Almanac Rugby League

The Almanac Rugby League Crew

If you’d like to publish a rugby league story on The Footy Almanac website, please contact Ian Hauser.

 

If you’d like to join the Footy Almanac’s rugby league email list to receive our regular
Thursday updates during the season and occasional updates in the off-season, contact John Harms in the first instance.

 

The Footy Almanac’s coverage of rugby league features a team of four regular columnists:

Ian Hauser provides a round by round preview/review and comments on specific players/incidents.
Matt O’Hanlon (Prop by the Sea) offers a quirky take of the week’s happenings on and off the field.
Mark Shannon (The Prospector) comments on various issues in the code, both historical and current.
Russel Hansen (Rabbit in the Vineyard) gives a specific take on South Sydney’s progress.

as well as numerous other occasional contributors.

Our collection of articles appears below. The first article was published in 2010.

 

Almanac Rugby League – The Roosters and the golden point goose

August 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As the clock ticked towards half-time and the scoreboard showed nothing but two big donuts I thought to myself: “Thank god I didn’t sit up and watch this last night.” Given regular Friday Night Football scheduling in the southern states sees matches telecast between the hours of midnight Friday and 4am Saturday morning, I’d taken [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Fish and chips and Friday footy

August 27, 2011 by 2 Comments

Don’t you all miss the days of Friday night Fish and Chips wrapped in old newspaper? Now it is all foam containers that lack anything of mental substance. If they were wrapped in old newspaper, I would be reading a sports section that told of the woes of two seasons. Parramatta and Eastern Suburbs. The [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The Challenge Cup: a game I cannot see

August 27, 2011 by 3 Comments

The Challenge Cup 2011 (the game I cannot see) This Saturday the Challenge Cup will be played at Wembley Stadium London. The Challenge Cup is a competition based on soccer’s FA Cup, a knockout competition culminating in the last two teams playing the Final at London’s famous Wembely Stadium. Each year 90,000 fans make their [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – We all have beginnings

August 25, 2011 by 6 Comments

A rugby league version of The Footy Almanac? “About bloody time” is all I can say – for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the literature of rugby league is modest, to say the least – a reality and a paucity that needs addressing; secondly, “the greatest game of all” deserves that its story be told, [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Sloppy Knights give Broncos an easy Monday night

August 25, 2011 by 2 Comments

When I hear the words Brisbane and rugby league together my mind first turns to the great BRL competition of the 1970s. That was another time. A decade later, many Queenslanders fell instantly in love with the Brisbane Broncos, marketed brilliantly as an incarnation of all things Queensland. But many didn’t. The dissenters could see [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – An afternoon of hope

August 23, 2011 by 3 Comments

This assignment started out full of hope – what better thing to do than write about a Canterbury victory over Manly, especially at Brookvale.  Being almost out of finals contention five weeks ago, the Bulldogs had won three of the last four matches and were back in with a chance of finals glory. To add [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Seeing Cleary

August 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Rugby league in Penrith faces its share of battles, that’s no secret. But on a Saturday night at Centrebet Stadium, it certainly feels like rugby league heartland. I’m visiting my mate Steve, who lives in the mountains and has the severe misfortune of being born a staunch Parramatta fan. He usually holds a torch for [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Dragons go close

August 23, 2011 by 1 Comment

I don’t miss too many Dragons games. Whether live or on TV or even on the radio I’ll make a serious effort to catch the game each week. I’ve even been known to submit to that unique form of pain – watching a match you’ve recorded earlier that evening even though you already know your [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The worst game ever played

August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I sit in front of my computer embarrassed to be writing my first review for the Almanac on possibly the worst game of the year.  14th versus 16th on the NRL ladder does not necessarily make this a bad game, and you would think that both proud clubs would be trying desperately to avoid the [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The Cronulla Curse

August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If there was ever a moment that typified life as a Cronulla supporter, one only had to look at the Sydney Football Stadium last Saturday night in the Sharks’ seemingly meaningless Round 24 encounter with the Headless Chooks. After playing some of their better football in recent weeks, the Sharks had managed to open up [Read more]