What’s the Buzz: The NSW country town funeral that sent the TAB broke
THE death of a much-loved old lady in a tiny NSW country town has sent the local TAB broke after mourners were encouraged to back her favourite long-odds horse as a way of paying their respects.
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SAINT
PAUL Waterhouse, the AFL fan who won $100,000 in a kicking challenge last Sunday at Spotless Stadium, has donated part of his winnings to the very worthy charity, White Ribbon.
SINNER
THE appointment of Gerard Sutton to handle Wednesday night’s Origin game is a slap in the face and snub to a number of his refereeing colleagues who have been in far better form in recent weeks, or for that matter months.
WHAT’S THE BUZZ I: Sad Semi in split from his partner
SHOOSH
WHICH NSW player is driving Blues hooker and vice-captain Robbie Farah mad by hiding his mobile phone and stealing his water bottle while in camp at Coffs Harbour?
SHOOSH II
BACK in January, the NRL held a meeting with judiciary boss Geoff Bellew and other key stakeholders about fixing the issue of stars missing marquee games for minor offences. Five months later and still nothing has been done, much to the regret of Wade Graham.
SHOOSH III
WHICH NRL coach forgot his credit card PIN number and couldn’t pay a $600 bill at a flash Sydney restaurant on Wednesday night, leaving a 70-year-old pensioner at his table to produce his wallet and settle in cash.
SPOTTED
Roosters star Boyd Cordner and boom Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks outside the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel around 2am yesterday morning enjoying the bye round. Maybe Cordner could have been treating his ankle injury more professionally.
SPOTTED II
FEDERAL Treasurer Scott Morrisonsinging “up, up Cronulla” in the Sharks dressing room after Monday night’s victory over the Cowboys.
SPOTTED III
THE Gold Coast Titans’ cost-conscious chief executive Graham Annesleywaiting for
a train at Museum Station to the airport after the NRL’s CEOs conference on Thursday.
FUNERAL THAT SENT A TAB BROKE
THE death of a much-loved old lady in a tiny NSW country town has sent the local TAB broke.
The funeral for Shirley Trothe who passed away, aged 80, was held in Nyngan last Saturday.
More than 400 mourners (a fifth of the town’s population), packed into the local RSL for the wake where Shirley’s son Peter told the gathering that Stradbroke Handicap roughie The Virginian was one of his mum’s favourite horses.
“If you’ve got a spare $10 or $20, have it each-way on The Virginian in memory of mum,” he said.
So hundreds of bets, varying from $5 to $200, were placed on the horse at the RSL’s TAB. Such was the weight of money that the TAB slashed the horse’s odds from $200 to $80.
Punters got as much as $50 for the place.
And as the Stradbroke field thundered around the turn at Eagle Farm and The Virginian loomed as a winning chance, the roar inside the Nyngan RSL was louder than any Melbourne Cup.
“It nearly lifted the roof off,” Peter said.
The Virginian ran third and the queue at the TAB window stretched almost 50m. The TAB ran out of money and had to borrow cash from the RSL. Even that wasn’t enough and punters were told to come back on Monday to collect their winnings.
“It was a very special afternoon,” Peter said, “My mum loved horse racing and a little bit of a flutter. If only she could have been there with us.”
BIG MARN’S BRUSH WITH FAME
As if Lowes, 2GB and Channel Nine aren’t enough … because the Big Marn is getting even bigger. Artist Chris Ireland has painted a portrait of multimedia personality Darryl Brohman to enter for the Archibald Prize. The painting will be on display next week at the NSW Art Gallery with other Archibald entries.
ORIGIN A $5M GAME FOR NRL
A NSW victory over Queensland at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night will be worth more than $5 million to the NRL in gate takings.
Fewer than 40,000 seats have been sold for Game III at ANZ Stadium in Homebush but the number will jump to 80,000 if the Blues win to keep the series alive.
With average ticket prices worth more than $100, an extra $5m will land in NRL coffers and officials expecting tickets to sell out in 48 hours.
No such problems for the ARU who on Friday had only 18 tickets left for the Australia-England Test at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
TRUE-BLUE GRAHAM SHOWS HIS METTLE
WE’RE starting to see why Cronulla are groomingWade Graham as next Sharks captain.
