Magpie Memoir Magazine: Issues 11 -15 (July - November 2021) by Gosford Rugby League: The Eye of the Storm Magazine

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Issues 11 - 15

July 2021 – November 2021

Online presentation © Andrew Stark 2021 No part of this magazine/fanzine/presentation, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner

Magpie Memoir Magazine © Andrew Stark 2021

MAGPIE MEMOIR January July 2021 2020: Volume 2, Issue 5 July 2020: Volume Volume11Issue 1 Issue 4

MAGAZINE One Fans Tribute to the Western Suburbs DRLFC

ISSN:2652--4406 ISSN:2652

WESTS KIDS FLY HIGH $10

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

The photographer as a boy in the backyard at Strathfield, captured discussing team selections with his shadow. Below: Aiming his cap gun at imaginary Sea Eagles, Roosters, Rabbits and low hanging Berries Left :

Photos – Hugh Stark

Andrew Stark grew up in inner Sydney Strathfield during the heady days of the 1970s. He was quickly to become a passionate supporter of the local rugby league team, the Western Suburbs Magpies. Stark began snapping photographs at the occasional game during the early 1980s and later became chief photographer for Terry Williams’ Sydney League News publication, covering grassroots footy from the mid 1990s. Stark has captured a myriad of Magpie-centric images over the past three and a half decades, concentrating on the junior representative level, with an occasional foray into the senior grades. This quarterly fanzine series, aims to combine current events with a look back through the photographers vast collection. It is one man’s humble celebration of the mighty Western Suburbs D.R.L.F.C

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE July 2021: Volume 2 Edition 5

As the footy season pushes toward mid winter, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the Wests NSW Cup team is a genuine premiership contender. Despite dropping games to fellow contenders, Penrith & Parramatta during early June, Ben Gardiner’s Magpies maintain a lofty position on the ladder and look assured of at least a top four finish. A further positive is that come September, our obvious rivals for the title, the Panthers, Eels & Bears, will all have their respective NRL aligned teams involved in the final series. The Wests Tigers on the other hand will have wrapped up their challenge in August (hopefully they’ll scrape back into 9th), which will free up all eligible players for a Magpies tilt at Reggies glory. Wests have won the Second Grade title on three occasions; 1936, 1961 & 1981. Encouragingly, two of the previous triumphs occurred in a year ending in a ‘one’. Back in 1981, the most recent success, the Laurie Freier coached Magpies (pictured below) finished third on the ladder, before powering home to eclipse the Eels 19-2 on grand final day. - Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE is Written, Photographed, Designed & Published by Andrew Stark. All photographs were taken by Andrew Stark, unless otherwise credited.

Ofele Lene on the way to the line for Wests Matthews Cup team. (Photo – Andrew Stark)

JUNIOR REPS 2021

MATT’S CUP BOYS EXCEL After a brilliant season which saw Wests finish inside the top four, our Harold Matthews Cup boys dipped out a week prior to the grand grand final, succumbing to the eventual and unbeaten premiers, Manly. In a keenly fought semi final, the Magpies led 8-6 after winger and cover-boy, Ofele Lene raced over for a sensational 65 metre try in the 22nd minute. Manly crossed for two tries in the five minutes prior to halftime however, and then nabbed another one just after, en route to a 32-12 win. Wests hooker Tallyn Da Silva and five eighth Heath Mason were duly selected in the City U16s, while barnstorming back rower Justin Matamua was rewarded for his fine SG Ball Cup season, being included in the City U18s rep side (see page 19). Jeremiah Leatigaga from Wests Andrew Johns Cup team lined up in the Country U16s which took on City during mid May. Abov e: Heath Mason & Kit Laulilii

Below: Tom Fletcher

YOUNG MAGPIES SNAPPED UP BY NRL CLUBS Congratulations to Wests junior reps, Liam Sutton (SG Ball Cup) & Thomas Fletcher (Matts Cup) on recently earning contracts with NRL clubs. Liam has signed a three year deal with Newcastle, while Tom (pictured right) is linking with South Sydney. Both lads are key members of this season’s crack St Gregory’s College 1st XIII and look to have very bright futures in the game.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Photos – Andrew Stark

SAUKURU Bati Bloodlines Run Rich Powerhouse siblings, Solomone and Apisalomi Saukuru, have just completed eye catching junior representative seasons for Wests. The Westfield Sports High products boast a rich heritage, possessing bloodlines that stretch back to another set of powerful brothers, Apisai & Inosi Toga, the first Fijians to ever play big time football in Sydney. During the winter of 1994, Wests ran out a Jersey Flegg side which contained a host of future Magpie first graders; Kevin McGuiness, Gary Dowse, Chad Harris, Adam Donovan and the sides captain, Shane McMenemy. I also recall a dashing winger named Joe Saukuru. The Macquarie Fields three-quarter had previously played SG Ball Cup for Manly and along with his hulking brother Colin, would later pull on the red V jersey of St George. Joey playing Presidents Cup while Colin, who was in the Wests Presidents Cup team of 1994, would play 11 top grade games for the Dragons between 1995 & 1997. Joe Saukuru is the father of Solomone and Apisalomi, and is a nephew of Apisai and Inosi Toga who both became crowd favourites at Kogarah back during the late 1960s. He is also an uncle to former Wests Matthews Cup & MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Photos - Top Left:: Solo

Saukuru (2021 Matts Cup) Top Right:: Lomi Saukuru (2021 Ball Cup)

Canterbury SG Ball player, Kolin Saukuru. Joey Saukuru coached the Canterbury Bulldogs to the 2018 SG Ball Cup grand final, losing a tight decider to Penrith. In a game packed with future stars, the Panthers team included Matt Burton, Charlie Staines, Stephen Crichton and Shawn Blore as well as current Wests NSW Cup fullback, Zac Cini. Saukuru’s Bulldogs boasted Jake Averillo, Tommy Talau, Logen Dillon as well as former Wests reps Koiln Saukuru and James Valevatu. Penrith lifted the trophy courtesy of a hard fought 25-14 victory. Apisalomi Saukuru began his junior rep days with Cronulla, playing Matthews Cup with the Sharks in 2018 alongside current Magpie team mate, Kitione Kautoga (who also boasts Fijian heritage). The following season saw Apisalomi line up with the Bulldogs Ball Cup side before linking with the Magpies this year. His not-so-little brother, Solomone has just completed his third year of Matthews Cup football. He had two seasons at Canterbury before heading across to the black & whites. In 2019 he was selected in the Australian U15 merit team. Top right:

Apisai Toga in action for St George (photo– unknown source)

Above right:

Colin Saukuru (photo courtesy of Colin’s Facebook page)

Photo:

Joey Saukuru (West s Flegg Cup vs Ilawarra 1994) Photo – Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Wests 1994 Jersey Flegg team featuring Joe on the wing.

Below:

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

The Saukuru’s are heavily involved with the Australian Fijian Rugby League. Joe (pictured above) is vice-president and head coach, while his wife, Malani is the organization’s treasurer. Joe is also assistant coach of the Fijian national team. Big brother Colin Saukuru represented Fiji Bati against Australia in 1996, lining up in the front row against Paul Harragon & Mark Carroll during the Newcastle clash won 84-6 by the locals. A giant of a man, during his three seasons at Kogarah, he was enthusiastically introduced by the ground announcer using a boxing ring flourish, “Colin Saukuuuruuuu”. During more recent times, he has been coaching in and around Brisbane. A former Norths Devils under 20s mentor, Colin Saukuru is this season the assistant coach at the Samford Stags. A look at the Wests lower grades circa 1994 reveals a huge Fijian presence. In the match day programme reproduced above right, the Magpies boast four players who would later kick on to represent the Bati; Manoa Thompson (whose son Jarryd Hayne would also play for Fiji), Ily Toga, Aseri Laing and Colin Saukuru. Recent head coach of the Fijian national team, Brandon Costin (Pearson) is also listed.

