mark upon history.

To the athletes, gathered here on the eve of this great endeavor, I say that to you is given something precious and irreplaceable. To run faster, to jump higher, to be stronger.

To my fellow countrymen, I say thank you, thank you for making all this possible.

In the next two weeks we will show all that has made London one of the greatest cities in the world. The only city to have welcomed the Games three times. Each time we have done it when the world faced turbulence and trouble. And each time the Games have been a triumph.

Our history as a thriving commercial center, as a place where the people of all nations have for centuries come to meet, as a city which never stands still, this history has prepared us for today.

For us too, for every Briton, just as the competitors, this is our time. And one day we will tell our children and our grandchildren that when our time came we did it right.

Let us determine, all of us, all over the world, that London 2012 will see the very best of us.

Ronald Reagan: 'Celebrating the 23rd Olympiad of the modern era', Opening of LA Olympic Games - 1984

28 July 1984, Los Angeles, California, USA

Celebrating the 23rd Olympiad of the modern era, I declare open the Olympic Games of Los Angeles.

Peter Alliss: 'This is golf's answer to Disneyworld', Golf Hall of Fame induction 2012

7 May 2012, World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Well, thank you, Terry, for that very under stated welcome.

I've watched a lot of these ceremonies, you know, the Oscars and the Emmys, and I've always marveled at everyone who goes up to get a prize and they never know what to say, do they, and they're all in tears and they're all gushing and saying how surprised they are, but I always assumed they'd known who'd won the prizes a few days before.

So I must thank somebody, and there's so many people here tonight. I've really done very little in my life. I've just waffled along, loving the game of golf and being observant, and things have always just come my way. I listen to people and they say, I've always wanted to do that job or that job and they've worked and schemed and connived to get it, whereas all these wonderful things have just fallen into my lap for some inexplicable reason.

Two people I should really thank first of all are my mother and father. I want you to picture the scene and the time. It was late April, 1930. My father was the golf professional at the Van Zee Golf Club on the outskirts of Berlin. He'd been in the first world war, and he fought with the Argyle Southern Highlanders, was wounded twice. Came out, though. He was born in 1897. He came out as a 20, 21 year old and went into the world of golf. He'd done a bit of caddying and that sort of thing.

Anyway, in 1926 he decided, I thought bravely or foolishly, when a job was advertised in Germany that he would go and work there because on the continent you became a professor, whereas in Britain you were just‑‑ on the continent you were really something a bit special. He built up a very good reputation as a teacher at this club, which was very splendid, and I can picture the scene at the end of April, father had a busy day teaching. They lived in a handsome bungalow, in the middle of the Black Forest where Van Zee Golf Club was situated. I can see mother standing at the door with the light behind her probably wearing her best Winceyette nightgown with the high collar and long sleeve, and father arriving back home, and supper is ready dear, what sort of day have you had? And he would say, well, it's been a bit tricky today. The word Nazi had not been invented then, but there were some nasty people, and he explained to my mother what a miserable day he'd had and these people were horrible.

But as he drank his soup, he started to smile, and he said, “but I sent two of them away with the worst slices you've ever seen”. He said, “the sort of slice that is totally incurable and will stay with them all their days”, and somehow I felt that that was indeed a little bit of a comeuppance for his two bullets that had gone through his arm two years ago.

I was indeed the heaviest baby. 37 years I had that record. I was one of twins would you believe. The other boy did not develop. Mother was 5'2" and weighed about 120 pounds. So she had a very difficult time. I mean, I was that sort of big, almost ready for work as soon as I popped out.

She did have a difficult time, and I know for a fact it was almost seven months before she rode her bicycle. That was a joke for the gynecologists actually.

1932 the family came back to Britain, father went on his professional career playing and teaching, good golf jobs, and I went to school and all that stuff. But the first competition I ever played was 1946, the boys championship, played on the west side of Edinburgh at a course called Brunsfield. I went there and I was playing off scratch at that time, and I went there and they picked me to play for England boys against the Scots, and I played very well and we beat the Scots. They'd been beating us every year we went about 8 & 6 or something. I was installed as one of the favorites to win, sailed through a few rounds, and I was up against a little lad calls Donald Dunston in the semifinals, a rather pasty, pale looking boy with a very bad complexion, and I was six foot tall and bordering on the beautiful, I suppose. I really was. I mean, I look at those old pictures, and I really fancied myself.

