100 reasons we love Rugby League
100 reasons we love Rugby League
1 IT'S SOAP OPERA. Rugby league is Gone With The Wind meets Home And Away. No one writes the script but every day there is a different chapter, so unbelievable no Hollywood script writer could dream it.
2 GRAND FINAL ENTERTAINMENT STUFF-UPS. From skydivers landing on the stadium roof to giant, collapsing TV sets and soundless Billy Idols. Classic.
3 BIG HITS. From Mark Carroll colliding with Paul Harragon to Sonny Bill Williams shoulder-charging Joel Clinton, the clash of the big men is one of the game's great sights.
4 THE ETHOS OF TEAMWORK. Good clubs don't care who gets the credit, bad clubs only worry who gets the blame.
5 ANDREW JOHNS. Joey was a joy to watch as he revolutionised the game with brilliant passing and kicking. There are many highlights but his Origin comeback to help NSW to a series win in 2005 stands out as does his performance in Newcastle's 1998 finals-series clash with the Bulldogs. There are plenty of brilliant footballers but only the very great can dominate in a beaten side.
6 BENJI'S SIDESTEP, SONNY BILL'S SHOULDER CHARGE AND MATT GIDLEY'S FLICK PASS. Every time they produce one of their trademark feats, these three players bring the crowd to their feet and you can't help but applaud. More please!
7 WEDGIES. Jason Stevens was a master at grabbing an opposition player's shorts and pulling them upwards as hard as he could - but John Hopoate took the practice to a new level.
8 RETRO JERSEYS. The Newtown Jets haven't played in the elite competition for more than 20 years but their jerseys are now more fashionable than ever. Ditto the 1980s jumpers worn by Balmain, Western Suburbs, Parramatta, Canterbury, Cronulla and even the Illawarra Steelers.
9 MEAT PIES. The quality can vary from venue to venue, but the taste is not the main thing. It's the right we all have as footy fans to devour a dog's eye covered in dead horse and then dribble a bit of it down our shirts as we cheer a mid-bite try.
10 ITS HUMILITY. Former Kangaroos hooker Frank Johnson often said: "Never expect anything from rugby league and you'll never be disappointed."
11 MAL MENINGA GOING INTO POLITICS. OK, so it wasn't on the field and he had left the sport, but it's still pretty memorable. The former Australia and Canberra Raiders captain went on ABC breakfast radio to formally declare he would be an independent candidate for the 2001 ACT election. It was just another radio interview - but it was when Mal realised he wasn't going to cut it as a politician. Seconds after it began, he came to a halt. "I'm buggered. I'm sorry, I have to resign," he said, then exited the studio.
12 ROY MASTERS. The longest-serving St George coach, Western Suburbs' Coach of the Century and one of Australia's best sports writers. As Magpies coach in 1979, Roy introduced class warfare - and other mayhem - to rugby league. Les Boyd, nicknamed "the baby-faced assassin" because of his role as one of the main characters in the famous Fibros v Silvertails feud, later said: "I didn't believe all that stuff that Roy was telling us but I made myself believe it."
13 STEVE BOWDEN v MARK BROADHURST. Bowden's destruction of Broadhurst in the Newtown-Manly minor semi-final in 1981 is up there with the best.
14 MARK RIDDELL'S DRINKING CONFESSION. In an era when most professional footballers treat their bodies like temples, Riddell proved he'd busted the modern-day norm when he revealed his penchant for beer and bourbon. In 2003, an overweight Riddell confessed to Dragons officials that he regularly drank about 40 schooners a week. "At least you're being totally honest, a lot of players wouldn't be that honest," the officials said. "Well, if we're being totally honest," Riddell said, "I probably have about 40 bourbons as well."
15 FRANK HYDE. Before free-to-air and pay TV, the only way to tune into a game live if you couldn't get to the ground was on the radio. And one Francis Aloysius Hyde, made listening to a game a regularly memorable event. Calling the matches for 2SM from a card table on the sideline, Frank also made you feel as though you were close to the action, and his trademark "It's long enough, it's high enough and it's straight between the posts" became as much a part of the game as its stars.