A great player and a great gentleman, a true rugby league hero Fijian players flourish in the NRL today, with superstars such as Maika Sivo & Viliame Kikau reigning supreme. The first player to arrive on our shores however, was the legendary Apisai Toga. The above quote is attributed to the Rochdale club

for whom Apisai played four seasons. Hailing from Saunaka Village in Nadi, Fiji, the back rower grew homesick late in the 1967 English season and having impressed a number of the touring Kangaroo side, he received an offer from the Sydney premiers, South Sydney. Rochdale chipped in with a late and urgent bid to retain their Pacific star, an offer which included ownership of a local pub. The clincher however, was a clause in the Rabbitohs deal which allowed the big Fijian to travel home each offseason to visit his family. A verbal agreement was reached over the phone with Souths and Apisai promptly jumped on a plane heading for Kingsford Smith. St George secretary Frank Facer, said to be still smarting after the Dragons run of eleven consecutive premierships had been halted by the Rabbitohs, was tipped off by a number of his players who had also toured with the Kangaroos. A pivotal moment in the legend that was Apisai Toga, saw Souths officials running late to meet his plane. This allowed the fastidious Facer to sneak in, double the Redfern club’s offer, and ultimately walk away with the Fijians signature on a contract. Apisai became an instant hit in red & white and despite breaking his leg in his initial season in Sydney, he would become a mainstay of the Saints pack for the next five seasons. In 1969 he was joined by his brother, Inosi who had previously only ever played rugby union in Fiji. In a remarkable family achievement, while both Apisai & Inosi were playing rugby league for St George, another brother, Sela Toga was captain of the Fijian rugby team. Apisai & Inosi were living at South Hurstville during this time and both worked at the St George Leagues Club. Inosi Toga remains a resident of the St George district to this day. During early 1973, Apisai is thought to have grazed himself on a piece of barbed wire while working back on the family farm in Nadi. Having subsequently flown back to Australia to commence the new season, he was training with Saints at Carss Park when he suddenly collapsed. Rushed to hospital, the trailblazing Fijian tragically passed away in the back of the ambulance having suffered from tetanus poisoning. He was 27 years of age. Inosi continued playing for the Dragons through to the 1974 season before linking with Wynnum Manly in the Brisbane competition. Winning the competition in 1975, Inosi Toga was later named in the Wynnum team of the century.

They were really big crowd favourites amongst the St George supporters. - Colin Saukuru talks of his uncles Apisai & Inosi Toga

Apisai Toga: Photo – Les Lee (Getty Images)

Background material on the Toga brothers obtained f rom the podcast, That’ s The Way It Was

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Solomone Saukuru on the charge for Wests during 2021 Photo – Andrew Stark

Apisai Toga scores for Saints against Parramatta at the SCG. Photo – Fairfax Archives

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

One Random Photo From The Files … SG Ball Cup - March 2000 – Henson Park John Hooker

Photo: Andrew Stark

Wests SG Ball Cup centre John Hooker is photographed turning his winger, Nathan Walker back on the inside during the round 3 clash against the Sydney Roosters. Wests ran in four magnificent tries, with both Hooker and Walker getting their names on the scorers sheet. Unfortunately, a red hot Roosters outfit crossed for ten lazy tries of their own, to notch a nasty 54-18 win. In the year 2000, Wests SG Ball Cup side was coached by former Magpies lower grade halfback, Peter Gentle and the team included future Cronulla Sharks NRL prop forward, Eddie Su’a. A snappy six game season saw the battling Magpies run at the tail of the field, suffering half-a-dozen losses, and even less victories. Penrith kicked on to win the competition, defeating Illawarra 28-24 in a ding-dong grand final. Gentle, the son of former Wests first grade coach, Ken Gentle, led the Magpies to the 2002 SG Ball Cup premiership two seasons later. In 2020 he became interim head coach at the struggling Brisbane Broncos following the mid season demise of Anthony Seibold. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

NSW CUP 2021

WESTS EYEING SEPTEMBER © Andrew Stark

Despite suffering back to back losses during early winter, Ben Gardiner’ Gardiner’s Magpies remain well placed to challenge for this season’ season’s NSW Cup title. Wests magnificent run of nine consecutive wins was brought to a shuddering halt by Penrith in round 13, the Panthers blitzing the Magpies 40-14 at Lidcombe Oval. Missing key players, Jake Simpkin and Zac Cini, Wests had no answer to the slick play of the competition leaders. The following week saw a star studded Parramatta side jump to an 18-0 lead after just twenty minutes. The Magpies managed to steady the ship, before heading home with a wet sail. The Eels held on grimly however, to record a 28-26 victory.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

A tough round 15 draw against the Newcastle Knights at Lidcombe Oval had Wests season back on track, half-a-dozen games out from the semi finals. Despite fielding 10 players still eligible for Flegg Cup, the Magpies did the jersey proud in grinding out a 14 all result. Abov e: Russell Packer and Tuki Simpkins in action up centre field. Below: Zac Cini went from a wide-eyed Magpie, to a media sensation, all within a week (Photos – Andrew Stark)

MASSEY CUP 2021

THE COMEBACK KINGS Our Massey Cup battlers notched two of the most remarkable comeback victories Lidcombe has ever seen during recent weeks and cling to slim hopes of playing semi final footy. In round 11 the Magpies looked dead and buried with 20 minutes to play, trailing Blacktown 32- 8 before storming home to win 36-32. Four round later and Windsor led 24-16 heading into the last quarter hour. Two tries to Eden Gebbie, and one to fellow winger, Kieran Wyld however, helped lift Wests to a remarkable 28-24 victory. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Top Left: Etuale Lui. Top Right: Sam Stratis. Abov e: Johnny Mitsias scores a spectacular try against Blacktown

THE TOMMY TRIBUTES WERE THEY TOO NEWTOWN-CENTRIC? I‘ll readily admit that I’m fast becoming a grouchy, boringly repetitive and hopelessly fixed-in-my-ways old codger. I peer into the bathroom mirror each morning to view a hideous amalgam of Larry David, Victor Meldrew and Ted Bulpit (sans the casual racism and any desire to blow up nuns). I find myself bristling at every reference to ‘the Tigers’, or of Leichhardt Oval being referred to as a special place. Even a random glimpse of the colour orange will raise my blood pressure quite alarmingly. To add to these everyday trials and tribulations I found myself being triggered by a new imbalance, in evidence during those terribly sad days that followed Tom Raudonikis’ passing. The media assumed a bizarre, Newtown-centric focus of the great man’s career. And every time I picked up a newspaper, or turned on the TV news, I found myself parroting that miserable Brit, Meldrew with his sonorous cry, “I don’t believe it” The Sydney Morning Herald reported Tommy’s death by running a photo on its front page of Tom Terrific playing for Newtown. And they weren't on their own. The coverage offered by Channel’s Seven, Nine & Ten was top heavy with Jets images and footage. The working mans paper, The Daily Telegraph was also devoid of a Wests jersey on their front page. The ABC, no doubt conflicted by issues of old school masculinity and the like … hardly seemed to acknowledge the great man’s passing at all (Aunty’s 3PM radio news bulletin on the day Tommy died made no mention whatsoever). David Riccio in the Sunday Telegraph contributed a double page spread festooned with one large photo of Tommy as a Jet. The article didn’t mention the Western Suburbs Magpies once. The Telegraph two days later reported on their front page that the great halfback was being refused a state funeral. It was garnished by a photo of Tommy in action for Newtown. So lets dig down into Tommy’s footy career. He played 202 top grade games for Wests spanning 11 seasons (plus two in Reserve Grade). He played 22 games for NSW, 20 of those while at Wests. He played 20 Tests, 19 of those while at Wests. In 1980 he left the Magpies to play 37 games for Newtown across 3 seasons. In 1994 he returned to his spiritual home to coach the Magpies. Tommy Raudonikis was in MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGA ZINE charge right up until that fateful final day in 1999. Photo Abov e: The

National Library of Australia portrait of Tommy in his natural state.. Far Left: Victor Meldrew. Left: The Ten News

coverage. An opening panel which featured two NSW Blues,& two Newtown Jets images.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

How media outlets managed to get an overriding Newtown theme out of all that is anybody’s guess. Eighty five percent of Tommy’s playing career, and a fair chunk of his coaching career, was spent at Wests.

Am I being petty? Many will say, yes. Just a cranky old man viewing the world through the prism of his beloved Western Suburbs Magpies. If this media imbalance was imparted in isolation, if it was a one off faux pas, I would probably cut my losses and agree. However, twenty plus years of my club, the Western Suburbs Magpies, being shown little or no respect by the rugby league Abov e: Tommy in action for Wests against Newtown at Henson media, or general footy supporting Park – Photo courtesy of Big League Magazine populace has me hyper-sensitive to such discriminatory practices. This anguish was only heightened by Tom’s passing.

The Mayor of Leichhardt (Inner West Council), Darcy Byrne also clamoured aboard the selective history train. He jumped onto Twitter with the odd suggestion to rename the Henson Park outer, The Tommy Raudonikis Hill. Given that Tom wasn’t included in the Newtown team of the century, a side selected in 2008 and which contained a hefty squad of eighteen players, the Mayor looks to have gotten ahead of himself.