Anyway, we set off, and I won the first couple of holes, and I was‑‑ it was a beautiful day. Anyway, he beat me 3 & 2, which brought me down to earth a bit, and going back on the train, my father said, well, you've learnt your lesson, you should have done this, you should have defended when you attacked, but I don't think there's any point in you trying for any further education, you're not going to be a doctor or lawyer at calm den. You could come and be my unpaid assistant. I thought that was very generous. He was remember a Yorkshire man and had been spending a lot of time with the Scots in the first world war. So it came to pass I went to work for my dear old dad, and I had no concept at that time going back a bit crest fallen having been beaten by this pimply‑faced youth when I had so much to offer, I had no idea that the game of golf would take me down so many wonderful paths.

I played pretty well, got in my first Ryder Cup cap in 1953, went on to play in another seven, World Cups 10 times, winner of 20 odd tournaments, and then the chance of television came along, journalistic experience, writing for a couple of newspapers, magazines, and so on and so on.

But of all the places and things I've had‑‑ people say, which part of your life did you enjoy the most. I've enjoyed it all because I've never really worked very hard at it, just dear old Gary Player will absolutely guarantee that he never saw me out practicing. I used to hit a dozen balls with a 2‑iron. I was bloody good with a 2‑iron. And the ground was a bit rough. If I hit sort of seven decent ones out of 10, I didn't see the point in spending all day long hitting any more. I knew how it worked, and if it went all right, it was fine.
I must tell Tiger that one day if I get a chance.

But it was a wonderful time for learning, and then of course I started doing television in the early '60s, and by 1974 pro celebrity golf had started, and through my association with Mark McCormack and IMG, he introduced me to the world of television over here and working for ABC television.

It's very difficult to pick the BBC or ABC. I'm an Englishman, and of course one is always happiest at home. But I never enjoyed myself more than coming here and working with ABC. Why? Well, there were lovely people. One or two of them shouted a bit and swore, but they didn't swear at me too often. And the big boys always wound up the tournaments. They did the 17th and the 18th holes, so I could clear off after the 16th green. I suppose in four days of television I might have actually spoken for about an hour, and they paid me a ridiculous amount of money. And a first‑class airfare from London, and if it was necessary, use the Concord.

So I had nothing to complain about at all, but I've loved coming here and working on the television and watching the changing face of the world of golf. The Allisses have been around the game for over 100 years, and we've pretty well seen everything, all the changes in equipment and clubs and what have you, and people say, well, what has been the most significant part of the game, and probably something silly like cylindrical mowers to cut the fairways. In early days, and I've always said the players between 1900 and 1930 were probably the most skillful the world has ever seen. And they look at you and they say ‑‑ I do believe that if you look at the equipment they had, and you can go to the museum and look at it, the balls weren't round, the equipment was very weird, the greens weren't cut. The two sheep would nibble away and that was that.

The bunkers weren't raked. They perhaps from 1926 on they raked them on Mondays and Fridays and that was it, and players had to scoop out the holes they made on the bunkers. And yet they were going around with 72s and 74s on our championship courses which was quite remarkable with the tools they had, people like Bobby Jones and the people before him, quite remarkable. That doesn't mean to say that we don't marvel of the skills of the players today. But I do believe, and I'm not saying this as some old fart, with the equipment today, it has changed the face not only of golf but sport. One of my dearest friends is Sterling Moss, motor racing driver. When he was in his peak, they used proper petrol in the car, not whatever it is today, and if you hit something, the car burst into flames and you died. Now they have wonderful cars which you can hit a wall at 200 miles an hour and the chances are you'll escape with a couple of broken ankles. Everything has improved.

I saw Roger Banister break the 4 minute mile, and when he went through the tape he almost died. Now they do the 4 minute mile in about 3? minutes, and they come off and the fellow is waiting, well, what do you think about that? I don't feel much. It'll clear off, but they're hardly out of breath. These fellows and women are hardly out of breath. So times have changed quite dramatically. I've loved every moment of it, and coming here, I'm not saying this just because you're all here and everyone is looked after, my wife and my son and his dear wife, Kelly Rose, while we've been here. I'm not saying all that because people are expected to say it. This facility is most remarkable I've seen in the world of golf. It's sort of golf's answer to Disney World to me because you go to Disney World and you marvel at what was created there. The museum, the golf courses, the hotel, when you come in from the main road, the way the gardens are prepared, the trees, the staff, the volunteers, it's quite magical. And I've seen a fair bit of stuff in my time. But it is truly amazing the way they've done the museum, the way it's encapsulated all these personal bits and pieces of memorabilia. It's quite stunning. Quite stunning.

