Universal Love PAFC International

[Lockhart Road]

This Sunday morning started with me searching for the very first post I made on the BF board. I finally found it right at the top of page 43 of the ‘2013 Membership’ thread. I’d posted it on 26 March this year. I read it, and smiled to myself. Great way to start a Sunday.
I’m pasting it here (with minor editing) so that I don’t need to go into deeper background to explain why I’ve opened this new thread:

“Fellow Cockle Divers, I trust you will indulge me this introduction to your board, but I am not your run-of-the-mill Port supporter / Member. Too old for a start.
I've followed the Club since 1954, that first of six-in-a-row, and was a Premier Foundation Supporter of the AFL club in 1997.
Thing is, I've never been a Member of the AFL Club before, until now - mainly because I've been living in Hong Kong since 1971. I first came here in 1969 on R&R from South Vietnam, came back, and stayed. When my avatar goes up, you'll see why I stayed.
Why now, after all this time, to become a proper Member of PAFC at last and, as well, a contributor to the Premiership Fund ?
Easy answer - Ken Hinkley, Kochie and KT.
These guys make an ideally balanced management team that inspires a rare brand of Konfidence in krusty old football farts like me.
Now it's up to the boys on the field.
Easter Sunday's game is not being televised here in Hong Kong (Australia Network gives us four games a weekend, god bless em) so I'll just have have to pop a tranqilliser and put up with 5aa.
Does this side have the next Geoff Motley, Chicken Hayes, Ian Hannaford etc etc.? Let's see. We already have the Ebert strain covered.
Here's to a season never to forget. Cheers to you all.”

Since that first post so much has happened to me. All of it good. Some of the good has been so damn good that it’s been, for me at my age, life-changing. Sound like a bold statement? It’s actually an understatement.

For a start, via this board, I’d estimate that I’ve found a lifelong mate I didn’t know was out there. Rexie J and I started corresponding. We both went to the same school, but that story’s told already. We met up when I came to Adelaide in April, and come this November we’ll be entertaining Mr & Mrs J in Hong Kong for a few days. PAFC might be discussed a bit, I reckon.
Canoogs from Canada, following my first post on 26 March, put me on to the afl.com.au facility for live streaming and replays of all AFL matches on the 2013 calendar. I thanked him for doing that, and do so again.

There has got to be more of us among our hitherto silent international minority of PAFC supporters, those who are working in London or Rome or Houston or Tahiti or where the hell ever, who read this board for information or entertainment, and are wondering whether or not or why they should join up as BF members. I thoroughly recommend that you do so minus hesitation.

Having done that, you might consider stepping up to taking out PAFC Membership, as I did from this far away at the end of last year. The Club has this season had a range of membership categories on offer, as they will for season 2014. One of those choices should fit anyone’s pocket, anyone’s motive for receiving through the mail that little black, white, teal (and silver) POWER MEMBER badge, pinning it to the breast on a night like last night, and fronting up at your local and sticking your chest in your mates’ faces, just to show them you put your money where only your mouth has previously been… Of course it’ll cost extra, as you’ll rightfully be told to buy the next round.

I posted on the Game Day thread yesterday that, in Hong Kong, Australia Network (ABC) were showing the game live. Someone asked from the States how they could get on to their equivalent TV channel or feed. Here’s the link to the afl.com.au page that gives such details as they have to give, including how to subscribe as I did at season’s start to the live-steam facility:

http://www.afl.com.au/tv-radio/international-broadcast-partners

Australia Network is going one, no two at least, better. Next week’s game versus Essendon and the following round versus Hawthorn are also being shown live throughout Asia and the Pacific. Here’s the link to their ‘Sports Lounge’ showing the current schedule:

http://australianetwork.com/sportslounge/default.htm?home

My wish is for this thread to be used over the course of the remainder of the 2013 season, and during future seasons, for PAFC fans across the globe to come in from the cold, ask questions, make observations, post relevant ‘PAFC International’ information, whatever…

I go back and read the last few words of that first post of mine just three months ago, smile again to myself, and close by repeating them: “Here’s to a season never to forget. Cheers to you all.”