16 PAPUA NEW GUINEA. The only country in the world with rugby league as its national sport. When the Kangaroos play in PNG, they are met at the airport by hordes of fans just wanting to get a glimpse of them, the grounds are never big enough to accommodate the crowds and afterwards supporters chase the team bus.
17 THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE PLAYER. Despite full-time training, big money and coaches cocooning their teams from the public, the intrinsic character of the player has not changed.
18 PARKES RUGBY LEAGUE TEAM. The Parkes Spacemen is a great name for a team, but their junior team's moniker of the Space Cadets is inspired. Honourable mentions go to the Maitland Pumpkin Pickers, the Thirroul Butchers, the Warilla Gorillas, the Augathella Meat Ants, the Woolgoolga Seahorses, the Bombaderry Swamp Rats, the Binnaway Bombshells, the Dapto Canaries and the Grafton Corruption (a touch footy team but we like the name).
19 HAZEM EL MASRI. Born in war-torn Lebanon, Hazem's family fled to Sydney and we're sure glad they did. Not only is he perhaps the best goalkicker league has produced, El Masri is an ambassador for the game and a great role model for all Australians.
20 ITS LANGUAGE, RICH IN MALAPROPS. The word was invented for the code. Malaprop? No, the Canberra champion was a centre, although he did play one Test as a second-rower.
21 IF IT'S NOT WORKING, THEY'LL CHANGE THE RULES. One hundred years ago, rugby league addressed the problem of too many men on the field and 50 years ago threw out the one-yard rule, still practised in rugby union today. League is constantly willing to examine itself and develop. Consequently, it has remained a constantly adapting spectacle.
22 DALLY MESSENGER. The first superstar of rugby league.
23 THE 1997 ARL GRAND FINAL. Even if Andrew Johns didn't put Darren Albert over for the match-winning try on full-time, the sight of Knights fans lining the streets of Newcastle to farewell their team the day before and then following them down the F3 in a convoy to the SFS would still be worth savouring.
24 OTHER GREAT GRAND FINALS. There's nothing better than sitting around at a barbecue with your mates and family watching the season decider. Among the great grand finals were - 1997, Newcastle 22 Manly 16 (see 23); 1989, Canberra 19 Balmain 14; 2003, Penrith 18 Sydney Roosters 6; 1973, Manly 10 Cronulla 7; 1971, South Sydney 16 St George 10; 1969, Balmain 11 South Sydney 2; 1977, Parramatta 9 St George 9; 1941, St George 31 Eastern Suburbs 14; 1943, Newtown 34 North Sydney 7.
25 'I JUST SHAT IN SCHLOSSY'S SHOE.' Julian O'Neill's famous comment to a teammate after Souths players trashed a Dubbo hotel room in 1999. Needless to say, Jeremy Schloss threw out the shoes. It was just one of many incidents O'Neill is infamous for, including being arrested after he had skipped court by a vigilant London bobby who had seen him collect a man-of-the-match award on TV. He also once tried to set fire to a dolphin mascot.
26 WESTERN REDS. One of four expansion clubs to debut in 1995, along with Auckland, North Queensland and South Queensland, the Reds produced a memorable performance in March 1995, in their opening game in the competition against St George, at the WACA Ground. A record crowd of 24,392 turned out to watch their new team beat the Dragons 28-16, with the Reds the only expansion team to get a win that weekend.
27 DON McKINNON. The Manly prop was caught on live television taking a leak on the Lang Park turf during the Brisbane Broncos' debut game in 1988. McKinnon explained later: "I'd drunk about five litres of Staminade before we went out because it was a hot day and all the trainers were saying to get plenty of fluids into you. I got plenty into me all right, the only problem was I had to get rid of some."
28 THE CURSE OF NORTH SYDNEY OVAL. They may no longer be in the NRL but Norths showed in last year's premier league grand final that they still know how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It's something Bears supporters have had to endure since 1922. Even the way their planned relocation to Gosford ended with them going broke before they got there was so typical of the club. Still on North Sydney Oval, former Bears chairman Ray Beattie once said of the old ground: "It's like an antique rocking chair - beautiful to look at but hard to sit in."
