Rebecca Wilson

Sports journalist Rebecca Wilson passed away three Fridays ago, aged just 54. Apparently she had been diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago and looked like she had beaten in. However it was discovered just five weeks before she passed away that it had returned. Imagine how painful it must have been for her and her family (a partner and twochildren) that in all likelihood she only had a few weeks to live.

I'm sure anybody who reads this will have who has been in a battle with cancer. And it is a battle. I don't want to go over my experiences with it, but it's an insidious disease which has taken the lives of some people my wife & I loved very much.

When I haven't liked somebody who has passed away, I don't like to comment on them until after their funeral. The family of the deceased person should be able to grieve without seeing their loved one being attacked. I think it is possible to have a discussion about the deceased person's legacy that doesn't get personal, but I don't think I'm a good enough wordsmith to be able to do that, so I just leave any commentary until after the funeral.

The passing of Margaret Thatcher provided an interesting insight into how people deal with the death of a person who was disliked by a lot of people. For many in the UK her death was almost a celebration. Indeed there was a campaign by some of her opponents to buy 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead', which made it to #2 on the UK music charts. How disgusting. I understand why people didn't like Margaret Thatcher (because I'm one of them). However to call somebody a witch is unacceptable (in Australia many of us were rightly offended when Julia Gillard was derided as being a witch) . In part it's such an offensive term because there is no comparable insult for a man.

Obituaries in newspapers are should not be written as fan club pieces. I'm sure obituaries of Bob Hawke will not only mention his many achievements but also his problems with alcohol and his womanising, as well as criticism of his time as President of the ACTU and as Prime Minister.   

Tributes have flown for Ms Wilson. Virtually all obituaries/tributes for her have included the words 'award winning', 'legendary', 'ground breaking', 'courageous' & 'brave'. What there wasn't in any of these pieces was any reflection of any of Wilson's failures as a person or as a journalist. There was no mention of her struggles with alcohol which led to two drink driving and one driving without a licence convictions, not even as a tale of how she had overcome this problem.

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First things first. To give Ms Wilson credit, she had a very long career (over 30 years) in the media, working for a number of media outlets. She must have done something right and there must have been people who liked her work (although honestly I have never spoken to anybody who has said they did).

Secondly Ms Wilson was one of the early pioneers of women as sports journalists in Australia. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. Kudos to her and she certainly received praise from a lot of women who in later years have worked in that field.

A common criticism of Ms Wilson by her critics, indeed too common a criticism, was that she had twice been busted for drink driving and once for driving without a licence. Now these are valid points to bring up when Ms Wilson criticised people who had acted like buffoons because of alcohol/drugs or had driven in a reckless manner, such as stories about Grant Hackett & Mitchell Pearce. 

Not only was the argument irrelevant but let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Also there were so many more relevant things related to her journalistic work with which she could have been shamed. However her driving offences were often brought up when people disagreed with her. 

Still it's a good excuse to show this haiku from a Western Sydney Wanderers game (and my friends will know I do love haiku) and it provides a nice segue into another story.

 There are two stories from Ms Wilson that infuriated football fans across Australia. The first was from 2014 in a story about violence at Western Sydney Wanderers games, where she blamed the disaster at Hillsborough on football fans. 

There is so much wrong with this and it is an example of how little research she did. Hillsborough was not caused by fans not sitting in their own seats. The fans who died, were in a standing area. They died because an antiquated unsafe ground was used and because of police incompetence in getting fans safely into the ground in a timely manner, and then not directing fans into the less crowded areas but instead herding them into an area that was already dangerously crowded.

To make it worse, the police then started a media campaign where they tried to shift the blame from themselves to Liverpool fans. At the heart of this campaign was The Sun published by News Limited (who were Ms Wilson's primary employer). 

That Ms Wilson was still peddling these outrageous lies almost 25 years later was just disgraceful. The offending comment was removed from the article, although there is no note about

the deletion.

