2011 ROUND 10: Dragons -V- Bluebags

[Jesbass]

St George Dragons -V- Newtown Bluebags​

-V-

Game Thread:

* This is a game thread only. Only game posts can be made here - team lists, substitutions, and articles.
* Any other posts may result in loss of points and is at the discretion of the referee.
* Only original articles, not used in previous games, will be marked by referees.

Naming Teams:
* 5 -V- 5 (+ 2 reserves for the visiting team, + 3 reserves for the home team)
* No 'TBA' or changing players named
* Captains must stick with original teams named

Rules: http://f7s.leagueunlimited.com/rules.php
Official Word Counter: http://f7s.leagueunlimited.com/wordcount.php

Kick Off: Sunday 21st August 2011 (2100AEST)
Full Time: Wednesday 31st August 2011 (2100AEST)
Referee: Titanic
Venue: WIN Jubilee Stadium

Previous Matchups This Season:
Bluebags 433 v Dragons 431 (Round 5)

 

[Jesbass]

Hi captains. Please note the change of referee.

 

[Willow]

The Bluebags bus has broken down, but luckily there's a huge crowd on hand to shove us down the hill and onto the hallowed turf of Kogarah Jubilee Oval.

NEWTOWN BLUEBAGS F7s TEAM - ROUND 10, 2011


Willow (c)
Timmah (vc)
Cliffhanger
Red Bear
Rexxy

Interchange:
JoeD
gorilla

Good luck one and all :thumn

 

[_Johnsy]

Apologies. I am about t0 head off to work & have a quick shift (finish at 10pm start at 7am). At this point in time I have no idea who is playing this week, nor am I aware who is captain for this game. I hope the referee & Willow will accept posting my article this morning as I will not get another chance before full time.

749 words between the lines, via F7's word counter.
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“Friday Night Fights” “Brawl at Brookie” “Fight Night black Eye for Code”

We've all seen the headlines and articles that disect Friday night’s debacle.

Every now and then there’s a fight in a NRL game. It happens, it’s a physically confronting game. Many think it’s ugly, while others love it, it actually gets their juices flowing. The brawl was an ugly incident, no one can argue against that. However, a few minutes before this brawl broke out there was one of the better pieces of sportsmanship from one of the games premier players.

David Williams was tearing down the sideline, Billy Slater with a few other Melbourne players came across in covering defense and made a forceful tackle. It is unsure if the Melbourne players (in particular) Slater heard the injury occur or if Williams said something. Either way Slater cradled Williams neck and head and didn’t move until a stretcher and medical specialists were attending to the injured player. A moment of gallantry and sportsmanship that was in direct contrast to what was about to unfold.

Let’s look at what actually happened, how the brawl unfolded.

24th minute - Melbourne’s Ryan Hinchcliffe threw his elbow backwards after being tackled, and struck Darcy Lussick in the head. Lussick objected to this and has pushed Hinchcliffe across the back of the head as he got to his feet. Punches are exchanged between Lussick and Hinchcliffe and players from both side rush in to get involved. Most noticeably Adam Blair gets in a position to throw several uppercuts to the head of Lussick who is being held by two Melbourne players.

As this continues Glenn Stewart makes a b-line for Blair and throws a few punches. As the outside players move away from the centre of the scuffle, Lussick is seen to continue throwing punches at an unknown player, presumably Hinchcliffe, while Blair and G Stewart are still embraced.

As a result Adam Blair and Glenn Stewart are both sin binned for ten minutes. At the 26th minute mark G Stewart walks off to serve his ten minute stint. Approximately twenty seconds later Adam Blair is also sent for ten minutes on the sideline.

Glenn Stewart continues to walks off towards the sideline while looking backwards towards the referee and Adam Blair. Adam Blair starts to jog off the field. Glenn Stewart then looks over his left shoulder as Blair continues to jog off in the direction towards Glenn Stewart’s right shoulder. Blair then changes direction and moves towards Glen Stewarts left shoulder. Just as Blair does this Stewart looks over his right shoulder and has seen Blair’s change of direction he then looks to his left shoulder. As Blair moves along side his left shoulder they are directly next to each other. Faint contact is made with the players adjoining shoulders. Words are exchanged between the two, they both move so they are facing each other. Stewart has his hands on Blair’s jumper and then Blair grabs Stewarts jumper just under his chin and jabs his chest with both hands while holding onto his jumper. Stewart then throws a punch and they continue to fight each other. Three manly players then rush to be the next four players involved (Brett Stewart, Kieran Foran, Michael Robertson, Darcy Lussick). Brett Stewart was running at a great pace and attempted a king hit the side of Blair’s head. Then all players from both teams arrive, including players not on the field of play get involved. Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair are then sent from the field.

Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair both made conscious decisions to stop make contact and continue the fight, both have been reviewed directly to the match review committee and rightly so. Brett Stewart was let off very lightly needed. Brett Stewart has decided to enter a guilty plea and only miss one game. I cannot fathom this suspension at all. Running at great speed in an attempt to king hit someone is not acceptable at all, even with the weak “I was protecting my brother” defense. Brett Stewart should receive the longest suspension of any player involved.

The game does not need this type of incident beamed not only all over Australia, but all over the world. Our game is tough enough, we do not need blatant displays of cheap shots and thuggery. It gives other codes a free shot at the expense of the NRL’s name. Our game cannot afford to be giving our rivals ammunition like this.
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[Drew-Sta]

Saints rock up:

1. Muzby (C)
2. _Johnsy
3. Drew-Sta (C)
4. Cheesie-the-pirate
5. Jason Maher

6. Breathingfire
7. Dragonpunk

 

[Willow]

Bluebags substitution:
Out: Timmah
In: JoeD

 

[JoeD]

JoeD takes a quick look over his shoulder and hits Johnsy with an 'accidental' elbow.


Love the Love, Love the Hate.

It must have been a great game Friday night between the Storm and the Sea Eagles because it’s all anyone has been talking about. Close finish? No. Great tries? Not really. Big hits? None that I can remember. However, passion? Yes. Love? Yes Hate? Plenty.

It seems all but forgotten that David Williams broke his neck during that game. This potentially life altering injury barely gets a mention. Someone who didn’t see the match but had heard the reports might assume it happened during one of the fights. It didn’t, it happened in a regular, innocuous looking tackle. A type of tackle that would happen hundreds of times over a weekend of NRL footy. Even though this was a regular looking, the players who were close by from both teams immediately knew something was wrong. Billy Slater, a player that fans love to hate (me included) was literally underneath Williams when play came to a stop. Realising there was a potentially serious situation Slater kept still and kept Williams’ head still as well, cradling it in his arms. It was an unusual sight to see on a rugby league field, one player nursing the head of an opposition player – more unusual than the fight which followed it – yet I have yet to see a replay.

Where is the praise for Slater? Where are the headlines and opinion pieces and statements from the NRL. Hypocrisy might be the wrong word but it’s the first one that springs to mind.

So onto the fight. I loved it. I wouldn’t want to see it happen in every other game but once every a season or two is great. Like it or not fighting is a part of rugby league and it always will be. It is exciting and it gets people talking about the game. Not only that but this fight will be talked about for a long time. Why this fight? Was someone seriously hurt, or an unwilling victim? No. No one really started it. Depending on your point of view it never got finished either. Round 2 could easily be in this year’s Grand Final. It is important to remember that not one player was injured during the fight (it is hard to get injured when virtually no punches connect) and it only lasted minutes. Why did I and many others love it then? The overflowing emotion. The hate. Fans hate opposition players, especially players like Blair and Slater and Stewart that play with and show their emotion. For some, hating is part of being a fan. It is for me but it’s a fickle hate. I used to hate Brent Tate when he played for Australia and the Broncos. That is right up until he played for the Warriors. Tate is a passionate, emotional player. The way he broke down after his injury was for me great viewing. My hate for Slater is similar. I hate him when he plays for Melbourne and Australia but when he stopped playing on Friday night to care for Williams I loved him for it.

So back to the fight. Fans are passionate and committed and sometimes they hate opposition players. More than anything, they want their players to be the same. They want the players to share their passion. The favourite players aren’t necessarily the most skillful but the ones we can relate to, the everyman types. The fight was great because for those few minutes Blair hated Stewart and Stewart hated Blair, but it was fickle, no one was going to get really hurt, like breaking their neck. For those few minutes they shared the diehard passion of the fans.

Too often in the modern game players are too clinical and too calculating. I much prefer watching the passionate ones. Sometimes this passion gets them into trouble, sometimes it makes them easy to hate. Sometimes it makes them easy to love.


