However lol, whats with all this hate of Australian Football, you must be a Thugby supporter Chucka ;), surprised I didn’t hear the “GAYFL” from you. :P

Because it’s bullshit, AAW. The “ANZAC spirit” is a descriptor that some people tag on others, arbitrarily and without any proof or clear criteria, to make them sound wonderful. You can’t carve it, measure it, test for it or even clearly define it. It’s the same kind of insipid emotional rhetoric as “mateship” or being “un-Australian”.

You lose.

messerschmits are stressful but miller didnt go on to say “and fuck anyone who does anything to happily celebrate anzac day. solemn commemorations only. by god if any of you play two ups or head down to the races or the paddock you’re evil and will be struck down you money mongering BASTARDS”

And I think you’re wrong. The sportsmen who also served in war seem to have a handle on which was more dangerous and significant (see Keith Miller’s quote above). Given the choice between solemn commemoration of our war dead and playing footy, I think they’d plump for the first without the second. ANZAC Day isn’t supposed to be a let’s-have-a-BBQ-and-play-footy public holiday in the same way that Australia Day and the Queen’s Birthday holiday are.

It makes me sick to my stomach and I hopethey all choke from the stench of their own BS.

Arial ping ping vs seeing your mate’s head turn into pink mist as you scramble through barbed-wire entanglements. I can see how they are similar?

And Che, no offence but I don’t agree that it’s been the demise of WW1 veterans that’s changed the culture of ANZAC Day – it’s a myriad of factors including:

- Howard’s grandstanding, his adoption of Americanistic flag-waving and worship of the cult of the military, a la our friends MK and KG
- the media’s use of ANZAC Day as some kind of creative writing competition to see who can write the best schmaltzy bit of nationalism and/or war porn
- the virtual purchase from the RSL of playing rights by the AFL, Collingwood and Essendon (”please let us play, diggers, and we’ll blow the Last Post and say Lest We Forget“)
- the cult of Gallipoli visits by backpackers, aided by the government’s sponsorship of structural ‘improvements’ there

It is a little far reaching to blame ANZAC days current festive setting on John Howard or the AFL, as it is more of a cultural shift, or progression as you will.

This has been happening since Mr. Lockett the last Gallipoli soldier passed away a few years ago. Now that all people involved in the catalyst for this day have now left us, it is natural for us as a society to evolve the day into a celebration of where we have come from as a country.

I wonder if he wrote a poem about his time fighting aborginals? Is he the modern day Wilfred Owen?

Boongs! Boongs! Quick boys, an ecstasy of fumbling

Doctor Tingtong might’ve seen combat when the Dubbo chapter of the neo-Nazis took on the local ‘boongs’ with bits of four-by-two, back in the heady 1960s. They probably even awarded themselves Purple Hearts.

How true.

Chuck, have you reported Tingtong?

http://www.grods.com/post/1727/

It became a means to promote a nationalistic and narrow view of Australia – a simple notion that those small of brain could easily fall into line behind.

It’s also an interesting point you make about the sports/ANZAC comparison, and got me thinking. Isn’t it funny that terms used in sport are very warlike – things like ‘we slaughtered them’ ‘it was a tough battle out there’ ‘we were killed’ ‘we showed them no mercy’…etc. Very tribal.

Yep, sounds like Dr Tingtong. He can be reported here:

enquiries@anzmi.net

This is an interesting phenomenon. When I was in the Army (I don’t mean to sound like a know-it-all tosser here, it is in no way my claim to fame) there were a few guys who used to tell civilians that they had seen action.

There was one guy, Colin Bets, who was firing a standard issue Austyer F88 on the range and a spent shell hit the ground, bounced up and went down the back of his shirt, scalding his back. It left a small scar. Whatever.

When he got really pissed he would rip of his shirt in whatever pub we where in and demand respect because he was shot in the back in Timor and had the scar to prove it. Yes, Colin was a bullshit artist. I bashed him once. He went AWOL after that with a prostitute from Darwin. He was caught in Perth selling stolen mobile phones.

