Time is flying bye....AGAIN

Hi All, 2012 is definitely with us and moving along at a steady rate of knots. I have just seen the date of my last blog and was gob smacked at the time frame  in between. So many things have happened, (goodthings), (badthings) and some, (notsogoodthings)and (notsobadthings).

Firstly, the Perth Glory...now that's a (goodthing), 8 games without a loss, (goodthing), sadly our boy Lewis Italiano has been keeping the bench warm all this season, (notsogood), apart from the occasional game with the Perth Glory Youth,(notsobad). I hear today he is going back to the youth team, (notsobad), as the contracted 2nd keeper, Neil Young, is back fit and raring to go, (goodthing for Neil), (notsogood for Lewis).But it means Lewis will get game time and be seen wearing WarbyGK Gloves in a game, not just in warm up. (goodthing). All over the country. (goodthing)

Nick Munro, Hyundai A-League keeper for Adelaide Utd, has joined the ranks of the WarbyGK Sponsored Keepers Australia Stable, (goodthing). Nick has taken a shine to the Superior Patriots, (goodthing) and has been moved from the youth team to the bench for the 1st team, (goodthing).

 More (goodthings, badthings, notsobadthings and notsogoodthings)

Responceball, (goodthing), has hit the shores of WA, many thanks to Glenn Robertson and Responceball. (goodthing). So far we have 4 GK coaches using them, (goodthing). Jonathon Gould, Perth Glory GK Coach, (goodthing), Roy Hunter, PFT Academy in Victoria, (goodthing), Mark Askew, Top Flight GK Academy in Queensland (goodthing) and Neil Tate, SASI GK Coach in South Australia, (goodthing). Apart from that, we also have something for the Netball Community, (goodthing). Netball WA, (goodthing), has now picked up on the Responceball Netball, (notsobadthing). It will happen. watch this space.(notsobadthing).

Lastly, (goodthing). This weekend, Jetts World Sports Expo is happening at the the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.(notsobadthing). On show will be WarbyGK Gloves, (goodthing), Responseball, (goodthing) and SMINE Products complete range of work, sport, promotional clothing and items. (greatthing)...opps sorry, forgot that one. :)

For those who want to see or hear the (badthings) and (notsogoodthings)...maybe next time. 

I never kiss and tell... 

Till next time..keep your sheets clean :). (its keeper talk)

P.S.  Kerri Gilbert, (goodthing), SMINE Products lady in the Territory, is back on deck...she needed a break, a long break, (notsogoodthing). So for all your work clothing and promotional needs in the Northern Territory, IT'S SMINE,via Kerri, (goodthing)...nah (greatthing). Thanks Kerri, your blood is worth bottling (greatthing)

Usher in the New Year 2012

Hi All, firstly Happy New Year to you all and may 2012 bring you Health, Wealth and Happiness. I know I am looking for all three this year. Especially the Wealth. What with two teenage birthdays and Xmas all within 4 weeks of each other, both the wallet and bank account have taken a hammering as per usual this time of the year. Business has been quiet lately and that needs to seriously looked at to make it happen again. But there are some big things in the pipeline that will hopefully kick start a huge resergence for SMINE Products in 2012. So fingers crossed

The Health, yes a bit more of that to. The first part is to loose 10kg's in the next 30 days. Firstly give up the booze for the next month, get back into walking and sort out some pre seaon training with a local club. Yes, the boots and the gloves are coming back on again this year. Why not, I may be 51, but thats doesn't mean I have to give it all away. The body has its moments, but its still sound, well, as sound as a 51 yo body can be I suppose :) Only time will tell, pre season will let me one way or the other. The head says yes, so does the heart, so two outta three aint bad. Will be changing clubs though. Have a local one just down the road, so closer to home, down a division, so less expectations from others. But will still be competitive, which is alway an important factor.

Happiness, well, we all want that dont we. But its the level of happiness that is the $65000 question. Ok, my level of happiness, starts with the above happening. Health and Weath. Love? I hear you ask. Well for those of you who dont know, I am single, so I guess Love is the most obvious question. I have the love of my children. That was shown to me over the Christmas period when they were all staying with me. That for me was very fulfilling, especially when as teenagers, they are wanting to go off and do their own things with their freinds. Mine wanted to spend the whole week with me. So there is a show of love, which made my year, not to mention made me very happy. Yes there is another happiness I would like to acheive, but I dont know you well enough to share that. Well not yet anyway, maybe one day.

May the year be great for all of you, remember if at any stage, you require any promotional items or clothing for either your work place or sporting club/team. If you want it... IT'S SMINE 

Till next time. 

Thursday, 7 days to go

  Hi everyone, why the heading as it is it? Well for the answer to that is that there is 7 days to go and my eldest child turns the magical 18. I remember when I turned 18, haha just. I walked into my local pub armed with my drivers licence, birth certificate and passport. Just in case I was stopped and asked for ID. Problem was, I had been gong there since I was 16 and most of the staff, including management already knew that I had been going in there underage. So I never had to produce it. Bugga..

