Amid all the frenzy and excitement over the Matildas campaign, Tasmania’s “Mr Football”, Walter Pless, found himself distracted by events off the pitch.
On the eve of the Matilda’s game against France, Walter had been counting down the hours by reporting on a lesser game, the Glenorchy Knights versus Riverside Olympic at KGV Park in Glenorchy.
Forget the 3-0 victory for the Knights, Walter was recording the antics of two peregrine falcons on one of the floodlight towers.
One of the peregrines had prey in its talons – possibly a pigeon – and was busy tearing it apart for a mid-afternoon snack as the game progressed on the field beneath it. All the while the second peregrine looked on – and so did a kelp gull which arrived at an adjoining tower, no doubt looking for scraps to fall to the ground.
With one eye still on the game, Walter managed to swing his camera in the direction of the falcons, and later sent me a shot, although it’s a little distant to reproduce in the column.
Over the years, Walter has been my eyes and ears when it comes to birds of prey he spots on the soccer grounds around Hobart. And I can thank Walter for my best sighting of a peregrine falcon, after he emailed one day to say he had seen a fine male bird hunting starlings over the Tasman Bridge. I dashed to the bridge immediately to spot the bird on a parapet.
Walter has been involved with Tamanian soccer for more than 40 years, as player, coach and then promoter of the local game through a website he runs, providing match reports and photographs of games throughout the season. He was dubbed “Mr Football” in the Tasmanian Parliament last year, when one of the MPs, David O’Bryne, noted on the floor that Walter had been inducted into Football Australia’s Hall of Fame.
Traditionally, birds have long had an association with the various codes of football through the nicknames carried by many clubs. However, when Walter and I have spoken of the Magpies, the Hawks or the Eagles, we have not been referring to Collingwood, Hawthorn or West Coat in the AFL. A mad soccer fan myself, we’re more likely to be talking of Newcastle United (who play in black and white stripes) or Crystal Place, with an eagle motif.
Along with Eagles and Hawks, there are also Falcons in some sports but I have never come across a team called the Peregrines. The bird warrants recognition, as the fastest creature on earth that can swoop at speeds of up to 300 k/hr.
The fierce debate over the site of a new stadium for Tasmania’s emerging AFL side seems to have obscured discussion over the name of the new team. If there’s a poll, I’ll vote for the Peregrines.