Then in 2015 Ms Wilson wrote an article about violence at A League games and how 198 fans had been banned from A League games. Any merit the story might have had was undermined by a whole range of issues related to the story. Unfortunately the story is behind a paywall. Here

is a copy (without the photos) from Reddit. 

The article caused outrage. For some the article confirmed what they thought about violence at football games. For a lot of football fans the outrage was directed at Ms Wilson, the Daily Telegraph, the FFA and whoever leaked the document that the story was based on.

There was criticism that the FFA had stated that the details of those banned would be kept confidential; that details were published of people who were under 18; that incorrect photos wereused in some instances; and that details of some offences were incorrect.

A friend of a friend of mine was fired from his job after the story broke. As he pointed out he was 16 at the time that the alleged incident occurred, he was never charged and there was no appeal process with the FFA.

The lack of an appeal process re the bans had been a sore point for football fans for years: the FFA acted as judge, jury and executioner - and then gave those banned no appeal rights.

The following is an interview between Mark Bosnich and the then head of the A-League Damien De Bohun. That weekend a lot of fans walked out of games (I walked out at the game where this interview took place) at the lack of an adequate response and at the continued lack of an appeal
process. 

The irony is that it was outrage at Ms Wilson that forced the FFA to cave in and finally implement an appeal process.

The issue of who leaked the document is also an important story that has never been properly answered. The main suspects are the NSW Police and the SCG Trust. Ms Wilson quotes 2 NSW policemen in the article, including Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione (more on him in a
moment). On the board of the SCG Trust are Ms Wilson's partner John Hartigan (more on him later) and Alan Jones (more on him later) on whose radio show Ms Wilson was a regular.

If the NSW Police leaked the story this almost certainly has criminal implications. If it was the SCG Trust, it is totally unacceptable that the body the people responsible for running one ground used by an A League team and who trying to gain control of the ground used by the team who became the main focus of this story another ground used by another team who are the main focus of the story (the SCG Trust are apparently trying to get control of Parramatta Stadium). 

In the article NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione is quoted as saying “The last thing we want to get to in Australia is putting rival fans in cages like the UK model”. It's simply amazing that the man responsible for running the police in NSW thinks that British football still uses cages.

The man is literally 20 years behind the time. Cages played a massive part in the Hillsborough tragedy and subsequently they were banished from British grounds.

You would have thought a quality journalist would have picked up on this and made a
comment. But as we saw from her article of the year before Ms Wilson seemed to know little
about English football. 

Following the article Ms Wilson appeared on Alan Jones’s radio show. Mr Jones was very
supportive of Ms Wilson. During the interview Mr Jones said "Is this like terrorism in Paris? The
leaders have no guts?" 

Now if it was me I might have answered something like "Well Alan, I think it's a ridiculous analogy to compare what is happening with terrorism in Paris to what is happening in football grounds in Australia. I think that people who are already outraged by the story, might
consider that you are implying that football fans are like terrorists. Also it's odd that on one hand we are arguing that 198 fans is a lot to be banned and on the other hand that the FFA is doing nothing. So, no, Alan I don't consider this to be anything like the situation in Paris".

Instead Ms Wilson said "That's exactly right, Alan."

One of the really illogical arguments that Ms Wilson made during this story is that the 198 fans banned by the FFA was a lot more than other sports and it showed that football was unsafe. Also

the FFA leadership had no guts and was doing nothing about the situation. Clearly only one of these statements can be true.

Besides the Wanderers the other sporting team that was often in Ms Wilson's cross hairs is the other team I'm a season ticket holder for, the Canterbury Bulldogs. 

Mr Noad also stated, "Rebecca also makes mention of the Club not calling her to discuss any issues from her page. That is at the very heart of this decision. Why are we constantly trying to contact her after she has written a story with factual errors. Shouldn’t she be contacting the Bulldogs anytime she receives unsubstantiated information about the club or its players? Isn’t it the very cornerstone of good journalism that you check your facts?"