Above:

My Twitter post in the wake of the Herald’s strange decision to lead with a Newtown photo.

Left: The SMH’s front page coverage of Tommy’s death. Above: Paul McCartney and Wings. Will the Herald lead with

photo when the great musician passe s on?

this

The Wests Tigers response to Tom Terrific’s passing was also a tad disappointing. The NRL team was horribly disappointing in the club’s first post-Raudonikis clash, losing badly to the previously winless North Queensland. To great fanfare, the club announced during the week leading into the game that the team was to wear a jersey honouring the Western Suburbs side of the merger. They duly trotted out one of their two standard 2021 strips. The number seven jersey was appropriately retired across all grades and yet wouldn’t it have been a lovely touch to drape not a modern day jersey but an old Victa #7 across a chair on the sideline. Even the minutes silence had the team hidden, somewhat disrespectfully in a huddle. And then we get to the media coverage of the game. Business as usual for Ch9, Leichhardt the eighth wonder etc … I was so disappointed I penned a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald … As an old Magpie fan, I felt totally defeated on Sunday afternoon. Tuning in on Channel 9, to watch a game pre-packaged as a tribute to Tommy Raudonikis, the commentators couldn’t once bring themselves to call the home team, ”Wests” My only joy was that I’m sure Tommy would have appreciated an outsider team playing against the crowd and the emotion of the afternoon, finishing triumphant against all the odds. The great number seven did that for Wests against the Tigers at Leichhardt once or twice in his wonderful career.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark Tommy scores for Wests against Balmain at Leichhardt during the late 1970s (images taken from archival footage).

Left:

The edited version of my Sydney Morning Herald letter, published 13-4-2021 .

Right:

The great man would have appreciated the gutsy win by the underdogs at Leichhardt.

Above Right:

One of my favourite Tommy Raudonikis photographs. Don Parish’s young Magpies had just knocked two time premiers Manly out of the 1974 competition via a thrilling 23-20 semi final win at the SCG. Tommy punches the air as Robbie Parker and Warren Snodgrass charge towards their inspirational skipper in full celebration mode. I was a very happy 10 year old watching on with my dad from the Brewongle Stand, on what was a truly magical afternoon. Photo – John Elliott (RLW)

Above:

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

The imbalance shown in the media portrayal was further highlighted just a few weeks later following the passing of Bob Fulton. The death of the great Bozo was fittingly met with blanket Manly based coverage. Despite the fact that he, like Tommy, had finished his career at another club. Raudonikis played 37 games for Newtown while Fulton notched 50 for Easts. He even captain/coached the Roosters, yet the Sydney Morning Herald were suddenly able to resist the urge to rush into print with an action shot from the old Sydney Sports Ground. Unlike their portrayal of Tommy the Jet, this time around they got it right and Bozo was highlighted as a great “Manly man”. Even the subtle difference shown by the NRL on game day showed Western Suburbs little respect. Following Tommy’s passing a photo of the great half playing for Australia was used on the giant screens at all club games. Fulton received a similar honour, only he was displayed wearing a Manly jersey. Raudonikis played 202 games for Wests and 37 for Newtown. Fulton played 213 games for Manly and 50 for Easts. They played many many times for NSW & Australia, and both coached; Raudonikis at Wests, Fulton at Manly & Easts. Yet in the coverage of their respective passing, Tommy was largely portrayed by the media as a Newtown Jet, while Bozo was a Manly Sea Eagle. Why ??? Yes, I‘ll readily admit that I’m fast becoming a grouchy, boringly repetitive and hopelessly fixed-in-my-ways old codger …

Wests 13 def Illawarra 10 – Lidcombe Oval 1984

1984: George Orwell Didn’t Know The Half Of It In writing his prophetic dystopian classic, the British author George Orwell failed to mention that the Western Suburbs Magpies would struggle throughout 1984. The Lidcombe Oval team finished the year with a solitary win to show for their toil. Big Brother was watching from down Phillip Street way and the evil lords continued to do their level best to euthanize our mighty club. Wests lone win arrived on April 22nd in front of a meagre home crowd of 3951. As my photo from that famous afternoon shows, the good guys did it in style, winning all grades over the Kaiser Stuhl Steelers. The photo captures Wests hot on the attack into the final five minutes of the game and despite a late Illawarra try, the Magpies hung on to grab the points. Steve Broughton is seen passing out of dummy half to John McArthur (7). Wayne Smith (1) and John Coveney (11) wait expectantly on the open side while the player who has just played the ball and who is swinging his head around to follow the progress of the next play, could well be Allen Geelan. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

It was an afternoon in which Wests lost the scrums, they lost the penalties, they even scored less tries than their opponents and yet, thanks to the boot of Umina wunderkind, Johnny McArthur, they won the game. Mick Pinkerton notched Wests try while McArthur kicked 4 goals and a field goal. Wests finished the 1984 competition a hefty nine competition points shy of the second last placed Easts, however the April victory over the Steelers would ultimately cost Brian Smith’s Illawarra team a share of fifth spot. When I think back on this period, one, slightly smelly game continues to spill from my ever faltering memory. Last played second last when Wests took on Easts in round 21 of that year. With the club fighting desperately for survival, they needed a victory to help bolster their claims. I was one of just 1395 spectators at Lidcombe on that afternoon and I still shake my head at what transpired. Wests played all over the Roosters, yet lost the game 8-6. The clash coincided the first grade refereeing debut of Allan McKean, a former Easts fullback of considerable note, and a former team mate of NSWRL head honcho, John Quayle. Now without wanting to cast aspersions on anyone’s character, the final wash-up that day revealed that Easts crossed for the only try of the game. Wests had five tries disallowed. To further rub salt into the gaping wound, all of the tricolours points were scored by Wests players who’d left Lidcombe after the NSWRL had kicked the club out during the previous off-season (Easts team included Mark Beaven, David Greene & Scott Gale) In wet and greasy conditions, Wests had tries disallowed in the 38th minutes (Duke), 42nd (Harrigan), 52nd (Harrigan), 60th (Broughton) & 70th minute (Pinkerton). The final disallowed try saw Pinkerton score in the corner only for the referee to rule that the winger had bobbled the put down. No one else at the ground saw anything but a regulation try and Wests players after the game claimed that the touch judge was happy with the put down, nodding to McKean while yelling, “OK”. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Above:

Felix Smith & Mavoni Tuifua, two of fi ve Wests juniors starring for the table topping Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg team in 2021. (Photos – Andrew Stark). MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

AROUND THE GROUNDS - Magpies Sporting an Alien Hue -

Wests Magpie juniors featured across NRL squads for 2021 include; James Tedesco (Roosters), Ray Stone (Parramatta), David Nofoaluma (West-Ts), Sauaso Sue (Newcastle), Dean Britt (Canterbury) & Taniela Paseka (Manly). In the NSW Cup; Cup local lads spotted lining up for rival clubs include; Gus Garzanti & Kelsey Coakes (Blacktown), Tim Lafai (Parramatta), Trent Peoples & James Tautaiolefua (Souths). While in the under 21 - Jersey Flegg competition we find; Felix Smith, Mavoni Tuifua, Logan Muir, Brandon Webster-Mansfield & Rua Ngatikaura (West-Ts), Christian Urso (Canterbury) & Jacob Sykes (Manly).

Matamua Stars For City U18s Magpies SG Ball Cup skipper, Justin Matamua (pictured left) was the star turn for the City U18s against Country played at Bankwest Stadium during mid May. The Campbelltown City forward powered over for three tries in the 46-6 win and was fittingly crowned, Player of the Match.

Shane Lalogafau 2009 SG Ball Cup Shane is pictured on the charge during the opening round of 2009 in a game played against the Gold Coast Titans on a rain soaked Hillier Oval. Keenly following the back rower’s progress are team mates, James Tedesco and Jake Townsend. The Derek McVey coached Magpies won the day 26-12 and kicked on to end the season 6th amongst a hefty field of 18 teams.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Issues 11 - 15

July 2021 – November 2021

Online presentation © Andrew Stark 2021 No part of this magazine/fanzine/presentation, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner

Magpie Memoir Magazine © Andrew Stark 2021

MAGPIE MEMOIR January August 2020: 2021 July 2020:

Volume Volume112Issue Issue1 6 Volume Issue 4

MAGAZINE One Fans Tribute to the Western Suburbs DRLFC

DAVE NOFOALUMA WESTS TRY SCORING WIZ ISSN:2652--4406 ISSN:2652

$10

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photos – Hugh Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE August 2021: Volume 2 Edition 6

Hamstrings, quads and hip flexor’s were all feeling fine, yet tragically season 2021 has been cut short by a delta strain. Our NSW Cup boys were on the verge of pushing for the title, when the lurgy suddenly reappeared. Before anyone could holler ‘GESUNDHEIT’, all bets were off. For the second year in succession, the most sought after of NSWRL trophies remains locked behind glass. That traditionally earnest pursuit of September bling has been replaced by a socially distanced sea of face masks, watching on grimly to a daily 11am TV show hosted by Gladys and Kerry. While the Magpie campaign is retired until 2022, we gain some solace in being able to cheer on; Teddy, Nofo, Jesse and Big Taniela, from the comfort of our locked down living rooms. - Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE is Written, Photographed, Designed & Published by Andrew Stark. All photographs were taken by Andrew Stark, unless otherwise credited.

