{"id":418359,"date":"2024-08-21T21:39:31","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T21:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=418359"},"modified":"2024-08-22T00:08:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T00:08:28","slug":"how-hated-ron-coote-started-infamous-book-of-feuds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=418359","title":{"rendered":"How 'hated' Ron Coote started infamous 'Book of Feuds'"},"content":{"rendered":"

The decision to name Ron Coote as an Immortal<\/a> has been met with widespread praise for one of the game's most popular figures – but it wasn't always the case.<\/p>\n

In fact, for a short time in the 1970s, Coote was rugby leaue's public enemy number one.<\/p>\n

The star South Sydney lock committed what Rabbitohs fans regarded as high treason – defecting across Anzac Parade to arch rivals and neighbours Eastern Suburbs in 1972.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Emotional Coote joins rugby league's most exclusive club<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> How a $20 bet became rugby league folklore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Smith's emotional Hall of Fame tribute to late mother<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

His defection kickstarted the infamous "Book of Feuds" – to which Souths owner Russell Crowe has added many chapters since.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The fans hated Easts – and so when I went there, they hated me," Coote told me years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

"This woman called me and said she was a gypsy – and that she would put a gypsy curse on me that would see bad luck follow me for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

"Another lady called and told me she and her family had a pet rabbit called Ron Coote… the day I signed with Easts, they cooked him and had him for lunch."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coote says the switch was more about principle than money.<\/p>\n

"A lot of clubs didn't look after players back then – I know we at Souths were getting a lot less than guys at clubs like Easts and Manly.<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

"I actually went to Souths early in 1971 and asked for more – they didn't take me seriously. I sat out the first few games that year until they came to the party.<\/p>\n

"Then Easts offered me good money and they were building a strong team so it made sense to go – you have to look after your family financially."<\/p>\n

Coote added to his four titles he won at Souths with two more premierships at the Roosters, winning back-to-back grand finals in 1974-75\u2026 much to the annoyance of the gypsy and her friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decision to name Ron Coote as an Immortal has been met with widespread praise for one of the game's most popular figures – but […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":418361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418359"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418364,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418359\/revisions\/418364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/418361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}