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Lockhart Road President Port Adelaide Supporters Club, Asia Chapter.

 

[Canoogs]

Thanks for the mention LR! I'm always happy to help Port expats connect back with the club in any way that we can! I've really appreciated hearing your accounts of your experiences over the last few months.

 

[Lockhart Road]

As it’s relevant to this thread, I’m pasting below a post I made a few days ago in a different place as a consequence of another poster picking Ford Fairlane up on his French :

“ Mes Amis is a pub / bar / restaurant / people-watching place (i.e. pervs' paradise) on the corner of Lockhart Road and Luard Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. Lockhart was a Scotsman, long-term Colonial Secretary back in the 1890s, Luard was a General in the British Army. That's it for the hum drum.
“It is the location of the aforementioned Professional Drinkers' Corner.
In said corner we have nowt to do but drink. And talk AFL, literature and world affairs, but mainly AFL, with Ken The Ken.
“This is so because the best perving spots on the edge of the footpath are invariably taken.
“The management is so disinterested in our discussions that the only sports on the overhead TV are as per the Fashion Channel. Which has recently been switched off, together with the wifi facility.
“It is grubby, full of grumblers and the service is terrible - except for Rose behind the bar. She is Mes Amis.
“She is of course the Rose about whom Frankie Laine used to sing (see below).
“It is the place to be, to be on your way to, or to be stumbling out of. It's my home away from home, especially when I'm not allowed home. Actually, Mrs Road loves it, too. She holds all her business meetings there.
With me.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT8XUk-PnsY

 

[Lockhart Road]

As a footnote to the above post, let me tell you about last Saturday night.

I watched the Collingwood game at home, orchestrating the spectacle like a demented philharmonic conductor. Mrs Road came home near the end of the second quarter, heeded my flashing-eyed warning, and sat there watching me with her hands over her ears and shaking her head. At three-quarter time I felt compelled to remind her: “Darling, that is the team of champions you support as an international member. I bought a membership for you, remember?” After that, being a reasonably typical Hong Kong Chinese dollars-for-blood type of person, she took more of an interest. But she kept her hands over her ears.

After the game I got down on my knees and successfully begged permission to exit downstairs to either the Happy Valley Bar & Grill or the Jockey so I could watch the second test between the Wallabies and the British & Irish Lions. “Yes, darling, I’ll be home for noodles.” Squeezed in a corner between Brits or Irish or South Africans but no compatriots, I watched the Wallabies overcome their team-mate Kurtley Beale and his innovative skill at marking the ball with his nipples in preference to his hands, preferring to throw them out like an AFL boundary umpire signalling ‘out on the full.’

Our guys were deserved winners, boldly scoring with a few minutes left the only try of the game – tries being the object of the code I would’ve thought – instead of the referee deciding the result with penalty after bloody penalty. Still, a 1-point win, with the Lions’ penalty kick on full time from 60 metres falling short, was enough for me to fall to my knees again, metaphorically, phone Mrs Road and in return for impossible promises (make that lies) purloin a pink ticket to Lockhart Road and Mes Amis for ‘just an hour or so.’

There I confronted Ken The Ken & Co., resplendent in my PAFC 1870 T-shirt pinned with my 2013 MEMBER’s badge. Yes, Ken had watched the Power demolish Collingwood and, och aye, he was vastly complimentary. It takes a bit to impress a Scot, and Ken was more than a wee bit eempressed. At length, in sympathy for our audience, the discussion reluctantly moved from the game on to lesser topics like drugs in sport, drugnuts in politics and Julia Gillard’s nose being even less of an oil painting when it was so far out of joint, and then I went home. Well, perhaps not exactly then… but soon.

It’s obvious, isn’t it, what one of my priorities needs to be. No, nothing to with being a better husband, or a better anything in fact…

I’ve just got to get Ken the Ken signed up for 2014 as a PAFC international member. It’s in his best interests. It’ll be more economical for him than paying out for all the lunches he owes me. Ken, as you know, has been pleading a soft spot for GWS and keeps backing them. Being a Scot, he’ll throw up his kilt at a chance like that – PAFC membership – to save money.

