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:
The New York Lady Magpies hosted the first women’s tournament of the 2010 season at on May 8. Three teams competed in the Big Apple for the first hit out of the year: the New York Lady Magpies, the Toronto Central Lady Blues, and the Reds, a fusion team comprised of players from Atlanta, Baltimore, Minnesota, Arizona, Milwaukee, and Denver. The tournament was a great success with tough tackling and determination at the ball under the hot sun in Yonkers, NY.
In the first game of the day, the Lady Magpies faced the Reds fusion team. There was no home field advantage in this match however. The Lady Magpies played 2 players down against a Reds team comprised of mostly former US Freedom players. The skill and experience of the Reds showed on the scoreboard with the Reds racking up 10 goals in the 1st half.
BW Lady Eagles Judith Stein and Eileen Geoghegan dominated in the middle winning most of the footy despite Erin Polulach’s fierce job in the ruck. Lady Pie rookie Rebecca Gallogly proved to be a natural kicking 2 goals in her first game ever. Without Jane Moore at fullback, the Reds would’ve surely doubled their successes on goal. The Reds had to fight hard in the middle due to the constant determination at the ball of Andrea Casillas who seemed to be present wherever the footy was. With a squad comprised of half rookies and half vets, the Lady Pies walked away with their heads high despite the loss.
1st Half
NY 1.1.7
Reds 10.6.66
Final
NY. 2.1.13
Reds 16.13.109
Goalkickers: Rebecca Gallogly 2
Best NY: 1) Rebecca Gallogly 2) Jane Moore 3) Andrea Casillas
Injuries NY: Odette Smolicz (Fractured ribs)
In a more evenly matched game, the Lady Pies took on the visiting Lady Blues. With the addition of the McHale sisters, NY seemed to crumb the footy all over the field denying the Blues of much action in the 1st half. Erin Polulach’s stellar performance in the ruck for the Pies ensured that the black and white won most of the taps. However, the Blues possessed speed and agility in the middle often coming out of the center with the footy.
Jane Moore moved up the field to a more comfortable position at full forward and successfully scored 3 goals during the match. New York dominated the uprights with 7 goalkickers total. The Pies tiring in the second half opened up the doors for the Lady Blues to close the gap on the scoreboard and the Blues kept the pressure on the Lady Pies the entire 40 minutes. With ferocious tackling and struggles for the ball on the ground, these 2 squads battled it out until the end with the home team coming out on top for their second win in Lady Magpie history.
First Half
NY 6.4.40
Blues 2.1.13
Final
NY 10.8.68
Blues 3.4.22
NY Goalkickers: Jane Moore 3, Erin Polulach 2, Bec Pearce, Andrea Casillas, Monica Robbins, Rebecca McHale, Christina Licata
Best NY: 1) Siobhan McHale 2) Rachel Sweeney 3) Monica Robbins
In the last match of the day, the Reds defeated the Blues in game that seemed dominated by the experience of the veterans of US Women’s Footy. The Blues, down some women, enlisted the aid of Lady Magpies Jane Moore and Siobhan McHale on the field. NY’s McHale was voted best for the Blues picking the ball up and being the only goalkicker for the Canadian side.
In the Marquee matchup on super Saturday in Austin, the final match saw the Magpies take on in form Dallas. It was the clear from the opening bounce that Dallas was going to provide New York with some tough competition. Brennan won his first coin toss as captain and choose to kick with the breeze. However NY again got off to a slow start as Dallas controlled the opening 10 minutes of the game. They were able to capitalize on this with a crucial goal against the wind that had the Magpies reeling. Again the Pies fought back and Hawkins was on the end of some solid work up the field to kick truly. Mitchell and Oui dominated the dangerous Dallas forwards and that enabled the Magpies to mount multiple scoring attacks. However, the Pies couldn’t capitalize and were only up by 2 points at the half.Injuries: Flavel (Broken nose), Puvi (Finger)