So it's time to‑‑ I could waffle on for another four or five hours. I just want to say this: I think of it often because I did leave school early. I was quite bright, but I remember my last report which was sent home. We had a headmistress that my modest school was called cross by house school. She was a Mrs.Violet Weymouth, and she was a short Welsh woman. She always had a cigarette dangling out of her mouth and the smoke used to trickle up here, and you could see where the smoke went. There was sort of a brown line up there. But she was‑‑ you didn't mess about with Mrs. Weymouth, I can tell you that. I'm always staggered today where I read that children go to school and beat up the teachers. They wouldn't have done that in my day, I'll tell you. But I remember the last report she sent back to my parents, and it went something like this: Peter does have a brain, but he's rather loathe to use it. His only interests appear to be the game of golf and Violet Pretty, a girl I liked. She never knew about Iris Baker, but they were the two that uced me to some of the ways of the world, for which I'll be eternally grateful. And although we were very young, I wish to God we could do it today.

I fear for his future were the last words she wrote on my report. So mom and dad died a long, long time ago, and if there is such a thing as heaven and if people do look down, well, mom, dad, here we are. Look at this lot. Look where I've been, look what I've done. Never worked very hard at it. But it's all fallen into place. Lovely family, lovely wife, looks after me, shouts a bit occasional. But they are remarkable. They put up with all my nonsense, and I love them dearly.

And Mrs.Weymouth, if you're there, (holds up middle finger).

Russell Jackson: 'Rob’s problem, as a proud Aboriginal man, was racism', Gold Quill award, Melbourne Press Club - 2021

26 March 2021, Melbourne, Australia

Firstly, I would like to thank the Melbourne Press Club for this award, which just feels completely surreal. I’d also like to congratulate all the other winners tonight.

I wouldn’t be in this position without my boss at the ABC, James Coventry. James offered me some work a year ago, at which point I’d been unemployed for six months and thought I was finished in journalism. He gave me my first full-time job as a journalist, and offered me patience, trust and support, and I’ve spent every day since being thankful for that.

At the ABC, I must also thank Gaven Morris, Gavin Fang and Joh McDiarmid. I love working with them, and I love my job. I’d also like to acknowledge another of my interviewees, Heritier Lumumba, for his integrity and strength, and his willingness to make life better for others.

And before all that, my wife, Cynthia, has supported me in everything I’ve done. She encouraged me to persist with journalism, even when it felt like I’d never get anywhere. I can only do one thing moderately well at any given time, but Cynthia does everything well, always. I can never thank her enough, nor our daughter Priya for her smiles, nor my parents for their encouragement.

But there is only one reason I’m standing here right now. His name is Robert Muir.

Thanks to the Melbourne Press Club, Rob is here tonight, which has made it a very special evening for both of us. Rob and I speak nearly every day on the phone, but because he lives in Adelaide, and I’m in Melbourne, we haven’t met in person until tonight. I’ve been looking forward to that hug for a long time.

I’d always wondered about Rob’s story. All that existed was a nickname he never should have been given, a few minutes of footage, and a myth that painted him as a thug. Someone close to Rob told me something very simple but true: the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem.

Rob’s problem, as a proud Aboriginal man, was racism. Football subjected him to so much of it, for so long, that he was never able to escape it. His sporting brilliance was met with abuse. In many ways, Rob’s story, and the opportunities that were taken away from him, are a metaphor for this country.

If my story achieved nothing else, I’m glad that people now realise that Rob was a gifted footballer who is worthy of respect. I also know that he’s a kind, determined, intelligent, loving and funny man.

A lot of people have asked how my story has changed Rob’s life. Actually, it has changed mine just as much. Rob has taught me things it might have taken a lifetime to learn on my own. His strength has inspired me greatly, and he showed me that it’s never too late to tell someone’s story.

I’ll go and share this with Rob now, but to finish I have to make an admission. About a week after Rob’s story was published, I woke up at 3am and realised I’d left out an important line. I’m sure many people here know that sinking feeling, when the deadline has passed.

The line I accidentally left out was something poignant Rob said about his childhood. He said that when he was a kid, the thing he loved about footy was that for two hours every weekend, when he ran around on football fields, he felt safe.

Rob, I know we’ve still got a bit of work to do to get you the things you need, but I won’t stop until you feel safe. Thank you.

Eddie McGuire: 'We will continue to be a leading light in our community', Do Better report on racism at Collingwood - 2021

1 February 2021, Holden Centre, Melbourne, Victoria

Today is a historic and proud day for the Collingwood Football Club. I club that includes two senior AFL team, two netball teams, two AFL women’s teams, the Collingwood wheelchair team, and the Collingwood Reclink team, members supporters, sponsors.

Eight teams, representing our myriad of life, all drawn from our collective identity of Collingwood, and today we embrace a leadership position on what is the most fundamental of rights – equality. To be who you are based on your abilities and character and nothing else.