David Nofoaluma (Wests SG Ball Cup 2011) – Photo: Andrew Stark

One Random Photo From The Files … Harold Matthews Cup - March 2008 – Leichhardt Oval Wests 12 Balmain 8

Photo: Andrew Stark

The above photo shows hard working St Gregory’s College product Tim Sloman leading Kyle Lovett and his Tiger teammate on a merry chase during Wests Easter Matts Cup victory in March of 2008. After a slow start to the season, the Magpies finished strongly to edge themselves into seventh position on the ladder. The Adam Booth coach side then went within a whisker of knocking out the eventual premiers, Parramatta in week one of the finals. Trailing 18-4 at the break, Wests stormed home before time ran out with the Eels clinging grimly to an 18-14 advantage. The performance of the young Magpies was particularly admirable given Parramatta had defeated them 46-0 in their previous meeting just six weeks earlier. Tim Sloman progressed to play SG Ball Cup for Wests in 2010 and two seasons later, he represented the Canberra Raiders in the Toyota Cup under 20s competition. The Green Machine were thumped 46-6 in the grand final that year by a Wests Tigers side containing a number of Sloman’s former team mates. He subsequently played many seasons for the West Belconnen Warriors and is a teacher at Duffy Primary School in the A.C.T. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

One Man’ Man’s Black & White Enthusiasm Continuing on with the series of letters sent between myself and the Wests Football Office back in the 1990s. I evidently fancied myself as something of a talent scout back in the day, and recently uncovered pieces of correspondence sent to hard working Magpie secretaries, Gordon Allen and Steve Noyce, where any number of prospective Magpie recruits were discussed. I was covering junior footy at the time in my capacity as a photographer/journalist. I guess I figured my hours put in on the sideline and the gifted young players I was seeing first hand, may have morphed into information deemed useful by the Wests Footy Club Office. Of course the Magpies, like all the clubs, had people far better credentialed than ole Kodak to handle the spotting and sifting of potential recruits. Reading back over the letters today I must admit to feeling a tinge of embarrassment at my forthright naivety.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

THE SNAIL MAIL PEST

So belated apologies are due to both Gordon and Steve for creating them extra work, way back when. Having to respond to rabid season ticket holders who seem to think they have the league insight of Jack Gibson, must be the bane of all football club offices.

Pictured right is Gordon Allen’s 1991 preseason response to my enquiry about Russell Hill, Lee Stanford & Nick Kosef. Sadly my original letter has been lost in time. Even sadder was Gordon’s revelation that Nick Kosef had relatives living on the northern beaches. I’d watched Kosef play for NSW Country U17s against City at Penrith during 1990 and was so impressed with the Cobar back rower, my biro

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

almost tore a hole in the match day program as I attempted to highlight his name (see left). One can only imagine how unbeatable St Gregory’s College would have been had he been added to their 1991 pack. The retrospective prospect of Kosef being a Magpie in Warren Ryan’s sides of the early 90s is a fantasy most enticing.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Russell Hill takes on the line during a 1991 Presidents Cup game against Cronulla at Shark Park. His former U19s Western Division team mate, Evan Cochrane watches on. Photo – Andrew Stark

Gordon Allen’s letter points to young Forbes halfback Russell Hill heading home after struggling with life in Campbelltown and suffering a bout of homesickness. Yet Russell did play at Wests in 1991 (see photo left). The following year, he and older brother Mark became key members of Wayne Ellis’ premiership winning U21s team. Russell Hill was a superbly talented number seven. He was a member of the Forbes Magpies U16s premiership winning team in 1986 at just 13 years of age. The team also included future Balmain top grader Jason Darcy. Hill made his first grade debut for Forbes during 1989 and captained the NSW Country U19s the following year. In 1990 he was halfback for an Australian Schoolboys side that included a host of future Magpies. Glenn Grief, Paul Tilden, Tim Horan & Jimmy Smith, all joined Hill in the green & gold. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGA ZINE

Russell’s older brother, Mark Hill, a bullocking centre three-quarter had represented the Western Division U19s and was also a Forbes Magpie first grader. In 1989 the Hill brothers were invited to trial with Cronulla and despite impressing in a Presidents Cup hit out against St George, they decided to stay at home in Forbes. Russell was 16 years old at the time. Wests were blessed with talented halves during this era with players of the calibre of Jason Taylor, Ivan Henjak, Noel Goldthorpe, Kain Cross and Josh White competing for the number seven jersey. While Russell never quite reached the top grade, who could ever forget his brilliant second half showing in the Presidents Cup Grand Final of 1992.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Mark Hill did however reach first grade, coming off the bench during consecutive weeks in the August of 1993. He played in the Magpies 36-12 loss to the Steelers in Wollongong before running on during Wests big 32-10 win over Souths at Campbelltown seven days later.

Photo - Andrew Stark

Russell Hill spent two season at Wests (1991-92), while his big brother Mark stayed for three (1991-93). I will confess to having been a big fan of both Hill brothers. The Forbes lads had wonderfully contrasting styles and it’s a real shame they never became regulars in the Wests 3pm side. Mark Hill kicks for touch during 1991 as Andrew Willis watches on.

Above:

16 year old Russell Hill captured during his first grade debut for Forbes in 1989. Left:

Photo courtesy of the Forbes Advocate

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Mark & Russell Hill photographed by the Forbes Advocate in 1989. This was two years prior to the brothers arriving at Wests

Top:

The Wests Premiership winning Under 21s of 1992. Mark is second from right in the second last row, Russell second from right in the front row (alongside Evan Cochrane once again).

Above:

Photo - Andrew Stark

Photo - Andrew Stark Above & Above Right:

Right:

Russell Hill captured on the charge for the Forbes Magpies during a 2018 charity game.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photo courtesy of the Forbes Advocate

Mark & Russell Hill in action for the Illawarra Red Devils at Lidcombe Oval during the 1996 Metropolitan Cup competition.

Photo:

Andrew Stark

Brett Cullen Pictured at Orana Park playing five eighth for the Wests Jersey Flegg team of 1989. Halfback Bryan Ward watches on as Cullen takes the ball to the line against Penrith. Three seasons prior to playing for Wests, Cullen led the Young Cherrypickers under 16s to an upset grand final victory over Temora. He progressed into grade in 1990 and played one first grade game off the bench for the Magpies in 1993. A stint with the Rochdale Hornets in the UK was followed by a hugely successful switch to the West Rosellas in the Newcastle competition. Cujllen played for the Rosellas from 1995 through to 2006 (barring one season at Central Newcastle in 2002), breaking all of the club’s try scoring records along the way (226 first grade tries). He played in premiership winning sides in 1997,1998,1999 & 2004. He also managed to represent NSW Country and the NSW Residents along the way. In 2010 Brett Cullen was selected in the West Rosellas team of the century

#945

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

One Random Photo From The Files … MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

SG Ball Cup 2009 Wests vs. Newtown

Photo:

Andrew Stark

Matt Groat - Boyd Cordner - Sean Finnerty Finnerty.. 2009 wasn’t a happy year for the Cameron Blair coached Wests SG Ball team. The Magpies notched just one win from their nine games (the victory - a penultimate round 46-22 thrashing of Norths) and ended the year with the dreaded wooden spoon. Shot at Henson Park during round 2, the above photo shows future Wests Tigers prop Matt Groat moving in on star Newtown back rower, Boyd Cordner. Newtown, who in 2009 were overseeing the Sydney Roosters Ball Cup campaign, won the game 44-22, and my match day program has the note, “deadly down left edge” scrawled next to Cordner’s name. Aside from Groat & Cordner, future NRL players to feature in the game included Jesse Sue (Wests), and Jacob Miller, Asipeli Fine, Jack Little-John & Ethan Lowe (Jets). Sean Finnerty (pictured at right) captained the Magpies from the hooker position throughout the season. The competition was ultimately won by Canterbury who defeated Melbourne 42-16 in the grand final. Bulldogs forward Dale Finucane named SG Ball Player of the Year.

