Stephen Gough   Stephen Gough was at Carlton Football Club for 18 years. He was a teacher and part time scout before joining Carlton full time as Recruiting Manager. He then became Football Manager and finished with 7 years as Carlton’s CEO ending in 1999. In 1999 he then became CEO of the MCC & […]

Chris Anstey, born in Melbourne in 1975, 7 foot tall, was an aspiring young Tennis player, ranked as one of Australia’s top 15 year olds, who then switched and took up Basketball at 17 years old.   At 19 he played a season with Melbourne Tigers and then play 2 seasons with South East Melbourne […]

AFL Finals This is a John Harms Footy Almanac Lunch and he will run this Lunch interviewing special guests on a Finals theme.   One of the special guests will be Wayne Henwood, former South Freemantle, Glenelg & Swans player, and a strong influence on NSW football. He is now a Victorian Barrister and on […]

Howard Beer Howard Beer is a former Victorian Homicide Detective who works in anti-corruption for International Cricket.   Howard was in charge of anti-corruption operations for the ‘Indian Cricket League’ and was involved in the Chris Cairns investigation. He was then involved in the Chris Cairns libel case in the High Court in London against […]

Peter “Wheels” Bedford   Peter Bedford, now 70 years old, is a former great South Melbourne footballer (rover) and also a fine first class cricket player. He grew up in Port Melbourne where cricket was his first love, playing his first district game as a 16 years old.   As a footballer he won the […]

The International Cup John Harms and The Footy Almanac is running this Lunch and we expect a good number of International visitors in attendance for John to speak with.   The AFL International Cup is being played for the 6th time this year starting tomorrow (5th August), and ending with Grand Finals on 19 August. […]

Des ‘Tuddy’ Tuddenham Des Tuddenham was born in 1943 near Ballarat – one of nine children, from a farming family. He started playing with Collingwood in 1962 and was renown for his tough & fearless play, and his skills. He won the Copeland Trophy (best & fairest) at Collingwood in 63, his first full season […]

‘Fabulous’ Phil Carman Phil Carman was born in Edenhope, 4th September 1966. Although he was in the Collingwood “zone” and did some training with Collingwood, he began his career with Norwood in SA. The Magpies protested and he stood out of football for 2 years before being able to continue with Norwood. He became famous for […]

‘The Barrister’ – Colin Lovitt Colin Lovitt, now retired QC, Criminal Defense Barrister of 45 years has had about 200 Murder Trials. He was Chair of The Criminal Bar Association (Vic), also working on high profile cases in WA, and also worked in Qld, infamously calling a Qld magistrate a cretin. Colin is now busy […]

Graeme ‘Jerker’ Jenkin The next Odd Friday Lunch on 19th May will be run by John Harms & The Footy Almanac. It will be a special ‘Collingwood’ Lunch promoting the book ‘In Black & White: 125 Moments That Made Collingwood’, which goes through the first 125 years of The Collingwood Football Club. The authors, Michael […]

Barry ‘Boy’ Michael Barry Michael Swettenham was born in England 2nd June 1955 and migrated to Australia in 1957, growing up in Williamstown. He is rated #7 in Australia’s all time Greatest Boxers. As well as numerous Australian & Commonwealth Titles, he won the world IBF Featherweight boxing title in 1985 over the younger Lester […]

Angela Pippos The inaugural Women’s Footy Almanac Lunch is on this coming Odd Friday. John Harms has Angela Pippos as his special guest. Angela has published her second book Breaking The Mould that takes a knowledgeable, funny, no nonsense look at sexism in sport and covers the advent of the AFLW. Angela Pippos completed an […]

Roy Hay Roy Hay, born in Scotland, attended Glasgow and Oxford Universities, and then taught at East Anglia University and Glasgow University before he moved to Australia. He is an Honorary Fellow at Deakin University where he taught for 25 years on a variety of subjects and disciplines. With a focus on soccer he has […]

Kevin Sheedy  Kevin is arguably the most influential figure in the history of the AFL and is currently GM of Commercial Development & Innovation at Essendon. He is regarded as an ambassador for the game. He has always been innovative and quirky and is a sought after public speaker. He played 251 games for Richmond, […]

Ken Sheldon Ken Sheldon moved from north-central Victoria to play VFL for Carlton in 1977 as a 17 year old. He played 132 games for Carlton before leaving to play for St Kilda from 1987. He played in 3 Carlton premierships 79, 81 & 82, was a Victorian representative player in 80 & 83, was Carlton’s leading goalkicker […]

Peter McKenna Peter McKenna (70 yrs) was regarded as one of the best full forwards to ever play VFL when he played full forward for Collingwood. He played 180 games for Collingwood between 1965 and 1975 and played a further 11 games for Carlton in 1977, after having a year in Tasmania in 1976. Peter won the Coleman […]

Sam Newman Sam Newman, as great a footballer as he was, has become more famous since football and we are very fortunate that Percy has been able to organise his special appearance at an Odd Friday Lunch, Fri 17th Feb. Percy & Sam had similar football careers and played against each other often. See attached […]

David Rhys-Jones David Rhys-Jones was a gifted Carlton Footballer who won the Norm Smith Medal in 1987 playing on Centre Half Forward Dermott Brereton. He has been inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame. He began his VFL / AFL career in 1980 playing for South Melbourne which went to Sydney in 1982. He move […]