29 MICKEY LANE. Nowadays clubs have no hesitation about announcing mid-season signings, but things were a lot more cloak and dagger in the past. In 1977, St George coach Harry Bath was keen to sign a young back from Brisbane. The problem was the player was locked in negotiations with his Queensland club. So the Dragons decided to keep things quiet, and played the youngster in their pre-season trial match at Grafton, using the name Mickey Lane. The player was recognised and fined $500, but he did sign with St George in 1978, and went on to be the club's leading tryscorer in 1979. Mickey Lane aka Mitch Brennan.
30 WALLY LEWIS. Without The King, State of Origin wouldn't be what it is today. The memories of his magic for Queensland still hurts ****roaches everywhere.
31 STEVE GEARIN'S TRY IN THE 1980 GRAND FINAL. It didn't matter whether you supported Canterbury or not, Gearin's try against Easts was a magical moment. The Dogs were chasing their first grand final since 1942, and had the game wrapped up, leading 13-4 with just over five minutes to play. Fullback Greg Brentnall had been put into a gap near halfway and decided to put up a towering bomb on the run. Gearin weaved past defenders on his chase and, as the ball finally came down, he caught it on the run as the tryline arrived.
32 ERIC SIMMS. On July 27, 1969, Souths were doing a job on Penrith. But what made this game a little different was that not only were the dominant Souths team keen to win, they were also looking for every chance they could to help Simms break the pointscoring record set by Dave Brown in 1935. Whenever an opportunity arose, Souths would spin the ball to Simms, who would take a pot shot at field goal, worth two points in those days. At full-time, Souths had won 40-18, and Simms had nailed five field goals, still a record. He kicked 19 field goals that season and went on to break Brown's mark with 265 points.
33 TV TED ELLERY: THE AMCO CUP AND WESTERN DIVISION. In 1974 a bunch of country players, led by "TV" Ted Ellery, and a future Kangaroo in Terry Fahey, played in the midweek competition representing Western Division. They knocked over Auckland, stunned Canterbury, and then playing "at home" in Orange, defied all odds by defeating the reigning premiers Manly on a penalty countback after scores were locked at 12-12 at full-time. Two weeks later they beat Penrith 6-2 in the final to complete an amazing footy fairytale.
34 THE MAN IN THE BOWLER HAT. Imagine if one of the Kangaroos had walked down the street of Ilkley wearing nothing but a bowler hat as John Raper allegedly did in 1967. Although Raper used a bowler hat as his trademark, it was Balmain forward Dennis Manteit who had actually performed the deed.
35 THE MacDOUGALL BROTHERS. There have been plenty of brothers to play league but none have attracted has many headlines as the MacDougalls. The brothers have always played close to the action. Except when they ran, with Scott suspended for eight months after declining a drugs test, ripping off his jumper, jumping the fence and disappearing into bushland wearing only shorts, socks and footy boots. And they call Adam "Mad Dog". This season he and Luke will line up with Newcastle, while Ben returns to Melbourne.
36 LES MARA. For most of its first 100 years, rugby league suffered through its inability to tap into the Latin market - and then along came Mara. Like most old league players Mara suffered from breathing difficulties as a consequence of repeated broken noses. Unlike most old league players, Mara turned to the marching powder to clear the blockages and is now spending many years at the Governor's pleasure.
37 REG REAGAN. Matthew Johns's alter ego first emerged publicly in a 2000 match report after the Knights star, struggling to come to terms with the fact he hadn't been offered a new contract, told the Herald he had instead sent Reg - a late 1970s character, who hates sunscreen, smokes Winfield reds and drinks KB - to play in his place against North Queensland. "When I don't feel like coming to training and playing, I just lay in bed and send him [Reagan] along," he said. Since then, Reagan has gone on to become much more than just a legend in his own mind.
