My collection of rugby league books grew by one earlier this week. My daughters had this book on pre-order for me – for Father’s Day. What a great belated gift!
Graeme Hughes and his team have produced a wonderful rugby league volume.
Hard – rugby league in the ’70s by Graeme Hughes, with Tony Loxely, is the latest instalment in a series of rugby league books from Full Throttle Publishing, following earlier titles League on Sunday, work on Monday, memories of rugby league’s last golden era 1965-1995 and Very tough men: rugby league in the 1980s.
The books are hard cover volumes of rugby league history.
What immediately stands out in the latest volume is the cover photo – South Sydney icon John Sattler being chaired off the field after the 1970 Grand Final.
A great aspect of Hard is a series of feature pages written by a varied selection of 70s players, including Bob McCarthy, Bill Annabel, Peter Wynn, Ray Branighan, Ray Price, Neil Pringle, Max Krilich and John Kolc. The recollections of the players confirm what a different era the 1970s was to the present day, on so many levels. Bill Annabel’s (Cronulla-Sutherland and South Sydney) path to playing in the NSWRL is a great story – he started training to get fit with his mates from the University of NSW Second Division team, the coach was Wally Watsford, who had Souths connections. The group joined Souths players (George Piggins, Paul Sait, Gary Stevens and co!) running laps at Centennial Park before going on the pre-season trial tour in country NSW. John O’Neill did not play a trial v Western Division (the 1974 Amco Cup winners). Souths liked the look of how Bill was training and he replaced the injured O’Neill in the trial. The rest is history.
There are many pages of “Graeme Hughes’ 1970’s rugby league scrap book” interspersed throughout the book. These sections feature graphics such as: Big League magazine front covers, team photos, player cards, pages from Big League featuring team lists, Big League posters, many Craven Filter pin ups, newspaper clippings, scoreboard photos and cloth team badges.
One classic old advertisement features the handsome Russell Fairfax modelling a $69.00 jacket under the bold words ‘Russell Fairfax is a leather lover’.
Another rather unique advertisement features the doyen of commentators, the legendary Frank Hyde – Frank Hyde played for Australia, now Frank Hyde sings for Australia … all your party favourites on 2 budget records – record $2.99, cassette $3.99.
Colourful referee Greg Hartley has written a chapter, as has the Wests coach of that time, Roy Masters, along with journalist Norm Tasker – who wrote about the rise of clubs like Manly-Warringah and Canterbury-Bankstown, as well as the start of ‘the bible’ – Rugby League Week – described as the ’what became (for nearly 50 years) a staple of the game’. What a great series of RLW front covers featured:
‘I’m the phantom biter!’
‘Players fuming’
‘Horror tackle – it made me sick”’
Rugby League Week’s price back then? 50 cents!
The photographs are an amazing collection of images, including: Queen Elizabeth presenting the 1977 pre-season cup to Artie Beetson at the SCG, Mal Reilly and George Piggins standing toe to toe, team photos of Country and City Firsts and Seconds, Manly players running through the surf, amongst hundreds of other wonderful old photos.
Other great inclusions include a section for each club – ‘the changing face of the 1970s jerseys’ – displaying the changes in each of the twelve clubs’ jerseys throughout the decade. Hughes comments that the team emblems stand out more on the player’s chests due to lack of advertising (NFL style) before the era of sponsorship.
The Footy Almanac’s Alan Whiticker has made a significant contribution to this comprehensive volume: a chapter called ‘tales of the magic sponge’, and another: ‘Grandad was a Chocolate Soldier’.
Alan also provided the statistics for each team – a report card of sorts – Souths’ two premierships (1970, 1971) and one wooden spoon (1975) for a 50%-win rate, and a B+.
Penrith in the 1970s: a win rate of 32% for an E rating! How times have changed! Note: The Panthers entered the NSWRL premiership in 1967, along with Cronulla-Sutherland.
Will Evans has provided detailed summaries of each season of the decade – covering the mid-week cup, NSWRL premiership, BRL and representative games. These pages are great mixture of detail, including the rule changes, such as: the 1971 change of the four-tackle rule to six-tackle, and the halving of the points for a field goal from two to one.
In his conclusion, Hughes includes many rare photos. A standout image is one featuring Hughes alongside the great Dennis Lillee, promoting rugby league in Perth.
Hard: rugby league in the ’70s – highly recommended for all rugby league tragics and others with an interest in sports history.
Well done, Graeme Hughes and team. This book is a genuine collector’s item that has captured the essence of rugby league in the 1970s in outstanding fashion.
Graeme Hughes: rugby league career
Graeme ‘Heaps’ Hughes – Playing Career – RLP
Graeme Hughes – cricket career
Graeme Hughes Profile – Cricket Player Australia | Stats, Records, Video
BAROSSA RED WINE OF THE WEEK:
A bottle from the Vine Vale Winemakers Shed afternoon (first Sunday in October)
Hart of the Barossa 2021 Vine Vale Mataro
Hart of the Barossa – OUR WINE – Current Releases
Russel Hansen, South Sydney football club diamond member 6199, lives in Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia. His golden retriever, Murray, is named after the South Sydney captain. Twitter/X: @Rabbit in the Vineyard @Russel_Hansen
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About Russel Hansen
Russel Hansen Has worked in schools for over thirty years – as a teacher, coach, coach educator, sports coordinator and in pastoral care roles. Whilst at Brisbane Boys’ College as Director of Athletics, he led teams to six GPS premierships in track and field, and cross country. He has coached (athletics) at all levels from school to international. His squad at the University of Queensland (to January 2023) included Lachlan Kennedy OLY, Paris 4x100m relay runner, Australian record holder. He is married to Heidi, a Primary school principal, and is father to two adult daughters. Twitter: @Russel_Hansen
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