The league’s 2018 AGM at Clancy’s in City Beach on 1 December was a fine example of how a meeting of a sporting group should be run. The necessary decisions were made swiftly and with a minimum of fighting. Whenever fist-fights did break out, they were quickly taken outside to minimise disturbance to the venue.
A rousing cheer rang out when the scrutineer read out the result of the presidential election, confirming the rumour that President Buzz Lightbeer would serve a third term – a feat not previously achieved in the league.
OK, the rousing cheer was only from the other presidential nominee, Big Pineapple, who some said appeared to be relieved. In Buzz’s remarkably thorough president’s speech, which lasted an hour and 27 minutes, he paid tribute a great many things, including ham sandwiches, string, stamp collecting, William Nicholson’s earlier works and the music of Todd Rundgren. The meeting marked the end of his speech with applause and a short prayer, Digger exclaiming “Thank God!”
Although there had been talk of moving away from a teams-based competition and back to a contest between individuals, PresBuzz explained that not enough money had changed hands, so we would stay as teams in 2019, albeit in a somewhat shuffled form. A modified blender approach was adopted, the principles being that:
- new teams would be drawn from a hat;
- there would be one team of three and six teams of two;
- no player would be partnered with one with whom he had previously been partnered; and
- each new team’s name would reflect the names of its players.
When the dust settled, these were announced as the teams for 2019:
- Motherchucker and Reg (“Mother Reg”);
- Big Pineapple and Rawalpindi Express (“Pineapple Express”);
- SuperMario and Barney (“Superbarney”);
- Gonad, Digger and Buzz Lightbeer (“Go Dig Buzz”);
- Stormin’ Norman Hound Dog Taylor and Sir Justice Airwick WTF ROFL (“Storm Surge”);
- Cannonball and Brad (“Cannonbra”); and
- Banker and Stella (“Bank Tellers”).