By STEVE MASCORD EARLIER this week, I spoke to a friend of mine who describes himself as “an idealist”. If you’ve read this column before, you’ll realise we swing wildly between being that and a lamentable cynic. In fact, there’s not much in between those two poles here. But the thing is, my friend has a bit to do with…
By STEVE MASCORD RUGBY League, so the old maxim goes, was born out of rebellion and is doomed to forever rebel. How can you mount a good argument for sucking it up and toeing the party line for the greater good when we owe our very existence to a bunch of quarrelsome gentlemen who gathered at the George Hotel on…
By STEVE MASCORD I STILL think of the Leeds Park Plaza as a brand, spanking new hotel but the internet tells me I had my longest on-the-record encounter with Steve Folkes there 13 years ago. When Canterbury held a season launch at Pyrmont at the start of the 1998 season – the one that brought the Australian game back together…
A NASTY leg cut to Larissa’s Georgios Gourgiotis has marred his club’s hosting of a new Greek Nines tournament. Eyewitnesses say bone was exposed in the laceration and an ambulance was called. Gourgiotis is recovering in a local hospital. Because of the time taken to treat the injury, the final between Aris and Attica was abandoned. The tournament was triangular…
By STEVE MASCORD I FIRST met Danny Kazandjian in Beirut in 2002. Lebanon were playing France in the first major match held in the country and at one point my credit card was used to guarantee the referee’s hotel room. Danny, who had discovered the game in school in north London when a rugby union coach demanded a State of…
WITH Dubbo CYMS celebrating their Parkes Nines title, the world circuit now moves 15,170 kilometres to the new venue of Larissa, Greece. Dubbo lifted the title at Pioneer Oval when they edged out Nyngan Tigers 10-6. It was a reversal of the earlier rounds, where the two sides met and the Tigers got up 18-12. The CYMS Fishies got to…
By STEVE MASCORD I’M NOT sure there is a better untold story in all of British rugby league: the former Canada World Sevens player who is now vice-president of the RFL, chairman of England touch and worldwide head of Dodgeball. I’ll wait while you read that again. Uh-huh. Yeah. That’s right. No, I’m serious. Meet 48-year-old Wiganer Mark Croston, a…
By CALLUM INSULL IT’S BEEN an average start to the 2018 campaign for Warrington as they’ve been looking to turn around their fortunes after a torrid 2017 season. After seven games under new coach Steve Price they had won three and lost four – obviously not a brilliant record having played the most games out of the entire league. An…
By STEVE MASCORD THE people you meet huddling under a marquee at the Varsity game. You’ll remember last week Mascord Meets… spoke to Mark Ramsdale, the guy who runs the annual dust-up between Oxford and Cambridge. This year’s game was delayed due to the weather and when it finally went ahead, it was still wet as an otter’s pocket (copyright…
By COREY ROSSER A LAST MINUTE try to Roydon Gillett lifted the Mt Albert Lions to their first Sportsafe ARL Nines title, beating the Pt Chevalier Pirates 20-14 in Auckland’s flagship pre-season tournament. With a near full-strength side at their disposal, the Lions cruised through pool play at Stanmore Bay on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast, but had to wait until the…
