Colin Duck, Ron Reed and Nick La Galle launch sportshounds.com.au
Journalists Colin Duck, Ron Reed, and owner of Protect My Photos Nick La Galle have launched sports commentary website, sportshounds.com.au.
The trio, who have more than 100 years of combined journalism experience, are offering news commentary around sports including AFL, cricket, cycling, rugby, tennis, racing, rowing, lacrosse, fishing and cooking, through opinion pieces and columns.
Editor Colin Duck – who was the former editor of The Sun and deputy editor of The Herald before the two merged – said the free contribution website would share its profits with all contributors if it managed to attract advertising and sponsorship.
Duck met Reed as a cadet at the Warrnambool Standard and worked with him at The Herald and Sun in Melbourne.
“Ron [Reed], who became one of Australia’s finest sportswriter, retired last year but has continued to write about sport on Facebook. A few months back Nick La Galle, an IT whiz who used to work at the Herald Sun, phoned him and suggested he should have a website,” said Duck.
“I joined the chorus, we had a few beers and Sportshounds was set in motion.”
Commenting on the launch, Reed wrote: “Welcome to sportshounds.com.au. Who are we – and what are we doing here?
“Well, if you’ve noticed at any time over the last few years that some of the best-known by-lines in the sports and general pages of the newspapers have been, like old soldiers, gradually fading away – and they have – the good news is that they have not disappeared altogether.
“Some are retired, some semi-retired and some freelancing. But they haven’t stopped writing, and nor have they lost their passion for sport. So we’ve rounded up quite a few of them to ensure that their vast knowledge, unrivalled contacts and love of story-telling has not been lost to the caper.
“We’re not here to challenge the big news-breaking organisations but we are here to have a lot of fun, to indulge in some nostalgia and a little gossip, to express strong opinions and to engage in lively debate and argument with readers, who are encouraged to join in the conversation and, perhaps, to try their hand at sportswriting themselves,” he said.
“This project is underpinned by genuine enthusiasm from the participants who can’t wait to resume where they left off in their mainstream careers.”
The website has more than 25 sportswriters, both retired and still working, including Scot Palmer, whose Palmer Punchlines ran for more than 25 years in the Sunday Press, Sunday Sun and Sunday Herald, columnist Lawrence Money, Mark Harding, Rod Nicholson, Peter Coster, Chris de Kretser, Geoff Harris, Brian Meldrum, Geoff Poulter, Terry Brown, Cheryl Critchley, Peter Krien, Bob Hart, Steve Cooper and cartoonist Jeff Hook, who designed the masthead.
W… what’s the deal with that cartoon?!
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URL is sportshounds.com.au not sportshound.com.au
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Hi ARK,
Thanks for flagging this.
We were linking through to the correct site, but had typed it incorrectly in that paragraph. I have amended now.
Apologies for the error,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Perhaps being picky however The Herald and The Sun where seperate publications.
NOT – The Herald and Sun,or be confused with the current Herald Sun published in Melbourne
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