38 MAD MONDAY. After a bruising season, what better way to mark the end of the campaign than for the players to don their mothers' dresses, gather at the local and get absolutely blind. One of our favourite end-of-season costumes was worn by Craig Gower, who celebrated Penrith's 2003 grand final triumph by dressing as a home boy.
39 MUD. Once upon a time, before curators got all clever and built their fields on sand with proper drainage, when it rained football was a whole different ball game. Dirt was transformed from a solid to a fluid and wingers ran like they were wearing gumboots and, 15 minutes in, everyone's jumper was the same colour.
40 INDIGENOUS PLAYERS. For their toughness and skill. Take a bow Artie Beetson, Greg Inglis, Ian Russell, Phil Duke, Larry Corowa, Ricky Walford, Matt Bowen, Johnathan Thurston, David Peachey, Steve Ella, John "Chicka" Ferguson, Steve Renouf, Anthony Mundine, Cliff Lyons, Mal Meninga, Nathan Blacklock, Ewan McGrady, Dean Widders and co.
41 MAX MANNIX. He may not rate as highly as Chris Anderson, Daryl Halligan, Hazem El Masri or other great Bulldogs wingers but Max Mannix will always have his place in folklore after an incident in his club's clash with St George in 1984. Mannix made a break, charged 80 metres down the sideline, and without an opposition player within cooee, he launched into a swandive to score. Problem was in mid-air, Mannix, fumbled the ball and it spilt to the ground.
42 NEWTOWN 0 CANTERBURY 0. In a rain-soaked match in 1982 the Jets and the Bulldogs slugged it out for 80 minutes with no points. As Newtown coach Warren Ryan dead-panned after the game: "The better side drew."
43 VALUE FOR MONEY. The athletes who play league get paid peanuts compared to their ability.
44 STATE OF ORIGIN. Since Arthur Beetson put one on the chin of his Parramatta team-mate Mick Cronin in the very first Origin in 1980, the annual series has been a highlight of the league calendar. Remarkably, after 81 matches, Queensland have won just one more than NSW in what is the game's fiercest rivalry.
45 IT IS THE BLUE-COLLAR GAME AND NOT THE LEATHER PATCH GAME. It's hard to play a game in heaven when you don't believe in heaven.
46 REFEREES. Without them, the game would be chaos and we wouldn't have had Bob Fulton threatening to run over Bill Harrigan with a cement truck or Gorden Tallis being sent off for calling the same whistleblower a "f---ing cheat". Greg Hartley was another controversial referee and will forever be remember for awarding Manly seven tackles in the lead-up to a try in their 1978 finals-series win over Parramatta, while former Wests great Arthur Summons is still dirty about the refereeing in the 1963 premiership decider. Asked at Thursday night's centenary season about the trialling of two referees on the field, Summons said: "I reckon one is one too many."
47 FANS. Without them, it would just be another game. Some, like Laurie Nichols, The Mad Butcher, Parramatta Jesus and The Phantom Siren, have become synonymous with their teams.
48 ANTHONY MUNDINE AND NATHAN BLACKLOCK. The Dragons may never have won a premiership when they played, but geez they were fun to watch. With Mundine's creativity and Blacklock's speed, the pair either scored or were involved in most of their team's tries during the late 1990s and they often capped them off with somersault, backflips and even a dance.
49 SIMPLY THE BEST. The advertising campaign starring the sexy, sassy Tina Turner was so good that two decades on the NRL considered bringing it back. The Hoodoo Gurus "That's My Team" was a cracker, too.
50 MANFRED MOORE. Former NFL player Manfred Moore was brought to Australia to play with Newtown in 1977. He had some success scoring a few tries and bringing much publicity to the team. But it was an incident at half-time of his first game at Henson Park in March 1977 which will live on as one of the rare memories in league. As the players made their way off the field to the sheds for the half-time break, Newtown secretary Frank Farrington approached Moore with two footballs under his arms, telling him he wanted them tossed over the grandstand American football style. Moore wasn't a quarterback but, with coaxing, he gave it a shot. The first one fell into the stand. However, the second, to the roars of the crowd, sailed right over the stand.