Keith Stackpole Keith Raymond Stackpole was a great Victorian and Australian cricketer, born in Collingwood on 10 July 1940. He went to school in Clifton Hill and played cricket for Collingwood. His father, also Keith, played Sheffield Shield cricket, and played VFL football for Collingwood and Fitzroy. Keith started his test career in 1966 as […]

Peter ”Crackers” Keenan Peter ”Crackers” Keenan Crackers (Peter Patrick Pius Paul) Keenan from the small town of Wilby near Yarrawonga and subsequently Assumption College, played 213 VFL games for Melbourne, North Melbourne and Essendon between 1970 and 1980. A famous ruckman he was in North Melbourne’s premiership team of ’77 as first ruck and missed […]

Greg Carpenter Not an Odd Friday, but John Harms and The Footy Almanac are running a special lunch this coming Monday – his traditional Cup Eve Lunch with his traditional guest Greg Carpenter, Victoria Racing’s Chief Handicapper. What a privilege to hear him discuss form on Cup Eve – apparently very entertaining and insightful. John will also have […]

Ron Kirwan Tribute Lunch Ron Kirwan (21/10/41 – 15/04/16) passed away earlier this year of a sudden illness. He was a self made successful businessman but was most well known for his service to and support of The Essendon Football Club. He was a Number One Ticket Holder, a Life member of Essendon Football Club […]

Ian “Collo” Collins Ian “Collo” Collins has had a comprehensive career in Australian Football. Recruited from Sale he played 161 games for Carlton Football Club playing in the 1968 premiership side (along with Percy). He went on to captain coach Port Melbourne for a year in the VFA in 1972. Ian was Secretary Manager of […]

John Harms with Ray Wilson & Gareth Andrews John Harms, The Footy Almanac – Hawks vs Cats. John Harms is hosting the next Odd Friday Lunch with the theme of the Melbourne AFL final Hawks vs Cats. He will have 2 old players – Ray Wilson an ex Hawthorn premiership player, Hawthorn Best & fairest […]

Kevin (Shifter) Sheehan Kevin Sheehan is an ex Bendigo boy who played 102 games for Geelong, played in 3 reserve grade premierships and captained one of them. He retired from playing in 1982. He has remained involved in the game – he was the AFL’s first full time Development Officer, Victorian State of Origin Team […]

Percy Jones!!   Percy will run this Lunch on his own, but ably assisted by our popular new (& old!) Manager Terry Freeman. This is one of those awkward Fridays – 2 odd Fridays in successive weeks. Come along for a good Lunch and bring a few special questions for Perc.   MENU Entree – […]

John Harms with Bill Deller & Murray Bird   John Harms and The Footy Almanac will be running this Lunch with 2 very interesting guests. Bill Deller umpired 251 senior VFL games including 5 grand finals, retiring in 1981. His umpiring career almost mirrored Percy’s playing career – I am sure there must be many […]

Col Kinnear ex Sydney Swans coach Colin was a good amateur footballer but 2 knee operations brought an early end to his playing career. After a few coaching positions he took the VFA Coburg Lions to their first premiership in 51 years. He then moved to North Melbourne as assistant and reserves coach for 3 […]

Carlton Great – Robert Walls Robert Walls played with Percy for much of his playing career at Carlton before finishing his playing career at Fitzroy. He played 259 games, captained Carlton for 2 years, played in 3 premierships and is in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. After playing, he then had a coaching career […]

John Harms is taking charge of the next Odd Friday Lunch. John, as well as running the Almanac, is a well known local writer, broadcaster, publisher, historian, speaker, MC and lunch host. He appears on the ABC’s Offsiders and has recently been locked away writing a book for Michelle Payne – “Life As I Know […]

Rodney Hogg, Australian fast bowler – debuted in the 78/79 Ashes series of 6 Tests with 41 wickets at an average of 12.85. He came into the team when Lillee and Thompson moved to World Series Cricket. He was an aggressive and sometimes controversial Australian fast bowler.Born in Richmond in 1951 his cricket career began […]

Peter Hudson, a proud Tasmanian, is arguably the game’s all time best Full Forward. He is the most prolific goalkicker who won the Coleman Medal four times while at Hawthorn, and holds numerous goalkicking records. He made his VFL debut playing against Carlton in 1967 on Percy’s old mate Wes Lofts. He was made a […]

Malarkey Publications and The Footy Almanac invite all Drop-kicks, Misfits and Ratbags to huddle at the North Fitzroy Arms this coming Thursday (March 17) to be blessed by bon vivant (second) ruckman and pub philosopher, Percy Jones. You can see from the photo that Perc was a thinker from the start, right from the days […]

Friday 11 th March 1:05pm As Regular as the Calendar, although odd, and with a ‘Mystery’ Guest Speaker! We must first apologies for the late notice of next Fridays lunch. However, Percy has been waiting on a yes from a couple of possible guest speakers. With the AFL season less than a fortnight away from starting […]

As Regular as the Calendar, and with Special Guest Speaker John Birt A superb rover at Essendon, John Birt was selected in 2002, by an expert Essendon panel, as number twenty-one of the 25 “Champions of Essendon” He won the Dons best and fairest award in 1961, 1965 and 1967, was leading goalkicker in 1958 with 31 goals and was […]

Dean Jones (AM) – Vic. Cricket Legend Dean Jones “wrote the book” on one day cricket (Dean Jones:One-Day Magic). A showman, brilliant fieldsman and runner between wickets he was regarded as one of the best one day cricketers in the world – ahead of his time. His ODI batting average of 44.61 is still in […]