In doing so we have spent the last six years in particular in a deep dive into how we can make ourselves better, first up, and then to provide leadership and conversation in the community as only Collingwood can.
Now this is an area fraught with danger and recriminations. But we have decided as a club that this fight, against racism, against discrimination of all types, is where we want to be.

To acknowledge our place in the wider community’s lack of understanding at times, and to put in place not just good intentions, but even greater time effort and resources to provide assistance to achieve our goals.
We make mistakes, we learn, we strive to be better.

But in working to build this club into the position it is today, to be able to make these announcements, we will continue to be a leading light in our community.

It is why we commissioned this report. To not pay mere lip service to a worldwide tragedy, but to lay the foundations for our people, our game, and our community.

Jack Dyer: 'Thank goodness you all came', Save our Skins rally - 1990

30 years ago today, @Richmond_FC SAVE OUR SKIN rally took place at the MCG. It raised $151,000.
Here's part of Jack Dyer's speech.

Its anniversary today even more sharply in focus, in the wake of the club's 2020 COVID season and survival. pic.twitter.com/GE6QOx1VMX

— Rhett Bartlett (@rhettrospective) August 25, 2020

26 August 1990, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia

Richard Fejo: 'I’m a Larrakia man of direct male descent of the Larrakia', Welcome to Country, Dreamtime AFL in Darwin - 2020

22 August 2020, Darwin, Australia

Ladies and gentlemen,
My name is Richard Fejo and I’m a Larrakia man of direct male descent of the Larrakia from my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather in what we Larrakia call grandfather lore.

We the Larrakia, the traditional owners and custodians of Darwin and its surrounding regions.
And since the time of the Dreamtime, our people have been the first people to walk across this land.

But as I see tonight, people from all over the world have joined us this evening. And I see you in the crowd, and I see you on the football field, and it’s my honour to welcome you to Darwin and Larrakia land.

I have a special welcome tonight because tonight I want to acknowledge all Larrakia who are in attendance. I want to welcome the Tiwi people, I want to welcome the Jawoyn people, I want to welcome the Anindilyakwa people, I want to welcome the Buranpatha people, I want to welcome the Warlpiri and the Wurumingal people, I want to welcome the Aranda people, because we are all countrymen.

I want to welcome the Yamatji, I want to welcome the Noongas, I want to welcome the Kooris, the Murris the Nungars, I want to welcome our brothers and sisters from Tasmania, and I want to welcome our Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters, and indigenous people from all around the world, and I want to welcome our non-indigenous people to Darwin and Larrakia country,

Ayyyyyyyyyy

Welcome to the Dreamtime in Darwin,

Look after each other and look after yourselves. You have come by way of Larrakia land. You will hear the voices of our ancestors. And when you leave you will take the Larrakia message with you.
Reverend W Fejo, ladies and gentlemen it’s an honour to welcome each and every one you to Larrakia land. May your ancestors guide and protect you always, and may the best team win! Thank you.

Steve Bracks: 'Congratulations to Ernie Eels, to Peter Loddard', Heineken Classic -1999

2 February 2003, Royal Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

A funny presentation speech because the normally eloquent and sober Premier of Victoria appeared to have had a few,

And well done the players, the players have been mag-fantastic. It’s a great finish. Congratulations to Ernie Eels (Els) and to Peter Loddard (Lonnard). To Nick Faldo. It’s been fal-fantastic. Congratulations.

John Kerr: 'Cheers from a small minority', Melbourne Cup presentation - 1977

1 November 1977, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia

Mr Chairman ladies and gentlemen,

Any little noises that you may happen to hear are only static. It’s just somethng wrong with the system.

I want you to understand, and I know that you will, that the minor noises do not destroy the marvellous occasion today is for me and for my wife.

Won’t say anything about Mr Cummings. It’s all written down for me here on a piece of paper, but you’ve heard it all over the loud speaker.

Cheers from a small minority, however, ah, life is wonderful for all of us, especially winners of the Melbourne Cup. Congratulations to all of you, and I’ll be back again as a spectator!

Brett Kirk: 'Thanks Basil ... We're a bunch of unique individuals', Change room cross - 2012

March 2012, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia

Thanks Basil. I just want to give you a bit of an insight into the Saturday afternoon team. We’re a bunch of unique individuals – Malthouse, Harley, Zempilas, McLachlan and myself. We’re gonna engage with our minds and our hearts. We’re gonna exchange ideas, thoughts and even our energy. And to speak from your heart you need to have courage. You need to be honest and authentic. We’re not always gonna get it right. And sometimes, you’re not going to agree with us. But that’s okay, because just like you we care. Just like you, we’re passionate about the game. So if you want to come along for the ride, join us on Saturday arvos, because we just love the footy.

