WHEN the Four Nations kicks off on Friday night UK time, the incredible gap between the haves and the have nots of international rugby league won’t be lost on Luke Douglas.
After playing in the 2013 World Cup for Scotland, the former Titans star had his eyes opened to life on the road with a rugby league minnow.
Barely could it be further removed from the Kangaroos’ life of luxury, with Mal Meninga’s men based at the England Football Association’s state-of-the-art $170 million St George’s Park training facility for this tournament.
It’s a far cry from how the Scottish prepare, with Douglas rubbing shoulders at training with chimney sweeps moonlighting as footballers at facilities not fit for a professional outfit.
And don’t get him started on the food...
THE BRAVEHEARTS
This time around Douglas will be joined in the Bravehearts’ line-up by some of the NRL’s top talent, headlined by Cowboys premiership winners Lachlan Coote and Kane Linnett as well as Dragons rising star Euan Aitken and Wests Tigers young gun Tyler Cassel.
But of the locals selected to pull on the navy blue, several are just semi-professional, with day jobs at nuclear plants or cleaning chimneys.
That’s right: apparently the occupation romanticised by movies isn’t reserved for Mary Poppins remakes even in today’s modern world.
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“There was one guy (in Scotland’s 2013 World Cup squad), I had to laugh, he had to go back to work, so he’d go back to work in the morning and then come to training and then cruise back to work and he was a chimney sweep,” Douglas tells
foxsports.com.au.
“I didn’t know they had them still but he cleans out chimneys and makes fireplaces and stuff.
“Josh Barlow was his name and his brother Sam was in the team too, he’s played for Halifax in the Championship.
“So there were a few guys like that and it was really good.”
Neither of the Barlow brothers have made the squad this time but Douglas and his NRL cohorts are still bound to return home armed with more headspinning stories of players balancing a football career with a profession.
While the Bravehearts have picked a large majority of players plying their trades in the Super League, semi-professional clubs like Workington Town and the Batley Bulldogs are also represented.
Lachlan Coote will be the star name for Scotland in this Four Nations.Source: Getty Images
THE ATMOSPHERE
For Douglas, playing for Scotland is about honouring his heritage and experiencing a lifestyle that would make plenty of NRL players turn up their nose.
Rarely would an Aussie professional sleep with less than four stars over their head or eat food that wasn’t restaurant quality and approved by a nutritionist.
A month with Scotland is a different proposition completely and has closer parallels with a bush footy side in outback NSW or Queensland. All part of the charm for Douglas.
“For some (professional players) it might not be an enjoyable experience because it is a fair step down and it’s a lot different but I’m a country boy and I’ve always played for teams (the Sharks and the Titans) that don’t have the big cash, so you make do with what you’ve got,” Douglas said.
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“It’s a couple of steps backwards from that, but still, I really enjoyed it.”
An old school approach that encourages beers instead of coconut water no doubt plays into that attitude.
“For our sponsors who were on our jerseys it wasn’t a money thing, they’d just chuck a couple of cases of beer at us,” Douglas said.
“And there was an army sort of mob, or the marines — I can’t remember what it was — they had a guy, a general or someone, who came with us the whole time and cooked all our meals.
“So while other teams went to restaurants, we’d go to sports clubs and some of them were pretty dodgy, like old sheds, and he’d just cook us a meal here and there and we sort of made do with what we got.”
Scotland coach Steve McCormack.Source: News Corp Australia
OFF THE FIELD
Traditionally, Scotland is the arch-enemy of southern neighbour England, just as it is in the country’s famous pop culture reference, Mel Gibson’s Braveheart.
But Douglas reveals his side was given unexpected support from the Cumbrians in northern England at the World Cup, which surfaced at unusual times in unusual places.
No more unusual and no more welcome than when he found himself stranded on the side of a country road in the pouring rain.
“A lot of the Poms don’t really like the Scots but I suppose up there people sort of got on board and it’s not too far from the border,” Douglas said.
“My mate came over with me and there was some pretty nice scenery in the area for us to check out, these lakes and all that sort of stuff, so we went off on a little road trip at one stage and we ran out of petrol.
“It was pissing down rain and we were thinking like, ‘what do we do?’ and we were waiting on the side of the road and we were trying to flag someone down and this young fella pulled over and he actually was a league supporter — they love their footy.
“He pulled over and he says he watches
The Footy Show and he’s a Parramatta supporter.
“So sure enough, he took me to his parents’ house and he got a jerry can and came and refuelled the car and I said ‘come via the hotel and I’ll get some training gear from the Titans’.
“A lot of them watch
The Footy Show over there and they froth it.”
Douglas wasn’t the only Scottish player during that tournament who was eager to repay the local support, with the whole team mixing with the locals at country pubs between games.
Not only was the veteran forward blown away by the rugby league knowledge many of his drinking buddies possessed, he was taken aback by tales of their on-field exploits.
“We had a fair bit of support and we got into the community in a great little town and had a few beers with the locals after the game and all that sort of stuff,” Douglas said.
“They live and breathe their footy up in that Cumbria way and a lot of them don’t venture out of their area because they’re good players but they work in the nuclear plant and have good jobs so why would they bother chasing the Super League dream?”
WHAT THE JERSEY MEANS
Scotland skipper Danny Brough poses with the Four Nations trophy and Australian skipper Cameron Smith.Source: News Corp Australia
Since taking over as coach of the Kangaroos,
Mal Meninga has placed significant emphasis on giving the green and gold jersey a sense of prestige in an attempt to elevate it above the blue of NSW or the maroon of Queensland in the eyes of the players.
While the Scottish rugby league jersey will never covet the same sense of awe, there are plenty of players willing to bleed for the navy blue as a sign of respect for the proud history of the nation it represents.
Despite growing up an Australian, the family ties Douglas has to Scotland has filled him with a strong desire to pay homage.
“My grandfather moved from Scotland when he was about 29 and he’s a proud Scotsman,” Douglas said.
“He grew up near a small Scottish town called MacLean — he went to school there and all the telegraph polls are painted in the different clans and there’s a Douglas tartan pole.
“That’s my heritage, Pop’s still got a real strong accent and my wife, her father was born and bred in Paisley just out of Glasgow, so that’s the Scottish heritage and I couldn’t be prouder to have the opportunity to represent it
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