Steve Ricketts with Tony and Moira Currie at the Ross Livermore Lecture
MONDAY, APRIL 17
Former Australian Rugby League Chairman, Ken Arthurson tells FoxSports he was due to meet the Queen when news broke in England in 1994 that News Ltd were attempting a takeover the game. John Ribot was the front man for Super League – the rebel group – but ‘Arko’ says there is no lingering animosity between him and the former Test winger he signed for Manly-Warringah, even though Arko’ didn’t get to meet Her Majesty.
Former Wigan rugby league fullback, Chris Ashton scores three tries for Leicester against Exeter in a top level rugby union match in England. Now 36, he is set to retire at the end of the season. A dual international, he says he still follows Wigan and never misses a game on television. Kiwi star, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will return to rugby league from union next year. Former Australian league skipper, Gorden Tallis says we (rugby league) won the battle with union (here in Australia) a long time ago. Sadly, that is not the case in the UK.
TUESDAY, APRIL 18
On radio, Cameron Smith defends the hip drop, saying it has been around for years. Another Queensland legend, Wally Lewis phones me to apologise for his inability to attend this year’s Ross Livermore Memorial Lecture, as he will be in Darwin on Channel 9 duty.
Marie and I attend Trivia night here at Samford Grove, teaming up with Laura Staplyton and Ann Duncan. We won last time, but not on this occasion. There are some crazy questions, one about bees’ testicles exploding.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19
I am a guest on Radio SEN’s morning sports chat with Pat Welsh and Ian Healy, talking largely about the criteria for Immortal and Hall of Fame status in rugby league, given I have been a judge for some years.
THURSDAY, APRIL 20
The NRL’s Anzac Round begins with South Sydney playing premiers, Penrith at Homebush in front of a poor crowd of 19,548. The female Navy bugler plays the Last Post and Reveille magnificently. Referee, Gerard Sutton calls a knock-on when the ball went back so far it almost finished up in the 1950s. A lot of our referees automatically rule knock-on when the ball hits the deck. The English refs in the 1970s had the right idea – it had to be blatant, or it was play-on. Our blokes are paranoid. South Sydney’s Christchurch born Cook Islander, Davvy Moale looks a great prospect.
FRIDAY, APRIL 21
A sad day for sport in Queensland with RadioTAB’s last general sports show. It is being punted to be replaced by Sydney’s BigSports Breakfast. It means local sport will miss out, and we will have to put up with a Sydney/centric show with Laurie Daley and co. Love Loz., but local sport will suffer. Rugby Union expert, former Wallaby, Mark McBain gets emotional during his last appearance. I was on the show for 14 years, and a message I sent this morning is read out by host, Paul Sawtell. I mention that I went through something similar with the closure of Brisbane’s oldest paper, the Telegraph, in 1988. But I had the option of switching to The Courier-Mail. “I remember fondly my 14 years on RadioTAB (1999 to 2012) exchanging jibes with ‘Champs’ (Richard Champion) and talking rugby league,” my message reads. In my time the hosts were Mark Forbes and then John McCoy, with Paul replacing John. John tips Queensland listeners to leave the show in droves, and he is a TAB shareholder. Besides McBain and McCoy, other guests this morning include Peter Psaltis, Robert ‘Crash’ Craddock, Bart Sinclair and eccentric basketball commentator, Boti Nagy.
Queensland Rugby League Chairman, Bruce Hatcher tips there could be a rugby league museum in Sports House, Milton. I’m not holding my breath.
The Courier-Mail’s Peter Badel has a great Anzac story about Dolphins’ prop, Jarrod Wallace’s relative who fought, and died, at Gallipoli. The male bugler in Darwin for the Parramatta v Broncos NRL match is not near as good as last night’s lass at Homebush. There is a full house – 11,864.
SATURDAY, APRIL 22
Former Test centre, Tony Currie brilliantly delivers the annual Ross Livermore Memorial Lecture. TC is the first Indigenous person to deliver the lecture, and attracts a full house at QRL headquarters at Milton. He does a fair Yorkshire accent when recalling his days playing for Leeds.
Marie and I attend Samford Stags v Burpengary Second Division clash in Samford, and the match is abandoned early in the second half after a Burpengary player, of Polynesian descent, is sent off. When this bloke is marched, he is (predictably) heckled by home fans, and tries to enter the can bar, but is restrained by security. A local ‘cowboy’ races up the concourse wanting to take on the Burpengary bloke, but he is gone before there is any further trouble. Tempers continued to flare on the field, so the referee called things off. Former Test forward, Sam Thaiday, a local resident, walks by, and chuckles when he sees me. “Plenty to write about there, Steve”. But, of course, I am a retired old bugger. Just hope the QRL support the referee.
Former Papua New Guinea heavyweight boxing champion, James ‘Digger’ Annand has died aged 79. ‘Digger’ who fought World Champion, Joe Frazier in an exhibition fight, played rugby league for Taree United and Wingham on the North Coast of New South Wales, and for DCA in Port Moresby. I met him when I played for Wingham in 1975, and he and his wife and my 1975 captain-coach, John McKeough and his wife, stayed with Marie and I at Zillmere when they attended a State of Origin game many years ago. Digger, who didn’t play in 1975, was working as a barman that year. His friends and family recall a man with “a gentle nature and a heart of gold”.
SUNDAY, APRIL 23
Wake to news legendary Australian entertainer, Barry Humphries has died. Sir Les Patterson, Australia’s cultural Attache to the UK, was my favourite Humphries’ character. Watch part of Stade Francais v Toulouse rugby union match and there are so many blokes on computers in the Stade coaches box. Shows you how much money there is in French rugby, or maybe they’re just over-complicating things. Whenever the camera pans on a coach in the English Super League, he is lucky to have one off-sider with a computer.
Wests Mitchelton rugby league club hosts an under-6 carnival and our grandson, Connor, plays three games for Norths Devils, scoring five tries. Considering it is a carnival, the ‘Mitchy’ canteen is poorly stocked.
Vietnam vet, Darrell Madge stands alongside Titans’ players ahead of their Suncorp Stadium match against the Dolphins. Madge, a strapper, and former Tweed Seagulls’ player, has been with the Gold Coast since the 80s. The Dolphins equal the greatest comeback win in the 115-year history of the premiership, rebounding from 26-0 to win 28-26, to claim the Cameron Baird Trophy, named after the Victoria Cross winner killed in the service of his country. Joe Vitanza, a member of the 1988 Gold Coast Giants’ side, is among guests at a sportsmen’s function at flood hit Eugowra in western NSW. Former Test hooker, Royce Simmons is also there, which is appropriate, given another Test hooker, Ian Walsh, who came from nearby Bogan Gate, played for Eugowra.
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