These last lot of antics are the straws that have broken this camel's back. I am forced to state that I can no longer defend the game of rugby league. The whole thing has gone beyond farce.

The great Jack Gibson once said that the problem with rugby league is that it's a semi-professional game run by weekend amateur officials. It's a fair indication as to the state of things that the period Gibson was describing would now, in comparison, be seen as a golden era - 'Those were the days.'

Now we have full-time professional players and over 400 employees of the NRL organisation; and then on top of those you can throw in all the staff at the various individual clubs. The thing is huge.

And it is a complete disaster - an omnishambles.

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And then there's the players . . . Jesus cycling Christ! The saying used to go, 'You don't have to be mad to play football, but bloody hell it helps.'

These days madness is obviously a requirement. They must test for it: 'Has this bloke demonstrated the sufficient levels of lunacy and general ratbaggery required to play our game? Yes? Sign him up.'

Not to mention the relentless stupidity. Here we are, the game teetering on the brink of oblivion, desperately searching for a way to survive; a global pandemic, the nation in shutdown, qarantine lockdown ... and ...

'Let's go camping with the boys.'

'Good thinking. Reckon I should pack the gun?'

'Definitely. I'd like to get a shot of me illegally firing it for my facebook profile pic.'

I give up.

I played golf on the weekend. You have to say, it was very prescient of world golf to change the rules when they did so that you don't have to take the pin out anymore. (Did they know something? There's an unexplored conspiracy theory for you ...)

With foam in the cups so that your ball doesn't go right to the bottom, thus avoiding the need for stuff-touching fishing out, we were all safely away. And I've heard that Maitland Golf Club will be soon opening the bar for takeaways. Brilliant - with the current one person per cart rule you'll really be able to load one of the buggers up.

Responsibly, of course.

The only trouble is that I was home by three o'clock. Under normal conditions this would tend to be more like six, having spent a few hours at the 19th.

The trouble I foresee is that, unless we get our cumulative golfing heads together and take precautionary measures, women will now know exactly how long a round of golf actually takes. This could well prove problematic once the restrictions are lifted, so, lads, my advice is for us all to start getting our stories straight ...

Virtual motor racing is really taking off. With all the real-life events called off the TV companies have teamed up with iracing and are broadcasting virtual races. And they look great - really entertaining, lots of spectacular crashes, and they've now been given an extra dose of credibility with real-life drivers competing in the events.

Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, who has won consecutive actual V8 Supercars championships at Newcastle in 2018 and 2019, won his maiden iracing Indycar challenge earlier this month.

Apparently anyone can sign up to race - you need high speed internet and some sort of digital wheel/pedal arrangement - but people are really enjoying watching the real-life pros, who it turns out have been using the format for years to practise and even to learn unfamiliar tracks, tussle it out in virtual world.

There's even big bucks involved with these guys competing from home but kitted out in full sponsors-covered racing regalia. I'd have thought 12-year-old gamers would be giving them a run for their money somewhere, but this doesn't appear to be the case.

Anyway, it's an interesting development, and does make me wonder ... can we do something with virtual football?