In the final game of the day the New York Magpies faced the Baltimore/Washington Eagles. Baltimore has had the wood on the Magpies in their last few meetings, so the Pies were keen to put in a good performance. This was clear from the outset as the Magpies, who have been starting slowly all season, attacked the ball and were up and about early. Neither team was able to wrestle ascendancy from the other and it was clear this was going to be a tight game and go down to the wire. Batty, Heffernan and Mitchell were again good in the middle with Oui, Smith and Lin all providing extra run when they were rotated through the midfield.
Toby, Nick Walker and Brad Davis’ physical presence in the forward line was telling as they chased hard and put plenty of pressure on the BWE defenders. Keating and Mapo carried on their form from the first game and provided excellent targets to straighten up the Magpies. Squires, McCormick and Smiley (on his 32nd birthday) all made valuable contributions when called upon. The first half was highlighted by a tremendous individual play by Toby, who gathered the ball from 50, broke a few tackles and kicked truly from 35 metres. He ensured the Magpies went into half time with a small lead.
In the second half it was much of the same. Both teams were ferocious at the ball and New York was determined to keep up the intensity. Julian Mason was sent off after a bit of Argy Bargy, but it seemed that only steeled the group to push harder for a win.
The backline was on top with McMaster and Norman controlling the BWE talls and Tommy Thompson, back for his first game of the year, Squires, Lewis and Mantzaris all playing like warriors down back.
The Pies managed another goal in the second half with the pace of Murphy and the class of Hawkins proving vital. In a great all around team performance the Pies won by 3 goals. Captain for the day and in his last game for his beloved Magpies, James Hawkins was carried off to end the day on a high.
NY: 3.0.18
BWE: 0.3.3
Goalkickers: Keating, Tornay, Davis
Best: Batty, Georgiou, McMaster, Heffernan, Tornay, Smith
The Magpies ventured down to Philly on a hot Saturday for a tournament featuring NY, Philly, Baltimore / Washington, North Carolina and Florida. In the Magpies 1st game they played North Carolina. The Magpies had nearly a full complement of players to choose from and got off to a strong start. Buckingham was dominant in the ruck and Mitchell, Heffernan, plus Hawkins, who captained the club in his final outing for the Magpies, all gave the forwards plenty of supply. Magpie debutant Mapo made an impact with 2 goals in the first 2 minutes and along with Keating, who was back in the side, formed a potent forward line. Brad Davis moved forward and bobbed up with a strong mark and goal while Nick Walker relished the run up the ground.
In defense the experienced Lewis came into the side and McMaster, who had been playing forward, was pushed back, 2 key additions that bolstered the backline. Oui, Norman, Lin and Mantzaris stood firm repeatedly repelling NC’s forward attacks. After a few more goals to Hawkins, Keating and Toby, the Magpies were up by 45 points at the main change. The second half saw much of the same with the Magpies in control of the contest. The injection of the big diesel Batty and Mason in the second half ensured NY stayed focused and ran out comfortable winners. After the game coach Ormsby was reasonably happy with the teams performance, but was more pleased with the way the Magpies played, not the final score. He was also happy to be able to debut 5 new players without upsetting the team structure and game plan, saying, “The two new American boys, Hunter and Jamie, both showed a lot of promise in their first game of AFL. James and Bryant also played well in their first game for the Magpies, while Mapo gave us a great target up forward.”
NY: 12.8.80
NC: 2.0.12
Goalkickers NY: Mapleston 2, Tornay 2, Keating, Davis, Bulone, Dymock, Lawrence, Farrell, Georgiou, Mitchell
Best NY: Mapleston, Mitchell, Hawkins, Davis, Mason
When you visit Philadelphia there are a few non-negotiable must do’s. You ring the Liberty Bell, watch big Sav punt for the Eagles, eat a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and best of all, finish the day with the famous run up Rocky’s stairs in order to pay homage to the great boxer. You can forget that he is a fictional character. The people of Philly certainly have and so have I. You can do all that in a day and be back in New York by 8pm sharp.
I didn’t do any of those things. The Baltimore Eagles were lining up against the highly underrated NYC Magpies and I wanted to do my bit to help regain some Maggie pride in the Big Apple. Baltimore has been NY’s biggest rival in recent times. As much as the Pies wanted to keep things light hearted, they also wanted to put on a clinic in front of the locals and send Baltimore packing.
Your average New York Magpie is all class. (Not like Simon Black or Steve Johnson football classy, but more of a living in the West Village, well groomed, highly fashionable, media savvy, good with money kind of classy – like Aka.) They enjoy a Broadway show and they’re not afraid to talk about their feelings. Most importantly, they look after one another and really get into the spirit of footy in the US of A.
