‘GARY SOBERS KING CRICKET’. A PRIZE TO CHERISH.
THE West Indies’ convincing home Test series victory over Australia in 1964-65, left me devastated, as I thought we were invincible at that time, under the captaincy of Bob Simpson. […]
Category Archives: The Column
Taking It To The Streets
The Second Life of the Newtown RLFC, by Glen Dwyer Book review. It is one of the regrets of my life in rugby league, to date, that I have never […]
VALE NOEL KELLY OAM
By QRL History Committee Chairman, Steve Ricketts, who was a judge for the ARL Team of the Century. Australian Rugby League ‘Team of the Century’ hooker, Noel Kelly was one […]
ARTHUR SUMMONS – GENTLEMAN GLADIATOR
By STEVE RICKETTS ARTHUR Summons had the dubious honour of coaching the last Australian team to lose an Ashes Rugby League series against Great Britain. He won’t be remembered for […]
VALE BIG LEAGUE?
Have we seen the last of ‘Big League’? I fear for the future of the official program of the NRL, after it closed shop for the rest of the 2020 […]
‘STORMY SIXTIES’ by Roger Grime
BOOK REVIEW Rugby League in France soared to incredible highs and plummeted to unparalleled lows in the 1960s, a decade covered by noted English rugby league author, Roger Grime, from […]
CAPTAIN COOK BICENTENARY CELEBRATIONS 1970
When I met ‘The Queen’ on April 30, 1970, the conversation went (exactly) like this. (It’s not something you forget). Her Majesty: What is your name? Yours truly: Stephen Ricketts. […]
FROM TEXAS TO ALICE SPRINGS, VIA WYNNUM AND BLACKPOOL
When rugby league fans talk about ‘what might have been’, the name Terry Saunders quickly springs to mind. Chosen for the Queensland State of Origin side in 1981, the Wynnum-Manly star’s […]
THE MEN IN BLACK
‘The mighty All Blacks’ The first time I took substantial notice of New Zealand’s legendary national rugby union team was 1967, when they were touring the UK and France at […]
VALE TONY BRANSON
VALE TONY BRANSON From all accounts, Tony Branson was a quiet country lad, who felt uncomfortable with all the media and public attention that came with being a rugby league […]
VALE FRANK MYLER
VALE FRANK MYLER Frank Myler made his first team debut for Widnes when he was just 16, in 1955. Fifteen years later he captained the Great Britain Lions rugby league […]
REV HEAD MICK
Former Test rugby league winger, Michael Hancock was a ‘rev head’ in his younger days at Stanthorpe, where he said there wasn’t much to do as a teenager. In an […]
ORIGIN FOOTBALL AT CROSSROADS
COMMENT by Steve Ricketts, former Chief Rugby League Writer, The Courier-Mail Good luck to rugby league administrators next year, as they try to promote State of Origin as ‘The Best […]
WELL DONE ROOSTERS
Take a bow Trent Robinson. If every coach was like the Sydney Roosters’ boss, maybe our game would be known, and played, more widely. Robinson took his NRL championship winning […]
SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
What a time for a sports journalist to take a holiday! It was September, 2000; the Sydney Olympics were being held, and my editor told me to go on leave! […]
MORNINGTON ISLAND CONVOY
‘Eliza Fraser’ will never go down as one of the best movies made in Australia. The 1976 bawdy adventure didn’t have a massive budget, but involved quite a large logistical […]
WHAT NOW FOR FRINGE PLAYERS?
They were unsettling times for fringe players – the period leading up to the start of the inaugural NRL season in 1998. The Australian Rugby League and Super League were […]
DID BIG MAL PLAY 500 GAMES?
Melbourne Storm skipper, Cameron Smith already holds the record for most appearances in first grade, and, if he plays another two seasons as planned, his tally will be hard to […]
PACK YOUR BAGS GATOR
It’s not often you get to tell a young man he has just been selected for Australia. But I had that honor in 1983 when second rower, Wally Fullerton Smith […]
MAL NOT IMPRESSED BY BITING CLAIMSÂ
Thank heavens the worldwide web was in its infancy in 1992, otherwise the accompanying photograph of me with Great Britain rugby league coach, Mal Reilly, might never have been taken. […]