“I don’t know what it is about Western Suburbs. I think there must be a bit of Western Suburbs in all of us you know. You find yourself with a little bit of that underdog appeal they’ve got. No matter what the situation, you’ve always got that little bit of compassion for the team wearing the black & white.” - Ray Warren (1996)

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MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Chris Warren

The hooker is pictured above aged 20, passing from dummy half during a 1991 Presidents Cup clash at Shark Park (Robbie Kearns is the Cronulla defender). The son of TV commentator Ray Warren, Chris was a Parramatta Marist product who played in the Eels SG Ball Cup winning team of 1986. Graded at Wests in 1990, he made his NRL debut off the bench that year, scoring a try as the Magpies rolled Gold Coast 29-14 in Tweed Heads. A further four top grade appearances were accrued in 1992. Warren’s final taste of the big league was as Joe Thomas’ deputy rake during Wests 20-2 preliminary final loss to Newcastle. In 1995 Chris joined a host of Magpies in following former lower grade coach Peter Mulholland across to Perth for the Western Reds inaugural season. He was never able to crack first grade at the Reds and in 1997 he announced his retirement from playing the game. Chris Warren has subsequently forged a successful career in rugby league commentary, production & marketing, both here and in the UK. He fitted right into the first grade side and was very confident from the outset.”

#921

– Wests Chief Executive Steve Noyce 1992

Photo: Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Ahmad Bajouri Pictured left as a 16-year-old on the charge for the Wests SG Ball Cup team at Henson Park in April of 1999. The Pat McDonald coached Magpies finished that final season of the millennia in twelfth place on the ladder and during this particular afternoon, they were edged out 34-6 by the perennially lucky Sydney City Roosters. The Lebanese born three-quarter played Matthews Cup for the Magpies in 1998 and was selected to represent his country of birth at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Unfortunately the Cedars didn’t give the teenager any game during the series. Bajouri made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers during round one of 2002, in a game which yielded the club a rousing 28-22 victory over the Bulldogs. He played nine top grade games during 2002, crossing for a couple of tries before inking a deal with Souths for the following two seasons. The Rabbitohs were coached by Craig Coleman at the time, however he would be replaced by another former Magpie, Paul Langmack by the time Ahmad got to pull on the myrtle & green. The Wests junior played eleven games for Souths throughout 2003 and ironically his only victory was a 32-22 win over Wests Tigers during mid April. His final top grade appearance in the NRL was a demoralizing 62-12 loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs. On a Monday night in February of 2004, as Souths prepared for a trial game against the Wests Tigers on the following weekend, Bajouri was involved in a car accident. He was the passenger in a car which struck another vehicle on a Liverpool roundabout, the 21 year old winger suffering severe whiplash and bruising to his back. The injuries to his neck and back were to be long term and debilitating; bringing to an end his promising rugby league career. His former coach, Paul Langmack was one of a number of rugby league identities giving evidence before the Parramatta District Court in 2009 when Ahmad Bajouri was awarded over one million dollars in a compensation payout resulting from the shocking road accident of February 2004.

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MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Nofoaluma Wests Try Scoring Wiz Magpie junior David Nofoaluma broke the Wests Tigers try scoring record during the club’ club’s 4242-24 victory over Brisbane played in mid July.

Photo: Andrew Stark

Half an hour into the Suncorp Stadium clash, the 27-year-old Campbelltown product crossed for his 85th NRL try, breaking a record previously held in tandem by Benji Marshall and fellow Wests junior Chris Lawrence.

Photo: Wests Tigers

I first photographed David Nofoaluma during the Autumn of 2008, when he played Matthews Cup for Wests alongside James Tedesco. Nofoaluma was first choice fullback back in those days, pushing Teddy onto the wing. By 2010, David was an Australian Schoolboy representative and two seasons later, scored a grand final try as the Wests Tigers under 20s team demolished Canberra in the Toyota Cup decider.

Nofoaluma’s first grade debut in the black, white & orange arrived in round ten of 2013. His initial top grade try was nabbed the following week at Leichhardt Oval. David Nofoaluma has subsequently notched over 150 NRL games, and has represented City against Country, the Prime Ministers XIII in New Guinea, and played Test footy for Samoa. Photos: Top: David Nofoaluma on the charge for the Magpies Matthews Cup team in 2009 against the Gold Coast Titans at Hillier Oval (Photo – Andrew Stark), Above: Nofoaluma sports a Wests jersey following the passing of Tom Raudonikis during 2021

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Above:

Photo: Andrew Stark

David Nofoaluma scores in the corner for the Wests SG Ball Cup team during a win over the Western Australia Reds at Concord Oval in 2011 (Photo – Andrew Stark), Below:

Nofoaluma breaks the Wests Tigers try scoring record – July 18th, 2021

Photo: Channel 9

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photo: Andrew Stark

SG Ball Cup 2011

Nofoaluma

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Issues 11 - 15

July 2021 – November 2021

Online presentation © Andrew Stark 2021 No part of this magazine/fanzine/presentation, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner

Magpie Memoir Magazine © Andrew Stark 2021

MAGPIE MEMOIR January 2020: September 2021 July 2020: Volume Volume Issue 17 Volume121Issue Issue 4

MAGAZINE One Fans Tribute to the Western Suburbs DRLFC

ISSN:2652--4406 ISSN:2652

LOCKDOWN KILLS OFF 2021 $10

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photos – Hugh Stark

Andrew Stark grew up in inner Sydney Strathfield during the heady days of the 1970s. He was quickly to become a passionate supporter of the local rugby league team, the Western Suburbs Magpies. Stark began snapping photographs at the occasional game during the early 1980s and later became chief photographer for Terry Williams’ Sydney League News publication, covering grassroots footy from the mid 1990s. Stark has captured a myriad of Magpie-centric images over the past three and a half decades, concentrating on the junior representative level, with an occasional foray into the senior grades. This quarterly fanzine series aims to combine current events, with a look back through the photographers vast collection. It is one man’s humble celebration of the mighty Western Suburbs D.R.L.F.C

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE September 2021: Volume 2 No. 7

Another season has sadly withered on the vine at the hands of the dreaded disease. Lockdown has killed off 2021 and once again, we are left to reset. The promise of an uninterrupted 2022 our new focus. As the Greater Sydney lockdown drags on, Gladys and Dr Chant deliver their morbid daily updates from the corner of the lounge room. I find myself lying back and craving simpler times. Shutting my eyes, I imagine a younger me, a hopeful, thinner and less cynical fella, perched on the dusty Lidcombe Oval hill with a curled up Big League Magazine jutting from a frayed, denim-clad back pocket. I’m in my usual spot, positioned directly above the north eastern, or Silverwater Gaol corner post. I watch on intently as black & white hero’s take on all comers, a red rattler slowing to a crawl provides a fitting backdrop to Sydney’s great working class theatre of the 1970s. When the trance is rudely snapped, I'm jolted back to the stark reality of a deadly pandemic, global warming, double dip recession, footy jumpers without collars, the demise of the match day programme … and of course, what became of my beloved WESTS. - Andrew Stark

Photo: Hugh Stark

Uncredited Photo: - Internet Above:

Back when anything seemed possible – Raudonikis, Boyd, Mullins, and me.