Anyway my boy is having a nice quiet BBQ around my place with select friends. Yes, he has put in out on FB, but being the good media user that he is, he has made it a private invite only and instructions to all his mates that it is by invite only. Not come one, come all. Again its amazing how the times change, where respect for people and other people property has gone out the door. You see the news stories about, what starts out as a private party, 18th or 21st, next thing you know its a full blow rave with 300 people that require the police, in numbers, to sort out. Worse thing is, the kids who cause the problem in the first don't care, they think its fun!!!!! Ah well, Karma can be a bitch at times. :)

Troy aged 4 hehehehe

Anyway, enough of that...SMINE Products news. New page on the website with pictures of some of the goalkeepers here in Australia and Indonesia wearing WarbyGK gloves. I have added some footnotes as well (only cause I can ). The word has gone out to all the boys who I deal with directly to send me pics of themselves either in action or just posing with their kit on. So by the start of the new year we will have quite a rogues gallery on the page. The photos are not in any order, so don't think some are more important than others. I treat them all with the same respect, as they are all keepers and all wear WarbyGK Gloves.  We keepers, are a special breed of footballer. A little bit out there, love attention, great choosers of clothing, (some not so good),good organisational skills (some better than others), but above all, we are all slightly mad.  For instance, you wont see an outfield player diving at someone's feet with arms extended, head perilously close to the ball, which in the blink of an eye could look like a football to the other player, so he takes a swing at it, nor would you see an outfield player diving to the left or right, knowing that there is a post , which if you get it wrong it, is going to hurt severely if you hit it. These are just two things amongst a load of others that makes keepers a breed of their own... I rest my case. Keepers are SPECIAL.

He not so short and cute looking now and I mean Troy, not me.

SMINE Products in the middle of Australia is going well. Kerri Gilbert, our girl up there, has been banging on doors and coming back with the orders. Clothing, promotional items, you name it. Kerri is off to spend Christmas with her family at the beginning of next week and she informs me that she will be knocking on doors over there as well. Got to love that. I thought I was the only one who took my work with me. Thanks for the all the hard work Kerri. Have a safe trip and I look forward to catching up early next year.

Kerri Gilbert, second from the left and the team from the Breast Cancer Awareness Golf Day in Alice Springs

Ok almost time to go out and get some real work done. But before I go, just to let everyone know that ARMANDO SPORTS in O'Connor in WA is now retailing the WarbyGK gloves. If your with a club or an actual football club that's wants to buy the gloves for your keepers. Go see Armando, he is offering his usual club discount with every purchase.

Have a great week and weekend everyone, catch up on all the gossip and let you know what's happening next week.

:)

Ho Ho Ho

Hi all, back again after a long absence, not been a good month or two for SMINE Products, but you get that in business, as most of you would know and appreciate.

Christmas is almost here, which means joy and good will to most and I will leave it at that. (I am not a Christmas person at all). Good news is, I will have all my three wonderful children with me from the 22nd Dec to the 30th Dec. 

I think I mentioned last time about my eldest daughter turning 16 last month. Well on the 22nd of this month, my eldest, Troy, turns the magical 18. Well it was magical for us, way way back, at the time, not to sure about this generation. Ha ha. He and I have decided that we will have a small quiet BBQ at my place, special invite only from him. Which means no social media announcements. Personal invite only, which I applaud him for, immensely. I can handle 20 or 30 people...not 300, who, if you watch TV, have seen it on a social media site and decide to gate crash. Again, a sign of the times. Privacy, respect for others peoples lives and social gatherings, are a thing of the past to the current youth. There is a party at so and so's house, let go there and who cares if they didn't invite us. We will invite ourselves and get out of order if they dont want us there. Yeah...well I will get down off my soap box.