We all remember him turning up in thongs, a T-shirt and a back-to-front cap for a meeting with ASADA two years ago. We also remember he was given a police infringement notice for drunken behaviour on the northern beaches.
A heart-to-heart chat with coach Shane Flanagan has obviously paid dividends. The fact he accepted his State of Origin suspension so respectfully has won him plenty of admirers. No complaints. No criticism. No anger.
ANOTHER HAYWARD TO STAR AS HALF
THE grandson of former Newtown starPaul Hayward has made the NSW 15 years’ Combined Catholic Colleges rugby league team to play in the national championships this month.
Hayward (right) died of a heroin overdose in 1992 — 14 years after being jailed for trying to smuggle the same drug out of Thailand and spending more than a decade in a Bangkok jail. But his legacy lives on in Bailey, a talented young halfback at Christian Brothers’ High School Lewisham.
GIANTS ARE TV HITS
FOR those still unconvinced about the future of GWS Giants in Sydney’s west, check out the TV ratings from last Sunday afternoon.
Their derby against Sydney Swans attracted double the national audience of the Manly-Penrith NRL game on the same afternoon. The Swans-GWS was that day’s most-watched program nationally on pay-TV.
POINTS WIN TO KEARY
IT hasn’t been a great year in rugby league for Luke Keary but his golf sure is improving.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs star had 49 Stableford points — or 13 better than his handicap — to finish top of a field of 144 entrants at Eastlake Golf Club on Wednesday. Judging by Friday night’s performance he left his form on the fairways.
SPIRIT OF BLUES
IT’S nice to see that Blues Origin coach Laurie Daley still stays in touch with the father of the late cricketer Phillip Hughes. Greg Hughes joined Daley and his coaching staff for a beer in their Coffs Harbour camp and will always be welcome as part of the NSW crew.
SOUTHERN ‘THIEVES’
SYDNEY is facing a snub for rugby league World Cup games next year. Melbourne has stolen the Kangaroos-England series opener and the final will be played in Brisbane at Suncorp. Unlike other states, the NSW Government and Tourism NSW are not prepared to bid for matches. It means the game’s heartland could miss out on even seeing the Kangaroos.
GRAND-FINAL FEVER
TICKET sales for this year’s NRL grand final at ANZ Stadium are up 20 per cent on the same time last year. The NRL puts it down to the fact that last year’s golden-point thriller between North Queensland and Brisbane was such a memorable game, in which the Cowboys were victorious.
STEVIE GEE, A SAD LOSS
WE were saddened to lose one of our great colleagues from the Daily and Sunday Telegraph sport family with the unexpected passing last week of Stevie Gee far too early, aged 45. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
BLOCKER PLAYING TO HIS STRENGTHS: HADLEY
BROADCASTERRay Hadleyhas revealed details of a meeting with Fox Sports boss Steve Crawley that helped save the broadcasting career of his old 2GB colleague Steve Roach.
“Steve called me to meet for a catch up and Blocker’s name came up,” Hadley said.
“He told me he was thinking of using Steve in commentary and asked me for an opinion. We discussed what happened at 2GB and I told him what I firmly believe, that Blocker is among the best co-commentators in the game.
“He’s certainly not bland and can read the game as well as anyone.”
Hadley said the first he knew of Roach being back on air was when he read this column last Sunday. “I was delighted and offered my congratulations to him,” Hadley said.
“As for suggestions there was a feud, that’s nonsense. It was very sad when Blocker left 2GB, but that’s behind him now and he’s moving to the next stage of his broadcasting career.
“We’ve been through too much together not to remain friends. The advice I offered to Blocker prior to Monday’s game was fairly simple: play to your strengths; be yourself, let your emotions be part of the commentary and have some fun.
“It’s a simple formula but has worked for most of the people I’ve been involved with for the past 30 years.”
Gagai the late hero as Maori hold out Indigenous All Stars
A blade of grass has denied the Indigenous All Stars their third win in a row as the Maori side held on for a memorable win in a match that roared to life in the final few minutes.
SuperCoach trial scores: Warriors star emerges as a must-have
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