The National Ice Hockey League (NIHL)
Rod attended the last MK Lightning home game of the season on 22nd April, to see his son Liam play in the win that saw the team go through to the final in Coventry this Saturday, Louise Cuthbertson took the great shot of Rod on the night that we have used as the main photo
Rod was also attended Final Four at the Skydome in Coventry on Saturday – It was the the last weekend of NIHL hockey for the 21/22 season, Telford Tigers, Sheffield Steeldogs, Peterborough Phantoms and Milton Keynes Lightning were the semi finalists from the National Division, and they were joined on Sunday by Solway Sharks and Streatham IHC who contested the NIHL1 National Championship game.
Milton Keynes got through to the final but The Steeldogs worked well to take the game 1-4. but Liam had a great game and got Man of The Match.
For more information on MK Lightning go to
https://www.facebook.com/MKLightningIHC
Photo of Rod thanks to the guys at WILLIES.co.uk – Ice Hockey, Inline Hockey and Figure Skating Specialists who said “There could only be one reason Sir Rod Stewart was in Earlsdon, Coventry – right outside our shop”
Photo of Liam’s family showing their support thanks to MK Lightning fan Sarah Axtell Royal.
After locals spotted him in Earlsdon near The Royal Oak Rod also got a nod in the well known cartoon The Cov Kids by Nick Shingler who captioned it
“It’s no good hanging around Ristorante Da Vinci for Rod Stewart’s
autograph, our Dad’s dragged him off to The Royal Oak”.
Follow The Cov Kids at https://www.facebook.com/nick.shingler.10
Who’s that knockin’ on my door?
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou was talking to ABC TV’s Offsiders program in Austrailia explaining how Celtics fans have taken him to their hearts after guiding Celtic to the brink of winning the Scottish Premiership
‘It’s all a bit surreal. But I think before one of the recent games I had a knock at my door and Rod Stewart came in and gave me a hug. And that shows you things change!
The Old firm Match
On Sunday Rod saw Ange Postecoglou and Celtic get within inches of the title but they must wait a little longer for their crowning moment after a Rangers held them to a 1-1 draw.
After the match Rod was spotted at the Dirty Duchess on Argyle Street, It seemed he had become a ‘spare bartender’ for the night as he was not seen enjoying a pint but working behind the bar and giving the staff a hand!.
He could be seen chatting to a punter while a glass of beer and Guinness was next to him. Rod also had a photo taken with fan Sue Shields in Murphy’s before the match…
Sue’s daughter Jo who took this great photo told SMILER ” My Mum really is Rod daft. We grew up (I have 5 siblings) with mum blasting Rod and telling us that was our real dad!..She is still.on cloud nine! Her dream came true”.
Junior Hoops
Rod has transformer the five-a-side pitch at his home in Epping Forest into the Junior Hoops’ official training ground after his son Aiden lost out on training time due to the pandemic.
A friend of Rod’s told The Sun: ‘Rod is a regular fixture at his son’s matches. He is hugely passionate about his under-12s team, and not just because they wear the same colours as his beloved Celtic, Sadly, they lost their usual ground because of the pandemic and have had nowhere to train, so Rod stepped in. He has opened his house to the entire team, along with the coaches and parents, to allow them to train’.
RIP Billy Gaff
It was announced last Friday that ex Faces and Rod manager Billy Gaff had died. Billy was born and raised on a military base near Curragh, Ireland, he attended the Dominican College in Newbridge and later the Woolwich Polytechnic College where he studied economics. While attending college, he became involved in a theater group on campus where he met manager Robert Stigwood and landed a gig as the road manager for Cream for several months before the band dissolved.
After a stint in the Merchant Marine, Billy returned to music management, taking on The Faces, in 1975, he launched Riva Records, which provided a platform for Rod’s solo material, Billy and Rod parted company on bad terms in 1981.
During lockdown on 7th February Billy gave an interview to RTE’s Sunday with Miriam, Well worth a listen https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/21905490/
In June 2009 Billy told Eamon Dunphy also on RTE that he and Rod were never friends but Rod was charming and still called him management when they recently met! https://en-gb.radioline.co/podcast-rte-conversations-with-eamon-dunphy
RIP Billy Gaff
Cult Heroes
Charlie Harper from The UK Subs gave an interview to Cult Heroes and remembered the time he saw Rod live ..in 1963!
“He used to play harmonica for the Dimensions, and he just used to sit on a barstool on stage and play harmonica. He wasn’t the lead singer. He was a great singer, but his voice was almost too good for R&B, where Rod had that rough gravelly voice.
Rod Stewart used to get up, Rod The Mod as he was called back then, and he used to do a couple of Jimmy Reed songs like ‘Bright Lights Big City,’ and ‘Shame Shame Shame,’ and then play the harmonica with them. I thought he was good. I liked him better than the singer, although the singer was a great singer.”
This week’s Rod Art
This week we feature this fantastic biro art work of Rod and Marc Bolan done by Gosport artist Dan Williams
Dan said it was a biro drawn portrait commission using costumers own song of choice.
To see more of Dan’s amazing work go to
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DanWilliamsArt?fbclid=IwAR1Ws7hnYDdWXfpZgynKOvGfFEv17WdegwP9xBLiwvXBT5Sazcd1AxQs09c or https://www.facebook.com/danwilliamsart/
When in Dublin
Rod went over to Dublin mid week and stopped off at the historic John Kavanagh “The Gravediggers” who tod SMILER “It was a great pleasure and wonderful that Rod had taken the memory of Irish Heroine Grace Gifford Plunkett to his heart that he chose to pay his respect today on the Anniversary of her wedding and the execution of her new husband Irish Proclamation Signatory Thomas Plunkett in 1916 wonderful gesture”
“Oh Grace, just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger”
Hard Rock Cafe Memorabilia #6
This weeks Hard rock sees us in Bucharest Romania where Paige Luvzreggae Espinosa spotted this amazing leopard print suite of Rod’s back in April
Paige told SMILER “I took the photo because I like Rod and it is great he is on record as playing the largest concert of all time in front of 3.54 million people at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1995”
Have you ever spotted a Rod item in a Hard Rock Cafe while you were visiting?..If you have send it in to [email protected] and tell us about it and I will post them in future ‘This week’s news and gossip’ posts.
And Finally
Former Scotland national coach Craig Brown told the BBC’s Sacked in the Morning podcast this week that when the team were heading for the US in 1998. He was informed there were only 12 spaces for players in business class. So he asked his captains Colin Hendry and Gary McAllister to come up with a solution, they settled on who had the most caps.
When they arrived in America, Brown decided to make the training match an Econony v Business clash, which made for an intense battle on the field.
He laughed: “They were kicking lumps out of each other. In fact Rod Stewart joined us to train with the team for that day.
“I said ‘Rod, we’ve got a game, you’re excluded’. ‘No I want a game, I would like to play’. And I said ‘but this is important because this is economy against business class and they’re kicking lumps out of each other’.”
Brown also admitted splitting the squad for that flight was the hardest managerial decision he had to make in his time as Scotland manager.
See you next week, same Rod time, same Rod place for a Mac birthday treat!