CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A recent report by the Australian Sports Commission has found that the North Queensland Cowboys has had more blokes nearly play for them than any other rugby league club in Australia.
The Cowboys were admitted to the premiership for the 1995 ARL season. They played in the breakaway Super League competition in 1997 before continuing to compete in the re-unified National Rugby League competition the following year. It is believed that between their foundation and NRL debut, just under 110,000 young men were to have trained with them without really signing contracts – so it would be hard to find if you looked it up on the internet.
The survey finds that nearly 90.9% of all men wearing high-vis, who have been living above the Capricorn line since before 1992, nearly got the call up to play for Cowboys, and most ‘had a run in a few trial matches’.
While the findings show that other men in non-high-vis-mandatory occupations are also likely to trot out this yarn, very few insist on retelling it to their mates every single match. Unless they are a member of the Katter family.
Of the non-high-vis North Queenslanders who claimed to have gotten a start with the Townsville Young Guns, 70% worked as pub owners and taxi drivers.