He also stated "This is a key secondary issue to this whole problem, Rebecca has a personal issue
with me and with the Bulldogs Club. The issue with me extends back to the Sydney Olympics when she used to work for me at News Limited. She was suspended by News Limited for the period of the Games at the request of Lachlan Murdoch for several indiscretions. She felt I should have stood up for her."

Some very interesting points were raised by Mr Noad: The constant errors from Ms Wilson; the lack of fact checking from Ms Wilson; the lack of response from Ms Wilson; and that News Limited banned Ms Wilson from covering the Sydney Olympics. I haven't been able to find another source to confirm that Ms Wilson was banned from covering the Sydney Olympics.
However, Mr Noad would be in a position to know and would have opened himself to a lawsuit if the story wasn't true. I also could not find any denial from Wilson about this point. 

Things escalated and in July 2015 Malcom Noad sued Rebecca Wilson for defamation.

An interesting point in the claim was “Among Mr Noad’s reasons for claiming aggravated damages in his suit is [Wilson’s] act in exploiting her personal relationship with a senior executive of [News Ltd] in order to revenge herself upon [Mr Noad].”

The relationship being referred to was with John Hartigan, the former chairman & CEO of News Limited in Australia. 

In November of that year Ms Wilson apologised to Mr Noad: "On Saturday May 14 2005,

I wrote a report that Malcolm Noad had posted a letter on the (Canterbury) Bulldogs website about me. I also commented on that letter on 2MMM on May 7, 2005. I suggested that Mr Noad’s letter had incited Bulldogs fans to send me obscene messages and death threats. I withdraw that suggestion unreservedly and sincerely apologise to Malcolm Noad and his family for the hurt and distress my comments have caused them".

Back to fact checking. As Mr Noad stated, Ms Wilson was not contacting the Bulldogs before publishing unsubstantiated rumours and then did not return phone calls when contacted by the Bulldogs. 

One of my favourite mistakes that Rebecca Wilson made was claiming that the Boston Red Sox were coming to play a spring training (pre season) game in Sydney (the article was under her and Phil Rothfield's byline. Unfortunately I can't find a copy of this article). The story was published one day after all major league baseball teams published their spring training schedules. The Red Sox had no games scheduled in Australia and only had two days with no games scheduled during this period. Even the most basic of checks would have shown this story was rubbish.

In 2004 Ms Wilson published the following: "The NRL has copped a bucketing over player behaviour but the Swans aren't all angels. One player abused CityRail staff at Circular Quay last week. "I told you I haven't got a ticket," he shouted. He was politely told he would face a fine if he
didn't pay his fare. "You can go and ---- yourselves," he said." 

The problem was the story was completely fabricated and was emailed to her from somebody called Choppies from the League Unlimited Forum.

Even when Rebecca is on the right side of an argument, like she was with the continual booing of Adam Goodes, she lets herself down with her lack of fact checking. Singling out Dermott Brereton, in a radio interview she said "And the fact that Dermott Brereton can come out today and says

‘I actively encourage it’ [the booing], have a look at what he’s done.”

Mr Brereton didn't take kindly to this and called in. Quite clearly Dermott Brereton hadn't said what Ms Wilson alleged. Again some really sloppy journalism undermined her argument. Also it was interesting that she singled out Dermott Brereton rather than her friend Alan Jones, who was also critical of Adam Goodes. 

Ms Wilson called out Phil Gould and Danny Weidler. To quote from a Crikey article "last week

Wilson took a big dip at Weidler and fellow Fairfax writer, Sydney and NSW rugby league coach Phil
Gould. She pointed out, quite fairly in her column that both Gould [sic] and Weidler had mentioned the UK betting exchange, Betfair, without declared [sic] their allegiances with Kerry Packer’s PBL, which plans to take a half interest in Betfair".