51 ANNOYING, CHEEKY, SMART-****From Tom Raudonikis to Craig Coleman to Ricky Stuart. You either love them or hate them.
HALFBACKS.
52 THE CHARGERS AND OTHER DEFUNCT CLUBS. There have been a few Gold Coast teams, including the failed Jeff Muller venture that went through five coaches without getting to play a premiership match, but the one that is best remembered were the Chargers, who were killed off after making the 1997 play-offs as part of the Super League peace deal. Previously they were known as the Giants and the Seagulls. Other teams no longer in existence include the South Queensland Crushers, the Western Reds, the Adelaide Rams, the Hunter Mariners, Cumberland, Annandale, Glebe and Sydney University.
53 THE KANGAROOS JERSEY ISN'T YELLOW. Unlike the one worn by Australian teams in that other code, the green jersey with the gold V is a classic. You've also gotta love the three-quarter-length sleeves.
54WAYNE BENNETT. Brisbane's only coach, now in his 21st season at the helm of the Broncos.
55 NORM PROVAN AND ARTHUR SUMMONS. The "Gladiators" image of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons embracing each other as they walked off the ground is the game's most famous. It was on a Saturday in August in 1963 that a record crowd of 69,860 at the SCG watched St George beat Western Suburbs. Sun-Herald photographer John O'Gready caught the muddy pair with his lens. Provan and Summons re-enacted the moment for the NRL's centenary advertising campaign.
56 ROY SLAVEN AND HG NELSON. For their legendary call of the 1989 grand final between Balmain and Canberra, which the Raiders won in extra time. Roy and HG's running commentary for the "Quit for Life Cup" (aka the Winfield Cup) was the one that gave us Laurie "Tooley" Daley, Glenn "The Brick With Eyes" Lazarus, Ben "Back-door Benny" Elias, Paul "The Buttocks" Sironen and Kevin "Cumquat" Walters to name a few. When Mal Meninga missed an easy conversion, they called him a "joke" and a "disappointment" because he'd let down his family and teammates. Grand finals and State of Origins were never the same again. The pair also coined the "Deborah Kerr" nickname for Allan Langer - think The King And I.
57 HENSON PARK. There's no better place in Sydney to be on a sunny autumn afternoon, sitting on the hill eating a pie and drinking a can of KB and watching the Newtown Jets. The attendance announcement is always a highlight - 8972.
58 MICK CRONIN. The humble and talented Parramatta centre was the last player to be selected to play for Australia while still playing in a country league competition.
59 NEIL PRINGLE AND BRIAN LOCKWOOD. The combination of hardhead hard-running 'Bing' Pringle and pasty, skilful Pom Lockwood was a joy to watch for Balmain during the late '70s.
60 EIGHT OFF ON ONE SATURDAYIn 1911, Glebe played Norths and Easts took on Wests. Three players were sent off during the Glebe-Norths match and five, including the great Dally Messenger, were marched as east met west.
AFTERNOON.
61 DOWLING v TAMATI. After being sent to the sin bin for fighting in the 1985 trans-Tasman Test at Lang Park, Australia prop Greg Dowling and his New Zealand rival Kevin Tamati continued their personal war on the sideline, where they stood toe-to-toe, trading punches, elbows and headbutts.
62 SCANDALS. From Dally Messenger's original defection from union to the Bulldogs' salary-cap rort to Terry Hill poaching lobsters, rugby league's off-field dramas mean there's never a dull moment.
63 GREAT NAMES. Ziggy Niszczot, Tulsen Tollett, Anthony Xuereb, Fuifui Moimoi, Noa Nadruku, Bronko Djura, Colin van der Voort, Jason Hoogerwerf, Chris Leikvoll, Des Mullarkey, Quentin Pongia, Tony Trudgett, Nick Zisti, Geordi Peats, Tas Baitieri, John Ribot de Bressac.
64 DENCORUB AND VASOLINE. Mark O'Meley rubbed Dencorub on his bald scalp before games, while Ray Price smothered himself with Vasoline.
