Latest news with #FirstXI
NZ Herald
17-07-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Gisborne Boys' High out of Eastern Premiership, won't play last three games
By one measure, the strategy worked. In the Super 8 competition at Rotorua last month, Gisborne Boys' High had two wins from five games to finish sixth overall – their best finish since 2017. They beat Rotorua Boys' High 3-2 and, in post-pool play, beat Napier Boys' High School 3-0 – their first win against Napier in the Super 8 era. But the writing was on the wall when Piper rang Itman. The five defaults came in a span of seven fixtures. Piper said the teams scheduled to play Boys' High from now till the end of the season would be credited with 3-0 wins. This weekend's scheduled game between Boys' High and Maycenvale has already been listed on the Central Football website as a win for the Hawke's Bay side. 'Gisborne Boys' High entered with good intentions,' Piper said. 'The difficulty we have is that at the premiership level it is an aspirational league. 'When I spoke to Sebastian it was about ensuring the players still had somewhere to play, but I think we also have to consider all the clubs in the premiership and that is why this move was taken. 'They have 20 players across two squads. We had to consider both the integrity of the premiership and the need for the remaining [Boys' High] players to have somewhere to play.' Itman said three players had transferred to Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United and four to Electrinet Thistle just before the transfer deadline at the end of June. United and Thistle sit fifth and sixth respectively in the Hawke's Bay-dominated premiership. The prospect of a third Gisborne team in the league – and the reduced travel burden as a result – was a factor in United's decision to re-enter the competition that used to be known as the Pacific Premiership. Itman said the remaining First XI players would join those from the school's reserve team in the Tairāwhiti Men's Championship. A run of injuries to key First XI players had meant that replacements were drawn from the reserves, who in turn relied on prefects, hockey players and 'whoever was keen to turn up to help' to keep the team playing. 'Now I have a new First XI playing in the Tairāwhiti Men's Championship, the top local division,' Itman said. He and assistant coach Darren Larkins had taken over the reins from Garrett Blair, whose job had made it difficult for him to attend practice, and they were looking forward to the continued development of the side. Boys' High will compete in the Trident secondary school tournament in Wellington in the last week of August and will use local league games to build combinations. They play Thistle Athletic Bobcats at the Boys' High back field at 12.30pm on Saturday. In the Eastern Premiership, Thistle play Western Rangers on Childers Road Reserve No 1 at 12.30pm, and Gisborne United play Napier Marist on the Bond Field at Park Island, Napier, at 3pm. Rangers and Marist lie eighth and ninth respectively.
Herald Sun
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
SECA: Kingston Hawthorn all-rounder joins Chelsea Heights-Aspendale Gardens
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport . Followed categories will be added to My News. What a boost for Chelsea Heights-Aspendale Gardens. CHAG have signed Kingston Hawthorn all-rounder Udara Weragala. The 27-year-old played 19 First XI matches at the Hawks in the past three seasons after joining them from Donvale in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Associaton. He has a highest score of 61 in Victorian Premier Cricket. 'Udara brings first XI Premier Cricket experience to go with his aggressive, hard hitting style of batting along with his ability to bowl off spin,'' CHAG said. 'Having faced many of the best bowlers in Premier Cricket Udara will add class and exuberance to our top order batting along with wicket taking off spin to our strong bowling line up.'' Weragala's signing continues a productive off-season for Chelsea Heights-Aspendale Gardens, which has also regained paceman Ethan Capp after a stint at Le Page Park and Mornington Peninsula association top order batsman Nathan Keon. Meanwhile, East Sandringham has announced its First XI leadership team, with club stalwart Matt Harris appointed captain. He replaces Ben Pryor who has stepped aside to concentrate more on his batting. 'Matt has been a fantastic servant of our club since his junior days, developing into a premier batsman in Longmuir Shield starring in premiership teams and featuring in SECA teams of the year,'' East Sandringham said of Harris. Jordan Hesline will be East Sandy's vice-captain. 'In his early seasons at the club, 'Sauce' has shown that he has a fantastic cricket brain as well as exceptional leg-spin qualities,'' the club said. Brighton Union's push for finals in Longmuir Shield has been boosted by a the addition of English all-rounder Seth Pickering, who hails from Yeadon Yeadon Cricket Club.