© Andrew Stark 2021 … email: 10dollarjpegs@gmx.com … ISSN: 2652-4406 MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE is Written, Photographed, Designed & Published by Andrew Stark. All photographs were taken by Andrew Stark, unless otherwise credited. front cover: Ronnie Palumbo - Wests Massey Cup captain 2021 (Photo – Andrew Stark)

MOVES ON Ma voni Tuifua on the charge for Wests SG Ball Cup team during 2018. Photo: Andrew Stark

Twenty year old powerhouse prop forward Mavoni Tuifua has become the latest Magpie product to slip through the net at the Wests-Ts. The former Wests SG Ball star who shone for the table topping Flegg side this season, has signed a two year deal with the Canterbury Bulldogs from 2022.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

MAVONI

One Random Photo From The Files … Jersey Flegg Cup – April 1989 – Orana Park Photo: Andrew Stark

Warren ‘Bowie’ Beaumont I snapped this photograph at Orana Park, Leumeah way back on the 22nd of April, 1989. It shows Wests Flegg Cup captain Warren Beaumont on the charge during his sides 28-16 loss to Penrith. Future top grade fullback Shaun Devine watches on in front of the extensive tiered seating at the northern end of the ground. Coached by Wayne Ellis, the Flegg team of 1989 qualified for the semi finals, only to be beaten 22-10 by Balmain (the Tigers were thumped 26-8 in the grand final by Canberra). Alongside the aforementioned Beaumont & Devine, the Wests team boasted top liners Jamie Ainscough, Matt Ryan, Richie Connell and Brett Cullen. Warren Beaumont was an Ashcroft High product who came through the ranks at a fascinating time in the club’s history. Wests were still based in the inner west until 1987 and in the years prior to the great migration, the Newtown Jets had planned to adopt the Macarthur region.Beaumont played Matthews Cup in 1984 for the Newtown-Campbelltown Jets, before pulling on the white and black of Wests SG Ball Cup team in 1987. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

I say white and black, for in 1987 Wests also fielded a black & white side. The former was based at the new home of Campbelltown, while the latter was the last Magpie team to come from the Ashfield-Lidcombe region. Both Wests sides went well and it came down to a final round show down between the two to see who would qualify for the finals. The Magpies inner city side contained future internationals Tim Brasher and Jim Serdaris, and they won the day by 30 points to 12 (they were beaten the following week in their semi final by a Canberra side featuring Brad Clyde & Nigel Gaffey). By 1990, Warren Beaumont was graded at Wests and played in the back row for Wayne Ellis’ President Cup team that year. This side went within a whisker of making the semi finals, narrowly losing a play off for fifth against Canterbury Bankstown. The future looked bright for Bowie, his coach noting at season’s end that …

“Second rower Warren Beaumont played under me in the Flegg Cup last year and he progressed well to the stronger competition”. By the time 1991 had rolled around however. Warren Beaumont was mysteriously no longer at Wests. I'm not sure who he played for during the nineties. Did he perhaps have a stint in the Group 6 competition? I do know that he bobbed up eight or nine seasons later playing Metropolitan Cup for Cabramatta alongside a host of former Magpies, including Kim Corbett and Sam Judge. Beaumont would later become a noted pugilist, claiming World Boxing Foundation belts in the Over 35s and Tough Man categories. He also became a tireless advocate in the fight against child abuse. Sadly, Warren ‘Bowie’ Beaumont passed away during 2017, aged 47. Wests Campbelltown based SG Ball team of 1987. Warren Beaumont is the fourth player from the right in the middle row (Photographer – unknown).

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

2021 Results

Coach – Ben Gardiner

Photo – Andrew Stark

Rd1 … vs. Canberra (A) lost 18-32 Rd2 … vs. Norths (H) lost 16-24 Rd3 … vs. Newcastle (A) won 50-6 Rd4 … vs. Parramatta (H) won 34-28 Rd5 … vs. Mounties (H) won 34-14 Rd6 … vs. Souths (A) won 42-18 Rd7 … vs. Blacktown (H) won 46-6 Rd8 … vs. St Geo-Ill (A) won 30-28 Rd9 … - bye – Rd10 .. vs. Norths (A) won 36-16 Rd11 .. vs. Canberra (H) won 36-22 Rd12 .. vs. St Geo-Ill (H) won 26-18 Rd13 .. vs. Penrith (H) lost 14-40 Rd14 .. vs. Parramatta (A) lost 26-28 Rd15 .. vs. Newcastle (H) drew 14-14

NSW Cup

3rd at time of cessation Eventual Premiers: competition abandoned Abov e: Jock Madden

2021 Results

Massey Cup Coach – Leo Epifania

Photo – Andrew Stark

Rd1 … vs. Cabramatta (H) won 16-12 Rd3 … vs. Wentworthville (H) lost 12-56 Rd4 … - bye Rd5 … vs. St Marys (H) lost 4-64 Rd6 … vs. Kaiviti Silktails (H) lost 26-38 Rd7 … vs. Windsor (A) won 26-18 Rd8 … vs. Mounties (A) lost 22-28 Rd9 … vs. Glebe (H) lost 26-34 Rd10 .. – bye Rd11 .. vs. Blacktown (H) won 36-32 Rd12 .. vs. Hills Bulls (H) lost 16-20 Rd13 .. vs Ryde-Eastwood (H) lost 16-22 Rd14 .. - byeRd15 .. vs. Windsor (H) won 28-24

Equal 7th at time of cessation Eventual Premiers: competition abandoned Abov e: Mitch Francis

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

2021 Results … vs. Norths (H) won 38-4 … vs. Canberra (H) lost 10-16 … vs. Victoria (H) lost 26-28 … vs. Manly (A) lost 6-16 … vs. Parramatta (H) lost 18-32 … - bye … vs. Cronulla (A) lost 18-54 … vs. Illawarra (A) lost 10-40 … vs. Syd Roosters (A) lost 18-36

Coach – Tom Morrison Photo – Andrew Stark

Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Rd6 Rd8 Rd9 Rd7

SG Ball Cup

Finished 13th Eventual Premiers – Canberra Abov e: Jahoiyakim Afoa

2021 Results

H. Matthews Cup

Finished 3rd Eventual Premiers – Manly

Coach – Nathan Lakeman Photo – Andrew Stark

Rd1 … vs. Norths (H) won 24-18 Rd2 … vs. Canberra (H) won 32-14 Rd3 … vs. Central Coast (H) won 14-12 Rd4 … vs. Manly (A) lost 14-20 Rd5 … vs. Parramatta (H) lost 14-22 Rd6 … - bye Rd8 … vs. Cronulla won 36-6 Rd9 … vs. Illawarra (A) won 34-22 Rd7 … vs. Syd Roosters (A) won 26-24 Q-Final vs. Central Coast – won 18-16 S-Final vs. Manly - lost 12-32 Right: Jordan Miller Below: Tom Fletcher

& William Craig

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photo – Andrew Stark

One Man’ Man’s Black & White Enthusiasm Continuing on with the series of letters sent between myself and the Wests Football Office back in the 1990s. I evidently fancied myself as something of a talent scout back in the day, and recently uncovered pieces of correspondence sent to hard working Magpie secretaries, Gordon Allen and Steve Noyce, where any number of prospective Magpie recruits were discussed. I was covering junior footy at the time in my capacity as a photographer/journalist. I guess I figured my hours put in on the sideline and the gifted young players I was seeing first hand, may have morphed into information deemed useful by the Wests Footy Club Office. Of course the Magpies, like all the clubs, had people far better credentialed than ole Kodak to handle the spotting and sifting of potential recruits. Reading back over the letters today, I must admit to feeling a tinge of embarrassment at my forthright naivety.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

THE SNAIL MAIL PEST

So belated apologies are owed to both Gordon and Steve for creating them extra work, way back when. Having to respond to rabid season ticket holders who seem to think they have the league insight of Jack Gibson and the footy smarts of Craig Bellamy, must be the bane of all football club offices.

This letter was sent off to Gordon Allen in May of 1991 with a list of young players I grandiosely declared as being, “exceptionally talented”. Pushing on with the purple prose, I added, “any number of whom I’d love to see wearing the black & white”. My enthusiasm had been piqued by a weekend at the Junior NSW Country Championships carnival held at Gosford and Woy Woy. Your trusty lensman was undoubtedly keen, as the letter was sent to Campbelltown on the Monday directly following the weekend carnival. There was clearly no time to dilly dally. It was well known that the talent greedy