But it won’t be a pretty sight.

 

[Rexie J]

This Sunday morning started with me searching for the very first post I made on the BF board. I finally found it right at the top of page 43 of the ‘2013 Membership’ thread. I’d posted it on 26 March this year. I read it, and smiled to myself. Great way to start a Sunday.
I’m pasting it here (with minor editing) so that I don’t need to go into deeper background to explain why I’ve opened this new thread:

“Fellow Cockle Divers, I trust you will indulge me this introduction to your board, but I am not your run-of-the-mill Port supporter / Member. Too old for a start.
I've followed the Club since 1954, that first of six-in-a-row, and was a Premier Foundation Supporter of the AFL club in 1997.
Thing is, I've never been a Member of the AFL Club before, until now - mainly because I've been living in Hong Kong since 1971. I first came here in 1969 on R&R from South Vietnam, came back, and stayed. When my avatar goes up, you'll see why I stayed.
Why now, after all this time, to become a proper Member of PAFC at last and, as well, a contributor to the Premiership Fund ?
Easy answer - Ken Hinkley, Kochie and KT.
These guys make an ideally balanced management team that inspires a rare brand of Konfidence in krusty old football farts like me.
Now it's up to the boys on the field.
Easter Sunday's game is not being televised here in Hong Kong (Australia Network gives us four games a weekend, god bless em) so I'll just have have to pop a tranqilliser and put up with 5aa.
Does this side have the next Geoff Motley, Chicken Hayes, Ian Hannaford etc etc.? Let's see. We already have the Ebert strain covered.
Here's to a season never to forget. Cheers to you all.”

Since that first post so much has happened to me. All of it good. Some of the good has been so damn good that it’s been, for me at my age, life-changing. Sound like a bold statement? It’s actually an understatement.

For a start, via this board, I’d estimate that I’ve found a lifelong mate I didn’t know was out there. Rexie J and I started corresponding. We both went to the same school, but that story’s told already. We met up when I came to Adelaide in April, and come this November we’ll be entertaining Mr & Mrs J in Hong Kong for a few days. PAFC might be discussed a bit, I reckon.
Canoogs from Canada, following my first post on 26 March, put me on to the afl.com.au facility for live streaming and replays of all AFL matches on the 2013 calendar. I thanked him for doing that, and do so again.

There has got to be more of us among our hitherto silent international minority of PAFC supporters, those who are working in London or Rome or Houston or Tahiti or where the hell ever, who read this board for information or entertainment, and are wondering whether or not or why they should join up as BF members. I thoroughly recommend that you do so minus hesitation.

Having done that, you might consider stepping up to taking out PAFC Membership, as I did from this far away at the end of last year. The Club has this season had a range of membership categories on offer, as they will for season 2014. One of those choices should fit anyone’s pocket, anyone’s motive for receiving through the mail that little black, white, teal (and silver) POWER MEMBER badge, pinning it to the breast on a night like last night, and fronting up at your local and sticking your chest in your mates’ faces, just to show them you put your money where only your mouth has previously been… Of course it’ll cost extra, as you’ll rightfully be told to buy the next round.

I posted on the Game Day thread yesterday that, in Hong Kong, Australia Network (ABC) were showing the game live. Someone asked from the States how they could get on to their equivalent TV channel or feed. Here’s the link to the afl.com.au page that gives such details as they have to give, including how to subscribe as I did at season’s start to the live-steam facility:

http://www.afl.com.au/tv-radio/international-broadcast-partners

Australia Network is going one, no two at least, better. Next week’s game versus Essendon and the following round versus Hawthorn are also being shown live throughout Asia and the Pacific. Here’s the link to their ‘Sports Lounge’ showing the current schedule:

http://australianetwork.com/sportslounge/default.htm?home

My wish is for this thread to be used over the course of the remainder of the 2013 season, and during future seasons, for PAFC fans across the globe to come in from the cold, ask questions, make observations, post relevant ‘PAFC International’ information, whatever…

I go back and read the last few words of that first post of mine just three months ago, smile again to myself, and close by repeating them: “Here’s to a season never to forget. Cheers to you all.”