Last week, for all the right reasons, I was in Jakarta again, visiting WarbyGK endorsee, Aleks Vrteski, who starts a new season in the IPL tomorrow, with his new club, Persija Jakarta. Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch any games with him playing, but we did go down to Bandung and watched another ex Perth Glory and WA footballer, Robbie Gasper and his team Persib Bandubg play. I was amazed. I seem to remember telling you all about the last time I was in Jakarta and watching the National Indonesian team play in a World Cup qualifier. 80000 people. All one eyed for the home team on a national scale. well this was a little bit smaller, only 35000 people, inside the stadium. We estimated another 15000 outside, who for some reason or another couldn't get into the ground. Imagine if you can, an oval stadium. At either end, with no cover, about 7000 supporters per end. Under cover, in the middle of the stadium, about another 3000. The left hand side, singing and waving either their hands or scarves from left to right. Now, at the opposite side of the stadium, the exact thing is happening, except they are going from right to left. In the middle they are singing they same song...but under cover. Twice as loud as the two sides, but moving back to front. Then, they all change and do the opposite to each other again. It was amazing and I can only say, that you have to see it to believe it. Then at one stage, the whole crowd in unison singing a particular song, they all have cigarette lighters in their hands and flick them on.  I spoke to Robbie Gasper afterwards and he was saying that even the players on the park nearly all stopped to watch it. Unbelievable. Then to top it off, there was the ride home, behind the team bus with a police escort.  I have never before in my life, seen such adoration and hero worship from the supporters towards the players in that bus. If you have ever been to Indonesia, you will know what I am talking about, when I mention the motor bike riders. They are everywhere. But imagine if you can about 150 bikes, with two or even three people on them, following the bus on the way from the ground back to the club headquarters. Now, we have a police escort and all the road ahead has been cleared for the bus and us. At times we are up to 80ks per hour and they are with us all the way...phone cameras going off everywhere. Like I said, I have never seen anything like it before. But the passion for the club, the players and more importantly, the football, is unbelievable.

Lastly, before I go, we did secure another WarbyGK glove wearer over in Indonesia. Yandri Pitoy. An Indonesian GK who players for Persib Bandung. That gives us two professional keepers in Indonesia now. One, Aleks Vrteski, in the IPL and Yandri in the ISL. The love for the glove is growing.

Speaking of which, I have been given information that a European National keeper is also after a glove deal for WarbyGK. Will keep you posted.

Sorry, no pictures at this stage, but will have some for the next blog.

Big shout out to Lewis Italiano, Perth Glory #2, almost got a run on the park against Wellington Phoenix on Saturday. Great TV coverage from FoxSports on him warming up, showing him wearing his WarbyGK gloves. It was also his 21st birthday that day. What a great birthday present for him if he got a run.

It will happen Lewis...

If you want it... IT"S SMINE

Old Boys do it better

Hi All, back again from what can only be described as a very interesting 10 days in sometimes sunny and sometimes, not so sunny Adelaide. Was almost like being in Melbourne, 4 seasons in one day and then some. But all whinging aside, it was cool and overcast at the right times, when we were playing football. Football, did I say football..hahaha yes I did, Had a few one on ones with some old diehards who still insist calling it soccer or wogball, when that happens I just shut up and usually walk away. Usually. A couple of times though, I dug my heels in, and recounted the origins of the game,but most times it wont get you anywhere except angry and frustrated, you only get yourself all worked up over nothing except peoples ignorance about the WORLD GAME. Originally called Association Football. Will leave it at that. :-)

Yes 10 days in Adelaide, 6 of them playing football in the Australian Masters. Total of 8 games all up, including two in one day. (We are tough), it was supposed to be three, but the second game we were supposed to play, the other team forfeited, only to come out 4 hours later and still have to play us. Go figure. Didn't matter, we still beat them. :-)

Anyway we played all of our games, lost 1 and won 7 including the play off for the gold medal. We scored 14 goals and conceded 4 and had 3 clean sheets. So all in all a great campaign. Also taking into account that all the boys in the squad are all over 55 (gks, the exception) and we played in a 50+ competition. I can honestly say without peeing in any bodies pocket, these boys are some of the best footballers I have had the pleasure of playing with. In their younger days they would have outshone in all the competitions they played in. Both as individuals and on the same team I thank them from the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to play in the same squad as them. Canberra Old Boys. I thank you. PS, they asked me if I wanted to go to the Gold Coast next year for the Pan Pac games followed by Turin, in Italy in 2014 for the next World Masters. Thank you boys. That's a yes to both. 

Canberra Old Boys in Adelaide.

I mentioned before I went away, that there is some movement over in Indonesia with the WarbyGK Gloves. Firstly we still have Aleks Vrteski wearing them over there and now in the next couple of months we are about to sign the Indonesian #2 keeper to the brand. He has worn them and finds them exactly what he wants in a great glove. So there will be huge demand for them in Indo very very soon. You have to go there to understand how fanatical they really are about their teams and players.

Lewis Italiano, our number 1 keeper here in WA, had his first call up for the Perth Glory 1st team over the weekend. Well down Lewis, well deserved. So WarbyGK gloves were on display at AAMI Stadium last night. Glory won the game 2-1. Lewis pictured below.

Tom Dixon, who we featured last blog, has just been signed for Bayswater for the 2012 season, which is not all that far away. Congratulation to you Tom. WarbyGK Gloves in the State Premier League with another new keeper for another season. 

Above: Tom Dixon.

On last mention before I go, Aleks Vrteski is back in Perth for a short stay, he is playing in the Ethnic World Cup, currently being played in Perth. He is playing for Macadonia. I have also been asked to play for the same country, but at the vets level. hahaha After the past week, the body still needs to recover, but, as it is widely quoted, a week in football is a long time..

Enjoy.... :)