“As Joe Strummer once famously said, ‘This is a public service announcement with guitars’. The Community Cup is a public service announcement with footy.” – Jason ‘Evo’ Evans, Espy Rockdogs and Community Cup Founder since 1993.
It’s back bigger and better than ever. The Community Cup is on again this year on Sunday 27th June and it’s shaping up to be the best ever. For those of you not across the whole concept, the Community Cup brings together the RRR/PBS Megahertz and the Espt Rockdogs for a day of rock n’ roll footy. The RRR/PBS Megahertz team is comprised of announcers and staff of the great Melbourne community radio stations with as many ring-ins as they can get away with, while the Espy Rockdogs feature musicians and staff who have played and worked at the Espy.
What do musicians and Aussie Rules footy have in common you may wonder? Well you only have to read the sports pages of the Herald Sun to see that AFL players are quite partial to sex, drugs, boozing and getting in trouble with the law. In fact on the whole Melbourne’s musicians are quite boring and law abiding in comparison.
This year the highlight of the Melbourne music community’s year will feature new blood and some old faces on the ground. There have been changes in the Megahertz with 2009 co-captain Jonnie Von Goes (JVG Radio Method RRR) taking up the role of Chairman of Selectors, while fellow skipper Mohair Slim (Blue Juice PBS) has stood down.
This year the Megahertz will have female co-captains with Maddy Mac (Homebrew PBS) and Jacinta Parsons (Dynamite RRR) bossing around the boys and selecting amongst the girls with new recruits including Kulja Coulson (The Grapevine RRR), Ruby Koomen (Garageland PBS) and Bron Burton (Radio Marinara RRR).
Neil Rogers (The Australian Mood RRR) retains the coaching mantle and has more new blood to work with welcoming include Simon Knott (The Architects RRR), Campbell McNolty (Bop Gun PBS) and Ben Birchall (Breakfasters RRR) into the side.
Over at The Espy Rockdogs’ camp the lineup information is scant but in exciting news it it’s been announced that Australian rock ‘n roll royalty, Chrissie Amphlett (The Divinyls), will be a first-time patron for the Espy Rockdogs. Tracee ‘The Siren’ Hutchison keeps the captaincy in another sign that the girls are taking over a once male preserve, and making his Community Cup debut will be blues powerhouse Dan Sultan after Tim Rogers’ departure from the role. He’ll be helped out bythe Assistant Coaches’ bench, featuring former Bad Seed Mick Harvey, and Puppetry of the Penis’ David ‘Friendy’ Friend, along with Rockdogs legend The Ox (retired due to injury). A handful of veterans will be putting on the liniment to play for the Espy Rockdogs in 2010 with Monique Brumby, Tim Rogers, Kram, Wally Kempton, and Ross Knight all back on the field.
While the game may not bear a huge resemblance to a match at the MCG, with dodgy umpiring and on field misbehaviour abounding, it’s waaaay more fun than a match at the ‘G, attracting a crowd of up to 15,000 a year.
What’s more, the warm up and half time entertainment is a almost as good as Angry Anderson on the back of a Batmobile, with this year’s line-up featuring The Living End, Nick Barker & The Reptiles, The Blackeyed Susans, Little Freddie & The Pops and in news just in, hot local band Money For Rope who won the Syn FM Free Kick competition to get a spot on the bill.
The match also raises much needed money for charity partner Reclink, which is an organisation that uses sport and the arts to improve the lives of the most isolated and disadvantaged in the – those experiencing mental illness, disability, homelessness, substance abuse, addictions, and social and economic hardship.
Tone Deaf will be down there sinking a few tinnies and abusing the umpires – we’ll see you at the bar!
Photo by Tim Chmielewski
