FLASHBACK: April 1972
APRIL 1972 Souths and Norths put on a spectacular display of attacking football for Channel 7’s first ever telecast of its new ‘Match of the Day’ format, which went on […]
APRIL 1972 Souths and Norths put on a spectacular display of attacking football for Channel 7’s first ever telecast of its new ‘Match of the Day’ format, which went on […]
JULY 1961 Queensland fullback, Frank Drake was in sparkling form as the Maroons defeated New South Wales 20-17 in a thrilling inter-state clash at Lang Park in Brisbane. Drake played a […]
JULY 1966 Great Britain rugby league players and management were angered by the performance of Sydney referee, Col Pearce after the touring Lions lost the Second Test 6-4 to Australia […]
JUNE 1961 Australian rugby league skipper, Brian Carlson threatened to take the team from the field after a number of players fell victim to late tackles in a match against […]
By Steve Ricketts, former Courier-Mail chief rugby league writer. ‘Touched’, a Broncos’ fan yelled sarcastically, as Karmichael Hunt barely got a hand to rampaging South Sydney centre, Campbell Graham, in […]
Harry Cameron won club premierships in Sydney, Brisbane and Ipswich and represented his adopted State of Queensland five times in the 1970s. A crowd favourite in a star-studded Brisbane Wests’ […]
Super coach, Wayne Bennett describes the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane’s Souths Magpies as kindred spirits, in that they are working class clubs, with a never-say-die ethos. And the embodiment […]
April 1, 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of Lang Park’s new Frank Burke Stand, by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Henry Abel-Smith. The completion of the stand, […]
FLASHBACK MARCH 1961 Former Tweed Heads schoolboy teammates, Lionel Morgan and Billy McDermott starred for Brisbane in an upset 21-7 win over Ipswich in an inter-city, Bulimba Cup match, under […]
JUNE 1970 There have been at least three ‘Battles of Brisbane’, involving the Australian and Great Britain rugby league sides, and I was ‘privileged’ to be in the crowd for […]
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 […]
“A pint of real ale, please”. “Would you like a pint of prawns with that?” the barman at the Kings Arms Pub on the quayside at Weymouth in County Dorset, […]
It’s hard to decide what I found the more heart breaking? Ron Clarke’s failure to win an Olympic Gold Medal, or Australia’s abject failure on the 1969-70 cricket tour of […]
TUESDAY, JULY 19 To Sydney for Men of League gala dinner. Fog delays our flight from Brisbane. Bump into former Australian wicket keeper, Ray Phillips at Brisbane Airport. He had […]
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 David Smith quits as National Rugby League chief executive and the rumour mill goes into overdrive, re. his replacement, with radio commentator, Ray Hadley mentioning former Queensland […]
MONDAY, JULY 6 Lovely time at Carbine Club Lunch at Tatts Club in the City, with the notorious Billy J Smith as MC, at a function where members of the […]
AN extraordinary Queensland Rugby League ban on Toowoomba Souths’ participating in the local competition was finally lifted, ending the concerns of the club’s 116 registered players and 30 officials. The […]
TUESDAY, APRIL 28 Bundaberg’s very own, Pat Welsh has been at Channel 7 for 40 years. Amazing. I appeared with him on Sportscene in 1982-83 with the likes of Mick Veivers, […]
Future Immortal, Arthur Beetson (Redcliffe) and diminutive halfback, Ross Threlfo (Valleys) tied for first place in the Courier-Mail Best and Fairest competition for the Brisbane Rugby League. Beetson, had moved […]
AUSTRALIAN selectors handed out one of the biggest shocks in years with the naming of North Queensland centre, Gary Wellington in the Kangaroos’ squad to tour New Zealand. Wellington at first refused […]