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

recruitment officers from Manly, Easts, Souths & Canterbury etc, never took time out to sleep. It’s an interesting list of players. Of the eight, three would kick on to play First Grade in Sydney, while another represented NSW Country 1sts. And of the three draftees mentioned in the letter’s second paragraph, let me begin by offering a pre-emptive (albeit 30-year-old) apology to Dean Hopwood, for my forthright dissing of his May 1991 performances. Moree Boomerangs three-quarter Mal Peckham (pictured left) featured in a previous edition of this magazine. I was so keen on his ability that I’d also recommended him to Wests in 1990. He was selected for the NSW Under 19s a month after this letter was sent and in 1994 played for the senior NSW Country team against City. I’ve no idea why Mal Peckham never played top flight footy in Sydney but I stick by my assertion of thirty years previous … the lad was a natural finisher who would have left his mark.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Mudgee Dragons Under 17s prop Corey Underwood was signed by Manly and played a number of seasons in the lower grades at Brookvale. In 1998 he reached the NRL and played 5 first grade games for the maroon & white club. Wee Waa duo, Steve Trindall and Sean Kelly were both selected to play for the Country U19s as a result of their efforts in Gosford. A month later they were together in the State side. Steve Trindall was subsequently signed by Canberra and in a top grade career spanning eleven seasons, the big prop played at Norths,

the Northern Eagles and the Wests Tigers before heading to the UK. All up, Steve Trindall (pictured right) notched 172 NRL games, with a further 88 games racked up in the Old Dart. Peter Driscoll was a tough as teak back rower who following the Gosford carnival was courted by Wests. The Magpies appeared to have their man when he accepted a club scholarship and was placed at St Gregory’s College from where he was duly selected in the Australian Schoolboy team of 1992. Alas, despite accepting all of Wests love and nurturing, the snowy haired Quirindi forward shied away from ever pulling on a black & white jersey. In what became a disturbing trend during the early 90s, he was filched by South Sydney’s ever alert development officer Tommy Larkin, who lived in Magpie territory and whose son Wade would play halfback for the Wests Matthews Cup team a few years later. Driscoll ended up playing 37 top grade games for the Rabbitohs between 1995 & 1997. He later returned to the bush to star for North Tamworth. Like Mal Peckham, Dallas Buckman was mentioned in an earlier edition of this series and I continued to recommend the Muswellbrook (previously Aberdeen) fullback to the club. Buckman represented the NSW Country U17s in 1990 and was the fullback in the champion Northern Division U19s team of 1991. Michael Want was a Gosford Townies junior who played for the Ourimbah Magpies in 1991. He scored two tries in the U19s Country Final, as the Central Coast went down to a champion Northern Division team 37-18. Michael Want never stopped trying and was regarded with selection in the Country U19s team - CRL Annual Report 1991 MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photo Top: Steve Trindall as a Northern Eagle (IMPACT footy card) Photo Above: Peter Driscoll pictured in 1992 having been selected in

the Australian Schools team to tour New Zealand. He was on a Wests scholarship at the time (photo courtesy of Quirindi Advocate).

The last mentioned U17s player in my letter was Northern Rivers back rower Andrew Constable. Constable A Moree junior, Constable was boarding at St John’s College Woodlawn and featured prominently in the famous parrot coloured jerseys as a rangy back rower during the early 1990s. In 1992 he played Flegg Cup at Wests. The Northern Division U19s which featured Buckman, Trindall and Kelly, be became the first Northern Division 19s to claim the title in over a deade. It’s interesting to note that Ricky McGrady, one of the famous footballing brothers headed by Rothmans Medallist and 1994 Wests top grader Ewan, was also in this team. Young Rick must have had a quiet afternoon when I was watching in Gosford as he failed to make my list. He later played lower grades at Wests (1993), and notched six top grade games for the Gold Coast (1995).

Wests remaining two draft picks, those not mentioned in the letter, they were working out just fine. One was a 17-year-old half/five eight from the Riverina named Ciriaco Mescia, who upon arriving in Campbelltown shifted very successfully into dummy half. The other was Evan Cochrane, a bullocking outside back from Orange who would play 1st grade at Wests, Souths & Newcastle. .

Photo above left: Corrin Ridding, Above middle: Michael Right: The winning Northern Division U19s of 1991

Want

The letter and its reply also mention Wests draftee choices Jamie Gale, Corrin Ridding and Dean Hopwood. Ridding was the only one of the trio to ultimately play at Wests. It would appear that Gale, a quick outside back from Bourke got homesick. The 17-year-old five eighth or lock forward, Hopwood was already playing 1st Grade with Terrigal in the Central Coast competition and he too never materialized as a Magpie. Corrin Ridding was a prop forward from Cowra and he played lower grades at Wests before stints at both the Western Reds and Souths yielded top grade exposure. In 1995 he was rather sensationally rubbed out of the game for an extended period after testing positive to stanozolol.

Peter Magnone Pictured right in action for the Wests Jersey Flegg team during the Magpies agonizing 31-30 loss to Canterbury Bankstown back in May of 1996. Wests had led 30-20 with less than 10 minutes to play however two late Bulldog tries and a Corey Hughes field goal spoiled an otherwise enjoyable afternoon out at Belmore. Peter ‘Mags’ Magnone had previously played in Wests Matthews and SG Ball Cup teams from 1993 through to 1995. He played alongside his brother Steve at the Magpies, and with St Gregory’s College MCS sides of the mid 1990s. In 1995 he was selected alongside schoolmate Trent Barrett in the Metropolitan Catholic Schools side for the State Selection Trials. Steve Magnone is today a Riverina police officer, while Peter & Steve’s father, Ron, who managed many of the Magpie junior rep sides during the 1990s, later become a shire councillor at Gundagai. Employment at Macarthur Gas saw Peter Magnone become the company’s Project Manager in the Riverina region. The strapping front rower also laced up the boots for the Gundagai Tigers. A long and successful playing stint ensued, a relationship that included a number of seasons as the Tigers captain coach. He was also a regular in Group 9 rep’ teams. In the year 2000, Magnone reached the international sphere, representing Italy in two games during the Emerging Nations World Cup. Playing alongside former Wests top grade prop Darren Capovilla, the Azzurri defeated Canada 66-6, before being edged out 20-18 by the British Amateur League team. Peter’s son, Bryce Magnone has followed his father’s lead and is a promising front row prospect in the St George Illawarra junior representative system.

Abov e, Left to right: Steve Magnone, Wests Jersey Flegg Cup 1996 (Photo – Andrew Stark), Peter Magnone celebrates a try for Gundagai during 2013 (Photo courtesy of Les Smith), Gundagai Councillor Ron Magnone (Photo courtesy of Daily Adv ertiser), Bryce Magnone, Illawarra SG Ball Cup grand final 2021 (Photo – Andrew Stark). Opposite Page: Peter Magnone, Wests Jersey Flegg Cup 1996 (Photo – Andrew Stark).

Photo:

Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

One Random Photo From The Files … Metropolitan Cup – April 1998 – Concord Oval

Photo: Andrew Stark

Darren Clancy Photo: Andrew Stark

Wests fullback Darren Clancy is captured reefing a kick downfield during a mid April, 1998 Metro Cup clash with the Moorebank Rams. The Magpies went down 30-24 on this particular afternoon in a performance Sydney League News editor, Terry Williams likened to the People’s Front of Judea Suicide Squad from Life of Brian. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

The Brian Cook coached Magpies made a habit of clutching defeat from the jaws of victory during 1998 and only just avoided the wooden spoon when they gained revenge over the Rams via a final round, 48-26 try-fest victory (ith halfback Paul Jarvis nabbing four tries). Wests finished level on 6 competition points with Moorebank, yet were 81 points to the good in the for & against comparison. What makes this random photo of Darren Clancy all the more relevant is that he was a Moorebank junior, and is today a Moorebank Rams life member (as is his brother and his father). The goal kicking custodian began playing for the Rams at the under 7s level, progressing through the age divisions and into grade at Canterbury. He was a member of the Bulldogs 1991 premiership wining Presidents Cup squad before switching to Wests two seasons later. Clancy played under Wayne Ellis in a Magpies Presidents Cup team that featured Cherry Mescia, Jason Eade, Aseri Laing, Damian Kennedy & Glenn Grief. He would later play Metro Cup for both Moorebank and Wentworthville, before returning to Wests for the 1998 season. Into his thirties, Clancy came out of retirement to link with Ulladulla for a season or two in the Group 7 competition. Fast forward to 2021, and before Delta cut things short, Darren Clancy was heavily involved with his junior club, acting as head trainer and assistant coach for the Moorebank Rams Sydney Shield team. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Photo:

Andrew Stark

Above Left: Rams trainer Darren Clancy circa 2021 (photo courtesy of the Moorebank Rams). Above Right: In action for Moorebank during the 1994 Metro Cup season (photo – Andrew Stark)

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Simon Dwyer monsters Jared Waerea Hargreaves in a famous semi final moment during the September of 2010 (Photographer unknown)

The story of Simon Dwyer ranks highly among rugby league’s great tragedies. It rivals those of Steve Hewson, Danny Sullivan & Adam Ritson - players who were all destined for brilliant careers before serious injury snatched it all away. Simon Dwyer attended Macquarie Fields Public School and then Macquarie Fields High School. He played his junior football with the Ingleburn Bulldogs and made his NRL debut in 2009. The following season he became a regular starter in the Wests Tigers back row. Tim Sheens hailed Dwyer as the next Bradley Clyde and selection in the City team to play Country during early 2011 looked to be the first step in a long representative career. Sadly in a game against Canterbury played on June 24th at Campbelltown, Simon Dwyer suffered a brachial plexus injury which left him without feeling in his right arm. Intricate surgery performed at the Royal North Shore Hospital saw surgeons redirect nerves from Dwyer’s diaphragm into his right shoulder. Despite the procedure being hailed a success, the talented Wests junior has never regained full use of his right arm and he was forced to retire from the game. Season 2021 saw Simon Dwyer continue his long association with the Wests Tigers, acting as the performance analyst within Michael Maguire’s coaching team. . MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Simon Dwyer sweeps across in cover defence to corner Tom Symonds during Wests 2006 SG Ball Cup clash against the Roosters at Henson Park (Photo – Andrew Stark).

