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Joined October 2009
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Steve Mascord has covered rugby league in 15 countries and worked for most media organisations that regularly feature the sport, on both sides of the globe. He started off as an 18-year-old cadet at Australian Associated Press, transferring to the Sydney Morning Herald just in time to go on the last full Kangaroos Tour in 1994. He spent three years at Sydney's Daily Telegraph from 2006 before going freelance at the conclusion of the 2008 World Cup. Steve is the author of the book Touchstones, host of the White Line Fever podcast, partner in international rugby league merchandise start-up Mascord Brownz and proprietor of rugbyleaguehub.com and hotmetalonline.com. He is married to Sarah and spends most of his time in London.
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“I said to them that if they were keeping a particular player, it was either him or me. They said ‘we invested in him…
Is this first grand final in Brisbane, or the second? Is Wayne Bennett shooting for his eighth premiership or his seventh? On Monday, my…
So the Wests Tigers are holding onto Michael Maguire. I’m pleased with that. Coaches are convenient scapegoats and on most of the occasions they…
I don’t know about you but I’m pleased to see the rugby league grand final going back to Brisbane after 24 years. I can…
IF these days it’s all about engagement – I’ve been reading today about the 'outrage economy' – then without a doubt my most successful…
After losing a sudden-death finals series match to Cronulla on a seventh tackle try in 2013, North Queensland coach Neil Henry and captain Johnathan…
As the NRL considers three applications to be the 17th team, I’ve been given cause to contemplate the ‘rise of the club’ in our…
In the wake of reports Jack de Belin was in line to be St George Illawarra’s captain this week, it’s fair to say there…
As I near the end of the writing of my book Two Tribes, about the divided 1997 season, my tiny keyhole view into the…
Transfer gossip - the blood that carries the oxygen to the heart of modern professional sports coverage - bores me to to tears. I…
You’re expecting a rant, I know. When the news broke that Australia and New Zealand had withdrawn from the World Cup, Rugby Football League…
THE rugby league we are left with when Covid is finished with us won’t be the same as the one we had in February…
The last time I was in bed and could hear people celebrating a sporting victory in the street, it was September 24, 1993. That…
The idea that ‘rugby league is dying’ has been rightly ridiculed in recent days as a baseless trope - and yet watching Melbourne excoriate…
It's traditional of this column to start each year with a state of the league address and since this will be the final piece…
Doing an interview the other day, I kind of stumbled across a question that strikes at the heart of what we like about our…
Let's talk about scrutiny in professional sports. Generally speaking, players, coaches and administrators would rather live without it. Fans like scrutiny as long as…
Should Catalans Dragons have signed Israel Folau? Should they have been allowed to sign Israel Folau? This is the water cooler discussion on both…
“Living in England,” the Screaming Jets assured us back in 1992, “I don’t have to act like I’m having fun”. Strangely, the most English…
Is it just me, or are the NRL Nines and All Stars games sneaking up on us quickly and - more worryingly - rather…
It’s our job to fall for things. We know Wayne Bennett is manipulating us at press conferences. We do it willingly. As an old rugby league writer once said to me ‘if you never wrote stories in which you were being used by someone, you’d never write a story’
Who cares what Eddie Jones thinks?
I care because it gave me something to write about. I didn’t file on time this week because I was bereft of ideas on Thursday.
Who cares what Eddie Jones thinks?
There’s a weekend Origin in the next TV deal
Origin is great - it's also a crass sell-out
The commercialisation as it relates to scheduling affects Origin most. If they pause the comp and put it on weekends, I’l cop all the other indignities.
Origin is great - it's also a crass sell-out
Sure it’s my problem. I write about my problems. I get paid. It’s awesome.
Origin is great - it's also a crass sell-out
The point was to keep pushing for the NRL to be paused and for Origin to be played on weekends and to highlight the folly of this not happening.
Origin is great - it's also a crass sell-out
And how do you suggest I write a 500 word column about it being a “good, tough game”. Write that over and over again 30 times? The Roar will not pay me for a match report, I’m afraid. This column is about the issues surrounding football not football itself. Match reports on here come from AAP. PS: It might have been “tough” but it wasn’t “good”.