As the article mentioned Mr Weidler returned serve: “In another paper, columnist Rebecca Wilson took aim at Last Word and said we should declare that I am moving to Channel Nine and ACP in two months. Wilson, who has appeared in this column because of two  drink-driving charges and a charge of driving without a licence, should take a look at herself. I will not be an employee of Channel Nine until November and have not been paid a cent by the network. For those who would have missed it Wilson is an employee of Channel Seven. She doesn’t declare her vested interest". 

"Since February she has plugged Channel Seven at least 14 times in her column. She has also given numerous favourable mentions to individuals connected to the program on which she appears. She has bagged Channel Nine programs about their ratings and attacked Nine’s sports personalities. She has used her column to beg people to watch her show on five occasions. She should have used it more, as it was axed last week.”

 With so many journalists working for more than one media company and media companies owning some football teams and broadcasting rights, journalists should point out when they have conflicting interests. I once complained about an article that Mr Weidler wrote for the Sun-Herald about a story that had appeared on Channel 9.  One of my complaints was the article didn't

point out that Mr Weidler was an employee of Channel 9. The Press Council agreed with this and I note that Mr Weidler's article now carries a footnote about him being an employee of Channel 9.

The big sport of 2010 was the Melbourne Storm's long-term cheating of the NRL salary cap. It took some time before Brian Waldron, the CEO of the Melbourne Storm, spoke to the media. When he did, this is what Ms Wilson had to say: "Waldron should not have been given the oxygen to say one word by anyone in the media".

Hmmm, Ms Wilson didn't think the media should speak to the CEO of the team involved. The Melbourne Storm were owned by News Limited (Ms Wilson's employer) which also owned half of the NRL.

 News Limited appointed Mr Hartigan to investigate what happened. Early on Mr Hartigan called Mr Waldron "the chief rat" of the operation. It was clear that News Limited wanted to paint the salary cap rorting as being perpetrated by Mr Waldron and a few other employees at the Melbourne Storm, without the knowledge of News Limited. This is the standard News Limited modus operandi when they are caught doing something naughty, like when the world found out that News Limited
newspapers had been hacking people's phones in the UK. 

 I'll attach an article from Phil Rothfield, the sports editor of the Daily Telegraph who runs the News Limited line and takes pot shots at Brian Waldron. Of course as we now know the man who takes money from the disgraced punter Eddie Hayson (not that that was money for favourable articles about Mr Hayson; the favourable articles were just coincidental).

  This is typical News Limited fare. Brian Waldron is called a rat; there is some outrage that John Hartigan and NRL CEO "were at times questioned as though they were the guilty parties"; Also Mr
Rothfield was outraged that when he called Brian Waldron, that Mr Waldron hadn't returned his call and that Mr Waldron wasn't there to face the music. It seems that Mr Rothfield was happy to give Mr Waldron oxygen, if he wanted.

 Back to Ms Wilson. The person who was outraged that Phil Gould and Danny Weidler didn't declare their connections, was reporting on a story where her partner was one of the major

participants (she did acknowledge this). And surprise, surprise she was rock solid behind her partner (and her employer) and didn't even want to hear from the person who her partner was putting all the blame onto.

  Ms Wilson was rightly pilloried for this. Here she is absolutely skewered by Gerard Whateley, Caroline Wilson & Gideon Haigh. And Greg Baum rightly took her to tasks in this Sydney Morning Herald article.

 We really hate hypocrites, although as Norm McDonald pointed out, often the hypocrisy should be way down the list of when we judge a person's sins. However it would be nice if a person who had a problem with drink, maybe recognised that when they criticised others. 

  Ms Wilson wasn't shy at criticising others when they caused problems due to a problem with
alcohol despite twice being prosecuted for drink driving and once for driving without a licence. She criticised others for not revealing any conflicts of interest, yet used her Daily Telegraph column to plug her other work and to run stories beneficial to the interests of her employer and partner.

The following is from a Danny Weidler article when the Matthew Johns and the Cronulla Sharks group sex story with a teenage girl in Wellington broke (as an aside I think there is an interesting story to be written about why it took 7 years for that story to get widespread media coverage whilst the allegations against Bulldogs players dominated the front and back pages for months in 2004).

