ANZAC Day in a foreign land

April 25

this year i find my self in a foregin land. in an unfamilar country, without the self assuring routine that i have engaged in for the past 4 years. a yearly  involvment that has been part of my life since i was 16. the knowldge that my simple example of mearly contributing would not be enough any more. but to stand proud and pay my respects true to my orgins in a crowd where i was just annother Aussie or Kiwi.

as the sun sets on the 24th, me and a few good mates, set out on a walk. the annual nite hike. we commit our selves to completing the task before us. one of, if not the oldest team, with an average age of 23. unlike those younger than us, we no longer have the same lack of injuries, and we set about walking the 24 kms of the course of nite hike, walking through the night watching the sun set and rise in the 10 hours we were out and on the trail, aiming to reach every one of the 26 stations and completing every activity. the significance of the night felt fitting when i was planning my day, but its only on reflection does it start to make sense.

a dedication to a task, a challenge and a commitment to your mates, to support them and to reach the end together. and the most important thing. not letting your mates down.

 i arrive at the place called victory square, not for any battles that have been fought in that square, but for those who have fought and fallen, and those who fought and stood proud at the setting of the sun. surrounded by Kiwis & Aussies. as the ode is read, i feel the common feeling slowly building within me. i cannot explain it, it is a sense of pride, of sadness, of deep meaning, of respect, of those who give them selves selflessly. in that moment there is nothing, as the last post is sounded across the square, there is nothing else in the world around me. just the sound of that trumpet and the people around me. the street noise disappears into nothing. and as we return to the world we are reminded of a simple message of "lest we forget"

Well that's is from me. i know its a long post. but if you read into what i say, i remember more than just those who give themselves in battle. i remember all those who give them selves selflessly for the community and those around them. those who pitch in and go into bat with their mates.what is to be taken away from this is that i will personally always find time, regardless of where in the world i am, to take a moment and remember. and come the 11th of November, should your phone ring at 11:00 am, decide if you really do have to take that call? or can you spare just one minute for those who gave all of their minutes so that you have the chance to make that choice. and if you happen to be walking past a cenotaph or a memorial, take a moment. go in. have a look. and read the names & learn from their stories.

well i will post this tonight but there may be some edits in the next few days to this posting. also i have a few more articles/blogs that i will post. but no spoilers at this stage. Maybee next time some song tags for you to listen to to provoke your thinking. prehaps i might have more to say about this at annother time.

A follow up to my comments regarding the NRL salary cap

so the comments and media continue to issue explosive statments about this incident. well here is the bottom line. the Melbourne Storm discoverd the rorts, not the NRL. the storm went the NRL and owned up to it. what happened after? the storm got reamed. now then, annother party that has seems to have escaped suspicion and accusation. thats the player agents. now they are the ones who negotiate and organize all the payments for their clients and even take a healthy 10-20% cut of the players income. so yes the storm did the wrong thing. but as i noted allaredy the penalties issues do not match the crime, based on previous penlaties. but it also sends the message that if you get caught by the NRL they will punnish you but wont have you hisotry for FOUR WHOLE SEASONS be eraised. but if you own up and say "look the people who were in charge did the wrong thing" they will take you to the cleaners. what can i say. News lmtd, thank you, you belive in the storm and what it stands for, but the NRL you have made it perfectly clear that you do not want the storm in your competion. and whats this, a nsw team allraedy to go should the storm fold? well isnt that a bit suspisous!

come on, i know i am sprouting conspiracy theories now but i seem to feel that the punishment is going the wrong way. criminal sanctions will follow for those involed quite possibly and the Players agents will probably be deregisterd. but the punishment to the players and the supporters, the innocent parties in this is unaccptable. punish those responsible not those who are also victims.

oh yeah. i am still behind the Purple fury 100% and will support them.

post script published 29 April 2010
so i heard a wonderful bit of commentary the other day. it was from the ABC. and they made the comment that if the NRL discovers a larger rort, but the team has not been as sucessful how do they make thier penalties equal and matching with precendnet. the contention is that this is where the key inconsitneices are coming from and i have to say that i agree. the precedent of a hard line approach was there. but the penalties do not match with the prior case history. i am a little bit disapointed that the MSRLC are not persuing this, but they are respecting the "referees" decsion.

RELAUNCH!

hey look. i have another blog page. its been dormant for many years and i have since developed a blog for when i am traveling and used face book when i wanted to communicate something to the world. but what i am doing is i am officially relaunching this blog. what is it going to be. well i will ponder things occasionally and when i do i will put up a post. expect sport and theater and scouting to be recurring themes and i do not promise to update regularly but when i feel the desire. as well, i am going through a "re branding" of both blog pages to better reflect who i am and my sensitivities!

ok so the key links
Gonzo Travels
my travel mascot
my facebook
and my twitter

the power of sport

for six years this blog has laid dormant. and today i find a need to post. i have been using other mediums to publish my voice and let my views be heard. but today i feel a need publish and write somthing new. to think this used to be my high school blog!