**655 words**

 

[muzby]

muzby in possibly his last game for the dragons, grabs the ball and runs martin lang style into the opposition.

750 words title to end.

Wicked Game

Beau Champion was feeling homesick after he had ended up at the Storm during the offseason. Sitting in his flat, his dog came up to him. Whilst patting the canine, he said to it “I guess we’re not in Sydney anymore Toto.” No-one can help me.

Just then his phone rang. He looked down and saw it was his manager. He was sick of the little guy after getting him into this mess, but took the call anyway.

“Beau, I know you’re sad and you want to go home. I know who can help you. You need to go and see Wizza! Wizza and Loz.”

“Wizza and Loz?”

“Yes, Gary Freeman and Laurie Daley. They’ve said they’ll get you a spot on NRL on Fox, so you can let your feelings out on national TV. They’re in that magical emerald coloured building in Sydney”

“Great” said Beau, “but how will I get there?”

“Follow the Hume Highway road!”

So Beau grabbed Toto and started off down the highway, enjoying the yellowish tinge that the sun gave the cement road.

When he stopped at a servo, he noticed Adam Blair sitting there, looking sore and sorry after his big fight on the weekend. Beau walked up and asked what was wrong.

“Beau, I had a brain explosion on the weekend, and now I’m facing a long stint on the sidelines. Where are you off to anyway?”

“I’m off to the emerald building in Sydney to see Wizza and Loz. They’re going to help me get home. Maybe they can get you a new brain too?”

So Blair and Champion headed off down the highway arm in arm, signing together “We’re off to see the Wizza, the wonderful Wizza and Loz.”

At the next stop, the boys found Jamie Soward outside McDonalds, throwing ice at seagulls.

“Hey Jamie” said Beau, “What’s up?”

“Beau, I’m in a slump. I’ve lost my drive and my confidence. My fans say I’m playing with no heart”

Beau replied “I know what can help you. Let’s get you on TV so you can tell your fans you have still got it”

“But how can I get on TV Beau?”

Blair chimed in “He’s off to see the Wizza.”

“The Wizza?”

“The wonderful Wizza and Loz”

“He is?”

“He is.”

“He is?”

“He is. To fix every problem there was.”

“Well”, said Jamie, “I’ll come with you. Maybe Wizza and Loz can get me back my heart”

And the three players skipped off arm in arm, singing.

The trio arrived in Sydney as the sun started to set. As they passed ANZ stadium, the boys commented on the stadium and how it is home to so many teams.

“You know” said Blair “I hear that next week that ground will host the Bulldogs vs. Tigers, plus South’s feeder team, North Sydney”.
.
“Bulldogs and Tigers and Bears? Oh My!” Exclaimed Champion and Soward in unison.

The three players huddled together when they heard someone barking. Just then Todd Carney jumped out in front of them, snatched Toto and said “Give me some alcohol or you don’t get your dog back!”

Soward slapped Carney in the face and said “Stop it. Stop it right now.”

To which Carney crouched down and started crying.

“I’m sorry Todd” said Jamie, “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“It’s not you Jamie; it’s just that I don’t have the courage to stop drinking.”

Champion chimed in, “Well you should come with us. We’re off to see Wizza and Loz. They’ll be able to give you the courage to stop drinking”

The four players continued along the road until they saw it, the giant emerald coloured Foxtel studio. They walked inside and stopped. There they were, Wizza and Loz, up there on the big screen. They looked larger than life.

“What do you want?” Bellowed Laurie Daley

Beau spoke up “Oh mighty Wizza and Loz, we need you to give us brains, heart, courage and a trip home”

To which Gary Freeman then piped up,

“Adam, you already have the brains to not fight the Manly grubs anymore.

Jamie, you have heart inside you. Just believe in yourself.

Todd, you have the courage to stop drinking, in fact, you’re sober right now.

And finally Beau. You are home Beau. You’re in Rabbitohs territory right now. Just click your heels and Rusty will come get you.”

So Beau closed his eyes, and said “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home..”

 

[Willow]

Willow | Bluebags


The Queensland Connection

What do Wayne Bartrim, Harry Bath, Mark Coyne, Rod Reddy, Kevin Ryan and Wendell Sailor have in common? They all played for the Dragons? Yes, but there is another answer. They are a handful of the many Queenslanders that ran onto the field for St George.