  "She thinks she stands on a mound of morality but, if you ask me, News LTD columnist
Rebecca Wilson delivers her sermons from hypocrisy hill. Turning up the volume during the week to swipe at men in particular, myself included. Wilson denounced Matthew Johns' infidelity in her online blog, saying "It is a breach of trust that really annoys me with each of these blokes because there is no doubt most of them were in existing relationships. I just can't cop that." 

"I do wonder what her former husband thinks of her new moral clarity. Asked about this yesterday, Wilson said: What I have done in my personal life does not make it right or wrong. I'm in a happy relationship now. I have never had sex with 10 men so it is not fair to draw a comparison. If you want to write about that, I feel sorry for you. You will not stop until you destroy me. You want a quote? You don't deserve me discussing my life with you." 

The reference to not sleeping with 10 men is interesting. There was no allegation that Mr Johns slept with 10 people. The person who slept with 10 men was the young lady who Ms Wilson claimed she was defending.

Ms Wilson wasn't a great journalist. She wasn't even a good journalist or an average one. She was a poor journalist who too often wrote articles that included ridiculous assertions, were riddled
with errors and were driven by personal agendas; her fact checking was either lacking or non-existent; she took a laissez faire approach to conflicts of interests; and she was a shocking hypocrite. 

And the media in publishing obituaries that did not contain any negative comments about her personal life or mention any of the criticism that directed at Ms Wilson's journalistic work, seriously let down their readers.

I'm paper in your hand/I'm under your command

What is the most important rock concert ever? You'd have to give strong consideration like Woodstock or Live Aid. Bod Dylan going electric at Newport in 1965 would have its supporters. A whole host of Beatles concerts, such as their last concert on the Apple Studios rooftop would have strong claims.

Of all of the possible contenders, the concert with the smallest audience would almost certainly be the Sex Pistols concert Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall on 4 June 1976. So why is this concert, that only about 35-40 people attended, so important? Well it was about how many attended but who attended. The concert was organised by Pete Shelley & Howard Devoto from the Buzzcocks. Mark E Smith who formed the Fall was there. Martin Hannet (the great producer) and Tony Wilson (the founder of Factory Records) claimed to be there, although the journalist Paul Morley who was definitely there, states that Wilson definitely wasn't; Mick Hucknall (probably not helping the cause too much); Steven Morrissey who of course went onto to be in the Smiths and then have a great solo career; and the young men who would go on to form Warsaw who would evolve into Joy Division who would later form the basis of New Order were there.

The effect that these people on music was immense. And they helped turn Manchester into rock music powerhouse. Apart from the people already mentioned, Manchester went onto produce the Chemical Brothers, John Cooper Clarke, the Happy Mondays, the Inspiral Carpets, James, Oasis, the Stone Roses and the Verve among others. What a list of talent.

Last year for Vivid, the main musical act who came out was Morrissey. This year it was New Order. Two great acts from Manchester (I'm going to avoid the whole Manchester vs Greater Manchester debate). Both who were at the famous Sex Pistols concert. And two acts who are different in so many ways.

You have the great wordsmith in Morrissey. The man who became the beacon for so many unhappy adolescents. The man who so easily mixed poignancy and humour.

Sixteen, clumsy and shy 

I went to London and I 

I booked myself in at the Y... W.C.A. 
I said: "I like it here - can I stay? 
I like it here - can I stay? 
And do you have a vacancy For a back-scrubber?"

(Half A Person - The Smiths)

Beware, I bear more grudges than lonely high court judges

(The More you Ignore me the Closer I Get - Morrissey)

Where Hector was the first of the gang

With a gun in his hand
And the first to do time
The first of the gang to die
Such a silly boy

(First of the Gang to Die - Morrissey)

There's no doubt that Ian Curtis created some beautifully poignant songs for Joy Division. Listening to them now they seem like a cry for help, that was tragically ignored. Indeed we now know that the rest of the band didn't what Ian was singing about.

