Fuck. Yeah. (and a really dodgy photo)

Or,

Possibly the worst entry ever submitted here.

I had an FFV media pass back in 2009, due to helping Ian 'The Big Fella' Syson out with various streams of research during his stnt as writer in residence at the Federation. It was great fun as you'd expect, helping me get into several games for nothing including the 2009 grand final and Altona Magic - Green Gully 3-3 super classic, but I never saw myself pursuing a media pass beyond that year. After all, my eyes were so bad it was all I could do to remember to cheer on the blue team (in most cases), let alone write frequent match reports.

After a persistent eye infection I got new glasses late last year, which improved that situation a great deal, but not nearly enough to become a fully fledged match reporter. And even though I'd had offers of having a form signed by the club to get a media pass, I preferred, in an atypical bout of hubris/misplace morality to maintain my independence from outside entities and pay for my concession ticket, which I'm glad to do, partly because it's the right thing to do.

For some reason though during this off-season, I got it into my head that three years and over 1000 entries later (mostly by me, but also with nice contributions by Cliff and the Kiss of Death),that it might be worthwhile to very tentatively try and branch out and see if all this work was enough to merit a media pass. After overcoming my customary trepidation, doubt and self-loathing long enough to submit an application, it turns out that yes, good things sometimes come to those willing to commit to the task of spilling somewhat disturbingly soothing bile across the interwebs.

Thanks to Mia Hayes from the FFV for answering my questions, such as this absolute pearler - should I bother applying?. It's either a great and timely acknowledgment of the increasing relevance of the blogosphere, or obviously undeserved reward for three solid years of writing crap, but whatever the case, it's time to once more cop greasy looks from the guys at the Altona East ticket stand when I get in for free, possibly vote in the media's player of the year award, the Bill Fleming Medal, and hell, maybe even attend a press conference or two this time around.