As collingwoodfc.com.au turns twenty, we feature one of the supporter websites that has left its mark on the online landscape.

To the staunchest members of the Magpie Army, Hotrod's Extreme Black 'n White needs no introduction.

The site, which sprung to life just three years after collingwoodfc.com.au was launched, has become a Collingwood institution to the point where even the President himself has used it to keep the Magpie Army up to speed.

Hotrod, the man behind the magic, tells the story of the sites origins. Over to you, Hottie...

It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times.

It was the EXTREME BLACK 'n' WHITE times!



Twenty years is a long time in anyone's life, especially the internet. Comparing today's free wi-fi world choc full of tech savvy teenagers glued to their mobile phones is a far cry from the clunky old band aid world of dial up. It's a bit like comparing a  Lamborghini to an EK Holden with three on the tree, bench seats, and a solid metal dash to cushion the impact should the unthinkable happen.

As for the official Collingwood website, it was still at the panel beaters waiting on parts. It's hard to imagine now but the cfc.com really was an internet ghost town.

That, my craft beer sipping netflix downloading selfie taking brothers and sisters, is how we rolled back then.

On the field it was worse! 

The Pies had become a hideous cocktail of despair – three parts knackered and two parts broke. For those of us still clinging to the distant memory of 1990's glory, being slowly forced to accept this unwelcome truth, standing on the tear drenched terraces of Victoria Park's Rush Stand had become a chore. A weekly ritual of self inflicted pain and beer fuelled denial. People who watch the X Factor must know what I mean. There was no light at the end of the tunnel coz there was no freaking tunnel!!

It was 1998. 
The worst of times.

I kid you not. It felt like the world had passed the Collingwood Football Club by. It probably had if truth be told.

Standing in the gloom of yet another late afternoon loss, a young, dumb and full of comeuppance me, fists stuffed into my pockets like two steamed dim sims in a brown paper bag, hatched a plan. It was time to fight back!

We may be losing on the scoreboard but gosh darn good golly, surely we can win on this fancy new thing they called the internet! 

So I told my mates of this grand vision and, to be honest, they didn't give a tubby rodent's rocket launcher. But, like that proverbial scuba diver off the Werribee coast line that my readers came to know and love, I continued undeterred. I kinda had to. Not just for my sanity but for the love of the game.

The mainstream football media in those days was, how should I put it, simplistic to the point of patronising. In many ways it treated the reader as a fool, was totally reactionary and when dealing with the poorer performing clubs (aka Collingwood at the time) tended to just play up the misery. A bit like listening to KB on SEN these days I guess.

They gave you no insight as to who was knocking on the door of senior selection, who was on their way back from an injury and working through rehab, who could only walk laps, what new tactics were being trialled or any of that sorta stuff. Y'know, the sorta stuff that involved research.
The punters simply deserved better. It really was time for change.

I'd seen what Mike was doing on the fabulous Nick's Collingwood Page. In many ways he HAD created the 'official' Collingwood website with broad mass appeal. There was no point replicating that. What would be the point?

What was needed was an alternative 'official unofficial' website that catered to like minded Magpie nutters like me. A website with attitude I guess.

To do this it needed to be four things:

- first and foremost it had to be entertaining. The sort of website that I, myself, would want to visit regularly.
- secondly, it needed to be informative. Jokes are great but ultimately the main objective was to provide as much info as possible. Know your product.
- originality was also key. Copying other people's work is great when you are in high school or Oasis but not if you're trying to pioneer something special.
- and finally, and probably most importantly, it had to be REAL.

You can't bluff the trenches. It has to really be you. People aren't stupid. (Well, apart from Carlton supporters.) They can see through a fraud. It's what makes Johnny Lydon such an endearing character (to me anyway). If you want people to buy into your vision you have to be selling them the genuine product. So when Jason Cloke went the Big German WE ALL went the Big German with him.

Next on the to do list was a little bit of basic branding (being very careful not to use any official AFL or CFC trademarks of course). Hence the smoking skull with the Collingwood beanie. Having worked extensively as a freelance cartoonist for quite some time made this side of things easier than one of Lionel Ritchie's Sunday mornings.

It was 1999.
Still the worst of times.

EB'n'W hit the ground walking in that summer off season.
Vic Park, like any self respecting ex-Sharpie, still had the staggers on. Tony Shaw was still coach and there were more bits missing than 500 piece jigsaw puzzle at a garage sale. The Pies were on the way to our second wooden spoon. Of course, in January, hope springs eternal and we all dreamt of richer September rewards. Little did I know that I was about to become a footballing Anne Frank.

Nor did I foresee the impending bitter irony – the more established the internet became as a business tool the more access print media publications would have to cheaper overseas syndicated cartoons, the less work for me, therefore, the more time I had to go watch training!......and then report on it.

Sadly, I also failed to realise, because I only watched Collingwood train, just how far behind the other teams we had slipped in many of our training methods.