Mother I tried please believe me,

I'm doing the best that I can.
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through,
I'm ashamed of the person I am

(Isolation - Joy Division)

When New Order were formed from the ashes of Joy Division, Bernard Sumner ended up taking up the song writing duties. And it always seemed such a struggle for him. I read an interview years ago with him, where he said that the songs came from vibes he got from New Order fans. However despite the lead lead song writer seeming to find the task of creating lyrics very difficult, they have created some beautiful songs like Temptation, Perfect Kiss, Love Vigilantes etc.

Their sounds were very different. Morrissey shot to fame with the Smiths, where his great lyrics were matched with the music crafted by Johnny Marr. The songs were driven by Marr's great guitar work. On the other hand that great sound that New Order so often created either came from electronics or from Peter Hook's bass (apparently Bernard once complained about how Hookie's bass solos where ruining his songs, when for a lot of New Order fans it was Hookie's presence that gave the songs that something special). Blue Monday is probably the best example of this (the 1988 version, because I love the film clip).

Morrissey famously wanted to be a writer for NME and loved interviews. On the other hand New Order were, in their early years at least, a notoriously difficult band to interview as they said so little.

And while New Order embraced dance music and it was their success that fueled the money that allowed Factory Records to open up the Hacienda, the great Manchester nightclub, it was a night at the Hacienda that convinced Morrissey not to sign with Factory. 

Anyway I'm big fan of both. I'd rate New Order as my favourite band (ahead of the Beatles, the Kinks and The The). And Morrissey (I'll include his Smiths stuff in that) would rate only behind David Bowie as my favourite solo act. I was really looking forward to both concerts. However the Morrissey concert was awful. 

New Order on the other hand were fantastic. Whereas the Morrissey setlist was dreadful, the New Order setlist was tremendous. There was an understandable bias to their new album (7 of their 18 songs were from last years Music Complete). However it was a pretty good album with one standout track in Tutti Frutti (if you click on just one link in this, make it this one). Also the album was a very dance orientated and with the rest of the setlist it made for a great night. For at least half of the concert, almost everybody was out of their chair and was dancing away. It wasn't quite a night at the Hacienda, but it was still something quite special. 

And it was a great mix of old and new .Of the other 11 songs , 6 came from 1980-1984; 3 from 1985-1989; and 2 from the 2000's.  

The band also played around with the songs a bit. The versions of Temptation and True Faith were tremendous, whereas 1963, unfortunately, didn't quite come off (but that was a very minor complaint in what was a great night). 

We got great high energy set that mixed new with some classic old songs. Maybe not the greatest concert ever, but a great night from a great band.

That Weren't no DJ that was Hazy Cosmic Jive

Yesterday, I headed with my friend Ed, to Katoomba to see a David Bowie show at the Hotel Steve Gearin (ok, I might have added Steve into the name, but I'd like to think the hotel is named after the Bulldogs player who scored 15 points in the 1980 Grand Final).

I didn't quite realise how long a trip it would be. We caught one of those trains that make very few stops (are they still called XPTs?) and it took 1 hour and 50 minutes. I gained new sympathy/respect/sympathy for people who make that trip into work every day.

Upon getting to the pub we thought we'd get something to eat. We went to the bistro area where the security bloke told is was closed because the restaurant had served 46 meals. Not 44, Not even 45, But 46!!! With the way he said it I think he expect; that will make the next Guinness Book of Records for most meals served by a restaurant in one night.

We headed to the other side of the station to get something to eat. The Thai place was packed and there was no table. It turns out it there was some ukulele festival on in Katoomba.

We found an an Indian restaurant, and as I looked out the window it looked like the side road was leading to an ocean. Probably for the first time in my trips to the Blue Mountains I saw why the area was given that name. I also realised why I try to to stick to a rule of not buying Indian food in Sydney unless I'm in Harris Park.

