The Salary Cap

I see that the Rugby Leagues clubs are arguing with the players(again) about raising the salary cap. With all of the rorting that has occurred in the past few years I think it might be time to make some major changes to the way it works or just plain ditch it.

If it does need to stay then what I would like to see is greater discounts given to players who stay at a club for a decent length of time. One of the most heard complaints about modern League is the influence of the large amount money that is available to players and that there seems to be little loyalty to any one particular club. By offering much larger discounts against the salary cap for long term "loyal" players might ease some of this criticism and allow players to get a decent rate of pay without resorting to "the dreaded paper bag under the table".

Just as a side issue... to all those who think Rugby League was better in the old days before all that stinking cash got involved, "the old days" are still available at your local footy oval every weekend. Get your arse down to see and support your local team, you won't regret it.

Gary Glitter

Good old Gary Glitter has been in the news again lately for all the wrong reasons. It brought to mind a story my brother told me which was told to him by the one and only Peter Ward. I hope I do the story justice.



Peter was working with Gary Glitter during one of his comeback tours. After one show about half way through the tour, Gary called a meeting of the band an crew to inform them that the rest of the tour was to be cancelled. Now, quite naturally, everyone was a bit shocked at this news and were keen to know what had happened.

Gary went on to inform them that during that nights performance he had "left his body" and had floated out amongst the crowd and had, for the first time ever, seen himself perform. What he had seen though had not made him happy. He had seen himself as a silly old bastard who was too old for cavorting about the stage singing glam music. All he could see was a bloke who was well past his prime and was being laughed at. His career was over!

You can imagine the atmosphere in that meeting. It was quite sombre and you could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was worried about getting sacked half way through the tour and Gary was worried about being an embarrasing old fool. Most of them were sitting around, heads down, contemplating this terrible news.

Just then the sax player pipes up and asks:

"Gary?"
"Yes"
"You know...when you left your body and floated out amongst the audience?"
"Yes"
"Well... how did my sax sound? Was it alright?"

At this point the room erupted into uncontrolled laughter, including Gary, and the tour was suddenly back on.

Cross posted on Gibbo's War Stories.