A few years ago, I attended a Gold Coast pub with fellow forummer Father Ted. The good Father walked in, looking like a text book study of incongruity, crusty around the edges and decidedly unkempt. But he was wearing his Red V jersey. He was immediately jumped upon by a single woman looking for conversation. I still humbly apologise for reminding Father Ted he had a plane to catch that night.

Suffice to say, in Queensland there exists a certain appeal for the Red V.

In August, 2011, the St George Dragons took on the Warwick Cowboys. The charity event for flood victims saw an impressive line-up of old fellas taking the field. Shaun Timmins, Nathan Blacklock, Noel Goldthorpe and Kevin Campion were just a few of those who strapped on their boots. Coached by Wayne Bennett, St George ran out victors over Warwick who had their own share of league legends.

So what were these old Saints doing in South-East Queensland? Bennett is a local, born in the Darling Downs, so it stands to reason he'd call in a few favours to help out his former neighbours.

But the Queensland connection with the Dragons goes much deeper.

In fact, St George teams have been travelling from Sydney to Warwick since the 1940s, once competing with the locals for The St George Cup. But the roots of this relationship can be traced back to the 1920s when forward Jack Mogridge was lured away from Warwick to play for St George. Jack became so attached to Saints that he co-wrote the famous team song, We Are The St George Boys, in the 1940s. The connection then spread further afield into South-West and Central Queensland when the Kogarah-based St George club provided jerseys to the Queensland town of St George.

I was always aware of a Queensland connection, having seen a steady stream of players heading out of the sunshine state to play for Saints since the 1960s. But I only began to really appreciate it when I made the move from Sydney to north of the border in 1998.

At first I noticed a sprinkling of Dragons bumper stickers on Queensland cars. Then a Dragons team visit confirmed my suspicions. In 2002, I went to a Dragons vs Brothers-Valleys trial match in Brisbane. Perry Park was packed, a good portion of grass roots locals wearing their Dragons colours. It shouldn't have surprised, the connection here can be traced back to 1939 when Valleys junior Neville Smith (22-years-old) was appointed the youngest ever captain-coach in the history of St George. He went on to lead the club to an inaugural first grade premiership in 1941, making the Queenslander a household name in Sydney and Brisbane.

But back to the aforementioned Gold Coast pub. In 2003, I was there to watch an injury-hit Dragons side take on the Broncos. The anti-Brissie sentiment was evident in the room. When Dragons hooker Mark Riddell slotted the match-winning penalty goal, a cheer went up. In fact, many Queenslanders have an intense dislike for Brisbane, outside of Brisbane itself. Much of this stems from being a tall poppy town of city folk in a state dominated by a rural mind-set. But the Broncos didn't help matters with the apparent white-anting of fellow Queenslanders in the old Brisbane competition and in the national and state competitions, in particular the Gold Coast in the NRL. Add to this generations of old Sydney supporters making their way to Queensland and 'spreading their word'.

Of course, the Dragons following in Queensland didn't happen overnight. It began in the 1920s and most likely grew further with the club's premiership dominance in the 1950s and 1960s, a fact brought home by the many Queenslanders who played in those premiership victories. In 2011, the St George Illawarra Supporters Club of Queensland holds title as the largest league supporter group outside of NSW. When Saints play at Lang Park or on the Gold Coast, the Queensland supporters combine with the NSW-based Dragon Army to make an impressive display. The numbers are anecdotal at best, but when Saints are playing, 40% of the 'away' crowd seem to be wearing red-and-white.

Indeed, the Dragons are here to stay.


Words | 750
Ref | http://www.warwickdailynews.com.au/story/2011/08/20/yesterdays-heroes-still-keen-on-rugby-league/
Ref | http://www.mydragons.com.au/md/blogs/1/82/the-dragons-take-warwick?mobile=1
Ref | http://jubileeavenue.com.au/history/history_players.php

 

[Rexxy]

Rex | Bags

If you were lucky enough to have seen Johnny Raper play, you’d know he was an uncompromising lock, whose defence was legendary as his damaging running.

After football, he attacked life with the same take-no-prisoners approach. If there was a bob to make, he was in it. If there was a social event he was there.

He once turned up in a TV commercial for a tyre chain called Jax. And he sang the song “Jax The Ripper”.

Fast forward 30 years and he is on TV again, but this time for a different reason.

These days, 'Chook' Raper is shilling for the Melanoma Institute Australia.

