VALE BILL PEARSON
Former Queensland Rugby League centre, Bill Pearson, is best remembered for the leadership qualities which enshrined him as one of the legends of the Norths’ club, in the Brisbane competition. […]
Tag Archives: reg gasnier
A TRUE QUEENSLAND GREAT – JOHNNY GLEESON.
By Steve Ricketts. Johnny Gleeson was a quiet, humble man, who largely retreated from the spotlight after a stellar rugby league playing career at International, State and Club level. Gleeson, […]
FLASHBACK: July, 1981
JULY 1981 Wally Lewis will never forget the look of pride on his parents, Jim and Jean’s faces as he took the field for his Test debut against France at […]
FLASHBACK: JUNE 1961
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 […]
SPECIAL K REVISITED
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 […]
VALE GARY PARCELL
By Steve Ricketts. QRL History Committee. A one club man, Gary Parcell played all of his eight Tests for Australia and 14 matches for Queensland from Ipswich Brothers. The Parcell […]
FLASHBACK: July 1960
JULY 1960 The last rugby league Test played at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds proved an embarrassment for the French touring side, which capitulated 56-6 to the Keith Barnes’ captained Australia. […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 39, 201
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 39 2019. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 Our train from Bergerac to Paris reaches speeds of 320km, as song ‘Hold Tight’ by Dave Dee, […]
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 […]
GIVE THE MAN MEAT (AND LETTUCE)
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 […]
‘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 […]
RUGBY LEAGUE’S WAR OF THE ROSES
Just as Great Britain sides once played New South Wales and Queensland, Kangaroo touring teams also played County sides, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. Yorkshire and Lancashire tried to emulate State […]
FLASHBACK: April, 1960
APRIL 1960 Kangaroo tour co-manager, Jack Argent was fined 50 pounds by the Australian Rugby League Board of Control, for allegedly inducing one of the players, Ron Boden, to sign […]
FLASHBACK: March 1960
MARCH 1960 There was a ‘new look’ about Wests’ halfback, Barry Muir on his return to Brisbane club football following the five month Kangaroo tour of Britain, France and Italy. […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 16, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 16 2019 MONDAY, APRIL 22 A photograph of Wally Lewis, making his Test debut for Australia against France at the Sydney Cricket […]
DIARY UPDATE: Week 13, 2019
DIARY OF A RETIRED RUGBY LEAGUE WRITER WEEK 13 2019 Devon (England) couple, John and Glenda Tapp’s travels have brought them to Australia again, and we catch up for breakfast […]
HISTORY OF RUGBY LEAGUE ON THE GOLD COAST:Â A STORY OF RESILIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT
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 […]
FLASHBACK: October 1959
OCTOBER 1959 Kangaroos’ rugby league coach, Clive Churchill was threatened with arrest after small boys pelted Australians sitting along the sideline at Oldham in England, with orange peel. Churchill threw […]
FLASHBACK: August 1984
AUGUST 1984 Brothers staged one of the most remarkable comebacks in rugby league history, to beat Redcliffe 40-36 at Lang Park in a match that would live long in the […]
FLASHBACK: November 1963
FLASHBACK NOVEMBER 1963 Less than 18 months after winning the Ashes series in Australia, Great Britain fell to its greatest humiliation at the hands of the Kangaroos when the Arthur […]
Steve Ricketts 