While the Hyundai A-League churned out surprise after surprise during its six months – Queensland getting a goal at home, Damian Mori becoming the first octogenarian scorer in the A-League, Perth’s ingenious post-match promotion for the release of Rocky Balboa – guessing the recipients of the end of season awards can be an easier job than being Britney Spears hairstylist.
Last night was the official A-League Awards at a very swanky venue in Sydney Opera House. The big names were out in force, and it was good to see the fellas all scrubbed up and smelling of CKOne. Even the FourFourTwo crowd was done up, with special mention to Aidan Ormond, who looked dapper in his open collared suit, if a little too much like the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Anyway, as anyone who can make the effort to find this page will already know the results of the awards, here are just a few of my random observations from the night.
Best comment overheard
One colleague, who after returning from shaking the dew from his lilly, said, “I just brushed past Alessandro on the stairs and he went down like a sack of spuds. I didn’t bloody touch him!”
The Melbourne Boys
Obviously still a bit “fuzzy” from all the celebrations, they fidgeted and shifted throughout most of the 45 minute performance. The aforementioned Alessandro was particularly chatty during the ceremony, expressing his “love” for Nick Carle when the Newcastle midfielder won the Goal of the Season Award.
Ernie Merrick, comedy genius
Things didn’t look good as the Melbourne coach stepped up to collect a much deserved Coach of the Year. Platitudes and clichés were delivered in his inimitable deadpan tone but all of a sudden he transformed into the footballing equivalent of Jerry Seinfeld. Prompted by Simon Hill to comment on why some coaches are more animated on the sideline than others, Merrick quipped, “I’ve been working on my goal celebrations. My first one is like this…” suddenly looking deadpan at the audience, “…and my other one, which is a variation on the first, is like this…” cue exactly the same look as the first. It was the one true funny moment of the night. On ya, Ern!
Best story heard
On an away trip to Sydney that included a Saturday night stay, one player – known for his reluctance to part with money under any circumstances – forgot to bring any “going out” clothes along. He proceeded to buy an entire outfit (shoes, jeans and a t-shirt) for $60 in central Sydney. Not sure if I was more amazed by his extreme tightness or that he could find all that stuff in central Sydney for so little. This guy needs to go on Oprah’s Debt Diet show and offer some advice…
Strange Award
No one was more shocked than Perth’s Jamie Harnwell, who went on stage picking up the Fair Play Award for his team, and was also given a framed picture for what was announced as “scoring a hat trick”. He looked, as most of the audience did, a bit perplexed at getting an award for doing something he’s paid to do. If that’s the case, where was Craig Foster’s for talking shite for the last year?
Lauryn Eagle
Quite what the relevance of having a former World Water Skiing champ helping Simon Hill present the awards was lost on me. Not that I’m complaining. She was a lovely adornment to the stage, although Frank Lowy seemed equally as enamoured as me with the young beauty. Might have to challenge him to an arm-wrestle…
Stage Fright
The stage placement for ceremony was on a kind of raised plinth, making the already imposing Simon Hill look like a white, spiky-haired Shaquille O’Neal. A few things crossed my mind with this peculiar placement. a) Was Lauryn Eagle warned of this beforehand, prompting her to wear a longer gown and if so, the FFA should fire the person who alerted her; b) It felt like two old Muppets - Statler and Waldorf – should’ve been there, heckling the passing events from on high. Someone at the FFA missed a comedy opportunity by not hiring Kossie and Les for that one; and c) How cool would it have been if Nick Carle had stage dived after winning the Johnny Warren Media and was body surfed up to the free bar by a collection of his peers?
And in a perfect segue, make sure you pick up the April edition of Australian FourFourTwo (on sale Wednesday March 7) which not only has a free 36 page A-League 06/07 Review Magazine but also features our very own FourFourTwo End of Season Awards.
Last night was the official A-League Awards at a very swanky venue in Sydney Opera House. The big names were out in force, and it was good to see the fellas all scrubbed up and smelling of CKOne. Even the FourFourTwo crowd was done up, with special mention to Aidan Ormond, who looked dapper in his open collared suit, if a little too much like the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Anyway, as anyone who can make the effort to find this page will already know the results of the awards, here are just a few of my random observations from the night.
Best comment overheard
One colleague, who after returning from shaking the dew from his lilly, said, “I just brushed past Alessandro on the stairs and he went down like a sack of spuds. I didn’t bloody touch him!”
The Melbourne Boys
Obviously still a bit “fuzzy” from all the celebrations, they fidgeted and shifted throughout most of the 45 minute performance. The aforementioned Alessandro was particularly chatty during the ceremony, expressing his “love” for Nick Carle when the Newcastle midfielder won the Goal of the Season Award.
Ernie Merrick, comedy genius
Things didn’t look good as the Melbourne coach stepped up to collect a much deserved Coach of the Year. Platitudes and clichés were delivered in his inimitable deadpan tone but all of a sudden he transformed into the footballing equivalent of Jerry Seinfeld. Prompted by Simon Hill to comment on why some coaches are more animated on the sideline than others, Merrick quipped, “I’ve been working on my goal celebrations. My first one is like this…” suddenly looking deadpan at the audience, “…and my other one, which is a variation on the first, is like this…” cue exactly the same look as the first. It was the one true funny moment of the night. On ya, Ern!
Best story heard
On an away trip to Sydney that included a Saturday night stay, one player – known for his reluctance to part with money under any circumstances – forgot to bring any “going out” clothes along. He proceeded to buy an entire outfit (shoes, jeans and a t-shirt) for $60 in central Sydney. Not sure if I was more amazed by his extreme tightness or that he could find all that stuff in central Sydney for so little. This guy needs to go on Oprah’s Debt Diet show and offer some advice…
Strange Award
No one was more shocked than Perth’s Jamie Harnwell, who went on stage picking up the Fair Play Award for his team, and was also given a framed picture for what was announced as “scoring a hat trick”. He looked, as most of the audience did, a bit perplexed at getting an award for doing something he’s paid to do. If that’s the case, where was Craig Foster’s for talking shite for the last year?
Lauryn Eagle
Quite what the relevance of having a former World Water Skiing champ helping Simon Hill present the awards was lost on me. Not that I’m complaining. She was a lovely adornment to the stage, although Frank Lowy seemed equally as enamoured as me with the young beauty. Might have to challenge him to an arm-wrestle…
Stage Fright
The stage placement for ceremony was on a kind of raised plinth, making the already imposing Simon Hill look like a white, spiky-haired Shaquille O’Neal. A few things crossed my mind with this peculiar placement. a) Was Lauryn Eagle warned of this beforehand, prompting her to wear a longer gown and if so, the FFA should fire the person who alerted her; b) It felt like two old Muppets - Statler and Waldorf – should’ve been there, heckling the passing events from on high. Someone at the FFA missed a comedy opportunity by not hiring Kossie and Les for that one; and c) How cool would it have been if Nick Carle had stage dived after winning the Johnny Warren Media and was body surfed up to the free bar by a collection of his peers?
And in a perfect segue, make sure you pick up the April edition of Australian FourFourTwo (on sale Wednesday March 7) which not only has a free 36 page A-League 06/07 Review Magazine but also features our very own FourFourTwo End of Season Awards.