Rupert McCall: 'It is passion, it is Port', 150 Year Gala PAFC - 2020

2 March 2020, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Bob Costas: 'Loyalty has been fragmented', Sign-off NBA Finals - 1998

14 June 1998, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Well, for Bulls fans, there is of course cause for celebration tonight, after a sixth championship that came harder than the others, but there's some anxiousness mixed in as well. Who knows how all of this will play out, but it's certainly possible that tonight we have seen the last of the Chicago Bulls as we have known them, and whether it ends here or sometime in the near future, it'll be noteworthy not just for the breakup of one of the great teams in sports history, but because given the present structure of pro sports, it may be quite a while before we see anything like this again. All the organizations that have the resources, the Yankees, the Braves, the Cowboys, the Lakers in the NBA, will almost always field contending teams, but the days of continuity may be ending. Even on the best teams, there's now so much turnover, that it's becoming ever-harder to follow and identify with teams. Loyalty has been fragmented. Which brings us to an underappreciated aspect of this golden era in the NBA. It hasn't just been Bird, Magic, and Michael. It was the whole recognizable cast of characters around them that gave the Celtics, the Lakers, and the Bulls their texture, and made following them all the more interesting. Even the Jazz, noble runners-up two years in a row, are personified by the longest-tenured coach in the league, and two hall-of-famers who have been teammates for well over a decade. We'll see championship teams in the future, but will we see teams that endure in this way?

And as for Michael Jordan, all the superlatives have been exhausted and almost all apply, but perhaps the most important one is this: he's authentic. His essence is so much deeper than image, in fact the images is, in his case, an amplification of something true and substantive. Take all the money, all the adulation, all the TV cameras away, and put Michael Jordan in a gym somewhere with Russell and Oscar, West and the Doctor, and he'd be as genuine and as much in his element as any of them, his heart and his athletic integrity every bit as impressive as his artistry. So whenever it ends, it's been an incredible ride for Michael Jordan and the Bulls, and we at NBC have been privileged to be taken along for that ride. So as we say goodnight, we'd like to acknowledge the work of all the people who made these telecasts possible. For everyone at NBC Sports, goodnight, from Salt Lake City.

Bruce McAvaney: 'And then there was Cathy ... and that's the one', Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award - 2020

6 March 2020, Crown Palladium, Melbourne, Australia

I might keep these, I think, Dennis. Thank you. Dennis, thank you.

As we saw tonight at the beginning, there's a lot happens with that clip. And we've got a World Cup match that might get 90,000 people at the MCG, on Sunday.

We've got Russia, FINA, Sheikh Mohammed, Casa Semenya, coronavirus, Tokyo 2020, understanding mental health problems, animal welfare.

But I thought tonight I'll talk from the heart and not from the head.

Because those issues are — some of them common sense, and many of them are complex. And they are difficult to work out, even as a sports broadcaster.

I do feel like number 24 in that great race, the lowest saddle cloth possible. Particularly sitting next to Laurie tonight, and the people that have been honoured and the way that I am this evening.

I said to Annie, my wife, about three days ago, what would be appropriate tonight? And she said, "Well, Barrie Cassidy announced his retirement when he got it last year."

Dennis and I have talked a lot about the exit. How do you? And Dennis has done the soft landing — still working in Perth. But as he said to me, "You don't retire the ego." And that's the trick, I guess for all of us.

So a bit from the heart hey? I've got a lot of people that have helped me, from Gordon Bennett and Gary Fenton, through to Lewis Martin and Col Southee. And in between people like David Barham and certainly Josh Kay, who's done so much for all the broadcasters. And he is here tonight. So thank you Josh.

All of those people have made an enormous difference.

In this room I've had some the greatest anxiety that I've ever had in my life. Because this is the Brownlow Medal room. And many years ago things were going a little hairy, about a half an hour before the Brownlow. Our producer at the time, Tracy Damon looked at me and she said, "We're going to be all right. You're hosting."

If only she knew. If only she knew how I was feeling at that moment. But she did. She empowered me. I felt a responsibility. I felt for one minute that I was captain of the Channel 7 team. God, it made me lift and get my act together. So all those Channel 7 people that have helped me over the years, and those broadcasters from Sandy Roberts to Brian Taylor, and in particular, Dennis.

One of the great thrills of my life, and sad in a way, was to be with Dennis with his final AFL call. Remarkable match. When Picken did run into that open goal and the drought did finally end. An amazing day, an incredible experience for both of us to realise that our partnership was ending, and that arguably the greatest voice in football was going to be heard for the last time on an AFL grand final.

