I'll put my hand up and admit I am not aware of the journalist Michael Gordon.
I will now pay close attention to every article he writes.
This is the best piece of Hawthorn-related football journalism for 2009 in my opinion.
I stand to be corrected, however i suspect a great deal of this article is a excerpt from One For All, which is launched today, an author of which is Michael Gordon along with his father Harry, who wrote the highly collectable The Hard Way as a matter of interest.
And as such I reccommend each and every one of you go out and buy a copy, i know i shall.
I second that endorsement PMC.
My copy of "The Hard Way" is nearly half as old as I am now, and has been a treasured archive of our history, providing knowledge and enjoyment.
I suspected that Michael might be Harry Gordon's son when first opening the article and it was great to see that continuation, a sort of passing of the baton as such.
For those interested in Harry's biography as of 1990 when THW was published:
"Harry Gordon is a well known journalist, newspaper editor and author. This is his eigth book. One of them, 'An Eyewitness History of Australia', won both the National Book Council's first prize for Australian Literature and the Barbara Ramsden Award as best book of the year by an Australian author.
Among his other books were 'Die like the Carp!' (the story of the Japanese prison breakout at Cowra), 'Gold Medal Girl' (Dawn Fraser's biography), 'Young Men in a Hurry', 'The Embarrassing Australian' and 'Bicentennial', a series of essays on Australia.
He was a war correspondent in Korea and a sports columnist before five years as editor of The Melbourne Sun. He was later editor-in-chief of both The Herald & Weekly Times and the Queensland Press Groups, and is contributing editor of Time Australia.
He has won many awards, including a Walkley special commendation, three U.N. Media Prize gold citations and a CMG for distinguished service to journalism. For his campaigning in the field of road safety the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons honoured him with it's Graeme Grove Award.
Harry Gordon has had a long association with The Hawthorn Football Club, and is a club patron."
Says Ronald Barassi in the foreword of THW:
"To describe Harry Gordon as a Hawk fan is an understatement. As many have discovered, his love and admiration of the Brown & Gold knows no bounds.
Yet, even allowing for his deep love of the club, it is his training and experience as a successful journalist, editor and author that comes to the fore in this book. He has skilfully blended accounts of Hawthorn's very beginnings with an incisive insight into the reasons why the Glenferrie mob went from easybeats to one of the great clubs of Australian sport.....
......Hawthorn's highs and lows are faithfully described, as is the occasional administrative squabble. Harry has worked hard to take this history well past the usual fact, figures and names standard. He has woven into the yarn, a glimpse of what makes Hawthorn tick.
To the outsider, Hawthorn's story is one of intrigue. They have successfully managed to maintain the old fashioned footy club principles and styles, attributes that are to be admired when you consider the new values of modern day society.
As happens, the successful methods of a champion or champion club are copied. So it has been with Hawthorn. For the sake of our great game I can only hope many more take heed."