Robert Murphy - getting into a Fitzroy state of mind (even if he plays for Footescray!)
“Robert Murphy’s column appears every Thursday during the football season” reads the tagline at the bottom of each article collaborated on by the Bulldogs half-forward flanker and some underpaid sub editor at The Age. Why though, you may ask, does such scholarly commentary appear only during the football season? Murphy, to judge by his interest in the arts, surely has much more to offer the casual left-leaning footy fan. Sam Lane knows it and soon, you will too.
The alt-rock, Fitzroy residing, politicised poster boy for Fairfax in Melbourne seems to write on most things other than football. He is not alone for that matter. High profile journalists such as Mark ‘Robbo’ Robinson, Craig ‘Hutchy’ Hutchison and to a lesser extent Caroline ‘Caro’ Wilson, rarely see fit to extend their human interest stories and Chinese whispers coverage to what happens on the ground; Murphy can now officially join that illustrious company not to mention abbreviate part of his name in the manner befitting a resident media tool.
Prose stylist that he is, Murphy or “Murph” opens his weekly column today with this erudite statement: “Ethics and morals are just a couple of things that separate us humans from wild animals.” A shithouse taste in music might be another.
Of late, the frizzy-topped Bulldog who calls himself the fifth member of Foreigner has been hampered both by injuries and a weekly wage as a journalist. Despite the intensive training demands now required of a professional athlete and his love affair raising a pair of Rhodesian Ridgeback pups he has called, Chomski and Arkley, Murphy still finds the time to write about rock, rockin’ and scotch on the rocks. Quite often he combines all three while listening to Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union although only Rogers, a keen Kangaroos fan, might comprehend how such an ungainly synthesis can be achieved. The You Am I front man does, for that matter, hang out with Tex Perkins.
Murphy, who makes an effort to meet up with old mate Nathan Brown at Pellegrini’s on Bourke Street to discuss the finer points of Brit Pop on a weekly basis, often inspires the Richmond forward, also hampered by injuries and opinions, to design retrograde t-shirts – with a message.
Of the five t-shirts now available on the Brown Mark label (which began official trading on the ASX last Tuesday), two designs have had Murphy’s direct input: “Tiananmen Square ’89; We Were in Ibiza” and “Save the Whale”, the latter, a Brown Mark publicist confirmed, is not, however, a wryly humorous reference to Brian “Whale” Roberts.
Murphy, whose heroes include Michael Moore and Will Anderson, is said to have never heard of Brent Crosswell nor read anything the retired footballer may have written. A spokesman for The Age verified this adding that, “Robert reads [sic] writers defined more by contemporary idealism.” The list was long and included local literary giants such as Tony Wilson and Christos Tsiolkas.
In 2005 Murphy gestured to the crowd after celebrating a goal with a “No War” sign. That same year Michael Gardner, playing as a ruckmen for West Coast, gestured in similar fashion while celebrating a goal, allegedly, to a notorious methamphetamines manufacturer in Western Australia. After a media storm resulted, Gardiner was made to apologise and dually disciplined by his then club. He has since been traded to St. Kilda. Murphy meanwhile continues to write for The Age.
The alt-rock, Fitzroy residing, politicised poster boy for Fairfax in Melbourne seems to write on most things other than football. He is not alone for that matter. High profile journalists such as Mark ‘Robbo’ Robinson, Craig ‘Hutchy’ Hutchison and to a lesser extent Caroline ‘Caro’ Wilson, rarely see fit to extend their human interest stories and Chinese whispers coverage to what happens on the ground; Murphy can now officially join that illustrious company not to mention abbreviate part of his name in the manner befitting a resident media tool.
Prose stylist that he is, Murphy or “Murph” opens his weekly column today with this erudite statement: “Ethics and morals are just a couple of things that separate us humans from wild animals.” A shithouse taste in music might be another.
Of late, the frizzy-topped Bulldog who calls himself the fifth member of Foreigner has been hampered both by injuries and a weekly wage as a journalist. Despite the intensive training demands now required of a professional athlete and his love affair raising a pair of Rhodesian Ridgeback pups he has called, Chomski and Arkley, Murphy still finds the time to write about rock, rockin’ and scotch on the rocks. Quite often he combines all three while listening to Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union although only Rogers, a keen Kangaroos fan, might comprehend how such an ungainly synthesis can be achieved. The You Am I front man does, for that matter, hang out with Tex Perkins.
Murphy, who makes an effort to meet up with old mate Nathan Brown at Pellegrini’s on Bourke Street to discuss the finer points of Brit Pop on a weekly basis, often inspires the Richmond forward, also hampered by injuries and opinions, to design retrograde t-shirts – with a message.
Of the five t-shirts now available on the Brown Mark label (which began official trading on the ASX last Tuesday), two designs have had Murphy’s direct input: “Tiananmen Square ’89; We Were in Ibiza” and “Save the Whale”, the latter, a Brown Mark publicist confirmed, is not, however, a wryly humorous reference to Brian “Whale” Roberts.
Murphy, whose heroes include Michael Moore and Will Anderson, is said to have never heard of Brent Crosswell nor read anything the retired footballer may have written. A spokesman for The Age verified this adding that, “Robert reads [sic] writers defined more by contemporary idealism.” The list was long and included local literary giants such as Tony Wilson and Christos Tsiolkas.
In 2005 Murphy gestured to the crowd after celebrating a goal with a “No War” sign. That same year Michael Gardner, playing as a ruckmen for West Coast, gestured in similar fashion while celebrating a goal, allegedly, to a notorious methamphetamines manufacturer in Western Australia. After a media storm resulted, Gardiner was made to apologise and dually disciplined by his then club. He has since been traded to St. Kilda. Murphy meanwhile continues to write for The Age.
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