Why Gas is so flash . . .
Rory Hilton
richmondfc.com.au
11:34:51 AM Thu 27 February, 2003
In the latest of his fascinating insights into the Punt Road playing list, Rory Hilton tells us what makes his talented Tiger teammate Darren Gaspar tick . . .
Since crossing from the Sydney Swans to the Tigers in 1996, Darren Gaspar has established himself as one of the best defenders in the competition. This is a fact that everyone who supports the Tigers and, indeed, every football follower is well aware of. The things that people don't know about the mysterious Darren Gaspar will be revealed in the next few paragraphs.
Darren is a hard person to get to know and an even harder person to write an article about. This is why I have had to use my investigative skills to dig deep into the profile of Darren Gaspar. Unfortunately, I am unable to disclose exactly who my sources for this information are, but I can tell you they are absolutely rock solid.
When Darren left Perth and moved to Sydney to realise his dream of playing AFL, he made a choice to concentrate on football. You see, not many people would be aware of the fact that Darren is an extremely talented sportsman. As a young kid growing up in sunny Perth, Darren tried his hand at a lot of different sports. By his own admission, Darren could have been representing Australia in the Davis Cup, currently in South Africa at the World Cup playing cricket for Australia, or even competing against the likes of Tiger Woods and Ernie Ells on the golf course!
Darren's love of tennis continues today, even though his boyhood hero is no longer playing on the circuit. This hero of Darren's I am talking about, is none other than that great Australian stalwart Richard Fromberg. The infatuation with Fromberg helps explain a few things about 'Gas'. One of these is Darren's curly hair. When Gas was born, he had dead straight hair, but when he witnessed his first match of tennis 'Frommy' was playing. In the end Frommy won and Gas wanted to be just like him, so he annoyed his mother that much she had no choice but to take him to the hairdresser to get his hair permed. Gas also models his game on Fromberg's serve-volley game. He comes up to the net and punishes anything that comes his way. Look out Lleyton . . .
Next came Darren's love affair with cricket and one of Australia's truly great medium-pace bowlers, Terry Alderman. Gas is a huge Alderman fan and this is evident by looking at the way he bowls. He has copied Alderman's bowling action perfectly and can be seen, on occasions, emulating it inside the change-rooms at Punt Road.
It would be remiss of me not to mention Darren's last competitive match of cricket. This wasn't all that long ago, in a match at Punt Road between a Victorian 11 and a World 11 of Richmond Footballers (I have to call it a World 11 because of David Rodan!). The Victorians were sent in to bat and I don't mind saying that the wicket was doing plenty. In a truly magnificent spell of bowling, Brad Ottens collected 4/11 off two overs. The wicket was doing that much, I think even 'Richo' got a wicket bowling his right-arm 'pies'. Then there was a change in the bowling attack, and Gas finally got his chance to bowl. Before the match Gas was pumping up his tyres, saying that he was going to run through the Victorians like a two-dollar curry. In fact, however, this could not have been further from the truth! At the end of his spell his figures read 0/42 off just the two overs. He was the only weak link in the World 11 that went on and surprised everyone, including themselves, and beat the Victorians.
I've heard that Gas also is a competent golfer. He told me that if he had a handicap, it would be in single figures. Now, I have a locker next to Gas and have often sat around listening to his stories about how good he is at this and that, so I have to say I was sceptical right from the outset when he started talking about his prowess out on the golf course. He told me how when he left Perth he had just won a major junior golf tournament with players from all over the world. I found out where the supposed tournament was played and actually called the organiser just to double check. This wasn't due to the fact that I didn't believe Gas, it was just because I am extremely thorough and like to report only the truth when I am writing for the Club's official website. To my total surprise, I found out that there was a Darren Gaspar at the tournament, but he didn't play, let alone win the thing! Gas was actually an employee at the tournament. Being such a big tournament, the Golf club couldn't cater for all the golfers and, due to the heat in Perth, they needed to set up extra Porta-loo toilets. It was so hot that the players were drinking a lot of fluid to keep hydrated and found themselves going to the toilet more often. I won't say exactly what Darren was required to do, but I will tell you that hygiene was very important for this particular golf course.
Anyway, we at Tigerland, are very privileged to have such a brilliant all-round sportsman and good bloke in Gas. Lucky he signed a five-year contract at the end of 2001, or he might have left us to take up some other sport . . .
