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Message: [QUOTE="1910, post: 2574113, member: 8272"] [B]WHEN the Brisbane Broncos stampeded their way into Brisbane 26 years ago, it was assumed every football entity beneath them would be trampled to dust. [/B] But it never quite happened. Yesterday, along with about 1000 or so other spectators, I watched Redcliffe beat Easts 24-12 and left with the vibe that the Intrust Super Cup, while not to be compared with the pre-Broncos era, should feel proud of its existence as the home of stars on the way up, others on the way down and countless journeymen in between. Far away from the comfortable but colourless modern sports stadiums, I write this story under the shade of a giant fig tree on the top of the western hill at Dolphin Oval, with the sun on my back and a cool breeze floatcoming in off Moreton Bay. It’s so high up here that when I turn my head I can see the Glasshouse Mountains through the haze in the distance. If there’s a more soothing place to watch football in Queensland, I cannot recall it. So much has changed in the local competition – which now includes teams from both coasts, Rockhampton, Cairns, Mackay and Papua New Guinea – from the pre-Bronco era. Yet in a way it hasn’t changed at all because it’s still packed with people who put a lot more into the game than they take out like Redcliffe coach Troy “Cowboy” Lindsay. For the past 20 years – firstly as a player who contested a staggering 270 first grade games and now as first grade coach – Lindsay travelled the 38km from Dolphin Oval to the front gate of his Brahman stud at Wamuran, west of Caboolture, four times a week for eight months a year, mostly alone. That’s a 194,560km journey – equal to four laps of the world or halfway to the moon – and includes at least 5000 trips past the Burpengary Tavern without once calling in. And he’s done it without a petrol allowance. “But football has never been about money to me,’’ he said. “I’m 40 and I would still play if I could. I still get that feeling you had when you were a kid that you were involved because you loved it.’’ The Cup’s payment structures are a step back in time to those colourful days when sport was a significant part of a player’s life but not all of it. Players can earn about $15,000 to $30,000 a year, with deals at some top clubs including payments of $700 a win, $200 a loss plus bonuses for playing 10 first-grade games. These figures won’t make any player rich but it is a nice little earner if you have a full-time job, which is where the tap-dancing starts for many players whose fanciest footwork is done organising their weekly schedules, never mind playing. Nothing much happens at Redcliffe training without their skilful halfback Adrian Davis being in the middle of it yet when Davis, the locksmith once got a call mid-training to go and open a building at Margate after a client locked themselves out, he was allowed to instantly disappear into the night. The Easts-Redcliffe game saw cellarmen, nurses, removalists, boilermakers, plumbers, business students, personal trainers, tree loppers, draftsmen, economics students and outreach workers pitted again each other and most will limp off to work today, just as Easts chief executive Des Morris used to when he captain-coached the Tigers in the 1960s and drove a brewery truck from Monday to Friday. One of the joys of the competition spreading its wings is that it has seen the revival of that endearing beast thought to be on the brink of extinction, the small town footy hero. Rugby league will never again see the romantic days when ancient champions like Bobby Banks were chosen for Australia from Cunnamulla or Rohan Hancock would venture from his family meatworks on the Darling Downs to Brisbane for Origin football. But players in teams in Cairns, Rockhampton and Mackay have become well known in their home regions. The Northern Pride gets back-page exposure in [I]The Cairns Post[/I] two or three times a week. We keep hearing hear the local lasses of Cairns reckon the Pride boys are good sorts which is surprising because a quick review of their website reveals one rough head after another. After yesterday’s clash, the Redcliffe boys moved over to applauded the hill to applaud fans on the hill, had a dressingroom beer and headed back to the leagues club to mingle more, maintaining a tradition stretching back to the days when a game was just a game. [url=http://m.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/robert-craddock-the-way-footy-should-be/story-fniabksc-1226862678968]No Cookies | The Courier-Mail[/url] [/QUOTE]

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