Category: Freedom

The Family Club – Joy And Care

Yesterday Box Hill Hawks VFLW player Gabby Collingwood positioned herself perfectly goalside of a pack to capitalise on her teammates’ fantastic inside work and kick a great goal.

The word freedom contains two syllables. The first syllable “free” points to joy spontaneity and creativity. The second syllable the suffix “-dom” means a state or condition. Being in a state or condition requires stability.

So the word freedom incorporates the idea of discipline.

Gabby and her Hawk teammates symbolize both.

Geoff Fox, July 7, 2025, Melbourne, Australia

On this day 80 years ago my father was involved in the last major battle of World War Two, the second Battle Of Balikpapan, in which 229 Australians died.

Lest We Forget: Freedom matters. Freedom works.

GAME ON – UNDERSTANDING AUSTRALIA

In Alice Springs in 1989, an Englishwoman seeing Australian Rules Football for the first time on television said to me, “There are no rules.”

I said to her “You cannot understand Australia without understanding this game.”

But I couldn’t explain why.

I still can’t.

It’s something to do with freedom.

Geoff Fox, 7th April, 2025, Footscray, Australia

A Good Day For Freedom

l started barracking for Collingwood in 1967.

In December 2023, I met Angus Brayshaw and his profound human decency was overwhelmingly obvious. Also I got a sad sense that he wasn’t quite functioning at full capacity.

After much soul searching and agonising over the following 6 months, on King’s Birthday 2024, I found myself barracking against Collingwood for the first time in my life and for Melbourne. So recently I have seen a few Melbourne games.

I love the theme song and it’s American origins. The caring people I have met at Melbourne leave entrenched systemic Collingwood bullying for dead.

Gus was the start of that but Trac and Gawny are also profoundly decent people.

My other favourite Melbourne players are in AFLw: Tay, Banno and Fitzy. To my photographer’s eyes there is no better sight in footy now than Fitzy on the fly.

The club of John Wren, Duncan Wright, Stan Magro, Brayden Maynard and Darcy Moore got what was coming to it today in 2025’s Opening Round against Greater Western Sydney. Score doubled. Too slow. Too old. And far too much recent blatant physical and psychological violence on and off the field for me to support them.

Go Dees.

Goodbye Pies.

Football free of systemic bullying and violence is the only footy I want to support.

Geoff Fox, March 9, 2025, Melbourne, Australia.