Offtopic/fun » address the players on Thursday, the d

The Waratahs need big numbers in the final two rounds of the Super Rugby competition to make the finals. They require plenty of points, tries and maximum bonus points to continue their campaign into the finals.Then again, big numbers are all the flavour with the Waratahs as -- unbeknown to many -- they are about to reach a major historical milestone.They will play their 999th game against the Hurricanes in Sydney this weekend, and hit the thousand mark when they face the Blues in Auckland on Friday week.As Australian rugbys historical records are a bit sketchy, how do we know with any certainty it will be NSWs 1000th game?Thank the exceptional skills and dedication of the NSW Rugby Union/Waratahs honorary statistician, Steve Johnson, who has spent years getting the provinces historical records in order.In his spare time, Johnson has devoted himself to tracking down intricate details of every game NSW have played- starting with their first match against Queensland in Sydney in August, 1882 right up to last weekends game against the Sunwolves?in Tokyo.This has meant camping himself in libraries, going through hundreds of newspaper microfilms to find team details, scores, crowd attendances, match venues, line-up changes as well as verifying try-scorers and successful goal-kickers.He has tracked down rare match programs, found annual reports, anything that could help him fill in the many gaps. That even meant going through newspaper reports in the days leading up to a game and also after to check if there had been any player withdrawals, and if so, who the replacements were. Any snippet of information was invaluable.You name it, Johnson has found it, including the birthdates of virtually every player who has appeared in the NSW colours. Thats a considerable feat, considering NSW in their 998 matches have fielded 1631 players, and been led by 167 different captains. Due to Johnsons efforts, NSW Rugby now has a comprehensive record of every game and each player who has represented the state.The amount of detail in Johnsons files is incredible. It appears nothing has been overlooked, and all would have involved painstaking, persistent research. This includes listing the NSW caps from one (Jim Brodie) to 1,631 (Ned Hanigan), chronicling every coachs record from the Second World War, and even ensuring that every match replacement gets due recognition.Johnson, who derived his fascination of sporting numbers through his cricket-playing days, says he has relished the journey.Yes, its been a real labour of love, Johnson told ESPN.So we can now say with confidence that NSW boast an overall 58 per cent success rate from 584 victories, 390 losses and 24 draws, with an average score of 20-16 in their favour.Their biggest score was against the Czech Republic at Slavia Athletic Ground in 2005 when they won 94-3; Cyril Towers is their most prolific try scorer with 51, and the most tries scored in one game is eight by Charlie Eastes against Toowoomba at Toowoomba Showground in 1947.Benn Robinson has the most state caps with 155, and top of the point-scoring tally is Matt Burke with 1,172. The most individual points in a game goes to Peter Hewat with 34 from three tries, two conversions and five penalty goals against the Bulls in 2005.There is also some real trainspotting trivia.The most popular name? A dead heat between Smith and Miller, with 13 each.Some of the more offbeat grounds NSW has played at include Dilworths Paddock, Cooks Garden, The Greenyards, Reclamation Field and the Motordrome.The largest home crowd is 61,823 against the Crusaders at the Sydney Olympic Stadium two years ago, but thats topped by 62,000 which saw them play England during the epic 1927-28 NSW tour of Great Britain.Johnson began the search for these and other facts after attending the NSW-Queensland match at Concord Oval in 1995.I hadnt been to a NSW game in years, and went with a mate of mine. In the match program, there was an article which was asking who had played the most times for NSW against Queensland, Johnson said.There was a bit of confusion over who it actually was. That intrigued me, as did something else in the program about how one of the states leading officials John Mulford was starting up the NSW archives and was looking for volunteers. I didnt know John. But I rang him out of the blue, said I was interested in history and sports statistic, and that I was willing to help.He said: Not a problem, Ill put you to work.So I started at match No. 1 and worked my way through. There were numerous obstacles, as many of the NSW Rugby Unions records had been destroyed in a fire at their Sydney offices in the early 1970s. Some went missing and years later found in boxes that had been stored under the Concord Oval grandstand.But Johnson persevered and eventually pieced it together. Driving him on was constantly discovering new information about the countrys biggest rugby province- including that there had a high proportion of players- more than 300- who appeared only once for the state.In the early days, the guys who were playing club football had to buy their own jersey, Johnson said.And if they got picked for NSW, they had to buy the state jersey as well. Not a lot of them could afford it. Thats why there was a fair turnover of players in the early days. Also the best team wasnt always selected because it wasnt just availability but also affordability.The professional game has changed that- but it still relies on the true believers who do it all for nothing, such as Steve Johnson a volunteer who has never chased accolades, to give the code a proper footing and provide perspective.Few have worked harder for the Waratahs, and his research revolving around the 1000th game discovery deserves the highest accolade. Ken Dryden Jersey . 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"It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Zimbabwes Harare-based players have refused to train in protest over unpaid match fees, which date back to July last year. The players were due to begin preparations for a series against Pakistan A, which starts at the end of the month, followed by fixtures against Sri Lanka, but have instead insisted on a meeting with Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa to discuss their worsening situation.Several sources told ESPNcricinfo that apart from the outstanding player bill, ZC has also neglected to bring players from outside Harare to the training camp because of a lack of funds, or to ensure there are sufficient balls for training or nets for practice.We are just fed up at the moment. It is crisis after crisis over here, a player said while detailing the cloud of uncertainty hanging over them. Also, players said, since the end of July, when player contracts expired, there has been no indication on when new ones will be issued at either national or domestic level.Nationally-contracted players were given a months extension on their deals which covered the New Zealand series in July-August, but the situation at domestic level remains unclear after ZC announced it would move from a franchise to a provincial system this summer. No fixtures have been released yet.When contacted for a comment, ZC spokesperson Darlington Majonga said: The players have asked ZC for an update on new contracts and their delayed match ffees, but to equate their honest request for an engagement on the important issues to an ultimatum of some sort would be kind of making a mountain out of a molehill.ddddddddddddWhat is important is that their contracts are ready following an all-inclusive negotiation process that involved representatives of the players. On the other issue, ZC has been paying the match fees in tranches and will settle the outstanding amounts soon.*Other insiders confirmed Mukondiwa would address the players on Thursday, the day after the boards Annual General Meeting (AGM).Meanwhile, there has been no announcement on Zimbabwes schedule for the rest of the international season. They are scheduled to play two Tests against Sri Lanka, but there was initially speculation of that series being altered into a triangular fifty-over competition also involving West Indies. More recently, there has been word that both the Tests and the tri-series will take place.The players are preparing with the latter in mind under the watch of interim coach Makhaya Ntini and fitness trainer Sean Bell, while ZC deliberates over the vacant head coach post. Heath Streak, currently the bowling coach for IPL franchise Gujarat Lions, is believed to be the favourite to take over.*15.55GMT, September 14: The article was updated with ZCs response. ' ' '