Les Carlyon, Harry Gordon, if you're a writer.

Ron Casey, Bill Collins, if you wanted to be a broadcaster. That's the way I grew up living in Adelaide. It was Bill that I wanted to be. I didn't want to call like him. I wanted to be him, to be honest. His clarity, the colour at the same time. Fact and fiction, maybe. His rhythm. His ability not to call a race, but to describe it and to read it and then to bring it home and make the hair on the back of your head stand up.

I was hooked from a very, very young age.

I've worked alongside of lot of ex champions like Robert Otie and Raelene Boyle and Jim Courier, Leigh Matthews, and they've all held my hand and helped me through. I've been fortunate. Opportunities, Seven have provided them and so did Ten. How lucky I've been to be able to speak publicly on those occasions that Dennis talked about. To talk when that ball bounces away from Stevie Milne. To be there when Glenn Boss brings Makybe Diva back, and they just stand there in front of the stand.

To be there when Winx, in the blue and white, walks through the tunnel onto the track for the final time. To be there when Carl Lewis in 1984 put the baton from his left hand to his right hand, and ran alongside Jesse Owens in the same lane, and broke the world record in the 4x100. And then Carl and Ben four years later. And then Michael Johnson's masterpiece in Atlanta. And then El Guerruj who looked like being never and then became the best ever. And then the bloke that was probably the best of them all who morphed into Muhammad Ali in the last 10 metres of the hundred metres. How dare he do that? Usain Bolt.

And then there was Cathy. And that's the one that if I ever had to look over the cliff, that was the one. And she did get away, and she did run well on the back straight. And she did explode like she did in Atlanta. And she did lift when she hit the front and she looked a winner.

And Raylene summed it up beautifully. Relief, she carried us on. How lucky am I? Opportunity. So, so fortunate. Dennis described it perfectly.

If I've got a talent... Just because I feel more comfortable talking to you right now than I did ten minutes ago, that I'm better with the headphones on, than without them on. And if I've left anything, it's, I hope I've helped someone along the way.

I'll finish by quoting something that meant a lot to me and still does us. We're all inspired by words. And when I was young, probably fifty years ago, I read this, that Gatsby believed in the green light. “The orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter. Tomorrow we’ll run faster, stretch out our arms further. And one fine morning... And so we beat on boats against the current. Born back ceaselessly into the past.”

I don't know exactly what it means. But I know what it makes me feel. Thanks everyone.

Geoff Lemon: 'Hey Shane Watson, let's go over the rules of the DRS', Lord's rant - 2013

19 July 2013, Lord's, London, UK

This video was produced as part of a 2013 Ashes tour diary writer Geoff Lemon was doing for The Roar.

Hey Shane Watson, let’s go over the rules of the DRS.

If you get given out, and you think you’re not out, you can review it, and then maybe you won’t be out.

If you’re not out, you keep the review.

If you are out, you lose the review.

That means, it’s good to be right. You may choose to remember this with the acronym, IGTBR, or the useful pneumonic, I Grow Tomatoes Bro, Respect!

The thing is, you’ve got two reviews,  and eleven batsman.

Mathematically that works out to LESS THAN ONE REVIEW PER BATSMAN.

The conclusion on that, you should base your reviews on evidence, not just preferring not to be out.

Let’s just have a look at the DRS analysis of your reviews, Shane.

GRAPHIC - DECISION: Terrible, WICKET: Early; IMPACT: Negligible; BITCHING; Outside off

See any problems here?

Hey Shane Watson! Let me pitch you a hypothetical. Let’s say you’ve got a batsman who gets nailed LBW every innings, and then has a review on a 50-50 call, in hope, and then he’s always out, and then his opening partner gets a really terrible call, but he’s not game to use a review, because he’s not a selfish dickhead, so then he’s out, so then you’ve got two batsman out, and one review wasted, and the rest of the team goes down for 100 in the rest of the day, and Chris Rogers was going to get a century, we could see it in his eyes, and what do you think about that, Shane?

Here‘s a question for you: Shane was inducted into the Hall of Fame on this ground today. What do you think he would have done? Do you think you’re worthy to share the eight letters you have in common with his name?

You know when’s a good time to use DRS? When you get out, but you KNOW that you’re not out!

Then, you’re probably going to end up not out.

You know when’s a bad time to use DRS?

When you’re out, BUT YOU JUST KINDA WISH THAT YOU WEREN’T!

Stop acting like it’s beach cricket Shane!

Stop acting like it’s a centre wicket practice session for your benefit!

Stop acting like ... Shane Watson!

