I don’t have a hobbie. I collected stamps for a while as a kid, spent a small fortune on basketball cards as well, but none of these dalliances really took.
What I’d really love to do is to learn the craft of making salami. Salami has a power over me.
It’s seductive aroma and taste has a grip on me, and I couldn’t free myself from its grasp even if I wanted to.
One day I will take the time to sit at the feet and learn from one of the best. I know the person who could teach me these ancient Italian traditions. Frank Dimasi.
One of the things I miss about playing football now is the smell of salami being fried in the kitchen at the kennel.
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Frank Dimasi has been a trainer for the Western Bulldogs for as long as I can remember. The secrets and techniques of salami making have been handed down to Frank through his parents and their parents and so on and so forth.
To me, he is a master. In the dead of winter most years, the delicious smells would waft down the corridors of the football club and the involuntary response to go in search of its whereabouts - a bit like little kids when the chimes off Mr Whippy bounce around suburban neighbourhoods.
With a gentle smile on his face, Frank hands out small slices of fried, homemade salami and seems to draw as much enjoyment as those devouring another slice.
Last week, Frank was on the field for his 300th game as a trainer for the Western Bulldogs.
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Through all of the changes in the game and the various upheavals our club has endured these past 20 years, our trainers have been a constant.
There’s been a few join, and a few move on, but there’s been a core of these volunteers that represent the very best of our club. They have so much soul.
I love Frank. He loves our club and has cared for each player with thought and heart. Whenever I was hurt on the footy field, it always seemed to be Frank who was first there to pick me up.
On a milestone as significant as 300 games, we should pick him up and hoist him atop our collective shoulders. He could raise two sticks of salami into the sky, triumphant.