Today i write from the Paralympic city, Vancouver, having experinced and been a part of the festival of the olympic games, but also having just experinced and sat in the crowd for the opening of the Paralympic gmaes. with a quick note on opening ceremonies, the creative minds need to realise that olympic openings since 2004, have left me feeling cold. the last Olympic opneing that inspired and powerd my imagination was Sydney and Salt Lake. the Melbourne 2006 opening and the paralympic opening both inspired and raised spirits witha sense of fun and irrevrence, but respect and spirit at the moments when required!

so why is sport so powerful. well that is a question for a pshycologist to answer. but i do know its alot of fun and watching the best in their sport go at it and they try to achive their best.

My Comments on the NRL salary cap infringments by the Melbourne Storm

if you do the crime you do the time, as they say, and we must abide by the decsions of the NRL and the adminstrators of sport at all times. and the hounds have come out slamming the Melbourne storm and their actions and labeling them cheats and that the punishment fits the crime but lets look at the case history and see if it relay does. also i will preface this with saying that i am a mad keen Melbourne storm supporter and support the storm and will support the rebels when they enter the Super 15 competition. i will probably also adopt the Melbourne heart as my soccer team, and i have a team i support in every code.

so a brief history of NRL salary cap infringements can be found here and you will see that maybe, just maybe the punishment may not fit the crime.

case one is going to be short and sweet. the Knights deliberately cheated during 2000, and went on to win the trophy in 2001. they were discovered in 2000, and then again in 2002. hold up........ the knights kept the silver wear?? and when you add the number up they come to arround $600,000 in a single season.

so case two dates to 2002, when the bulldogs were assumed to be headed for the championship and that they were going to take it out. well that was untill they got caught with too much money going to the players. so what was the plan by the bulldogs? to delibartly rot in the order of 2 MILLION dollars over 3 years. the bulldogs finished second in 2001 and 3 games from the end of the season 2002 were docked all of their points. interestingly though they were still allowed to accumulate points for the remainder of the season. yes a police investagion insued, but the Bulldogs contested and argued and pleaded innocence and tried to avoid their punishment.
now thier status for all 3 of the seasons stand and were only punnished in the current season. also because they had failed in 2001 to make it past week two of the finals they didnt win anything, but their status was allowed to remain. the penalty? $500,000 and their premiership points.
in 2007, the bullodgs didnt allow the nrl to audit thier books. the penatly - nothing

so the storm. yes they did the wrong thing but the numbers are simple. $1,700,000 over 5 years with $700,000 for the 2010 season. the penatly? a $1,500,000 fine, two premierships, 3 minor premierships (effectivly removing all of thier points and results for the 3 seasons) and their "removal" from the 2010 season. and why is this? because the NRL has a third party payment clause in their salary cap and it was rorted. the question is, is it just the STORM. look at the numbers, the punishment does not fit the crime. it is in excess of previous cases and it is because the nrl chooses to involve them selves in all payments. my biggest gripe? the fact that the bulldogs and the knights were allowed to exist and were not labeled as CHEATS by the rest of the competition. but it in my mind reinforces the NSW centric nature of the NRL.

i have just watched a comment piece by Fatty Vaughn of the NRL Footy Show. he labeled the team cheats and made some very explosive comments. did he make similar comments around the bulldogs who manged to keep most of their team together the following two seasons?

the numbers and facts speak for them selves. whilst news lmtd the owner of the storm are comitted to melbourne, it appears that the NRL is not. and what about those who stand to win hundreds of thousands on bets placed? it appears that this penalty has been rushed and has been announced without the completion of the inveestiagion, due to the infomration geting out and betting markets being activated. with the departure of the CEO, these irregularities were discovered and now a wholesale change in the administration of the club will ensue.

so any way. now its over to the authorities to do their job. the statements made publicly have some interesting repercussions in a legal sense, due to potential for mistrals should criminal charges be laid, with some parties already being named.

i will still support the storm and i am still proud of my team, regardless of the actions of the administrators.

post script added 4 hours after orginal posting
well i just re watched the video and to the storm players get on your phone to your lawyers and go after that wally from the NRL footy show. he has said that you as players are cheaters and do not deserve to play!  well if you have had no knowledge of what was going on get at him! there we go. a really inflammatory comment to finish it all off

ANNOTHER POST SCRIPT!!
so people are saying in the media that it is the bigest rort in the NRL's history....... WRONG. the penalties yes the harshest, the offence, as demonstrated above, no the worst!