De-Bunked: Ricky Stuart shows unusual restraint after golden point loss
But what do you think of Radradra? Because either “rules are rules” or rules aren’t rules The rules say Radradra can play for Australia and they say Milford can play for Samoa. David Mead played Country less than 12 months ago and is now playing for PNG, proving the “two year period” is hogwash. The RLIF does not recognise NSW, Queensland, City, Country, state under 20s or the Beralla Old Boys rep teams as committing you to Australia – full stop.
Bennett proves rugby league is not ready to join the international family of real sports
No. Anthony Milford has played three times previously for Samoa. He has not played any Test football since the last World Cup. Therefore he is completely eligible for Samoa. The RLIF does not recognise provincial under 20 appearances. He could play for Samoa, change his country of election before next year and then make his Queensland debut. That’s why Bennett was forced to take responsibility for his absence. Even the expiration of a two-year period following his last Qld Under 20s appearances is irrelevant.
Bennett proves rugby league is not ready to join the international family of real sports
One, I can’t proceed on the basis someone ‘might” have this or that disability. You give me evidence Pat Gibson has a learning disability and I’ll stop telling those stories, which first appeared in the SMH Sin Bin column years ago. Two, sometimes to communicate in a compelling way that resonates with people, you have to be a not-very-nice person. So be it.
Parramatta's board candidates for a Darwin Award
Yes, you are right. And I am speaking from the perspective of that small boy.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
I got interested in rugby league from swapping footy cards as a kid and from the crumpled old Rugby League Weeks my uncle used to have in his bedroom. It was the iconography, the colour….
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
I don’t feel embarrassed. I accept you may be right and I should be embarrassed. I am open to being convinced to be embarrassed.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
Guilty. I can’t find myself arguing with anything you say. But I’m going down with the ship.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
I enjoy rugby league but I don’t see the correlation between wanting a bunch of individuals wearing certain colours to beat a bunch of individuals wearing different colours to committing treason. Please explain it to me. It’s just sport. It’s entertainment. If I don’t care for a sport, why should I want a certain bunch of individuals to win because of the colours they are wearing? The first commenter is right – there are bigger issues that affect a nation
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
How do you suggest I do it? I have gone to Eng;land. Is that far enough away? Or do you want me to stop writing for the Roar? Tell me where to eff off to and I’ll see if I can comply.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
Guilty then. I’m sad and pathetic. I am proud of Australian musicians and Australians in other fields of endeavour but in sport, aside from the ones mentioned in the column and a few others, I feel nothing. I’m just being honest. You can tell me how I SHOULD feel, – maybe I’ll agree with you – but you can’t make me feel it!
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
Failed corporate drone, unfortunately – since I don’t actually have a fulltime job.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
It went well. 73,512 sellout. Like Super Rugby in NSW, popular with those who were there and a few more but more or less forgotten straight away by the mainstream media
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
Having a chip on both shoulders is compulsory if you’re a rugby league person! Australian fans are missing something wonderful by not having a sense of persecution and being wronged that they have here.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
The main reason is time. I am a big rock fan and travel for rock increasingly while travelling less for rugby league. You might say ‘why not like jazz?” It may be that I would learn to appreciate jazz. But I am completely flat out keeping up with the new rock releases. How would I find time? I know what I like and sport, aside from rugby league, is not one of them. Many – a lot of them in the rock world – have no interest in sport. As Jerry Seinfeld said – “I’ve turned 35 – applications to be my friend have now closed”
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
No, I acknowledge rugby league is a tiny sport that will always be in the shadow of rugby union. That’s why I’m zealous. Rugby league needs zealots more than most sports.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
Answered your question above. Whatever this column makes me, that’s who I am – because it’s nothing more than expression of the way I feel. Poisonous, pathetic, small-,minded, whatever. I’ll not dispute any of it.
MASCORD: Is patriotism compulsory?
I like to let people win. I like to fall for whatever they throw out. As long as I get a result from it as well and I don’t have to be dishonest, all is good. I had nothing to write about – then I did. So this was a case of write about Eddie Jones or be out-of-pocket. I’m happy.
Who cares what Eddie Jones thinks?