Copa

My local community has a Buy Nothing Facebook page where you can give away stuff for free. If people find out something given away was later sold for cash, you’re banned. Some locals take it a bit too far and actually place requests like: - Does anyone have a spare TV and soundbar and can you please bring it around to my house? - It’s my boyfriend’s birthday. Is anyone keen to help out and bake him a cake and drop it by my place before he gets home?

The ACT already has an NRL team. However, if we had the talent and infrastructure, I wouldn’t be opposed to a second division. I think I’d prefer conferences though.

What’s “rugby league” in Cornish?

I’m feeling quite happy that I’ve never before heard about this stadium. I know so little about the world of soccer. Looks like a great stadium though!

That looks like a weird soccer strip..

I’ve almost finished an Esperanto course. I’ve not interest in the themes that helped create the language. I simply read about it and wondered if it really works. I’ve also spent so much time at home I thought it’d give me something to do other than surf the internet or Netflix.

I stayed in Vegas’ smaller relative, Reno, in the late 80s. We slept in a camper van in a dodgy car park that had on street prostitutes. I’m not sure if one of us had a gun or not … too far back for my memory. I suspect Vegas offers a much more glamorous experience!

He may also want to be closer to his two brothers at Newcastle.

It hasn’t been finalised yet.

I sometimes go to the comments section of A-league articles and write mundane things while using the word “soccer” (I know very little about soccer). It doesn’t boost RL but it really hits a nerve with the exact type of Australian soccer (“Stop writing soccer, it’s football!”) fan who doesn’t like rugby league.

Someone in my neighbourhood had an ebike stolen from their garage in the middle of the day. The victims saw the thief riding away on it.

As a white Australian I don’t find it offensive at all. Most white Australians wouldn’t be offended either. In fact, your view would just confuse them. White players are surrounded by white coaches, white doctors, white physiotherapists, white journalists, white TV commentators, mostly white crowds and mostly white fans while out and about. For a white player to say how good it is to have some white people around would just be odd as it’s already very normal for them everywhere. As a person in a minority group it’s sometimes nice to be around people who “understand”. I’ve been in those shoes in another country.

He’s just implying he’s less likely to feel homesick and culturally isolated. It’s that simple. Like with a Pom that likes the other Poms in Canberra. You’re starting an argument from nothing.

It was ok in Australia to say that about Pakistanis for huge parts of my life. It was just another shortened version of their name like Aussies, kiwis etc . It was used in newspapers and TV when cricket was discussed. I got a huge shock and was very confused when I discovered it was used as an insult in the UK.

Would people really care if a new English player for Canberra said it was great to play with so many other English players? I think not.

This is SE QLD with a population of 3.6 million in one of the most rugby league mad places on earth. It’s a place where it’s safe for RL to be ambitious.

Even the dirt hill NRL stadiums can hold around 20,000. Redcliffe’s stadium is just too small. I’d be surprised if they get the NRL franchise is they plan to play out of that place.

The stadium is too small and there isn’t enough rain protection. For a new team there needs to be higher standards. For a rugby league crazy area like SE QLD they need one central stadium for the team that seats at least 25,000. The NRL really needs another team playing at Lang Park or somewhere in western Brisbane.

The fat lady hasn’t sung yet but she’s warming up. With V’landys involved I won’t believe anything until it’s been officially announced.

Yes, in Australia so my advice won’t be relevant. If you’re interested though it’s: - be careful of nearby trees when pitching a tent. Branches may drop through the night and kill you. - bring a snake bite kit and always wear long hiking trousers to reduce the likelihood of fangs breaking skin … and killing you. - alway carry an emergency satellite beacon so the helicopter can rescue you if you require it … getting lost or injured in remote areas can kill you. - keep your tent fully zipped up at all times to reduce the likelihood of snakes, spider or even huge goannas from entering the tent. - tell people where you are going so they can call search and rescue if you don’t reappear when you said you would. - carry enough food and drink. Dehydration can kill you. - have decent clothing for all possible weather for that time of year. - cotton kills… merino or other special synthetic materials are preferred. - have the relevant topographic maps and know how to read them. - have fun! YouTube clip of a goanna in a tent

It’s very hard to defend advertising gambling during family TV entertainment (NRL, AFL etc) and the flow through consequences of that …. but if you’re happy to do that, go for your life and I’ll let you rant unopposed for as long and as vigorously as you want. As an old guy in Java said to me “Argue with a monkey once, you’re forgiven. Argue with a monkey twice, you become a monkey”

You’ve totally missed my point. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.

I agree there’s gambling everywhere, legal and illegal, but in Australia it’s far more intertwined with our culture than in many places. We even promote sports and racing gambling during family television which totally normalises it in the minds of children so they become the problem gamblers of the future. It all contributes to why we have some of the biggest issues with gambling in the world. We also have something like 20% of the world’s gaming machine yet we have around 0.3% of the world’s population. While every country has gambling issues ours are far worse than most countries on earth. It just doesn’t feel bad for many Australians because it feels so normal.

See gingerjon’s post above for one source. It’s also semi-regularly covered in the press. It’s our national shame. It’s hard to find any other country on earth with Australian level gambling problems. Pension day in a venue with poker machines (same as US slot machines) is also a very sad sight indeed. Unless you live here and experience it it’s hard to comprehend the sheer scale of the problem.

It makes me happy to know there's an englishman, in england, using the term "Vicky Kicky"!