BACK TO THE GL ORY DAYS
THE glory days will return for more than 100 rugby league masters players this weekend.
Nominations are still open for tomorrow’s Townsville Pirates Masters carnival at Western Lions Park, Heatley, where seven teams from Townsville as well as Hughenden and Mackay will play modified games to ensure players return to work on Monday without heavy injuries. The contact will not be as heavy as regular footy, but Pirates organiser Paul Musumeci said the same competitive spirit would remain.
“What blokes really enjoy is getting back to that mateship and camaraderie that comes with rugby league,” he said.
“You jump into what you did with your old mates 20 years ago.
“It’s something new and there’s guys out there who still have that desire to play.
“The rules are also modified so that blokes aren’t bashing into each other too much.”
Starting in 2015 with a fourteam competition, the Pirates carnival is now expected to field more than 120 players when play gets underway tomorrow afternoon.
“Growth has been very important to us and now we’re at seven teams,” Musumeci said.
“If we get 120 to 130 players down here we’ll be very happy with that and see it as a success.
“We’ve had teams from Burdekin and Ingham take part, but they’ll be unable to participate this weekend be- cause of the crushing season.
“But it’s still good to see the local teams having a run, and the Hughenden and Bloomsbury teams will have a terrific weekend.”
Musumeci said players could also find teams on the day. “If anyone’s keen we can put them into a team,” he said.
“All they need to do is bring ID to show that they are over 35 years of age and $ 10 entry to cover insurance.”
Registrations for tomorrow’s carnival open at 12pm, before play gets underway at 1.30pm NRL duo Dave Taylor and Josh McCrone and former St George Illawarra, Brisbane and Cowboys forward Ashton Sims ( above) have been unveiled as the latest signings for the ambitious Toronto Wolfpack.
The Canadian club, fresh from clinching promotion from England’s League 1, have confirmed the signing of Warrington’s Fijian Test prop Sims and followed up their recruitment of Widnes centre Tom Armstrong with further additions as they prepare to step up to the Championship. HARRY Kane scored twice as Tottenham opened their UEFA Champions League campaign by beating last season’s quarter- finalists Borussia Dortmund 3- 1 yesterday.
The victory was Tottenham’s third in 13 matches in a decade at Wembley Stadium, the north London club’s temporary home for the season while White Hart Lane is being redeveloped.
Kane’s double after Son Heung- min’s opener will give Tottenham hope they can progress this season from one of the toughest Champions League groups. Holders Real Madrid beat Cypriot champion APOEL 3- 0 in the other game in Group H. Cristiano Ronaldo made the difference in his return, scoring a double.