 

[Lockhart Road]

It being Saturday morning in Hong Kong, with the crunch match versus the Bombers at Docklands on tomorrow... I remind anyone in the Asia-Pacific Region who is interested that the game is being televised live tomorrow on Australia Network (ABC).

In Hong Kong the telecast begins at 2:30 p.m.

The Asia-Pacific Region has, conservatively, a population of 4,200,000,000.
Of course not a big percentage have access to a TV set tuned in to the AFL.

But if just 0.001% were to catch sight of Chad Wingard and Jakey Neade in action, teenagers taking on grown men and making them look silly, or tackling them to the ground and bruising their egos, for two hours per week, we have the seed planted for a new supporter base of 42,000 - double our membership.

 

[Comettski_1]

It being Saturday morning in Hong Kong, with the crunch match versus the Bombers at Docklands on tomorrow... I remind anyone in the Asia-Pacific Region who is interested that the game is being televised live tomorrow on Australia Network (ABC).

In Hong Kong the telecast begins at 2:30 p.m.

The Asia-Pacific Region has, conservatively, a population of 4,200,000,000.
Of course not a big percentage have access to a TV set tuned in to the AFL.

But if just 0.001% were to catch site of Chad Wingard and Jakey Neade in action, teenagers taking on grown men and making them look silly, or tackling them to the ground and bruising their egos, for two hours per week, we have the seed planted for a new supporter base of 42,000 - double our membership.

Great poster P.S went to HK a few years ago and can see why you fell in love with it, beautiful place, can't wait to go back.

 

[Lockhart Road]

Just called my GP to delay my imminent appointment by 10 minutes whilst I post this one:

A minute ago received an email from the GM of the Hong Kong Football Club which reads:

"Talking of Aussie rules football I’ve just noticed (my assistant's) deliberate mistake on the sports notice board for this weekend where she has Collingwood playing the Adelaide “Cows”!!

Have asked his permission to quote, then went ahead and did so before he could say no.

 

[Lockhart Road]

During his six months in exile, Steven Trigg allegedly did a bit of globe-trotting, including spending some time in Hong Kong boning up on the organisation and running of the Hong Kong International Rugby Sevens, which is held every last week in March and is a world sporting and carnival classic.
I've been doing some investigative research into whether Trigg was in fact here, and what sort of an impression he made.

I've been struggling to find any sign of his trail through these parts, until yesterday.
Seems he didn't make the sort of impression he was aiming for.
I've posted here the sign that appeared quite prominently in the lobby of the Hong Kong Football Club yesterday afternoon.



(If it appears as a thumbnail, maximise it. Could make a reasonable banner for the next Showdown.)

The Hong Kong Football Club, by the way, is a very impressive operation, proud to be adjudged 'the greatest sports club in Asia.'
Here's the link to the HKFC site: https://www.hkfc.com.hk/

 

[Lockhart Road]

What caught my eye during half-time of the Blues vs. Saints last night, were the Hong Kong AUSKICK children playing on the Docklands arena, then lining up for a guard of honour when the teams ran on to start the second half. Matthew Richardson was good enough to talk about them for a respectful minute or so.

There is quite a Little League in operation up here, has been for some time: about 300 registered children mostly of expat parents, three teams called the Hong Kong Typhoons, the Kowloon Cobras and the Lantau Lizards, all under AFL auspices and sponsorship, with regular training sessions divided between venues including the pitch at the popular Hong Kong Football Club.
(Local pitches, mostly artificial surface, are too small for full-blown Aussie Rules played by grown men, but are ideal for the nurturing of the youngest generation into future AFL footballers.)

For many of these children it is or will be their first feel of a Sherrin and taste of our unique national football code, eternally memorable to them I'm sure for taking place in a foreign place and in front of a casually amused passing audience of mature and suitably attired rugby and soccer diehards.

I shall pop along to the next training session - delayed, as schools are out on summer (wet season) holidays, hence the children's presence at Dockland last night - and post another report after talking to a few of the coaches and dads, and of course the kids... scouting for future PAFC prospects !