The season works in a fairly unconventional fashion with a mixture of carnival days and standard four-quarter matches. On carnival days a selection of teams will meet at a ground and play two shortened games with twenty-minute halves. The Ladies’ team also gets involved on these days, although on this and on most occasions they struggle for numbers and play a little hybrid game on a half sized field. On Saturday we were playing in a carnival where we were matched firstly against a very jovial and undermanned North Carolina outfit that were fittingly kitted out in Richmond colours, and of course our previously mentioned rival, Baltimore.
The day started early with a bus leaving at 8:30am from Madison Square Garden. The Pies and the Lady Pies tunnelled in from all directions and loaded onto the bus. After a couple of head counts and more than a few phone calls, our coach, Glenn ‘Brownlow’ Ormsby decided that “Frickin Smiles (Centre Half Back) can take the frickin train to Philly, if he can’t get here by nine o’clock.” So half an hour after the planned departure time we pulled out, minus Big Smiley, who was very stiff apparently as we found out later he got there at about two minutes past nine. He did catch the train and proved to be an inspiration down back. Not on the football field mind you, I didn’t really notice him out there, but definitely at the back of the bus where he hoarded and put to bed about 20 Buds on the way home. It was his Birthday and after the morning he’d had, the cans were well deserved. Evidently he was also trying to settle his nerves before his planned marriage proposal to his girlfriend.
Earlier in the day North Carolina was no match for the Pies. We pretty much did as we pleased on our way to a 45-point lead by half time. Big Joel Keating ran a muck in the forward fifty and the midfield ran some circle work in the guts like it was a Tuesday afternoon skills session before nonchalantly driving the pill deep into the attacking fifty. The North Carolina defence were a bunch of jocular characters, but were out gunned by the match hardened Pies. The score board was being regularly updated by a couple of strung out Lady Pies, one trying to work-out and communicate her six times tables, while the other madly flipped the cards.
The game ended with most of the starting line up lazing around under the trees like a congress of baboons. Our backline was trading stocks on i-Phones and the reserves had taken over the feast.
After that we had a stretch and turned our minds towards the hotdogs that were sizzling away next to the ground. During the break between games we had a bit of laugh, watched the girls play with passion and nous and supported the reserves in their game against the Baltimore Magoos. Three hours after the first game we finally took to the field for the premier match of the day against Baltimore. We were informed during the pre-game pump up that this was to be the last game for Hawk, a Veteran of at least two or three seasons with the Magpies. Just before the bounce Hawk looked around the huddle and asked us if the beers would taste better if we were winners or if we were losers. It wasn’t your regular pre game rhetoric and I think most us were just glad we would be drinking beer either way. The mumbled response from a couple of the boys confirmed ‘winners beer’ as the answer to the puzzling question.
Spurred on by Hawk’s powerful words the Magpies set to work dismantling the Baltimore line-up. Believe it or not, they actually employed a flood from the opening bounce. There were a couple of extras down back and Big Nick, one of our American forwards, asked me whom I was manning up on. I informed him that it wasn’t up to us to find a man when playing in the forward line. Satisfied with that he jogged up to the wing where he happened upon a stoppage, I assume by accident, and started having a real impact on the play.
The score was low and the match was fairly uneventful. Shane Batty was the dominant player on the field, playing inspired in front of his visiting parents. The backline repelled anything that came forward. Play of the day came in the form of a barnstorming, Marty Lang style hit up followed by a space junk floater that sailed through the big sticks. I believe the player responsible was a fella named Toby, he’s a rugby convert and as mad as a cut snake. We kept Baltimore goalless and kicked three of our own to come out on top. Revenge is sweet and the beers were delicious.
The next day, staying true to form, Smiley slept through the 10 o’clock reservation he had made at a fancy breakfast cafe for his romantic Sunday morning marriage proposal. Seriously fatigued and probably aware that this was as good a time as any, he apparently rolled over, grabbed the ring out of his sock drawer, and quoting Mark Knopfler he said, “ You and me babe, how bout it?”
–Mapo
The recent signing of Israel Folou by AFL expansion team Greater Western Sydney has been a major topic of discussion lately. Whilst most agree Folou is a gifted athlete opinions differ on whether his signing is just a marketing stunt and if he’ll struggle to make the transition to AFL, or whether he can make a big impact. Given the NY Magpies have many players who have not had much exposure to the game, Tim Watson and Andy Maher from SEN’s morning glory show decided to get coach Ormsby’s perspective on the issue. Click on the file to listen to the interview:
