DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER
TRANSITION FROM 2021 TO 2022
MONDAY, DECEMBER 27
So many people have commented to me about the passing of rugby league great, Johnny Gleeson, some via email, others in person. Academic, Paul Travis, a graduate of Toowoomba’s Harristown High, recalls being critically ill in hospital in Toowoomba, as a youngster. The Gleeson family owned the corner store nearby, and John came to the hospital to sell stuff to patients. Every day for two months, he stopped to talk to Paul, who didn’t know John was famous, and John never told him about his achievements, playing rugby league for Queensland and Australia. Paul helped at Clifton-Allora Wattles Rugby League Club many years later, and John was the fitness trainer. Former television commentator, Jason Costigan recalls Gleeson coaching prominent forward, Will Cordwell at Gympie.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28
Australia claims the cricket Ashes from England, with debutant pace bowler, Scott Boland claiming 6/7. The victory comes far too easily, with England’s batsmen surrendering without a fight. Someone commented that England had effectively beaten the Wuhan Street Market for the worst use of a bat. When I hear the surname, Boland, I automatically think of rugby league prop, Bobby Boland, who played for Balmain and Penrith in the 1960s, as well as former Sydney Wests’ skipper, Warren Boland, who went on to become a prominent TV and Radio commentator.
At Stafford Tavern, a couple of Brisbane Brothers’ stalwarts, Peter Skerman and Graham ‘Bruno’ Brennan are unaware of the passing of Johnny Gleeson. They would have known, if ‘The Courier-Mail’ had run something.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29
Chinchilla’s Commercial Hotel, in a tribute to Johnny Gleeson, refer to him as a former Wallaby. I’ve no doubt he would have walked into any Wallaby side, but he was a Kangaroo.
My wife, Marie and I have a pleasant lunch at Gemelli’s in James Street, with my sister, Gay Lynch and her husband, David.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30
Old Parliament House’s front doors have been torched by Indigenous activists. I never thought I would see anything like that, in Australia. My wife and I visited Old Parliament House back in 2013, and it was a wonderful experience. I especially liked the media area, seeing where the political journalists worked. On the day our daughter, Melanie, was born – August 8, 1979 – ‘The Courier-Mail’ carried a story about “a group of aborigines” setting up a camp on Capitol Hill, and calling it the ‘National Aboriginal Government’. The group said they planned to stay put, until several demands on land rights were met by the Federal Government.
QRL Media staffer, Colleen Edwards says the NRL has shared my post on Johnny Gleeson, and there has been a lot of engagement on Facebook, with many people sharing their memories.
Learn of the passing of former New Zealand Rugby League Test prop, Bill Noonan. Noonan was a man who always gave his all, and played nearly 200 first grade games in Sydney – for Canterbury-Bankstown and Newtown – in the period 1970 to 1980. A product of the Linwood club in Christchurch, Noonan toured Australia with the 1967 Kiwis, and made his Test debut off the bench in the Second Test at Brisbane’s Lang Park, a match I attended with my father, Jon. Noonan played only two more Tests – against the Kangaroos in New Zealand in 1969 – but would have played many more, except for the ridiculous laws of the time which prevented Australian based Kiwis from representing their country.
Watch an episode of Border Force before retiring. I should know better. The show nearly always leaves me in a foul mood because of the light penalties imposed on people who bring all sorts of weird food and plants into this country. They usually just cop a small fine, when, in reality, they should be jailed or deported.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31
The fellow entrusted with the ‘Welcome to Country’ at the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks, criticises the fact the Harbour Bridge was built without consultation with Indigenous people. A sign of what is to come with ‘The Voice’, perhaps. Jimmy Barnes steals the show, in the ABC’s televised concert.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 1 2022
Former Great Britain rugby league centre, Jamie Jones Buchanan receives an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours. It is Wigan Rugby League Club’s 150th year. Wigan started as a rugby union club before becoming a foundation member of the Northern Union, in 1895. The first time I saw Wigan play live was in the 1977-78 season, when they lost to Widnes at Naughton Park, Widnes. Their coach that season was former Test lock, Vince Karalius, a Widnes local. Widnes were coached by another home town lad, Frank Myler.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 2
Colonial beer is on sale at Junction Oval, as the St Kilda venue hosts its first Big Bash cricket game. Won’t be long before the brewery has to change its name.
Former Australian rugby league winger, Blake Ferguson has been arrested in Japan, for alleged possession of cocaine. Ferguson is playing rugby union in the land of the rising son. Catalan Dragons will probably pick him up, now that his union contract is to be torn up.
There is an obit. about an ex-Boston Celtics basketballer, but still nothing in ‘The Courier-Mail’ about Johnny Gleeson’s passing. I should have phoned the Sports Department, but I thought they would have picked it up, seeing as the stories are on the QRL and NRL websites. If it was some bloke from Shepparton who had played 10 AFL games, it would have been in the paper.
Two girls sing ‘Circle of Life’ as they wander up the footpath, dividing our town house estate at Grange.
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“prevented Australian based Kiwis from representing their country”
You have to understand the Kiwis near hatred of all things Australia, Steve. I have four NZ brother in-laws and a now departed father in law. My first ever Xmas gift 40 years ago was All Black soap on a rope. It never stops.