65 MASCOTS. The kids love them but league mascots are characters in their own right, like Stanley The Steel Avenger, who was once sent off after becoming involved in an on-field brawl, and Barney "The Swearing Bear", who received a four-match ban after calling a referee a "f--king cheat". Of course, the most famous is Reggie The Rabbit, who lived under the grandstand at Redfern Oval.
66 THE SOLIDARITY OF THE DRESSING-ROOM. A coach can berate a halfback at half-time for finding touch, instead of keeping the ball in play. The kicker will cop it, even though a more senior player - possibly the captain - told him to do so.
67 IT'S PERFECT ON TELEVISION. By sheer good luck, the game is so perfect for the small screen that it could have been purposely designed for the box.
68 THE HILL AT LEICHHARDT OVAL. One of the best places to watch rugby league. Nothing like the sun starting to dip down behind the horizon and sitting on the hill eating a sausage sandwich watching the game. The way sport should be watched.
69 JIM COMANS. He was the man who, as judiciary chairman, led the cleaning up of the game in the 1980s. Disgraceful offences were met with more realistic penalties under his reign. Included among the bans Comans handed out were two of the most famous in league history - both to Les Boyd. He got 12 months for a high tackle on Darryl Brohman and 15 months for gouging Billy Johnstone. That was effectively his career over.
70 GLOATING. The indescribable joy of reaching that juncture of a game when it's clear that your side is going to win and the team that the mate sitting directly next to you supports ? will not.
71 RAY WARREN. They don't call Rabbits the best caller in the business for nothing.
72 ANY GAME OF RUGBY. It requires just 80 minutes of watching the 15-man code - and often less - for you to come running back to the greatest game of all, bear-hug it and kiss its forehead and tell it you will never, ever think of another code again.
73 SHOULDER PADS. Andrew Ettingshausen's extra-large pads were straight out of Tina Turner's wardrobe for Mad Max III. No wonder ET starred with the singer in the "Simply The Best" ad.
74 STEVE MAVIN. Having enjoyed a tremendous debut season in 1987, winger Steve Mavin had become a favourite of Souths fans. But things all came horribly undone in the first 24 minutes of the team's elimination semi-final against Canberra at the SCG. Sensing a weakness in the youngster, the Raiders continually bombed the ball to his wing and he repeatedly helped them out with errors, three which led to Canberra tries and had the score out to 16-0. Coach George Piggins pulled out the hook after 24 minutes, and Mavin headed straight to the rooms. He was showered and had left the ground before the start of the second half. Souths got hammered 46-12. Piggins said the kid "couldn't have caught it with a fisherman's net".
75 COUNTRY BEATING CITY IN 1975. Maybe it wasn't quite as thrilling as the "up-the-jumper" move worked by NSW country to beat their City rivals in rugby union in 1973 but Mick Cronin's try and five goals to pilot the boys from the bush to their last genuine win over City in 1975 was memorable. Country were huge underdogs going into the game and the victory caused the kids in Gerringong, and every country town around the state, to stand and cheer. Country 19, City 9.
76 HOPOATE v HARRAGON. Craig Golding's brilliant photograph of John Hopoate and Paul Harragon coming face-to-bloody-face during the 1995 semi-final between Manly and Newcastle was used to promote the following season. The best league photograph since John O'Gready's famous "Gladiators" picture, it captures perfectly the passionate violence of the game.
77 CLIVE CHURCHILL'S GOAL. At the midway mark of the 1955 season, Souths were running last and facing a must-win game every week. Somehow Souths won nine straight to sneak into the finals in fourth spot. During that streak, the Bunnies looked gone when they met Manly in penultimate game of the regular season. As full-time approached, Souths trailed 7-4, but after Les Cowie scored a try in the corner, fullback Churchill, who with a broken arm dangling by his side, landed the conversion to give Souths the win. They won their next game against second-placed St George, made the finals, then beat Manly, St George, and Newtown to win the premiership.
