DIARY UPDATE: Week 1, 2021
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK ONE 2021 MONDAY, JANUARY 4 Alan Knott was one of my favourite English cricket players. I loved his energy and quirky traits. […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK ONE 2021 MONDAY, JANUARY 4 Alan Knott was one of my favourite English cricket players. I loved his energy and quirky traits. […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 49 2020 MONDAY, DECEMBER 7 ‘The King’, Wally Lewis signs 500 copies of his book, ‘My Life. Wally Lewis’, at QRL headquarters, […]
FLASHBACK JANUARY 1951 Renowned BBC commentator, Eddie Waring warned that France’s historic tour of Australia and New Zealand could be a huge success, or a colossal failure. Waring said if […]
FLASHBACK DECEMBER 1955 France’s former Basque rugby union star, Jean Dop stole the limelight from Welsh dual rugby international, Lewis Jones in France’s 17-5 win over Great Britain at Parc […]
DECEMBER 1965 The exploits of the 1951 French rugby league side in Australia and New Zealand are the stuff of legend. But spare a thought for the generations of French […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 22 2020 MONDAY, JUNE 1 How long has this been here? That is the reaction of my wife, Marie and I as […]
OCTOBER 1955 French Rugby League officials left Hilton Park, Leigh in England full of confidence about the future, despite France’s 32-19 loss to a star-studded Other Nationalities side, in a […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 6 2020 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 One of the commentators at Mount Maunganui – in the New Zealand v India cricket one day […]
TRAVEL Recently, a mate asked how many times I had been to Britain and/or Europe, and when I answered ’20, he said I should write a book. I’m not in […]
TRAVEL The cable TV channel in our Paris hotel advertised a France v Scotland rugby match. To fill in time, I stuck with the channel, and then to my delight, […]
I wonder what sports nutritionists would think of steak and lettuce as a match-day meal for rugby league players? I imagine they would be quite critical of any club which […]
TRAVEL Recently a mate asked how many times I had been to Britain and/or Europe, and when I answered ’20’, he said I should write a book. I’m not in […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 26 2019 MONDAY, JULY 1 Former Queensland State of Origin centre, Tony Currie and I talk about the future of Origin football, […]
TRAVEL Carcassonne had been a highlight of my ‘backpacking days’ in Europe, and now here I was, on assignment for Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper. I couldn’t believe it. It was September, […]
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 […]
NOVEMBER 1954 A record crowd for rugby league in France – 37,474 – attended the World Cup match between the home side, captained by the legendary, Puig Aubert, and Great […]
OCTOBER 1959 France’s Test rugby league players had to catch taxis to Parc des Princes in Paris, after the bus that was due to transport them to the stadium, was […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 42 2018 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 Murwillumbah rugby league stalwart, Bill Carroll tells me of the passing of former Murwillumbah Brothers’ player, Brian […]
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 […]
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 29 2018 TUESDAY, JULY 17 Rugby League Hall of Fame’s new inductees are Mark Graham, Cliff Lyons, Ricky Stuart, Petero Civoniceva, Gorden […]