Mike Coward: 'It long irked me that sports writing, in this country, has been devalued', ASC Lifetime Achievement Award - 2015

30 November 2015, Melboure, Australia

It's a bit disconcerting when John mentioned 50 years, and indeed it is. It’ll be 52 years on the 16th of December.  The first day that I was in the industry and I can remember it as though it was yesterday. That in itself is a trifle disconcerting, although at this age, perhaps it's rather gratifying.

We pulled up in North Terrace, in the car of my first mentor, Lawrie Jervis, and we went up into – and this was, of course, the defining moment, many of you won't even know that afternoon papers even existed, but there was a time when afternoon papers did exist. And it was the Adelaide News, where Rupert Murdoch of course built the Murdoch Empire, News International, and we went up through the side entrance, past the presses which would be rolling by ten to eleven, because it was the first of the four editions of the Adelaide News, the 'City and State' at ten to eleven.  And I can still remember the smell of the place. These were the hot metal days, different days to what we have today. The hot metal days were romantic, they were tough but they were beautiful. And in fact you could blindfold me for a period of my life, and I could tell you in what newspaper I was in this country where I'd worked. Whether it was the Adelaide News, whether it was the Adelaide Advertiser, whether it was the Melbourne Age in Spencer Street, or the Melbourne Herald at 44 Flinders Street, as it was then. In the Halcyon days when 1.1 million newspapers came out of 44 Flinders Street every day. Can you imagine that? 1.1 million newspapers came out of 44 Flinders Street every day.

And as I walked into that office, the words of Laurie Jervas, my mentor, were 'Be a journalist, before you're a sports writer'. It was the best advice one could ever have. And as a copy boy, that meant of course, being a copy boy for a good 10 months, doing the shipping news, the tide times, the wool sales. And getting on your treadly, on your bike, to go down to the weather bureau in West Terrace to get the map, the weather map, to bring it back to be published in the paper that very day.

We were paid sixpence a line, if we could find a story. If we could find a story that wasn't being covered as a copy boy, just to encourage you into the business, we were being paid four pounds thirteen three a week -- Rupert was at his best -- and there are traffic lights on the corner ofSturt Road and Marion Road in Sturt, which was my first story.

You remember those things, when you're a boy, you remember the red letter days of your life, a cadet on September the twenty seventh, 1964. A graded Journalist on March the twenty seventh 1967, they are red letter days in your life. All of here will have those memories of your first day in the business, in the industry and when you won your first promotion, and the significance of it and the importance of it.

I had the good fortune to be trained in afternoon newspapers and in agencies for the AAP. That's where I learned the disciplines, from police rounds and court rounds and general reporting. And those disciplines that you learn in those fields can be applied very successfully in the world of sport.

My love affair, as John mentioned, began as a child. My winter god was Bill Wedding. The great Norwood and South Australian Ruckman, who I'm glad to say took Nicholls, Shultz and Farmer apart on the MCG in 1963, as South Australia won for the first time over Victoria in thirty nine years. My Summer god was Les Favell, the charismatic opening batsman. He was a marvellous character, my good fortune over the time was to get to know both of my heroes, and both of them were men that you would have hoped they'd have been as a boy.

How lucky I was.

I did not write sport exclusively until 1973 when I returned from three wonderful years for AAP in London, and how lucky I was. Wimbledon in '70 and'71, the French Open Tennis Championship in '70 and '71, Johnny Famechon's World title fight in Rome against Vincente Saldivar, the Eishenhower Cup in Madrid, FA Cup finals in London and Glasgow, The Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, the Olympic Games in Munich, my first cricket tour – Ian Chappell’s 1972 Ashes party.

So I give thanks for those three years, which led to such contentment; at the Advertiser in Adelaide for nine years, the Melbourne Age for three years , the Sydney Morning Herald for five years and for much of the past 20 as a freelancer, but with big responsibilities to The Australian Newspaper.

Sport has been generous to me, very generous, and so has it's people. It's players, it's administrators,  those who are passionate about it. Sport has given me an identity, and a true sense of purpose professionally. And I like to think that it has kept me young. I have mates in their 20s, I have mates in their 80s, that brings you together through sport. It's been a fulfilling working life for which I'm incredibly grateful, and there have been countless acquaintanceships and many many friendships.

And it's given me a confidence to move beyond reporting, to writing books, to broadcasting, to emceeing and to interviewing. The wonderful opportunity to meet so many colossal people of sport.

I am very grateful for this award and proud to be appended to a list of some of the wonderful names in sports which you saw scroll through on the screen as John was introducing me. To be recognised by the Australian Sports Commission with its commitment to all things that is great about sport and especially its emphasis on inclusiveness. That to me has been very important.

