Rocket has plenty to say on the field. And he’s also had a bit to say in the 2012 Footy Almanac writing the foreword.
Rod Gillet, or “Rocket” as he is known to those of us in the know, is an umpire extraordinaire for the Swannies. He is the master of lightening wit, erudite commentary and devastating insight. He has also just written the Foreword for the 2012 Footy Almanac.
The Footy Almanac is a game by game account of every AFL match of the season. Over 100 writers tell the story of their day at the footy. They are passionate fans. The result is a wonderful collection of footy writing: funny, insightful, one-eyed.
Now, back to Rod Gillett who, in his Foreword reproduced below, poses…
*** UPDATE, 15 December, 2012. Will Brodie reviews the Almanac in The Age newspaper in article, Footy Almanac showcases footy’s real spirit. ***
THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION
Until recently football existed on the margins in much of the New South Wales bush. In Armidale on the Northern Tablelands, however, a competition emerged out of the University of New England in 1962. The four teams featured footy-mad students and academics from around the nation, many characters among them. People couldn’t live without their great love: footy.
One of those characters, Jack Makeham (aka JPM), the larrikin professor of agricultural management, used to run a book on local games in the ’70s.
In those days betting on footy was illegal. It existed on the quiet; hidden away from the view of the authorities and those who condemned it as a threat to the fabric of society. But that didn’t stop Jack.
Jack liked to keep the odds simple for the young and (generally) novice punters at the university. Rather than adjusting the odds and creating complexities far beyond the scope of the undergraduate mind he offered a “goals margin” (GM) for the less-fancied team. They were given a head start.
“5/4 on, each of two, who bets!” he’d yell swinging an old trammie’s bag that he used to hold bets.
To calculate it, JPM used his skills as an economic modeller, and came up with his most famous model: Makehams’s Old Dictum Explains the Lot. He developed the important formula:
GM per ha = Y*P – V
We call Rod Gillett, “Rocket”, because he understands complex mathematical formulae, just like a Rocket Scientist.
Where:
GM = goals margin
Ha = laugh (for joker or punter)
Y = “?” the fundamental question, the great unknown
P = performance (or form)
V = velocity of the wind howling across the field
Y really was the great unknown; that mysterious force which could descend on a footy match; the thing which makes the game magic.
Having plugged the variables in, Jack would come up with a number big enough to entice some, but not so small it would discourage others.
The mind of Jack was revealed further in the definitive management text, The Farming Game. The chapter on risk is simply called: “Who Bets?”
Jack used to get his footy message out via the radio. He would broadcast his footy odds on my 2AD Footy Show hosted by Doug Mulray (the same Doug Mulray who went on to become a megastar on Sydney radio). Doug wasn’t interested in sport so he would introduce us and then grab the newspaper and say he was going to the “library” out the back of the studio. Often Doug would not return in time so I’d have to operate the panel.
Jack and I would sit and chat about footy and his life. He was brought up in Korumburra by his Uncle Bob, who had played in the Collingwood Machine which won four consecutive flags in the late 1920s.
Having great respect for the weight of the law, Jack broadcast his goal margins in code, disguising them in rainfall. So when asked about the game in Coffs Harbour he might say they’ll get ten points of rain on the coast – code for 10/1 for the visiting team. While for the game in Tamworth he might say two points of rain — code for 2/1 for the opposition — and at Uralla it never rained — code for evens!
At the end of our show I would then have to flick the switch to 2UE in Sydney at exactly 10.30 for Three Way Turf Talk with the doyens of race-calling Des Hoysted in Sydney, Bert Bryant in Melbourne and Bert Day in Adelaide.
They were great days.
When the former players, officials and supporters gathered at UNE in July this year to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the football club there was no one fielding on the game. Other things have also changed. The club now plays on the main oval which has a small grandstand, change-rooms, canteen and a bar in the clubrooms.
This is a far cry from the day the students turned up for their first practice at the far end of the university’s playing fields. On that afternoon in 1962 they found that ground staff had erected the right goal-posts but had marked out a rectangle!
The nearest football competitions were in Brisbane or Newcastle. There was no footy on TV or in the newspapers. It was only rugby league and rugby union in that part of the world.
How that has all changed in New South Wales. The Sydney Swans are the reigning AFL premiers and there is a team in Greater Western Sydney. There are now football leagues far beyond the Riverina, which is the code’s only traditional home in New South Wales; they’re all over the state, and kids enjoy the opportunity to play the Australian game through Auskick and competitions such as the Paul Kelly Cup.