78 GORDEN TALLIS THROWING BRETT HODGSON AROUND LIKE A RAG DOLL. One of the most memorable images of State of Origin III in 2002 when Tallis dragged Hodgson by the collar and flung him over the sideline. Hodgson is still constantly asked about that moment to this day. "In the playground, little kids come up all the time and ask, 'What about when Gorden Tallis threw you over the sideline? How did you feel? Were you embarrassed?' ? And all the boys here rib me about it. Ah, it's just all part of it."
79 GEORGE PIGGINS AND SOUTH SYDNEY'S BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL. Former South Sydney captain, coach, president and club patriarch. Rupert Murdoch has never met anyone like George, and his wife Nolene. When News Ltd decided to kick the game's oldest club out of the competition, Piggins led a march of 100,000 outraged league fans to Sydney Town Hall and then fought court battle after court battle until justice was finally done and South Sydney were reinstated in the competition in 2002. If it wasn't for George, there would be no Souths for Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court to now control.
80 HALF-A-GAME ARTIE. Before he switched to Eastern Suburbs and took his game to a level that led to his being crowned an Immortal, Arthur Beetson was known as "half-a-game Artie" while playing for Balmain. He loved a meat pie and wasn't as fit as he should have been, so he sometimes struggled to finish games. But, even when he was a rookie, it was clear how good he was.
81 OLD-FASHIONED JUDICIARY HEARINGS. Hearings these days are usually sedate, but it wasn't like that in the old days. It was often no holds barred - verbally, at least - as charged players tried to avoid suspension. In 1993, Bob Fulton - one of the game's Immortals - clashed heatedly with judiciary chairman Vince Bruce, QC, after Fulton's son, Scott, was suspended for biting. Bozo challenged Bruce by saying, "Are you calling Scott a liar?", to which Bruce replied, "Yes". At the end of their war of words, Bruce suggested Fulton leave and "don't come back".
82 JENNIFER HAWKINS. Proof that a rugby league cheerleader can go far in life. In 2004, Hawko, then a Newcastle Knights cheerleader, packed her bags for the Miss Universe pageant in Ecuador and thought she'd have a crack at the title. She won it. "I'm ecstatic," Hawkins said. "I just can't explain how shocked I am because I never thought this would happen to me. Like, I'm just from Newcastle." The pompoms were never taken out of the cupboard after that crowning and she now has a multimillion-dollar modelling career.
83 CHANGA. Graeme Langlands will be remembered, perhaps unfairly, for a shocker in white boots when a pain-killing injection went wrong before playing for the Dragons against Easts in the 1975 grand final. But he will also be always considered one of the best players to ever pull on a boot. As long as it's a black one.
84 ROBBIE O'DAVIS AND THE MUSTARD SUIT. If Robbie O wanted to attract attention away from his 1998 drugs hearing, he found a novel way to do so after turning up in a mustard-coloured suit. It was arguably the biggest fashion talking point in the game since some of the atrocious shirts worn by the coaching greats of the 1970s.
85 GURU'S TRY. "It ended up being a fairly good try." Thus spake the guru himself, although Gandhi couldn't have put it any better. Only six Bulldogs were left sprawling in his wake as Eric Grothe's diagonal burst split open the defence in the 1983 semi-final. Grothe's balance was a sight to behold and his equanimity adorned his era.
86 JOHN SATTLER'S BROKEN JAW. The South Sydney captain's bravery in playing the majority of the 1970 grand final with a broken jaw is regarded as one of the greatest acts of sporting courage. Coincidentally, Sattler's son, Scott, later did the same thing in a match for Penrith.
87 EWAN McGRADY. When the Bulldogs halfback won the 1991 Rothmans Medal, organisers had to delay the announcement until club boss Peter Moore could track McGrady down and convince him to come and collect the award.
88 I JUST LIKE THE SHAPE OF THE BALL. So said one tragic in the office. And it's even better if it's an old-fashioned, brown leather one. Spectacularly unpredictable and harder to catch than a bar of soap in a shower on a wet day, the leather ball was retired for a "3 ply match ball using imported German material" that bounces like a soccer ball.