The Age
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
This is fine: An existential guide to Australian politics
Albert Camus would have been a lousy goalkeeper. Think about it. The French-Algerian standing between the posts, his head in the clouds. Reports say the writer excelled for Algiers Racing Uni's First XI, but I have my doubts. Imagine relying on Albert as your last line of defence, the bloke spouting stuff like, 'The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone'. Or: 'An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself'. Wake up, Albie! The ball is coming! Tuberculosis intervened, sadly, the goalie trading gloves for philosophy, plus those olive-green novels – The Stranger, The Fall – that ask the big questions. Each title has been a staple of high school and Existentialism 101. Not that Camus used the term. Indeed he rejected the e-word, preferring instead to forge fables around the incomprehensibility of existence. As that's the central plank, that irksome query about why we're here, and what we should do about it. 'Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is,' as Camus said. Which makes you wonder what we're meant to be. Precisely the conundrum heard in Canberra this month. Is it any wonder? How can a power bloc of two parties implode into a rabble, losing seats like musical chairs, going from Coalition to Noalition? Cartoonist Cathy Wilcox depicted a bisected couch, one parent per half, both insisting 'Mummy and Daddy still love you very much'. Question being, are Mama Ley and Papa Littleproud going through a break-up, or merely a break? Either way, whether this new reunion lasts, the existentialism burns deep, fanned by those pesky Camus questions. 'I can't go on, I'll go on,' as Samuel Beckett said, a handy left-hand opener for Trinity College, and another writer besotted by existentialism. Macquarie Dictionary defines the ideology as 'a group of doctrines – some theistic, some atheistic – deriving from Kierkegaard, which stress the importance of existence, and of the freedom and responsibility of the finite mind.' Existential first emerged about 1693 as an adjective for existence. A century on, Soren Kierkegaard co-opted the ism to refute the divine logic that Georg Hegel fancied, where the rational is actual, and vice versa. Lort, thought Soren: Danish for bullshit. In his milestone work Either/Or, the philosopher writes, 'There are two possible situations – one can either do this or do that. My honest opinion, and my friendly advice is this: do it, or do not do it. You will regret both.' Loading Remind you of anyone – federally, I mean? Hence the e-word's rise. Existential now applies to politics, the arts, deconstruction cuisine, eco-anxiety, and anywhere you look. Last year Flinders University revealed how doomscrolling – surfing online between Gaza and La Nina – breeds existentialism. Reza Shebahang, the study's lead, claimed the custom has 'dire consequences on our mental health, leaving us feeling stress, anxiety, despair and questioning the meaning of life'. Smart machines and AI inroads only deepen the abyss. Pushed to existential extremes, we feel like adjuncts to this thing called life. Avatars. Daydreamers in the goalmouth. Or characters living life forwards so that we might understand what we're doing in hindsight, to paraphrase Kierkegaard. If it's any comfort to party leaders, doomscrollers and general AI alarmists, remember that 'the key to being happy isn't a search for meaning. It's to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you'll be dead'. Camus? Beckett? Try Mr Peanutbutter, the easygoing labrador from BoJack Horseman.
Sydney Morning Herald
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
This is fine: An existential guide to Australian politics
Albert Camus would have been a lousy goalkeeper. Think about it. The French-Algerian standing between the posts, his head in the clouds. Reports say the writer excelled for Algiers Racing Uni's First XI, but I have my doubts. Imagine relying on Albert as your last line of defence, the bloke spouting stuff like, 'The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone'. Or: 'An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself'. Wake up, Albie! The ball is coming! Tuberculosis intervened, sadly, the goalie trading gloves for philosophy, plus those olive-green novels – The Stranger, The Fall – that ask the big questions. Each title has been a staple of high school and Existentialism 101. Not that Camus used the term. Indeed he rejected the e-word, preferring instead to forge fables around the incomprehensibility of existence. As that's the central plank, that irksome query about why we're here, and what we should do about it. 'Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is,' as Camus said. Which makes you wonder what we're meant to be. Precisely the conundrum heard in Canberra this month. Is it any wonder? How can a power bloc of two parties implode into a rabble, losing seats like musical chairs, going from Coalition to Noalition? Cartoonist Cathy Wilcox depicted a bisected couch, one parent per half, both insisting 'Mummy and Daddy still love you very much'. Question being, are Mama Ley and Papa Littleproud going through a break-up, or merely a break? Either way, whether this new reunion lasts, the existentialism burns deep, fanned by those pesky Camus questions. 'I can't go on, I'll go on,' as Samuel Beckett said, a handy left-hand opener for Trinity College, and another writer besotted by existentialism. Macquarie Dictionary defines the ideology as 'a group of doctrines – some theistic, some atheistic – deriving from Kierkegaard, which stress the importance of existence, and of the freedom and responsibility of the finite mind.' Existential first emerged about 1693 as an adjective for existence. A century on, Soren Kierkegaard co-opted the ism to refute the divine logic that Georg Hegel fancied, where the rational is actual, and vice versa. Lort, thought Soren: Danish for bullshit. In his milestone work Either/Or, the philosopher writes, 'There are two possible situations – one can either do this or do that. My honest opinion, and my friendly advice is this: do it, or do not do it. You will regret both.' Loading Remind you of anyone – federally, I mean? Hence the e-word's rise. Existential now applies to politics, the arts, deconstruction cuisine, eco-anxiety, and anywhere you look. Last year Flinders University revealed how doomscrolling – surfing online between Gaza and La Nina – breeds existentialism. Reza Shebahang, the study's lead, claimed the custom has 'dire consequences on our mental health, leaving us feeling stress, anxiety, despair and questioning the meaning of life'. Smart machines and AI inroads only deepen the abyss. Pushed to existential extremes, we feel like adjuncts to this thing called life. Avatars. Daydreamers in the goalmouth. Or characters living life forwards so that we might understand what we're doing in hindsight, to paraphrase Kierkegaard. If it's any comfort to party leaders, doomscrollers and general AI alarmists, remember that 'the key to being happy isn't a search for meaning. It's to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you'll be dead'. Camus? Beckett? Try Mr Peanutbutter, the easygoing labrador from BoJack Horseman.
