UGLY crowd behaviour at a recent Australian Ice Hockey League match between CBR Brave and Sydney Bears has been described as a total aberration.

The line being run by some involved in the sport comes after CBR Brave chairman Peter Chamberlain was forced to apologise and step down. Brave manager Andrew Deans says Chamberlain retaliated to being squirted with water pistols by “tipping a little bit of his beer down on a guy” before a rubbish bin was tossed into the crowd sparking an all-in shoving match.

RAINBOWS don’t last forever. In November, Canberra airport was breaking new ground with its pro-same-sex-marriage campaign and singing from the same songbook as high-profile, same-sex advocate Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. Now they are locked in a nasty fight, with airport managing director Stephen Byron describing as “absolute baloney” claims that a Qantas Boeing 737-800 was held to “virtual ransom” after the flight was diverted to Canberra without warning in March last year.

ONCE light rail crosses Commonwealth Avenue bridge a whole new set of problems will present itself. Stage two of the project won’t just have the unique challenge of dealing with the National Capital Authority. In addition to a parliamentary inquiry, the Deakin and Yarralumla residents’ associations are seeking public input via a community survey. And there is no truth to the rumour that the southside trams will feature a bell ringing a semitone higher than the northside trolleys to distinguish the two systems!

THE lack of a roof over its head may mean curtains for the ACT Brumbies. That’s the dire prediction for the Canberra-based Super League outfit by CEO Michael Thompson who warns small crowds may eventually bring the franchise to an end. The lack of a roofed stadium is increasingly being cited as one of the club’s problems on and off the paddock.

Thompson is backed by ABC sports journalist and “CityNews” columnist Tim Gavel in calling for an indoor stadium. Gavel tweeted “with freezing conditions forecast this weekend and both the Brumbies and Raiders playing at home, surely time to consider building a new indoor stadium”. Gavel said he’d “seen a proposal for a covered stadium but little progress at this stage”.

WHILE NRL fans mostly only see the serious and competitive (and occasionally grumpy) side of Green Machine mentor Ricky Stuart, the Queanbeyan-born, dual international described being among 25 players nominated for six spots on the NRL Hall of Fame as “very humbling”. Stuart told NRL online that he “could never repay the Raiders for what they have done”. The champion halfback remains highly motivated declaring: “I won’t be happy if I finish my career if I haven’t won a comp [as coach] at the club.”

A HECKLE of top notch comedians has been entertaining locals. The list stretches from the legendary Barry Humphries – who once joked Canberra was “a bunch of suburbs looking for a city” – to contemporary clowns such as Rove McManus and Wil Anderson. To his credit, McManus vowed not to tread the unfunny, well-worn road taken by many visiting stand-ups of poking fun at porn, fireworks and roundabouts.

COMEDY was not Wil Anderson’s original vocation choice. The “Gruen” host studied economics at UC and played AFL with Ainslie. Anderson tells of being up against a teammate for a spot in the senior side and still complains bitterly that his “promising” AFL career was abruptly ended after a local youngster by the name of James Hird got the senior call up.

STUDENTS at Hawker College have been entertained by a rockstar. Sydney based mathematician Eddie Woo, described as a rockstar maths teacher took year 11 and 12 students through a specialist maths class. Woo, recently named as one of 10 finalists for the 2018 Global Teacher Prize has a large audience through his Wootube YouTube channel, which peaks at 14 million views.