When I moved from Wagga to Sydney in 1984 I immediately switched my allegiance to the Swans, leaving my Saints behind forever. I used to go to every home game and back to the Southern Cross club in Randwick for the after-match functions. All the players would be in attendance and buy their own drinks; it was no different to being in Wagga, even more so since I knew more than half the team who came from the Riverina!
Rick Quade, a Riverina man himself, was coach at the time and he’d say a few words at the after-match and the best player would receive a dinner for two at the club. Most of the players worked in those days but the single blokes like Greg Smith, Anthony Daniher, Max Kruse Jnr and Jack Lucas (father of Carlton’s Cade), who’d played in the old South West league, were used to playing on Sundays and partying on.
I recall staying very late one night after a glorious Swans win over finals aspirant Fitzroy in 1984. I had to take an early flight to Melbourne for work on the Monday morning. Travelling down Botany Road in a taxi who should I spot at 6.30 am doing his bread run, but Smithy!
I had been highly involved in the administration of football in the bush and after a few seasons with Sydney University I retired from club football to join the inaugural NSW AFL Commission. This was during the tumultuous Edelsten era when the Swans were more like a circus than a football club.
The Inaugural Chairman of the NSW AFL Commission, Keith “Nugget” Miller.
The inaugural chairman of the new Commission was Boys’ Own hero, Keith ‘Nugget’ Miller, the famous Test cricket all-rounder, ex-St Kilda, Victorian and NSW footballer, and fighter pilot. There are lots of stories about Keith’s heroics. But the one I like best is how he turned up late for a Sydney Naval football game at Trumper Park, Paddington after being at the Randwick races, came on and booted a drop kick goal from centre half-back!
Powerplay controlled the Swans in those days. The Commission meetings were held at their office in Woolloomooloo. Keith and I used to meet at the pub opposite for a few drinks before the meetings. There were only five of us on the board – two from the Swans and two from the NSW AFL with Keith as independent chairman. Keith would usually ask me to chair the meetings while he sipped a scotch and soda and read the form guide!
There were constant squabbles over the development budget. Under the terms of their licence from the VFL, Powerplay had to fund development and we administered the program using mostly Swans players namely Dennis Carroll, Brett Scott, Stevie Wright, Craig Holden and Harry McAsey going out to do clinics in schools and junior clubs.
One meeting when reviewing the list of employees I spotted the name, M. Neagle, whom we had never seen at work and who was also being provided with a motor vehicle and fuel. When he was recruited Merv had been told that he was not required to do any work but to concentrate full-time on football. This was how things were run by the Swans at the time to fit players under the salary cap.
Merv was a terrific fellow and a super player who was tragically killed in a truck accident during this season when returning to Walla Walla to take footy training. He gave a helluva lot back to footy in New South Wales; in addition to Walla, he coached North Albury, Mangoplah-Cookardinia United and Balranald as well as Eastlake in the ACT-AFL. He also coached country clubs in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and St Mary’s in Darwin. R.I.P. Merv.
Richard Colless, Chairman of the Swannies for 20 years, credits Paul Roos with “making this club”.
How the Swans have changed!
The Red and Whites have just won their second premiership in eight years and have fully established their credentials as a serious football club. Players want to come to the club for the “football culture”.
The rise and rise of the Swans can’t be put down to one event or one person. Although Swans chairman Richard Colless credits Paul Roos with “making this club”, I think that the whole Swans journey since coming to Sydney has been formative. Dick has been chairman for nearly twenty years and has overseen the transformation of the Swans from a sideshow to the main act in the AFL.
I only got to see the Swans play once this season. Fortunately, it was the Grand Final. Like so many Swans fans I didn’t dare to hope until Goodsey kicked that goal to put us in front with four minutes to go. But we just knew Kieren Jack was going to chase down Clinton Young! Like father, like son.
I’m not sure what Jack Makeham would have set the goals margin at in the Grand Final. Probably two points of rain in Jolimont. I took the $2.75 TattsBet offered for the Swans to win the Grand Final, albeit without a great deal of confidence given the might of the opposition. It was the generous odds, and the pull of the heart.
I applied what I had been taught at university. I simply followed Jack’s old dictum that explains the lot. And gave weight to the great unknown. It’s the key factor in this wonderful game.
Rod Gillett
Saigon, Vietnam
What an AFL season! And it’s all captured in this collection of footy yarns by these passionate Almanackers. This game-by-game account, by footy fans, tells the story of this most remarkable season. Includes FREE shipping to Australian addresses.
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