As we sat in the restaurant I did wonder how crowded the concert would be with so many ukulele ruffians in town. We got that answer when we got back to the hotel and there was now a massive line queuing to get in. I cursed not trying to buy tickets when we first there and was a bit worried we wouldn't get it. Anyway as it turned out we were in about the last 10 people who were let in.

For the first couple of songs I was at the bar buying drinks. I saw they had some cider on tap I hadn't tried before and ordered that. I'm not sure what happened but I saw the bar girl get a can from the fridge and use that for most of my drink. I'm not sure what it was. It might have been Somersby. It also might have been cat's piss. Being an expert on cider (well after I've done a tasting at a place in Tasmania), I'm going to say whatever it was, that the closest it has ever been to an apple was the apple that is painted on the can.

The first set was a number of different mainly acoustic acts. A Portuguese senorita (are they senoritas in Portugal?) did a nice version of Starman. Then we had Absolute Beginners. Not the song but two people who I'm note sure had played a guitar or sung before (stand close to the microphone!). Actually they did do Absolute Beginners, which was very fitting. The highlight of the first part was the bloke who did Ashes to Ashes and Oh You Pretty Things, which I'm not huge fan of but his version was very good.

The second set was some different bands. The first band had a bloke in the band who I'm not sure was even old enough to be allowed into the band. After starting with The Prettiest Star the young lad sang the next 2 songs. As they were doing Modern Love I thought not only had they caught the paper boy, they'd also let him sing with them. They finished with I'm Afraid Of Americans, which he informed us was released in 1997, which was probably also the year he was born.

The next band up was the highlight of the night for me. Speaking to Ed on the way home he thought it was the lowlight, well apart from the absolute beginners. It was 2 singers who were playing with some various musicians who were there. Now maybe they did try too hard, but what they did have was some rock and roll swagger and when you're doing Bowie songs that goes a long way. My favourite Bowie songs are those from mid-to-early 70s, when he was one of the very people who was making decent music. They did some songs from this period: Rebel, Rebel; Suffragette City (which is a candidate for my favourite Bowie song) as well as Heroes. I really enjoyed their energy.

After them the house band came on with some singer who looked a little tired and emotional, and did Let's Dance. During the week I found out that somebody I know appeared in the Let's Dance video. Or at least his car appeared in the video driving along George Street. I was very jealous. I'd love to be have some link to part of pop culture. The house band then did Golden Years which was quite fitting as they were certainly in them (I don't think that is what Bowie had in my mind when he recorded the song).

They announced there would be a break and then they would be back on. However it had just gone 10:45 and the last train was leaving soon so we made our departure.

My feel of Katoomba was that it had some type of Byron Bay feel about it (without the beaches), although that might have been due the influx of the ukulele crowd.

Anyway for the cost of a a free train trip, an average Indian meal, a truly crap cider and a $5 entry fee for the show, I had a good night out.

Best. Grand Final. Ever.

In the last few I've definitely turned from being a Rugby League fan who supports the Bulldogs who likes Rugby League. This season I hardly watched a game apart from Bulldogs games. On Sunday morning I wasn't sure if I'd watch the NRL grand final. I was leaning towards watching it as I'd of liked to see Johnathan Thurston win another premiership, but I wasn't 100% sure I'd be watching.

Then that afternoon I got a phone call from my friend Dave, and he had a spare ticket and asked if I'd like to go. Whilst I wasn't overly excited about watching the game on TV, being there to watch it was a different proposition.

What a game: It's easy to over rate the current at the expense of the past, but even as we awaited extra time it was clear that we had a new Best. Ever. Grand Final. Sometimes games that have great endings,such as the 1997 ARL Grand Final between Newcastle and Manly or the 1999 NRL Grand Final between the Storm and the Dragons, get over rated at the expense of good games that don't have a dramatic twist in the final moments, such as the 1990 & 1991 Grand Finals between Canberra and Penrith or the 2013 Grand Final between the Roosters and the Sea Eagles.