 

[Lockhart Road]

For the information of anyone surfing this board in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia Network (Channel 541 on Now Broadband in Hong Kong) is televising live the Power vs. Saints game tomorrow night, 5:30 pm Hong Kong time.

The Crows do not rate live coverage this weekend, so no need to check today whether the signage at the Hong Kong Football Club has got their name wrong - or right. (See above.)

 

[Lockhart Road]

One Club goes to Lord's

Anyone else see the two Port Adelaide lads in the crowd at Lord's - one wearing the Power strip, his mate in a Prison-Bars lace-up, hanging open...

(Decided this was the appropriate thread for such a post.)

 

[PowerCafe]

yep, saw it.

 

[Jones2ByrneJones]

PHOTO SCREEN SHOT PLZ

 

[Lockhart Road]

PHOTO SCREEN SHOT PLZ

I was doing three other things at the time, Storma, sorry. Wonder if someone else can oblige?

 

[Rexie J]

Thought his technique in signalling a four and not spilling a drop was in keeping with appropriately high standards

 

[faquito]

Watched the Power Vs. Hawks game live in my hotel room in Hanoi on the Australian Network. Was pleasantly surprised to see we were shown internationally. Pleasant way to have a break from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi's Old Quarter.

 

[Lockhart Road]

Watched the Power Vs. Hawks game live in my hotel room in Hanoi on the Australian Network. Was pleasantly surprised to see we were shown internationally. Pleasant way to have a break from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi's Old Quarter.

Hope the hotel you were in wasn't the Hanoi Hilton, Mr Ambassador.
I've heard of its reputation for being very economical, zero-star, and the "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave" sort of place. Or it used to be.

Incidentally there was a bevy of Hanoi girls on Lockhart Road on Saturday night, none of whom could recall meeting the PAFC Chinese Ambassador to get their 14-day tourist visas approved.

I had a chat with a friendly miss inventively done up in a vintage Lucille Ball-style hairdo and on her first visit; called herself 'Lee' and then 'Nguyen.' She was impressed I could pronounce it correctly. "You'll have a more productive visit to the temples around here if you make it just Wendy," I counselled, then went on to show off my fluency at counting from one to ten in Vietnamese, legacy of nine months there 1968-1969: "Mot, Hai, Baa, Bon, Num, Sau, Bae, Tum, Chin, Muoi."
Lucille Ball was a Number Mot and her chatterbox girlfriend was a Number Muoi. (In 1968-1969 a 'Number 10' was as low as you could go.)
I left Mot and Moui casting about for a Dezi Arnaz or two and went in search of Ken The Ken at the Mes Amis pros' corner (pro drinkers this time) and we got into an hour of good ol' Port Adelaide and poor ol' Collingwood...

Don't recall much after that. Mrs Road, I unnecessarily point out, is in the States for two weeks. That shop selling yellow roses by the dozen is in for a quiet time for the next coupla weeks.

 

[Lockhart Road]

No doubt today's Royal Message of Congratulations from Prince Harry of Alberton will be posted elsewhere, but it's a natural for this thread, too.

http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/video/2013-07-23/prince-harrys-message-to-the-royal-baby

Congratulations, too, to the PAFC Media Department for this gem. Great to see them thinking inside the (royal) box.

 

[ash_78]

Anyone else see the two Port Adelaide lads in the crowd at Lord's - one wearing the Power strip, his mate in a Prison-Bars lace-up, hanging open...

(Decided this was the appropriate thread for such a post.)

Yup. Nearly popped my load.

 

[ash_78]

Anyone else see the two Port Adelaide lads in the crowd at Lord's - one wearing the Power strip, his mate in a Prison-Bars lace-up, hanging open...

Slightly OT, but my wife is due with twins in 8 weeks. I'm trying to get hold of baby versions of the Power home and away strips to dress them in.