So there we were – a pretty basic alphalink website by today's standards using an even more basic voyforums.com forum banging out regular training reports and moderated solely by me initially. You have to remember, back in '99 there were virtually no free range trolls roaming about and you kinda could say and do what you liked without any fear of litigation. That said, I did rule with an iron fist. It really was my way or the Calder Freeway off ramp. I don't suffer fools lightly. I had a Collingwood membership for that job!

The '99 season finally kicked off and the first few Match Reports rolled off the assembly line clunkier than an old Camira's gearbox. Like Stevie Wonder in Madame Tussauds, I really was just feeling my way.

The philosophy behind them was simple:
In a world without Fox Footy if you hadn't seen the game the read should be detailed enough to give you a fair idea of what happened in amongst the lowbrow comedy and, if you had seen the game, it should be an entertaining recap. Oh yeah!......and it was 100% Collingwood biased! Written totally from a one-eyed Collingwood perspective.
Collingwood for Collingwood by Collingwood.

Being able to go to the game each week meant I'd never realised what such a valuable resource this would be to the Magpie folk around both Oz and the world. I was thinking locally but, it turned out, I was actually acting globally!
And for them it musta been like drinking milk straight from the cow (#nofilter).

To minimize troll trauma on the forum I never spruiked the website. I figured if you were keen enough and Collingwood enough you'd find it. Or, at the very least, somebody would tell you about it.

It was 2000.
The best of times.

With the ever expanding Match Reports and 'Preseason Sleazin' training updates now well and truly the glue which held the site together, and the humorous and intelligent debate/banter on the Bullet In Board forum proving to be it's oxygen it really was business as usual.

Malthouse was now at the Club and there was fresh hope.

On the forum the level of intelligent discussion, passion and quality of first hand information was so good that the site had begun attracting newspaper journalists and club insiders to it. I guess it was only a matter of time before Eddie started posting.

And then something amazing happened!

A fella by the name of Colin Wisbey showed up.

I cannot begin to describe what a game changer Wiz was.
It was like waking up one day and discovering somebody had parked a Ferrari in your driveway and [insert your favourite hot chick or guy here] was sitting in the passenger seat holding the car keys AND packet of Tim Tams. I kid you not, EB'n'W was a handy little rock 'n' roll band at the time. But when Colin showed up it was like Bon Scott had just joined AC/DC.

His draft reports would become known as the Wiz Biz. They were (and still are!) the best and most comprehensive in the history of the internet. Funnily enough, I've actually never met the guy but have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for him and will be eternally grateful for (a) his efforts and (b) the level of credibility he gave the rest of the ramshackle show!

Like a Mitch Johnson bouncer, things got very big very quickly from that point on.

It was 2001.
It was the EXTREME BLACK 'n WHITE times!

By this stage the Match Reports had evolved into these sort of rollicking out of control epic rodeoesque footballing operas. Daunting to write each week. The one saving grace being at least I never had to think of an ending. Cartoons, reworked song lyrics dividing the quarters, pop culture references smeared everywhere like a six year old with an open jar of Nutella, line ups, interchanges and smothered in more wisecracks than a Harvard toilet seat. Titus O'Rielly really does have the right idea – give them five paragraphs, four jokes, collect your pay cheque and go home!

It was around this time that my own fave – The Stunning Steve McKee Diaries sprang to life. Tragic. Comedic. And probably libellous. I'm not sure you could get away with something like that these days. Fortunately The Stunner and I never crossed paths coz I had basically accepted the fact he was gunna snot me one and, not that we condone violence, I did have it coming.

It was also around this time that Eddie started joining in the frivolity on the Bullet In Board forum. Word of mouth does what word of mouth is supposed to do and, BOOM!!, overnight the number of Extremists seemed to double. Extreme Black 'n' White was definitely no longer a covert operation. Now remember, this was in an age when internet access was limited mostly to when people got home after work. I'm not sure if I'd have been able to cope with the sheer volume in this smart phone world and all the trolls that live in it.

Player sponsorship was another thing that became in vogue for unofficial footy websites. Like beards on a hipster, it seemed everybody had to have one. To the best of my knowledge I'm pretty sure Nick's website was the first to go down this path. EB'n'W basically followed their lead but added sponsors t-shirts and caps to the mix. As far as fund raising goes it was a much better alternative to the boxes of Freddo Frogs my kids continually brought home from school!

Next thing you know, Eddie's on the phone and, long story short, I find myself writing jokes for The Footy Show. Hot Pies fanzine, to which I contribute, is also going gang busters now. It seemed one thing just kept leading to another and the weeks just flew by.

All that was missing was a premiership........

Looking back now I think my greatest achievement was to call it quits at the peak of my form. As a result a lot of people still hold a special place in their hearts for the madness and mayhem that was Extreme Black 'n' White.

When the former Extremist and now Collingwood Football Club media guru, Luke Mason, was buttering me up to write this piece he asked me what it felt like to have left such a legacy. As flattering as that is it really is for others to judge. I just feel like I gave something back to the Club I love, and had an amazing fun filled time doing it.

All these years later I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when somebody calls me 'Hottie'.

Visit The Extreme Black 'n White Bullet In Board now.