Rory Hilton
richmondfc.com.au
11:34:51 AM Thu 27 February, 2003
In the latest of his fascinating insights into the Punt Road playing list, Rory Hilton tells us what makes his talented Tiger teammate Darren Gaspar tick . . .
Since crossing from the Sydney Swans to the Tigers in 1996, Darren Gaspar has established himself as one of the best defenders in the competition. This is a fact that everyone who supports the Tigers and, indeed, every football follower is well aware of. The things that people don't know about the mysterious Darren Gaspar will be revealed in the next few paragraphs.
Darren is a hard person to get to know and an even harder person to write an article about. This is why I have had to use my investigative skills to dig deep into the profile of Darren Gaspar. Unfortunately, I am unable to disclose exactly who my sources for this information are, but I can tell you they are absolutely rock solid.
When Darren left Perth and moved to Sydney to realise his dream of playing AFL, he made a choice to concentrate on football. You see, not many people would be aware of the fact that Darren is an extremely talented sportsman. As a young kid growing up in sunny Perth, Darren tried his hand at a lot of different sports. By his own admission, Darren could have been representing Australia in the Davis Cup, currently in South Africa at the World Cup playing cricket for Australia, or even competing against the likes of Tiger Woods and Ernie Ells on the golf course!
Darren's love of tennis continues today, even though his boyhood hero is no longer playing on the circuit. This hero of Darren's I am talking about, is none other than that great Australian stalwart Richard Fromberg. The infatuation with Fromberg helps explain a few things about 'Gas'. One of these is Darren's curly hair. When Gas was born, he had dead straight hair, but when he witnessed his first match of tennis 'Frommy' was playing. In the end Frommy won and Gas wanted to be just like him, so he annoyed his mother that much she had no choice but to take him to the hairdresser to get his hair permed. Gas also models his game on Fromberg's serve-volley game. He comes up to the net and punishes anything that comes his way. Look out Lleyton . . .
Next came Darren's love affair with cricket and one of Australia's truly great medium-pace bowlers, Terry Alderman. Gas is a huge Alderman fan and this is evident by looking at the way he bowls. He has copied Alderman's bowling action perfectly and can be seen, on occasions, emulating it inside the change-rooms at Punt Road.
It would be remiss of me not to mention Darren's last competitive match of cricket. This wasn't all that long ago, in a match at Punt Road between a Victorian 11 and a World 11 of Richmond Footballers (I have to call it a World 11 because of David Rodan!). The Victorians were sent in to bat and I don't mind saying that the wicket was doing plenty. In a truly magnificent spell of bowling, Brad Ottens collected 4/11 off two overs. The wicket was doing that much, I think even 'Richo' got a wicket bowling his right-arm 'pies'. Then there was a change in the bowling attack, and Gas finally got his chance to bowl. Before the match Gas was pumping up his tyres, saying that he was going to run through the Victorians like a two-dollar curry. In fact, however, this could not have been further from the truth! At the end of his spell his figures read 0/42 off just the two overs. He was the only weak link in the World 11 that went on and surprised everyone, including themselves, and beat the Victorians.
I've heard that Gas also is a competent golfer. He told me that if he had a handicap, it would be in single figures. Now, I have a locker next to Gas and have often sat around listening to his stories about how good he is at this and that, so I have to say I was sceptical right from the outset when he started talking about his prowess out on the golf course. He told me how when he left Perth he had just won a major junior golf tournament with players from all over the world. I found out where the supposed tournament was played and actually called the organiser just to double check. This wasn't due to the fact that I didn't believe Gas, it was just because I am extremely thorough and like to report only the truth when I am writing for the Club's official website. To my total surprise, I found out that there was a Darren Gaspar at the tournament, but he didn't play, let alone win the thing! Gas was actually an employee at the tournament. Being such a big tournament, the Golf club couldn't cater for all the golfers and, due to the heat in Perth, they needed to set up extra Porta-loo toilets. It was so hot that the players were drinking a lot of fluid to keep hydrated and found themselves going to the toilet more often. I won't say exactly what Darren was required to do, but I will tell you that hygiene was very important for this particular golf course.
Anyway, we at Tigerland, are very privileged to have such a brilliant all-round sportsman and good bloke in Gas. Lucky he signed a five-year contract at the end of 2001, or he might have left us to take up some other sport . . .