 

[Lockhart Road]

This month's Cathay Pacific in-flight 'Discovery' magazine carries a two-page piece in which a mate of mine, Allen Youngblood, takes the reader on a quick personal tour of his favourite music, drinking and other places in Hong Kong, on both sides of the Harbour. Allen's been here long enough to be qualified in what he judges to be worth his time. He's a pro jazz musician, an icon of the scene.
Scans of the two pages are attached to this post as thumbnail links.



Into his list of favourites, Allen has included some of mine in Wanchai: including the oft-quoted Mes Amis on the corner of Lockhart Road and Luard Road, and Coyote further down Lockhart. Both are open-sided and great for orientation purposes for visitors; the trick is to wangle your way on to an outside table.

On Friday, I had one of the wagered and won lunches from Ken The Ken; he opted for The Pawn on Johnston Road, above the tramline in a restored four-storey shop-house built circa 1930, after which the ground floor became an historic pawn shop and the floors above the habitat of the pawnbroker's substantial family including perhaps a concubine or two. Post-lunch we adjourned to Pros' Corner at Mes Amis, and there we consummated the deal I pledged to you in an earlier post to pull off: Ken The Ken will be an 'International' Member of PAFC for season 2014. He's threatening to get down to Adelaide for a couple of home games at Adelaide Oval.

Good job I pulled the deal off on Friday; next day his beloved GWS won a game. Not Ken's year.

Yesterday, there was a Saturday group Coyote lunch that went on, through several jugs of sangria and margarita, to 4:00 pm, then was adjourned to... you guessed it... Mes Amis.
If I have much more to do with it, 'Pros' Corner' will soon be renamed 'Little Postcode 5015.'

Today's toast at the Corner: "Here's to the right result versus the traditional enemy this afternoon! Go the Power! Go Ken The H.! Go Ken The Ken, 2014 PAFC Member!"

 

[Lockhart Road]

Seeing a post by chachi11 on the 'David Koch' thread about Samantha and two youngsters in Power strips on 'Sunrise' had me waking up that I hadn't yet posted this photo of two Auskickers in Hong Kong - Liam Thompson (nine) and his brother Daniel (seven). The pic was taken at the Hong Kong Football Club a few Saturdays ago.

Liam's hero is Justin Westhoff, and he'll shortly be receiving his requested # 39 junior away strip which I picked up at the Mega Store last week. Number added while you watch.

Daniel is a Boaky boy, currently running around with # 10; he'll be taking proud delivery of # 1.

The AUSKICK HK coaches include Matthew Jackson who played a handfull of games with the Saints in the mid-1990s.

The boys and girls played their annual tournament on the HKFC pitches on Saturday, 24 August. I missed it unfortunately as I was in Adelaide, but the Club took a series of photos that I'm currently going through.

 

[Lockhart Road]

Posting below Killer Power's question and my reply, for the benefit of others who might be travelling thru Hong Kong during the action this Friday night :-

-----------------------------------------------------------

Killer Power said: ↑

Dammit. Just realised i'm on a plane to Hong Kong leading up to next Friday's game. Lockhart Road can you suggest anywhere near the airport I can watch the match as i'm in overnight transit?​

Hi Killer -
Shouldn't be difficult, you only need to find a place that has AUSTRALIA NETWORK - Channel 541 on broadband. It's scheduled for 5:30 p.m. HK time (7:00 p.m. SA time).
If you're checking into a hotel near the Airport, they'll have it.
If you're only in transit a few hours, you'll need to get out of the airport, slip into the closest hotel bar and throw your weight around... otherwise follow alternative instructions which I'll gladly assist you with, once you let me know which option it is and, in the case of a short-time stopover, exactly how many hours you have on hand and from when to when.
If you require some hand-holding and a spare PAFC T-shirt and lanyard, I'll see what I can do on that as well.
Cheers, mate.

PS: Wore one of the new T-shirts I picked up at the Mega Store on Lockhart Road all afternoon yesterday. It worked a treat.
There was no direct TV on the Oz channel because the Abbott vs Rudd curtain-raiser took over the screen until 9:00 p.m. (10:30 in SA), so I had to sneak home and watch on my computer via afl.com.au. Then I wasn't allowed out again to celebrate. Mixed feelings and a clear head today.
Look out Lockhart Road.