I shudder to think of how much Peter V ’ landys ’ Las Vegas jaunt cost .

Airfares and accommodation for the four teams ’ 18 or so players , officials , physios , doctors , etcetera .

Then throw in Viscount V ’ landys , Andrew “ Abba-dabba-do ” Abdo ’ s and their staff ’ s costs plus the swag of hangers-on who received all expenses-paid invites to the big shindig .

Oh , yes , and the army of brown tongues from News Corp ’ s newspapers and the electronic media who rocked up all expenses paid .

Not to mention – OK , I will mention , the cost in hiring the stadium – crikey , just rolling out the playing surface would have cost a motza !

And of course , Profligate Peter and his mob would have spent another motza in advertising as well as funding their earlier “ pathfinding ” holidays to Las Vegas . All for what ? It has been estimated that between 60,000 and 100,000 televisions in the States turned in to watch the games – and I reckon the great bulk of those viewers were ex-pats from Australia , New Zealand , Britain and the South Pacific Island nations .

Two crap games played on a smallerwidth field , with dangerous short in-goal areas and only a metre or so between the sideline and the fence .

And why the big interest by the NRL in the Yank promotion ?

Money , money , money !

Profligate Pete and Abdo ’ s reasons for taking the game to the Land of the Brave , Home of the Idiots ?

Supposedly to interest the Yanks in the Greatest Game of All but really , just to get the Yanks betting on Australian rugby league .

There ’ s around 360,000,000 Americans and V ’ landys ’ Vampires are hoping to suck a small percentage of the punting blood money out of the joint .

And what will the NRL do with that extra motza ?

Give a big boost to V ’ landys and co ’ s wages , more money to the clubs to give these overpaid players more dosh ?

And supposedly provide funds to boost the struggling old game in the bush which , for decades now , has been sucked dry of promising young players .

I well remember back in the early 80s when your little mute mate was writing for the Sunday Telegraph .

I did a yarn on Manly-Warringah , which in one year brought around 40 promising bush youngsters to the Big Smoke , found them accommodation , schools and spots within its junior league teams .

If good enough , they played in the S . B . Ball , Jersey Flegg and Presidents Cup junior representative teams .

Of course , over the ensuing years only a small handful of them graduated to play grade for the Sea Eagles in the Australian Rugby League . And the Sea Eagles were

no Robinson Crusoe ! Naturally the great bulk of those young men found jobs and relationships and a love of the Big Smoke , and only returned home for the occasional visit .

It began the demise of the always anticipated City v Country fixtures , which previously , year after year , unearthed a player or three who made it big at the top level .

I could list them all but there ’ s not enough room on these pages to do that !

The bulk of the 1975 side , the last Country Firsts outfit to beat City , went on to play in the NSWRL . They were Terry Fahey , Brian Hetherington , Erick White , Jon Jansen , Greg Brentnall , David Edwards , Mick Cronin , Arthur Mountier and John Ballesty - while Ian Martin , Ron Fogarty and Jim Morgan had already starred in that league before heading bush .

Country ’ s Steve Hewson was a brilliant halfback for the Queanbeyan Blues and would have made it in the big time but for a career-ending knee injury when only 21 . So , how would V ’ landys and Abdo strengthen bush rugby league with the injection of extra funds from their Vegas Vacation ?

Since 1984 , nothing has changed , and all clubs have continued to suck the bush dry of good young footballers .

I can ’ t see the NRL forking out the proceeds of the Yank punting money to pay for each young bushy boy and girl ’ s

gear ( shorts , socks , jerseys , boots ) plus insurance fees and registration fees .

Boosting the game in the bush , my

Tijuana Brass ! Aah , bah-humbug !

SAD MARKS1 : The passing of another “ Butcher Boy ”, Barry Drayton . Barry , a Life Member , gave decades of service to Riverstone Junior Rugby League Club as player , coach , official and supporter . Barry was laid to rest last month beside his beloved wife , Anne , at Castlebrook Memorial Park .

SAD MARKS 2 : The passing early last month in Leeds of revered Welsh Rugby Union and Great Britain Rugby League legend , Lewis Jones . I am honoured to say that I marked him at five-eighth in the 1966 and 1967 Riverstone High School Students versus Teachers games . Jonesy just got the better of me !!

LATE MARKS : A journo friend of many years subscribes to all the major American newspapers including the New York Times , Washington Post and LA Times , and he tells me none of them gave any coverage whatsoever about the Lost Vegas venture .

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

MAJOR PARTNER

HAWKESBURY • HILLS DISTRICT • BLACKTOWN CITY