Just another one of my ANZAC day waries. I could tell you about the time I had a room inspection and failed. Oh geez, those were the dayz. Snorezzzzzz

Check, halt. About turn. Hurry up and wait.

Not sure how far Doc Tingtong has gone with the tales of his alleged military exploits but this site might be interested in him – they track down chronic RSL-bar bullshitters, expose their phoney war service (or lack thereof) and engage in a little public identification humiliation, in the manner of ;;;; but with better spelling and research.

It’s become more widely known but cheaper for it – and I think the AFL is to blame for this to a large extent.

“Derived” is a bit strong here I feel. “Influenced” probably more accurately reflects this situation. (Incidentally, I think Bolt was told a while back and ‘debunked’ it by posting a link to an alternative theory.)

Polo quite likely had a military basis in horse-riding abilities. “Sport of Kings” may reflect the fact that the king (and other high ranks) rode into battle (I’m speculating here). The more common examples are javelin, pole-vault, skeet shooting and even running and swimming (keeping in mind that some of these ’sports’ have been around a very long time). Even chess has a very strong basis in military strategy.

I’m quite happy with all the ANZAC days as I’ve experienced (they’ve all been in Melbourne). The dawn service and march are very respectful (with the exception of stupid TV stations turning it into news) and the footy is as much about a party as going back to the pub after the march is to some people.

Chuck – I agree. That guy was a wanker. Can we take him to an RSL? Just to see some real soldiers have a ‘chat’ to him? Maybe one where the bikie groups hang out…

Don’t tell Bolta that. He’ll flip his wig.

Unfortunately, this is the direction ANZAC day and AFL are both going. I couldn’t give a fuck about AFL. I don’t follow it, I don’t watch it. It’s overrated garbage, played by over-paid, over-indulged fuckwits.

ANZAC day however, does have a good message contained within it. It can be interpreted differently by different people. The message it sends is still there, but the more commercialised and cross-marketed it becomes, the further away it will be from, Lest We Forget

Unlike Dr Tingtong who claims to have served part of his enlistmentment as a full-time soldier, I did serve in the regular Army and did regular Army things and was deployed to regular Army deployments. And unlike Dr Tingtong, I don’t attempt to allude that I was involved with WW2:

In WWII, the Japanese were stopped in their advance through New Guinea towards Australia by the CMF — the “weekend warriors” of whom I was myself once a part.

There is a name for Dr Tingtongs: Bullshitartists. DR tingtong, you would get bashed at an RSL if you tried to pull that bullshit. I bet $1000 that you have only been on one ‘bivowack’ at Pucka, couldn’t handle it, and ran home.

Anyhow, I was heavily involved with ANZAC days, and to me it should be a solemn day, not with John fucken Farnham signing at the cove and not with the AFL trying to grope it.

Buy a fucken poppy instead.

As you were.

They still do. The women are known as Footy Wives and Girlfriends (and sometimes Groupies).

Like polo? Where the Afghans used a severed head of one of their enemy instead of a ball. No wonder it’s the “rich man’s sport”.

Aussie Rules, from what is known, derived from aborigines in Tasmania who used a ball made out of possum skins. The winning team got the women.

Just thought I’d add that a lot of sports derive from some aspect of the military, either physical fitness, mental fitness or strategic/team planning (particularly Olympic sports). Modern sports tend to derive from other sports and are barely recognisable in terms of military origins, but there is definitely a historical link.

Of course that doesn’t justify presenting the two as equivalent in any way.

I have no problem with service people commemorating their fallen mates but am deeply cynical about the motivations of our political leaders and their hang-on spin doctors. Both then and now.

ANZAC day is all about conservative politicians using a cynical and manipulative grab for popular appeal.
They use the war dead in death as much (if not more) than they were used in life. Naive young people killed and mangled to grease the wheels of the rich man’s industry with their blood.
I see NOTHING worth celebrating.
Fuck ANZAC day, it’s un-Australian.

I wonder what the AFL will do if they ever decide to play games on Good Friday, as they should. What, will they dedicate the game to Jesus and build myths associating Christianity with footy? Probably. And which teams would play? Obviously it’d have to be St Kilda & Melbourne (Saints v The Demons!)