But there’s more to this CSA, than meets the eye. And the back story would make fodder for several eps of the Gruen Transfer.

The campaign was inspired by John's real life brush with skin cancer and the story he told at a Melanoma Institute fundraising event in 2010.

Entitled 'Close Call', the campaign launched the 2011 National Shade Day campaign. So how close was it?

We’ll let the Captain explain.

''I would almost certainly be dead''. Said Raper.

''My wife … had never really given it a second thought until then.

''Not long after, she noticed my back was bleeding slightly. She took a look and discovered a massive melanoma.

''Before I knew it, my life was suddenly up in the air. I was being operated on in hospital. There was so much uncertainty about whether it had been caught too late or not.

Thankfully, I was one of the lucky ones.''

So what would we have lost, if we had lost Johnny Raper?

He was once said to be the greatest player of all time, by the great Frank Hyde - no less.

But Chook Raper's career speaks for itself.

Born in 1939, John William Raper hailed from Revesby and went to St Joseph's in Newtown.

In the ‘50s, he made 37 appearances for Newtown, scoring 10 tries.

He was soon signed by St George but in typical Raper style, it was under a cloud of controversy.

“Under the NSWRL's residency rules I had to sit out a season while showing an address in the St George district. But after that, I was sweet”.

From ‘59-69, Rape’s stellar career went from strength to strength; featuring strongly in St George's run of 11 consecutive premierships.

In all, he played 180 games for Saints, scoring 47 tries and kicking 4 goals (149pts).

A New South Wales representative (1959-61, 1963-68 & 1970), and Australian representative (1959-60, 1962-64 & 1966-68), Raper was also an Australian captain.
Frank Hyde's praise stemmed from a Test match against Great Britain at Swinton in the UK. In front of 30,843 people, Australia thrashed the locals 50-12. Dubbed the 'Swinton Massacre', Australia crossed 12 times with Raper having a hand in nine tries. Hyde described it as the greatest 80 minutes of football by any one player in the history of the game.

A tremendous leader, John Raper played in eight grand final wins for the Dragons before playing out his career in the Newcastle competition. After retirement, he went on to become an administrator and national selector.

But of course, there is another side to the legend.

He once took the blame for a nude run when players broke curfew whilst on a Kangaroo tour, reportedly wearing nothing but a bowler hat. He even released a book, The Man in the Bowler Hat. He also appeared in a women's magazine, wearing nothing but the aforementioned hat.

The irony is, the person who said it was talking through their hat.

Years later he confessed to taking the blame to save a guilty team mate - who would have almost certainly been sent back home.

Raper, being the skipper, would most likely walk free. As it turned out, Raper got a warning and if he suffered from the incident, it didn't show. In fact, the legend grew.

Which brings us back to the current day. It is Raper's wish to repay the Institute by fronting the new ads, which are due to launch w/c September 2. Shot at his old stompin' ground of Cronulla Beach, it will raise badly needed money for research into early detection of a disease that’s a major threat to the 15 to 39-year-old demographic.

So next time you’re in the sun, cover up for Chook.

By accident or design, he has become the face for Melanoma Institute Australia. And saving a life will bring a smile to that craggy old face.


Ref:
http://www.melanoma.org.au/news-and-events/multimedia/melanoma-close-call.html
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/raper-repays-the-favour-20110709-1h7q9.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPSUFUhbpVc

 

[Drew-Sta]

Drew-Sta, like Muzby, in probably his last outing with the Saints!

Coconut football


I’ve been living in Tonga for about three and a bit weeks now. It’s quite a learning experience. After being in an all white culture, where I am the predominant race, to moving into a culture where I’m often referred to as the ‘palangi’ (Tongan for 'white person'), I can assure you it is a new experience.
But to be honest, I’ve never seen anything like it.

I was on a tour of the island with a friend, Sione Tupou, who took me to watch the game of one of the local village sides. Lapaha Knights against Houma Tigers. It was a fairly brutal match with both sides less skilled than anything running around in Australia but making up for it with aggression in defence and good, strong running. The end score was 16 – 8 to the Tiger, with the highlight of the match being a tearaway try to winger Feliti Tave’a in the last 10 minutes to seal the game for Houma.

But what really interested me was the kids after the game. When the match had finished, about 20 odd kids, ages ranging from 10 to 16m, ran on to the paddock of their own accord. Barefoot and with a mishmash of clothes yet somehow knowing who was on what side, they passed around a coconut instead of a football.