89 SCOTT SATTLER'S TACKLE. The son of former Souths great John Sattler wrote his own name in rugby league folklore with a brilliant try-saving cover tackle on Sydney Roosters winger Todd Byrne in Penrith's 2003 grand final win. It was a tackle the great South Sydney lock Ron Coote would have been proud of.
90 ST GEORGE'S 11 CONSECUTIVE PREMIERSHIPS. It's a world record in professional sport and one that is unlikely to ever be broken. From 1956 to 1966, the Dragons dominated league like no other team before or since. The last club to win back-to-back titles was Brisbane in 1992 and 1993, beating the Dragons in both grand finals.
91 THE FOOTY SHOW. It's been a part of our lives since late 1994 so The Footy Show must have something going for it. Fatty, Matty and Chief may not always be big on news and analysis but they sure know how to make us laugh. And Phil Gould's interview with Andrew Johns last year was some of the most compelling television you will ever see.
92 HAIR. From Willie Mason's 'fro to Nigel Vagana's Confuscious-style goatee to Matt Cooper's rats tail and Kirk Reynoldson's bushranger beard. And how good were Tony Puletua and Joe Galuvao going when they were known as Penrith's "Hair Bears".
93 POST-TRYMark Riddell come on down - but not until you have jumped the fence, run into the grandstand and applauded your own try as you did at WIN Stadium against the Cowboys. The NSW Origin team's "hand grenade", in which Bryan Fletcher pretended to pull the pin out of the ball and all his team-mates ducked for cover on the ground was clearly one of the most planned.
CELEBRATIONS.
94 TOM RAUDONIKIS. Pound for pound, Tommy Terrific was one of the toughest players to lace a boot. When NSW selectors dropped him to the bench in an Origin match, Raudonikis intimidated his replacement Steve Mortimer by throwing his bags out of their Brisbane hotel room's window. After finally getting on the field, Tommy pushed an ambulance out of the way to get at Queensland halfback Greg Oliphant as he was being treated on the sideline. He later became a succesful coach, who is probably best remembered for the infamous "cattle dog" call, which was a signal for his Blues side to start an all-in blue.
95 JACK GIBSON. The game's first "super coach", Gibson won premierships with Eastern Suburbs in 1974 and 1975 and Parramatta in 1981, 1982 and 1983 - a record bettered only by Brisbane's Wayne Bennet, who has presided over six grand finals wins. A great innovator, Gibson also had stints in charge of Newtown, St George and Cronulla and coined a number of famous phrases, including: "Ding dong the witch is dead" after the Eels first premiership win.
96 THE IMMORTALS. Union may claim to be the game they play in heaven but league has got The Immortals. Those to receive the highest honour in the game are Arthur Beetson, Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Reg Gasnier, Graeme Langlands, John Raper and Wally Lewis.
97 TEST MATCHES. There's something special about getting up in the middle of the night, or just staying up, to watch the Kangaroos take on the old enemy in England. Playing New Zealand is pretty good, too.
98 NICKNAMES. Adolf (Brad Fittler), Petrol seventy cents a litre (Petro Civoniceva), Chariots (Martin Offiah), Waltzing (Matt Hilder) and Wotsapackata (Phil Sigsworth).
99 BIZARRE INJURIES. David Kidwell missed most of last season after tripping over one of his children at a family barbecue but that's not the most bizzare injury to have afflicted a league player. David Liddiard was once ruled out after he pulled a back muscle while brushing his teeth, John Simon slipped and damaged his leg attempting to climb a shower wall by sticking his foot into a soap holder, Nathan Long and Mark Gasnier have both fallen over getting out of parked cars and Tim Brasher fell off a ladder cleaning a ceiling fan.
100 THE CENTURY. 100 years old and it's still going strong. Rugby league has the survival skills of a ****roach. Nothing can kill it - not even the Super League war. Long may it last.
Roy Masters, Brad Walter, Jessica Halloran, Jacquelin Magnay, Greg Prichard, Glenn Jackson, Andrew Webster, Andrew Stevenson, Ian Fuge and Ears McEvoy.
* 100 reasons are in no particular order.
http://www.leaguehq.com.au
