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 […]
Tag Archives: Marie ricketts
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 51, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 51 2018 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19 Nate Searle, the son of former Gold Coast Titans’ rugby league chief executive, Michael Searle, almost drowns […]
MEMORIES OF ‘CHANG’ IN LYON
TRAVEL The first time I knew of the French city of Lyon was November 11, 1972 when Australia and Great Britain met in the final of the rugby league World […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 48, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 48 2018 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 Prominent Gold Coast real estate agent and staunch Broncos’ supporter, Bruce Wilson tells me he believes the […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 47, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 47 2018 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 ‘Schoolies’ is in full swing on the Gold Coast as my wife, Marie and I drive back […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 46, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 46 2018 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 It is our third, full day at Lennox Head on the Far North Coast of New South […]
NOT SO MERRY IN DERRY
TRAVEL “Please don’t sneeze, mate,” I said to myself, as the young British soldier pointed his revolver at my head. It was Derry (or Londonderry, depending on your preference), November […]
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
TRAVEL Noted sports trainer, Jack Hartigan was keen to prepare Jon Ricketts for the 1949 Stawell Gift. Now, I should point out that Jack was my uncle, and Jon my […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 40, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 40 2018 MONDAY, OCTOBER 1 The Tweed Daily News is 130 years old. I started my journalistic career at the paper on […]
SACRE ‘BLUE’ IN BORDEAUX
Travel Twice my waiter asked if I really wanted my steak blue. It was Bordeaux, October 2011, and the reputation of Australians/Kiwis/Englanders had preceded me. Most, it seemed, liked their […]
LET’S GO TO PUB, LUV
Travel “What could be more romantic?”, I said to my wife, Marie, as she contemplated a wedding anniversary lunch with me; a fellow rugby league writer; a rugby league fan/war […]
IS IT RICKETY GATE OR RICKETY KATE?
Travel My wife’s maiden name is Donnelly, so it seemed only right that we should visit the Donnelly River region during our motoring trip around South West Australia in January, […]
DON’T SKIP THIS ISLAND
DON’T SKIP THIS ISLAND Kangaroo Island – surely one or two nights would be enough. How wrong my wife, Marie and I were, when in November, 2005, we booked in […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 33, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 33 2018 MONDAY, AUGUST 13 It is day five of our UK/Ireland trip and I am hanging out for a coffee, in […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 32, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 32 2018 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8 My wife, Marie and I depart for a UK/Ireland adventure. Cathay check-in staff are very helpful. An […]
THE TRACKS OF MY YEARS
TRAVEL The Milford Track walk was magnificent, but there is an Australian walking destination, which I prefer. At the risk of receiving derisive messages from my Kiwi friends, let me […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 31, 2018
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 31 2018 MONDAY, JULY 30 On Radio TAB, Peter Psaltis says Allan ‘Alfie’ Langer should be added to the exclusive Immortals club. […]