“Sione, why don’t they let them use a football?” I asked, curious.

“Unfortunately, the club only has the money to buy four balls a year,” he replied sadly. “They don’t want the kids ruining the grip.”

It seemed like an incredible thing to me, but then I guess that’s because I come from a country where opening an oxygen bar and charging people to breath in something through a straw they would also without the assistance of a plastic tube is considered a business opportunity.*

See, Tonga is technically classed as a ‘Developing Nation’. In old people speak, it’s ‘3rd world’. But it hadn’t hit me until I saw a bunch of kids throw around a coconut on a football field; unable to use the real thing because they simply didn’t have the money. What shocked me wasn’t the fact that the average wage was $2000 - $3000 pa’anga (The Tongan dollar); I just shrugged that off. The quality of the cars and food didn’t bother me. The fact my shower doesn’t have hot running water because it’s too expensive to install the pipes seemed reasonable even.

No, none of those things rammed home exactly how poverty stricken some of these people are. But kids throwing around a coconut – That made it all hit home? As that realisation sunk it, I was partly ashamed of myself until I realised something even more grossly disproportionate.

I watched the entire club game and realised that there was quite a lot of raw, natural talent in the side. The fullback for the Knights was a slick operator, good field positioning and had a solid passing game. The five eight for the Tigers was a strong hole runner, always probing down the fringes of the ruck and often managing to slip his arm free to get the ball away to his outside centre. Both the locks on each side were strong defensive players, keeping their pack together and ensure the defence was tough.

And yet none of these kids had a hope in hell of making it simply because they could never devote more than two or three training sessions a week to improve themselves. Each session, I was told, only lasted until the dark settled in because the field they played in didn’t have lights and they couldn’t afford to have them installed. Plus, not every player was available each time as they all worked on subsistence farms with their families in order to grow the food they require to survive.

I honestly felt ashamed. Here I was, coming to Tonga to ‘volunteer’ and I was being humbled by these peoples love of footy.

Sione could tell I had been shaken by what I had seen, and on the way back to the car he tried to cheer me up.

“You know, when all you have is a coconut to pass around, it teaches you something,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“You make sure you catch it, because if you don’t, it will likely hit your nuts. And I can assure you they hurt!”


Words: 733


* - http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...in-citys-first-oxygen-bar-20110830-1jj8a.html

 

[Red Bear]

Red Bear runs on and looks at the surrounds. "This would've gotten 40 000 views at the SFS" he ponders

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No Frills Rugby League

Marketing gurus. The proverbial bullshit artists of the modern world. Paid massive salaries in order to sign up Bon Jovi to promote our sport. Yet you kill one of them and suddenly you’re the bad guy.

Not that I’m bitter. Struggling through a science degree that leads to little work whilst watching commerce types spend all of ten hours a week at uni before moving on to high paying jobs would do this to anyone!

Not only that, they seemed to have evolved into a role that is greater than the players themselves in this modern game.

When I first piked an interest in the great game it was the bruising tackles, the bursts of skill and the brilliant tries that got me. In essence, that fact that it’s a great sport is why I have followed it so intently for most of my life.

I started watching just before the Super League war kicked off, and maybe this is where the language used to promote the game shifted. All of a sudden rugby league went from being a sport to a commodity. The increased emphasis on broadcast rights during this period and ever since has furthered this perception. Likewise, the increased competition for junior numbers has seen the importance placed on the ‘image’ of the sport made paramount.

It was interesting to hear, in the fallout from Friday’s Brookvale brawl, a lot of the talk being about what the fight did to the brand. When you hear a long time rugby league caller such as David Morrow discuss how the scenes from the Manly – Melbourne match have tarnished the product the shift in how the game is viewed is evident.

I personally wasn’t a massive fan of the brawl. The one on one section didn’t concern me too much, but once the rest of the Manly players ran in any contest was gone. It is, however, an illustration of how much the chase for money influences the running of the NRL.

Many fans loved it. There’s no doubt about that. The return of the biff was greeted with excitement from various sections of viewers. The NRL of course have been on the defensive since Friday night.

And herein lies the problem with creating a brand out of a sport. In the NRL’s quest to promote it’s product to those vying to be the broadcaster, it cannot forget what draws people to the game in the first place. Rugby league would exist beyond being the NRL’s product, but the NRL’s product cannot exist without rugby league. Dilute the basis for your brand and you’ll lose support.

