REQUESTS. I’VE HAD A FEW.
As chairman of the Queensland Rugby League History Committee, I receive many requests from people, via the QRL offices, wanting answers to questions about matters relating to the code’s heritage. […]
Author Archives: SteveRicketts
DIARY UPDATE: Week 8, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 8 2019 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 A statue of rugby union legend, John Eales is unveiled at the southern forecourt of Suncorp Stadium. […]
A SOFTER VERSION OF AUSSIE RULES
We met Joe Duffy and his young son, Gary in the Hogan Stand at Dublin’s Croke Park, one clear autumn afternoon in 1977. The occasion was a Gaelic Football match […]
HISTORY OF RUGBY LEAGUE ON THE GOLD COAST: A STORY OF RESILIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT
Just as there was life ‘Before the Broncos’ in Brisbane, there was a proud history of rugby league on the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers before the Titans and its […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 7, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 7 2019 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 The World Club Challenge match between Wigan and the Roosters flows, largely because there is just one […]
FLASHBACK: January, 1975
JANUARY 1975 Referees threatened to ‘pack up their gear and leave the ground’ if alcohol was sold before first grade matches in the cross border, Group 18 competition, which encompassed […]
FIRED FOR EFFECT
BOOK REVIEW Jasper Samuel Creagh, from Wingham in New South Wales, was one of the ‘old originals’, who sailed to Europe with 13 Battery in 1915. Two years later, Creagh’s war […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 6, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK SIX 2019 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11 OzTag competitors leave lots of litter behind, at our Emerald Beach Caravan Park. Excellent coffee from Emerald […]
FLASHBACK: December 1959
DECEMBER 1959. FRENCH Rugby League legend, Puig Aubert lambasted France’s pack for not dominating their Australian rivals, as the touring Kangaroos won the Second Test, and the series with a […]
FLASHBACK: December 2009
DECEMBER 2009 Queensland Rugby League managing director, Ross Livermore said his organisation would not stand in the away of an independent commission taking over the game, but insisted grassroots development […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 5, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK FIVE 2019 MONDAY, JANUARY 28 Australian rocker, Billy Thorpe’s version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ is played on Ray Hadley’s radio program. […]
FLASHBACK: December 1994 – England
DECEMBER 1994 – England THE Rugby Football Union banned Cambridge University centre, Ady Spencer for 12 months, because he played a handful of matches with London Broncos Rugby League Club. […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 4, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 4 2019 TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 MY grandmother, Polly Kelly, would not grant the wishes of her daughter (my mum) to board at […]
‘OUR GAME’ – SPEECH BY STEVE RICKETTS
Chairman of the Queensland Rugby League History Committee, Steve Ricketts addressed the recent QRL administrative conference on the Gold Coast, about the establishment of the code in this state. A […]
FLASHBACK: DECEMBER 1994
December 1994 The Queensland Rugby League State of Origin ‘brains trust’ had a new look, heading into the 1995 season, with Wayne Bennett returning as coach, replacing Wally Lewis. Bennett […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 3, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 3 2019 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16 Lunch at Montague Pub, West End with fellow members of the Beer and Beef club, to discuss […]
FLASHBACK: November 1994
NOVEMBER 1994 A pledge of loyalty from the Brisbane Broncos was accepted by a New South Wales Rugby League Board meeting in the League’s Phillip Street headquarters in Sydney. NSWRL […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 2, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 2 2019 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9 Radio TAB’s John McCoy played rugby union for Gregory Terrace against The Southport School, in a curtain […]
DIARY UPDATE: TRANSITION FROM 2018-19
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE MONDAY, DECEMBER 31 2018 Our eldest boy, Damien, wife, Emma and daughter, Parker climb Mt Coolum, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, for the first time. […]
FLASHBACK: November, 1989
NOVEMBER 1989 English club, Barrow sacked Australian coach, Rod Reddy, just eight matches into the 1989-90 English season. Reddy, a veteran of 17 Tests for Australia and a member of […]
