Zeno Tzatzaris?

SonOfScray

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One of my earliest Footscray memories involves the great man at a family day. They played a game where all the kids were given a name tag and had to ask the payers questions to try and discover if they had the corressponding name. My tag was 'LAMB" and Zeno was the other LAMB.

Solid backman if I remember correctly and played some footy at Parkside after finishing up at the Dogs.
 

Piano Player

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A loyal servant of the club was Zeno Tsatzaris. Always gave 100%. Correct me if I am wrong here but his debut was against Geelong at Arctic Park on round 2 of 1984. This was the game that we kicked 9 goals and Beasley booted 8 of them(Royal the other one in the last quarter)

Often endured ridicule from commentators because his name was uncommon(both given and surname) The Greco- Roman thing was still in its infancy.

Lots of time for Zeno Tsatzaris
 

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Originally posted by Piano Player
A loyal servant of the club was Zeno Tsatzaris. Always gave 100%. Correct me if I am wrong here but his debut was against Geelong at Arctic Park on round 2 of 1984. This was the game that we kicked 9 goals and Beasley booted 8 of them(Royal the other one in the last quarter)




It was arctic that day. I think the Royal goal came from a Pieman handball?




Zeno was one of our cursed #19s. Local boy from Parkside(?) in the WRFL. As PP said always gave 100%.
 

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...and BOY can he drink !!!!
 

Piano Player

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My brother swears he saw him at this B&S Ball up at Kyabram in 1994 sinking a few. He used to hit some of the local pubs and he was well recognised especially with his big earring."Hey isn't that Zeno Tsatzaris? was a common question.
How many people have the letter Z in both their given and surnames?
 

Westy_Boy

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http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/05/14/1084289883766.html




Tzatzaris's theory
By Tony Hardy
Ask A Full-Back
May 15, 2004


runner.jpg

Ex-Bulldog full-back Zeno Tzatzaris
claims George Bush ran over the mark.





'The United States of America is like Carlton in the 1980s," Zeno Tzatzaris mused. "They're the arrogant rule breakers. George Bush is like John Elliott."

Although he once suffered a fractured skull playing against Geelong, I wanted to pick Zeno's brain about the war in Iraq. Instead, I pictured John Elliott riding a tank into Baghdad. His glass of red is spilling over one hand while under his helmet, he sings "We are the Navy Blues" to petrified Iraqis who are wondering, 'Is this freedom?'.

Tzatzaris is like a friendly, bald brick wall. He played 34 games for Footscray from 1984 until 1990, kicking exactly zero goals. He's also a multiple Brownlow Medal vote winner and the back pocket in the Parkside Team of the Century.

Importantly, as a full-back, he's had time to think.

"The only reason I kept playing was so I could go on the footy trips. My first one was to L.A. in 1985. Just after our Qantas flight took off from Nadi in Fiji, Robert Groenewegen snuck onto the PA and announced, 'Attention passengers, would everyone assume crash positions'.

"By the time we landed in Hawaii, we were threatened with deportation. Some blokes stole all the wheelchairs and the people who needed them were stuck on the plane."

The subject of terrorism on international flights dealt with, the conversation turned to fighting in Iraq. I looked at Zeno, who is a personal trainer, and realised he is a bloke who could not only outmark Iraqis but beat them in arm-to-arm combat.

"I was only ever reported twice, though," he argued. "I got one week for attempting to strike John Platten."

Attempting to?

"I missed.

"The second time was in 1988, when I tossed someone over my shoulder. At the tribunal, the umpires described it as a judo throw."

A full-back spends his life in a goal square, which is the same shape as a prayer mat. So I asked Zeno what he thought of middle-eastern religion, vis-a-vis the influence of the Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

He sat back and told me he played on the game's best and most famous Christian, Gary Ablett. It was at Waverley Park and he held Ablett to just three goals.

"At the start of the match, Ablett came up and said, 'You're gone, you %#@!' That's not very Christian-like, I thought. But after the game, he sought me out to ask if I was OK. It was like he had two personalities."

I looked puzzled. So Zeno clarified.

"I'm against the war. We should never have invaded. I was in Europe early this year. It was interesting to see how anti-war they are, too. Although compared to the Americans, the Athenians are very surly."

And so, just like that, as seen from the goal square of life, we have the solution to the Iraq conflict: we shouldn't have gone in the first place. If we didn't go, there'd be no problem. In other words, if they can't get the footy, they can't pass it to the full-forward. John Elliott wouldn't be torturing Iraqi prisoners with his singing, and life, for all of us, would be simple.
 

SCRAY72

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Originally posted by SonOfScray
One of my earliest Footscray memories involves the great man at a family day. They played a game where all the kids were given a name tag and had to ask the payers questions to try and discover if they had the corressponding name. My tag was 'LAMB" and Zeno was the other LAMB.

Solid backman if I remember correctly and played some footy at Parkside after finishing up at the Dogs.

Played a lot of footy at Parkside. Played his junior footy there and after he left the Dogs, his knees were gone, played seniors there and made the Parkside Team of the Century.
Mickey Malthouse like him a lot because he was one of those close checking negative dour backmen.
I remember when he did his knee the first at Kardinia Park the first I felt sorry for him because he had worked so hard to get to the seniors after coming through the Under 19's.
 

SCRAY72

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Originally posted by Piano Player
My brother swears he saw him at this B&S Ball up at Kyabram in 1994 sinking a few. He used to hit some of the local pubs and he was well recognised especially with his big earring."Hey isn't that Zeno Tsatzaris? was a common question.
How many people have the letter Z in both their given and surnames?

Yes he attended the Kamikazi ball regularly.
 
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