For example, I want to see us gain the best possible TV deal for our game. Best possible does not necessarily mean the most money. I don’t think it is healthy for the sport to suddenly change to quarters in order to fit more ads in.

I want to gain as many new viewers to the game as possible, but not at the expense of the physical contest, where any contact that isn’t a textbook tackle is deemed a penalty (see the AFL).

Because it isn’t the product that gains long term fans, it’s the sport. It isn’t a brand you support, it’s a club that you feel a genuine attachment to. If the NRL can learn anything from some of the marketing decisions made in the mid-late nineties whilst continuing to see rugby league as a product.

The Hunter Mariners, the Super League template jerseys, aqua Broncos and thoughts of being on “billboards in China,” are still laughed at today. Examples of where marketing types have completely misread the game. Whilst they are largely laughable on reflection, at the time this viewing on league as a product tore the game apart, setting us back a decade in the process and alienating many long term supporters in the process.

Which is why I am fairly cautious over what should be a brave new world, with the impending independent commission. The sport is primed to grow, with potential for new teams, greater revenue and a greater presence across the country. It just cannot be forgotten that, at the end of the day, it is the sport that attracts people to the game, not the brand.
-----------------------------
714 words between the lines

 

[Cliffhanger]

655

It’s a Great Axe​

Us Aussies love our spectator sports, be it Cricket, Aussie Rules, Soccer or Rugby League, coming across an Australian who is not emotionally invested in a sporting team they do not play for.

For me there are three sides I follow religiously, the Roosters in the NRL, the Gunners in the EPL and the 76ers in the NBA. These sides have my support, my loyalty and hold my faith, but why? What am I really supporting when I cheer on my sides? On what grounds am I declaring my team better than all the others? What constant will continue to separate your side from all the others?

Most of you would be familiar with the axe parable; “this axe is a top axe, it has been with me for years and has not let me down. I have changed the handle twice and the blade three times.” Our NRL sides tend to change in much the same way. There are no real constants.

Let’s look at the facts, playing rosters constantly change, a team’s coach changes, the owners of the team change, even the geographical location of a side occasionally does. Okay so the players are representing a particular area, but I have no connection to Bondi, North London or Philadelphia and I know of many supporters who support a side other than their local one. Further the NRL has reached are where the transfer market has made favouring a team based on their geographical location moot. If supporting a team makes any sense at all then apart from easier access to your team’s home games supporting your local side is no more reasonable than following a team for some other random reason.

So what do our teams represent? When Darren Lockyer, Paul Gallen, Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Benji Marshall, throw on their club jerseys what are they playing for? Is it out of passion for the clubs which invested in them and enabled them to reach their potential? Maybe it’s the fans which cheered them on along the way? Is it really possible for these players to be unmindful of the fact they are not guaranteed loyalty at their club? A player is retained as long as they are in form and the return on investment cannot be beaten. No player is truly seen as indispensible. Face it, just as you would cheer on Satan if he wore the right colours, you would almost certainly turn your back on an over the hill player just eating up cap space.

Perhaps it’s their bond with their playing groups? Maybe it is their teammates who they are really being loyal to? But even their teammates are likely to change, if not as a result of their own decision then due to salary cap restrictions or the decisions made by the club.

Becoming pragmatic seems to be the last thing on our minds when it comes to supporting a team. Blind loyalty is the last part of our childhood that leaves us as we grow into 'maturity', but sometimes you could be excused for thinking that we never grow out of it. It seems to be a fact of life that sometimes we simply can't help ourselves. Slaves to our own emotions.

We might have a genuine problem here folks! There is no logic in our support! We appear to have all developed genuine loyalty to clubs which successes are based on little more than purchasing power of high powered individuals! A competition which comes down to little more than money! Yes the game is fun to watch, but then would it not make more sense to just follow the game without focusing on specific sides? No sooner do I begin to ponder this question and does the referee blow time on and the supporter inside me is awakened and focused on victory.

There's a reason why 'fans' is short for 'fanatics!'

 

[Rexxy]

Rex | Bags

If you were lucky enough to have seen Johnny Raper play, you’d know he was an uncompromising lock, whose defence was legendary as his damaging running.

After football, he attacked life with the same take-no-prisoners approach. If there was a bob to make, he was in it. If there was a social event he was there.

