FLASHBACK: June 1982
JUNE 1982 New South Wales’ critics reported a return to normal service after the Blues won the first match of the inaugural State of Origin series in 1982, with the […]
JUNE 1982 New South Wales’ critics reported a return to normal service after the Blues won the first match of the inaugural State of Origin series in 1982, with the […]
FEBRUARY 1982 Norths Devils’ skipper, Shane Bernardin was sent off by referee, Harry Dearness just five minutes into a Woolies pre-season match against Easts at Bishop Park, after the Tigers’ […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 10 2021 MONDAY, MARCH 8 Former rugby league television commentator, George Doniger and I swap yarns about Kangaroo Supporters’ tours of the […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 6 2021 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 Wally Lewis’s daughter, Jamie Lee is to play for her dad’s old club, Valley Diehards, who are […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 27 2020 MONDAY, JULY 6 Former Brisbane Souths’ rugby league forward, Eric Pappas doesn’t like the new look rugby league. “It is […]
FLASHBACK SEPTEMBER 2005 The Rugby League, Rugby Union and Journalistic communities were mourning the loss of Harry Jefferies, who died on September 6, 2005, aged 83. Jefferies was a long […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER TRANSITION 2019 TO 2020 MONDAY, DECEMBER 30 Our nephew, Xavier Ricketts and Gemma Wuersching wed in a beautiful ceremony at Toowoomba’s Gabbinbar Homestead, […]
Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium boasts many fine hospitality suites, but there is nothing to compare with the ‘Gunsynd Bar’ in the old Frank Burke Stand, at what was called Lang Park […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 21 2019 MONDAY, MAY 27 Queensland State of Origin coach, Kevin Walters is emotional at the naming of the Maroons’ squad for […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 17 2019 MONDAY, APRIL 29 Radio TAB’s Peter Psaltis says the Newcastle Knights have a reputation as a party club. Psaltis has […]
Australian Rugby League skipper, Wally Lewis was heckled by spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground, as he made a speech following the Kangaroos’ 20-7 win over Great Britain, to clinch […]
APRIL 1949 The Courier-Mail’s L H Kearney described Norths’ 19-17 win over Wests in the Brisbane President’s Cup pre-season competition as ‘the greatest upset in rugby league history’. Perhaps Kearney […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 28, 2017 MONDAY, JULY 10 Barry Dick and Wayne ‘Ticker’ Heming are inducted into the Media Hall Fame at Suncorp Stadium, alongside […]
by Steve Ricketts, former Chief Rugby League Writer, The Courier-Mail. It seemed to make sense, in terms of the newspaper’s budget, when I was asked to return to Brisbane, from […]
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 To the movies at Palace Centro in the Valley to see ‘The Big Short’. A bad time to watch it, with the stock market in the red. […]
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7 ‘Old Farts’ journos lunch at Plough Inn, South Bank. Former Lord Mayor, Sallyanne Atkinson, an ‘old’ journo, is there. We chat about State of Origin II in […]
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24 Watch movie, ‘The Dressmaker’ at Palace Centro Cinema in James Street. Quite mad, but enjoyable. Ian Botham turns 60! I met him only once – in 1987 […]
The blinding pace and elusiveness of indigenous winger, John ‘Chicka’ Ferguson proved the difference as Newtown Jets defeated Combined Brisbane 23-19 at Lang Park in the Tooth Cup mid-week combination. Ferguson […]
MONDAY, JUNE 22 To Paula Nutting Remedial Massage. She has had a number of sports roles over the years, including physio for Brisbane Brothers Rugby League when Don Gailer was […]
FRIDAY, APRIL 10 Learn of the death of cricket icon, Richie Benaud. I met him just the once – back in the early 1970s when he was a guest speaker […]