Wolfy
24-04-08, 11:10 AM
Long and shorts of it is, game still wears heart on its sleeve
Roy Masters | April 22, 2008
RUGBY league is timeless, relentless and thankless. South Sydney's former premiership captain John Sattler watched Sunday's heritage-round match against Wests Tigers at the SCG and said of the officials' 1908-style uniforms: "Referees have been cockheads for 100 years and the way they're dressed today, they look like cockheads."
While referees have long been resigned to their thankless role as the blame-takers, they didn't like their long-john attire. "They used starch in the old days on their uniforms but the fabric today isn't suited to it," one touch judge said, as he plucked his shirt, expecting it to retreat obediently into position.
Still, referees weren't to blame for the low-standard SCG game. The winless Rabbitohs are devoid of decision makers.
They are the No.1 practitioners of a brand of football that elicits the most constant criticism of the game over the past 100 years: "Too predictable." Former players from Wests, Balmain and Souths, who gathered in the Churchill Stand to watch the match, lamented the Rabbitohs' preoccupation with running from dummy-half and kicking to the corners. Wests Tigers' game plan was obvious: run plenty of players at Souths defenders who are incapable of making decisions.
The Rabbitohs are also brainless in attack. Five-eighth John Sutton was effective in the first half when Souths took the lead, demonstrating his ability to beat a defender one on one, yet Souths reverted to dummy-half running after the interval.
They were so keen to play safe and protect their lead, the players may not have taken their shoulder pads off until today. While predictability has been the game's historic curse, it is only the ordinary sides who are guilty.
Earlier on Sunday, former players from Wests and Balmain gathered at Birchgrove Oval to witness the centenary anniversary match between their two clubs.
Balmain won the first match in 1908 and Wests reversed it on Sunday, so an old Magpie said to a Tiger: "You won the first one and we won the second. Do we have to wait another 100 years for the decider?"
There was a delightful sense of co-operation between the former players, which sends a powerful message about the longevity of the Wests Tigers joint venture.
Former Wests and Balmain players living on the northern beaches hired a bus for $25 a head, return trip, beer included. When the final numbers came in, 14 players from Wests and 14 from Balmain filed aboard.
Former NRL chief executive Neil Whittaker, who played hooker for the Tigers, rounded up his former teammates but was slightly shocked at Wests' traditional garbage bin of iced beer. "A beer at 8.30am is a bit hard to take," he observed.
Still, word of the beer and the free bus quickly spread amongst the 2000 watching the Birchgrove Oval match. When the bus moved on to the SCG, numbers had grown from 28 to 58.
Team-of-the-century prop Arthur Beetson, who boycotted the centenary dinner, came to Sydney a day ahead of the celebrations, attending the Roosters-Eels Harold Matthews (under-16s) match at Henson Park.
While Beetson may have played for three Sydney clubs, his original teammates at Balmain had no doubts of his loyalties, saying of Artie's unmade bed attire: "I think there's a Tiger T-shirt underneath there somewhere."
While rugby league is ageless, it's not heartless. One brief highlight on TV on Sunday won over some former players.
Newcastle's Danny Wicks broke through the tackle of Willie Mason and beat the Roosters' fullback on his long run to the line in the last play of the day and threw his arms in the air in celebration.
Wicks, who had a season at Brisbane Norths before returning home to Grafton, had been picked up by the Dragons, released and finally found a home in Newcastle.
His coach, Brian Smith, said: "There's always been a place in history for the player the fans relate to. Newcastle have taken to him like Parramatta took to Mark Tookey. He's the prototype monster that shortarses like me would like to relate to. The crowd relate to players like him. They're different."
Wicks's unbridled joy rekindled the warm fuzzy feeling many former players still hold for the game, despite the unsettling sight of referees in starchless long-johns.
Roy Masters | April 22, 2008
RUGBY league is timeless, relentless and thankless. South Sydney's former premiership captain John Sattler watched Sunday's heritage-round match against Wests Tigers at the SCG and said of the officials' 1908-style uniforms: "Referees have been cockheads for 100 years and the way they're dressed today, they look like cockheads."
While referees have long been resigned to their thankless role as the blame-takers, they didn't like their long-john attire. "They used starch in the old days on their uniforms but the fabric today isn't suited to it," one touch judge said, as he plucked his shirt, expecting it to retreat obediently into position.
Still, referees weren't to blame for the low-standard SCG game. The winless Rabbitohs are devoid of decision makers.
They are the No.1 practitioners of a brand of football that elicits the most constant criticism of the game over the past 100 years: "Too predictable." Former players from Wests, Balmain and Souths, who gathered in the Churchill Stand to watch the match, lamented the Rabbitohs' preoccupation with running from dummy-half and kicking to the corners. Wests Tigers' game plan was obvious: run plenty of players at Souths defenders who are incapable of making decisions.
The Rabbitohs are also brainless in attack. Five-eighth John Sutton was effective in the first half when Souths took the lead, demonstrating his ability to beat a defender one on one, yet Souths reverted to dummy-half running after the interval.
They were so keen to play safe and protect their lead, the players may not have taken their shoulder pads off until today. While predictability has been the game's historic curse, it is only the ordinary sides who are guilty.
Earlier on Sunday, former players from Wests and Balmain gathered at Birchgrove Oval to witness the centenary anniversary match between their two clubs.
Balmain won the first match in 1908 and Wests reversed it on Sunday, so an old Magpie said to a Tiger: "You won the first one and we won the second. Do we have to wait another 100 years for the decider?"
There was a delightful sense of co-operation between the former players, which sends a powerful message about the longevity of the Wests Tigers joint venture.
Former Wests and Balmain players living on the northern beaches hired a bus for $25 a head, return trip, beer included. When the final numbers came in, 14 players from Wests and 14 from Balmain filed aboard.
Former NRL chief executive Neil Whittaker, who played hooker for the Tigers, rounded up his former teammates but was slightly shocked at Wests' traditional garbage bin of iced beer. "A beer at 8.30am is a bit hard to take," he observed.
Still, word of the beer and the free bus quickly spread amongst the 2000 watching the Birchgrove Oval match. When the bus moved on to the SCG, numbers had grown from 28 to 58.
Team-of-the-century prop Arthur Beetson, who boycotted the centenary dinner, came to Sydney a day ahead of the celebrations, attending the Roosters-Eels Harold Matthews (under-16s) match at Henson Park.
While Beetson may have played for three Sydney clubs, his original teammates at Balmain had no doubts of his loyalties, saying of Artie's unmade bed attire: "I think there's a Tiger T-shirt underneath there somewhere."
While rugby league is ageless, it's not heartless. One brief highlight on TV on Sunday won over some former players.
Newcastle's Danny Wicks broke through the tackle of Willie Mason and beat the Roosters' fullback on his long run to the line in the last play of the day and threw his arms in the air in celebration.
Wicks, who had a season at Brisbane Norths before returning home to Grafton, had been picked up by the Dragons, released and finally found a home in Newcastle.
His coach, Brian Smith, said: "There's always been a place in history for the player the fans relate to. Newcastle have taken to him like Parramatta took to Mark Tookey. He's the prototype monster that shortarses like me would like to relate to. The crowd relate to players like him. They're different."
Wicks's unbridled joy rekindled the warm fuzzy feeling many former players still hold for the game, despite the unsettling sight of referees in starchless long-johns.