He once turned up in a TV commercial for a tyre chain called Jax. And he sang the song “Jax The Ripper”.

Fast forward 30 years and he is on TV again, but this time for a different reason.

These days, 'Chook' Raper is shilling for the Melanoma Institute Australia.

But there’s more to this CSA, than meets the eye. And the back story would make fodder for several eps of the Gruen Transfer.

The campaign was inspired by John's real life brush with skin cancer and the story he told at a Melanoma Institute fundraising event in 2010.

Entitled 'Close Call', the campaign launched the 2011 National Shade Day campaign. So how close was it?

We’ll let the Captain explain.

''I would almost certainly be dead''. Said Raper.

''My wife … had never really given it a second thought until then.

''Not long after, she noticed my back was bleeding . She took a look and discovered a massive melanoma.

''Before I knew it, my life was suddenly up in the air. I was being operated on in hospital. There was so much uncertainty about whether it had been caught too late or not.

Thankfully, I was one of the lucky ones.''

So what would we have lost, if we had lost Johnny Raper?

He was once said to be the greatest player of all time, by the great Frank Hyde - no less.

But Chook Raper's career speaks for itself.

Born in 1939, John William Raper hailed from Revesby and went to St Joseph's in Newtown.

In the ‘50s, he made 37 appearances for Newtown, scoring 10 tries.

He was soon signed by St George but in typical Raper style, it was under a cloud of controversy.

“Under the NSWRL's residency rules I had to sit out a season while showing an address in the St George district. But after that, I was sweet”.

From ‘59-69, Rape’s stellar career went from strength to strength; featuring strongly in St George's run of 11 consecutive premierships.

In all, he played 180 games for Saints, scoring 47 tries and kicking 4 goals (149pts).

A New South Wales representative (1959-61, 1963-68 & 1970), and Australian representative (1959-60, 1962-64 & 1966-68), Raper was also an Australian captain.
Frank Hyde's praise stemmed from a Test match against Great Britain at Swinton in the UK. In front of 30,843 people, Australia thrashed the locals 50-12. Dubbed the 'Swinton Massacre', Australia crossed 12 times with Raper having a hand in nine tries. Hyde described it as the greatest 80 minutes of football by any one player in the history of the game.

A tremendous leader, John Raper played in eight grand final wins for the Dragons before playing out his career in the Newcastle competition. After retirement, he went on to become an administrator and national selector.

But of course, there is another side to the legend.

He once took the blame for a nude run when players broke curfew whilst on a Kangaroo tour, reportedly wearing nothing but a bowler hat. He even released a book, The Man in the Bowler Hat. He also appeared in a women's magazine, wearing nothing but the aforementioned hat.

The irony is, the person who said it was talking through their hat.

Years later he confessed to taking the blame to save a guilty team mate - who would have almost certainly been sent back home.

Raper, being the skipper, would most likely walk free. As it turned out, Raper got a warning and if he suffered from the incident, it didn't show. In fact, the legend grew.

Which brings us back to the current day. It is Raper's wish to repay the Institute by fronting the new ads, which are due to launch w/c September 2. Shot at his old stompin' ground of Cronulla Beach, it will raise badly needed money for research into early detection of a disease that’s a major threat to the 15 to 39-year-old demographic.

So next time you’re in the sun, cover up for Chook.

By accident or design, he has become the face for Melanoma Institute Australia. And saving a life will bring a smile to that craggy old face.


Ref:
http://www.melanoma.org.au/news-and-events/multimedia/melanoma-close-call.html
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/raper-repays-the-favour-20110709-1h7q9.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPSUFUhbpVc

 

[Willow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QD-GCae94

 

[Willow]

Thank you Air Warden.

And thanks to Rexxy for posting a double. Not sure if it will culminate in double points, but at least you're not flying under the radar.

Good luck one and all.

Over to our very understanding ref.

 

[Rexxy]

Me so solly

 

[_Johnsy]

Disappointing result not getting the full 5.

Steve

That's it for me in the F7's. Well for the foreseeable future anyway.

Thanks all dragons players, been a pleasure.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Cheers _Johnsy. It's been a privelage

 

[_Johnsy]

Cheers _Johnsy. It's been a privelage

Pleasure has been all mine. Top effort this year mate. We would have not got off the ground for the 2010 resurrection without your assistance/efforts. Top shelf champ !!