All supporters do it tough at times. Its part of the attraction, addiction even, of passionately supporting a sporting team. In a cruel sort of way, we need to experience the dark, heavy feeling of despair that lingers for days after a loss to also truly appreciate that overwhelming, sun-is-shining, birds-are-singing, life-is-good elation that takes hold after a win. But [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Rabbitoh in the vineyard
April 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment
RABBITOH IN THE VINEYARD – PART 1 NRL RND 5: SOUTH SYDNEY v WESTS TIGERS As one of the thousands of long suffering South Sydney members, I am well accustomed to false dawns, and a general uneasiness whenever the Bunnies go into any match as favourites – whether with the TAB, and / or [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – A Parramatta Nightmare
March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Match ReportNorth Queensland Cowboys v Parramatta Eels Saturday, 17th March, 7.30pm Right from the kickoff you should know that I am an Eels’ supporter who is still wallowing in the wonder years of the 1980s. In fact, if I could choose my Groundhog Year it would unquestionably be 1986 when the ‘decade-dominating’ Eels won both [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Reunion Rugby League
March 12, 2012 by 2 Comments
By Pete Abela The last time I went to the footy with Robbo was on the 2nd of July, 1989. The match on that occasion was between South Sydney (who would go on to be minor premiers) and Penrith (who finished second that year, but bombed out of the semis). In those days, the Panthers [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – NRL Punter’s Guide
February 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Nick Tedeschi has produced an e-book for NRL punters. Click on the image for details.
Almanac Rugby League – Revelling in the glory
October 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I’ve been lucky enough to watch Manly play in six grand finals, and even luckier to experience them winning three. I love them all for different reasons, and the Sea Eagles’ 24-10 victory over the New Zealand Warriors is no different. It had all the qualities that we celebrate the game of rugby league for, [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – The highs and lows of a Preliminary Final
September 26, 2011 by 3 Comments
Oh, the highs and the lows of preliminary finals weekend. They’ll hit your harder than Brad Izzard on a cold day and they’ll stick with you until you breathe your last. There is something enduring about it, something special, something that separates it from Grand Final weekend, giving it a unique feel, an individual aura. [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Justice
September 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I was watching a program on SBS last week (insert obligatory “not that sort of show” comment here) on the problems involved with online gambling and it got me thinking how the changes in gambling had affected our day to day lives. Now, in my mind, if you can find your way through all the Senator [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Going the distance
September 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment
You learn a lot about life from watching Rocky movies. “It’s not about how hard you hit, but about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,” Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character Rocky Balboa says in the final film of the franchise. “[It’s about] how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – A hard night’s work
September 8, 2011 by 4 Comments
COVERING a footy match seems a pretty straightforward task. I remember a Julia Roberts movie where the main male love interest was a sportswriter, depicted in the press box with a beer in hand and not a notebook in sight. If only it was really like that. In fact, covering a night match where things [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Channelling Tricky
September 7, 2011 by 10 Comments
I was born into an Aussie Rules family and growing up on an aboriginal mission in central Australia I was totally unaware of the existence of Rugby League for the first ten years of my life. When I was in year three my parents went on a sojourn to Europe for three months and as [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – A noble rugby league tradition
September 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
For good or ill, I am an optimist, so despite another disappointing season from Canterbury and a reliance on either a Friday night draw between South Sydney and Newcastle or a Rabbitohs win followed by a mammoth Bulldogs win, I still thought there was hope for Canterbury. Mathematical chance, I believe they call it. That [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Hope is a glorious thing
September 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Strangely a game with no sense of ‘The Grudge’. This on the most hate-fuelled, bloodthirsty, full-mooned weekends in recent memory, some say in a decade, strangely with this match post ‘Battle of Brookie’ the only game without a ‘Let’s get it on’. As usual, New Zealand were referred to as the ‘Dark Horse’ of the [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – A costly call
August 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I write this feeling like a bitter and twisted man. Hopefully by the end I have come round. The Warriors have had their season ripped apart by the most abhorrent refereeing decision of the year. Sorry if that sounds a bit over emotive but that’s what it feels like for a Warriors fan that will [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – A Manly boy in the City of Churches
August 29, 2011 by 2 Comments
Residing in a ‘non-league’ state means you have to go the extra mile to get your fix of the Greatest Game of All. It’s not in the papers, it’s not on the news and it’s certainly not talked about in the pub or around the watercooler on a Monday morning. Living in Adelaide for the [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 – NRL R24, 2011: Celebrating Billy
August 20, 2011 by 2 Comments
I first visited Melbourne in 2000, a lads trip from Canberra in a busted-up Camry that lost both reverse and fifth gear mid-trek as Rohan, Bommy, The Judge and I all took our turns holding the bastard in fifth as we chugged down the Hume. It was the first time I had met Parko. We [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Fire Up
August 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Fans who enjoy Rugby League can consider this the end of the rainbow because they have just found their pot of gold Stephen Ferris and I (Brett Oaten) host a rugby league “show” every Friday morning on FBI 94.5 in Sydney and have done so for many years. Our standards are so low that not [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – Rugby League comes to The Footy Almanac
August 18, 2011 by 5 Comments
Growing up as a young Canterbury diehard in Orange, when all you would get were two games a week on television and your main contact with the Big League came through Rugby League Week and The Daily Telegraph, the highlight of every Christmas was David Middleton’s Rugby League yearbook. The book was a goldmine for [Read more]
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