Rule draws first blood before Maradona, Yorke, Campese

Diego Maradona, Alessandro del Piero and David Campese have all stepped onto the SFS but who was the first in history?

Billy Rule in the Roosters’ dressing shed at the SFS.

It seems extraordinary we’re farewelling the Sydney Football Stadium after only 30 years. Next door the ghosts of the SCG must be scratching their heads considering they’ve been around in some form since 1848 (albeit with more than a few facelifts).

The SFS, aka Aussie Stadium, aka Allianz Stadium has played host to some of sport’s greatest names. Diego Maradona, Alessandro del Piero, Dwight Yorke, David Campese and, um, Glen Nissen (God bless him) have all stepped on to the SFS turf since its opening in 1988.

But none of them, not even Nissen, can say they were the first. That honour goes to a man not many will know — Billy Rule.

Rule was captain of the Eastern Suburbs under-21s team that played the first football match at the SFS. They defeated St George’s U21s 30-6 with Paul Busch snaring the honour of scoring the first try.

Rule is well known to these pages — he used to draw them as a layout sub-editor for The Australian and The Weekend Australian before going on to edit the sports section of The Sunday Telegraph. He’s now at The Sunday Times in Perth.

Why is it being knocked down? Politics and powerbrokers aside, a telling stat comes from the offices of the SCG Trust. The Noble and Bradman Stands, built at the Paddington end of the SCG in 2014, have more food and beverage outlets than the entire Allianz Stadium.

The ground record was set only months ago when 44,085 watched Ireland beat the Wallabies. There’s a chance that’ll be knocked off tonight.

Hoofin’ it from Buffalo

You know things are bad when a player retires halfway through a game. That’s what happened this week when Buffalo Bills veteran Vontae Davis looked up at the scoreboard anddecided he’d had enough. The Bills were down 28-6 against the Los Angeles Chargers — a week after being torched 47-3 by the Baltimore Ravens — and Davis just didn’t feel like playing. Ever again. The 10-year defensive player just went AWOL. His teammates knew nothing.

“I didn’t expect them to understand,” Davis said afterwards. “That moment was shocking to me as well. My intention was not to hurt my teammates. In that moment, my intuition was telling me I don’t belong on that field any more.”

The decision was a costly one considering the 30-year-old had signed a one-year deal worth $US5 million ($6.9m) during the off-season. But days later Davis was unrepentant.

“I left everything the league wanted me to be, playing for my teammates while injured, the gladiator mentality, it all just popped,” he said. “And when it popped, I just wanted to leave it all behind. So that’s why I don’t care what people say. That experience was personal and not meant for anyone else to understand. It was me cold turkey leaving behind an identity that I carried with me for so long.”

Former Bills player Jordan Matthews may have another explanation after this week saying life in Buffalo — one of America’s coldest cities — was less than exhilarating.

“When I was in Buffalo, there was like nothing to do there, except … have fun with your wife. She got pregnant,” Matthews said. “So we always say we got a Buffalo baby. Ain’t nothing to do there, except each other.”

Now you see him ...

Another player disappeared yesterday. When Benjamin Kololli scored from the penalty spot for FC Zurich against AEK Larnaca, he ran straight to a group of fans. He jumped the first barrier safely and then skipped over the next one, a concrete wall separating the fans from the field. And then he vanished. Poor Kololli didn’t anticipate the ground to fall away quite so severely. Fans were initially in shock and the striker was out of sight for several minutes before emerging a little shaken but able to return to the field. His team won, too.

Steve’s cross words

A few months ago a lengthy magazine piece on Steve Smith revealed the exiled Test batsman had been introduced to crossword puzzles by NSW assistant coach Geoff Lawson. “Steve would have the crossword on the tablet, of course. I’d be scribbling in the newspaper,” Lawson said.

We can reveal Smith has ditched the tablet, tackling The Daily Telegraph crossword page this week at the same Clovelly cafe Lawson often frequents. Lawson had been stunned by Smith’s rather modest vocabulary at the time but the ever-diligent 29-year-old seems intent on enlarging his lexicon. Who knows, one day he may graduate to The Australian’s crossword page. Smith, still banned from playing for NSW and Australia, returns to the field for his club side Sutherland against Mosman at Glenn McGrath Oval today alongside Shane Watson and Steve Waugh’s son Austin.

Email: [e-mail]