These awards are particularly significant and I hope reflect a changing view in the media. I think these awards are more significant than many people in this room realise. It long irked me that sports writing, in this country, has been devalued. In the United Kingdom and the United States of America and other places there is considerable kudos in being a sport writer. It had been a laudable ambition. Historically that has not been the case in Australia, despite the fact that our national identity has largely been forged through sporting achievement. And despite the fact that some of best writing has long been in sport, and it always has been. So I was interested in the Ministers observation and John's observations. And I hope that this new media and diverse media – and it is, as I can see in so many young people, particularly in the digital world, of which I have only got a very modest understanding, but wish you well in everything you do – and I sense, I sense that, I sense that this new and diverse media might bring about and continue to bring about this change. Change in attitude, and that sports writing will be valued, valued more highly than it has been historically, despite the eminence of some of those people.

I've had wonderful support throughout my career, even my late mother, Gwen or 'Shine' as I called her, who long remained unconvinced I could ever make a quid from sports journalism, never lost faith. Never lost the faith.

I mentioned my first mentor, Lawrie Jervis, whose mantra was to become a journalist before I was a sports writer, and I am thrilled his son Ian, my closest friend from school days is here tonight with his wife, Sara and their son Luke, my much-loved godson. And certainly I am in the debt of three exceptional sports editors, Merv Agars, of the Adelaide Advertiser, Neil Mitchell of The Age and Stan Wright of the Australian.

But most of all. I am indebted to my partner of 34 years, Peter Boully. His love, encouragement and support has been steadfast and unconditional, and for this I'm eternally grateful. I am a very fortunate man, the fact that he survived me writing 13 of my 14 books is a fair achievement.

In closing, I hope you allow me an observation or two. Can I ask that you not to lose the love of sport, the joy of sport, even the innocence and the simplicity of sport, however intense and sophisticated the competition comes. It is patently clear the world of sport is changing. Certainly the world of cricket is changing and changing rapidly as we're seeing tomorrow, yet again. Such is the so-called commercial and corporate imperative, we risk losing the essence of sport.

I know the corporate world plays a critical role, just as government does, I understand that, but we mustn't lose the essence of sport, the simplicity of sport that we can see every weekend morning, or in every school yard -- the simplicity and the joy of sport. We must work assiduously to preserve the beauty, integrity and unique characteristics and appeal of sport. We need to be on-guard. Much is being spun these days. Publicists, marketers, personal managers are spinning a lot. We have to be on-guard.

I cannot speak for all sports, but in cricket, access is an issue. Sportsmen and sportswomen must be accessible. They are community leaders, they're role models, they're representing us. They must be seen and they must be heard. This is but a gentle warning, just a shot across the bow. I appreciate I'm from a time when I could offer Rod Laver a lift in my 75 pounds Morris Minor after he had beaten Illie Nastase on boards at the Albert Hall; I could rendezvous with Ian Chappell at a deserted Adelaide race track to learn more that was happening in the World Series Cricket schism; I interviewed Dennis Lillee from the side of his bath at the Waldorf hotel in London, and Viv Richards at the side of his bed at the Boulevard Hotel in Sydney -- I should be so lucky!

Obviously the level of access is impossible today, but let’s trust our sportsmen and women, let them be who they are. Mutual trust and respect between sportsmen and women and their governors, and their minders and the media is hard-earned, but precious when attained. Be assured it is worth the effort.

How fortunate I've been. As I stand here, I can see Jack Nicklaus driving the 18th at St. Andrews, I can see Shane Gould and Bev Whitfield touching out the opposition in Munich; I can see Johnny Famechon being controversially denied points for his strategies against Vincente Saldivar in Rome; I can see Evonne Goolagong and John Newcombe dancing the victor’s waltz at the ball after Wimbledon; I can see Greg Chappell, David Gower and Brian Lara playing cricket with a beauty to inspire the poets, and indefatigable Allan Border humbly giving the kiss of life to Australian cricket.

How fortunate I have been, to share a place in the special grandstand with renowned scribes and commentators: Ray Robinson, Jack Fingleton, John Arlott, Ian Wooldridge, Bud Collins, Alan McGilvray, Ernie Christensen, Richie Benaud, Peter Roebuck, and today’s finest, Roy Masters, Gideon Haigh, Greg Baum, Peter Lalor, Malcolm Knox, Michael Atherton, Andrew Ramsey, and so many more.

How fortunate I have been.

I thank you, the Australian Sports Commission,  for this distinction and I heartily congratulate all the winners and finalists tonight. More power to you all. And again, thank you to my partner and rock,  Peter, and thank you all for the warmth of your reception tonight.