The previous front runner for the best ever Grand Final was the 1989 one between Canberra and Balmain, that also had a last minute try that forced extra time. This was a good game, but in terms of attacking play the Raiders were much the better team. Balmain were a great defensive team and their effort to beat Souths two weeks earlier was built on an incredible defensive display.  In the Grand Final they ran into a team who would make to make 4 of the next 6 Grand Finals with a backline in 1989 that included Garry Belcher, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, John Ferguson and Ricky Stuart. Again the Tigers were out in another outstanding display. However the Tigers were a limited attacking team whose two tries came from an intercept and a punt downfield that took a wicked bounce. In saying that they will still be wondering how they lost the game considering that Michael Neil looked certain to score before Mal Meninga ankle tapped him; Back Door Benny hitting the crossbar with a field goal attempt; and one of the truly horrendous Grand Final refereeing decisions that cost the Tigers the ball right before the Raiders scored the try that allowed them to level the scores.

This years Grand Final was a much better attacking game. Each team moved the ball well and almost always ended up having some shot of scoring at the end of the set even if it was via a bomb.

Then of course came the ending, with the Cowboys down by 4 points scoring after the siren on the last play of the game after some sensational play for Michael Morgan and then Thurston's sideline conversion to win the game hitting the post.

Contentious decisions: There didn't appear to be any obvious horrible calls (maybe the closest was the decision not to send off Ben Hunt late in the game for a spear tackle, that's coming from somebody who remembers the game before the NRL decided that virtually nobody got sent off).

At the ground I thought Thurston had been stripped of the ball in the lead up to the Broncos second try. On watching replays at home in normal time it looked nowhere near as bad. I think the refs and video refs probably made the right decision.

How did the Cowboys get the ball back for their last set in normal time? They had the Broncos pinned deep until the Anthony Milford made another break. The ball game out and went back towards the Broncos line when Ben Hunt picked the ball up. Hunt then was stripped by Kyle Feldt. The refs obviously didn't think the original loose ball was a strip by the Cowboys otherwise it would have been a knock on from them.

Broncos went too defensive: About 12 minutes from the end the Broncos decided to put the ball into touch on every last tackle, It seemed a curious decision at the time. Their bombs had been effective in pinning the Cowboys in the corners and that by doing so you force the Cowboys to start their sets from deeper downfield; you effectively give them one less tackle; and you take their forwards out of the game for at least 2 tackles. Of course you are also always a chance of getting the ball back from a bomb.

Thurston deciding to kick off in golden point: I'd like to know JT's thinking. Now stats might prove me wrong, but surely teams who have the balls first in golden point win more than they lose. I can't believe teams don't want the ball first. Not only do you have the chance to win the game before the other team touches the ball, but with each period of extra time being 5 minutes it means that based on a set of 6 tackles taking a minute the team having the ball first will have it 3 times during this period whilst the team who kicks off will have it twice.

Kyle Feldt's kick offs: Feldt kicked off 6 times during the game. He uses one of those fancy new kicking tees. I said to Dave during the game that his kick offs were fantastic. They were not only high and deep but he was hitting them like a spiral bomb and they must be a nightmare to take. Of course Ben Hunt spilled his kick off in golden point.

The Clive Churchill Medal: This really has turned from an award from the best player on the ground to the an award for a big name player on the winning team. JT along with Andrew Johns is the best player I've seen. However the Cowboys scored 3 tries and he wasn't involved in 2 of them and the other was down to a sensational bit of play from Michael Morgan. Actually apart from a nice slight of hand from JT that should have put in Kane Linnett for a try I'm struggling to think of another great play by him. On the other hand Anthony Milford and Jack Reed from the Broncos were sensational.

Golden point in semi finals: I'm not a fan of golden point in NRL games, but I detest in semi finals (even with the Bulldogs beating the Dragons in this years semis in such a game). A team can have their season ended when they never even touched the ball in extra time (well apart from to kick off). Five minutes each way, with a golden point rule if scores are still level at that time, would be a much better rule.