Above:

Photo:

Andrew Stark

Simon Dwyer 2007 SG Ball Cup Photographed playing left centre against Illawarra on a chilly Wollongong evening during 2007. Wests took an 18-12 lead into the sheds that night before things got away from them. The Steelers ran in thirty unanswered second half points to claim a 42-18 win. Jotted down next to Dwyer’s name in my match day program is the note, “Big, tall, right centre. The go-to man in attack”

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Issues 11 - 15

July 2021 – November 2021

Online presentation © Andrew Stark 2021 No part of this magazine/fanzine/presentation, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner

Magpie Memoir Magazine © Andrew Stark 2021

MAGPIE MEMOIR January 2020: July 2020: October 2021 Volume Volume11Issue 1Volume 2 Issue 8 Issue 4

MAGAZINE MAGAZINE One Fans Tribute to the Western Suburbs DRLFC

ISSN:2652-4406

GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY

FIERY TYSON MAKES THE GRADE

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photos – Hugh Stark

Andrew Stark grew up just a hefty punt kick from Strathfield Park, in Sydney’s inner west during the heady days of the 1970s. He was quick to become a passionate supporter of the local rugby league team, the Western Suburbs Magpies. Stark began snapping photographs at the occasional game during the early 1980s and later became chief photographer for Terry Williams’ Sydney League News publication, covering grassroots footy from the mid 1990s on. Stark has captured a myriad of Magpie-centric images over the past three and a half decades, concentrating on the junior representative level, with an occasional foray into the senior grades. This quarterly fanzine series, aims to combine current events with a look back through the photographers vast collection. It is one man’s humble celebration of the mighty Western Suburbs D.R.L.F.C

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE October 2021: Volume 2 Edition 8

In researching this edition, I had to chuckle at a comment made by 1170 SEN host Adam Peacock. Running his eye over Tyson Gamble’s CV, Peacock noted, “It seems the road to super stardom in rugby league is spending two years at the Wests Tigers, and then go somewhere else.” Tyson Gamble is but the latest in a long line of highly talented NRL stars let slip by the orangey crew. The West-Ts have become a laughing stock (not helped I might add, by that “f*#%ing” documentary) and most rugby league diehards agree that the 1999 coupling has been an abject failure. Phil Gould, Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, and anyone with just an ounce of commonsense, has for many year been urging the club to become genuine Westies. They need to follow the lead of Western Suburbs circa 1986 and pack up the inner city tent and head to Campbelltown. It’s said that Balmain types will never give up Leichhardt Oval, but no one mentions that us Magpie fans gave up our beloved Lidcombe Oval, for the good of the club back in the 80s. This is fork in the road stuff. Wests secretary Gordon Allen, in April of 1988, rather tellingly offered, “You’ve got to remember we’re the only club which has ever relocated. How would Balmain go under the same circumstances?” With the aid of thirty plus years of hindsight, the answer to Gordon’s question is – Not real well ! The future is obvious. The West-Ts need to fully focus their representation on the Macarthur region and follow the lead of genuine community clubs such as Newcastle & Penrith. Put down roots at Leumeah, play their hearts out for the south-west region and in doing so, inspire the next-gen of local footballing talent to want to play for their local club, Wests Tigers. - Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE is Written, Photographed, Designed & Published by Andrew Stark. All photographs were taken by Andrew Stark, unless otherwise credited.

Photo: Andrew Stark

Tyson

GAMBLE Fibro Throwback Limited opportunities came his way during two years at Concord, yet perseverance has seen former star Wests pivot, Tyson Gamble become a major player at his home club, the Brisbane Broncos.

While playing NSW Cup for Wests back in 2018, Tyson Gamble looked every bit a cut above. Early that year he formed an unstoppable halves pairing with Josh Drinkwater, and the MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark Brett Hodgson coached Magpies must have been resigned to losing their big five-eighth to the NRL at any moment. The stumbling & bumbling Ivan Cleary led Tigers ignored the Queensland product until mid June of that year, when injuries to key personnel saw the talented playmaker slotted in to their Campbelltown clash with Canberra. As it panned out, the home team was dreadful that afternoon and the debutant followed the lead of his more illustrious teammates. Wests Tigers were thumped 48-12 and Tyson Gamble would never be selected to wear the garish orange again. Following his unhappy debut, the big pivot copped plenty of hate on social media as the keyboard warriors all but flicked his NRL dream to the scrap heap after just 80 minutes in the big time. Gamble had begun his rugby league journey as a seven year old playing for the Albany Creek Crushers, before progressing into the ranks of the Redcliffe Dolphins. The chirpy playmaker claims that things only began happening for him when as an under 20s player at Redcliffe, he found the weights room. At 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighing in at 95 kilos, Tyson Gamble is today, one of the more physically formidable halves in the NRL. Watching Gamble play for the Broncos during 2021, I was drawn to his old-school cheek and infectious personality. It is fitting that he was able to represent the Western Suburbs Magpies as his in-your-face, mongrel persona and tremendous will-to-win, remind me a lot of those Lidcombe Oval favourites from my childhood. Photo abov e Tyson Gamble in action for Wests at Lidcombe Oval during 2018 (Photo - Andrew Stark)

Photo: Andrew Stark

Photo courtesy – Channel 9

Tyson Gamble took over as the chief playmaker at Brisbane in 2021, a task high profile halves Anthony Milford and Brody Croft had previously failed at. Mid season he was anointed by the great Wally Lewis as his preference to partner Adam Reynolds in the Broncos halves for 2022. When asked during mid 2021 about his time at Concord, Gamble rather diplomatically reeled off a list of Wests Tigers halves before offering, they were not a bad bunch of blokes to learn from. Having played a season and a half at Wests, where he only received the single call up, by mid 2019 it was clear he was never going to get another crack. Securing a release back home to Queensland, he worked his way into the Broncos squad and the rest, as they say, is history. Sadly for the Wests Tigers, Tyson Gamble is added to the long list of quality players let slip by the perennially struggling joint venture club. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Photo above Gamble

in action for Wests against Wyong in 2018, a game in which he kicked a late, match winning field goal (Photo - Andrew Stark).. Previous Page : Headlines which have followed Gamble’s journey, his 2017 twitter post, Tyson the Magpie, and a number of caustic comments from the Wests Tigers Forum following his NRL debut.

One Man’ Man’s Black & White Enthusiasm Continuing on with a series that features letters sent between myself and the Wests Football Office back in the 1990s. I evidently fancied myself as something of a talent scout back in the day and recently uncovered pieces of correspondence sent to hard working Magpie secretaries, Gordon Allen and Steve Noyce, where any number of prospective Magpie recruits were being discussed. I was covering junior footy at the time in my capacity as a photographer/journalist. I guess I figured, with the hours I was putting in on the sideline and the plethora of gifted young players I was getting to see first hand, that this may have morphed into information deemed useful by the Wests Footy Club Office. Of course they, like all the clubs, had people far better credentialed than Ole Kodak to handle the spotting and sifting of potential recruits. Reading back over the letters today I must admit to feeling a tinge of embarrassment at my forthright naivety. So belated apologies go out to Gordon and Steve for creating extra paperwork, way back when. Having to respond to rabid season ticket holders who seem to think they have the league insight of a Jack Gibson, Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy, must be the bane of all football club offices.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

THE SNAIL MAIL PEST

This edition sees your trusty snapper tipping the Pies a couple of GPS rugby prospects while also throwing in a host of likely lads who’d shone in the Commonwealth Bank Cup competition of 1991.

Having covered the 1991 GPS rugby competition, I was very impressed with the champion St Josephs College team who’d swept all before them in the elite 15 aside caper. Putting down my camera, I dutifully tapped away on the rusty Olivetti, informing Gordon Allen and the Magpie Head Office of two standout backs. Outside centre Graeme Thompson and fullback Stephen Jani had carved up opposition defences with such proficiency throughout the winter

Below:

Joey’s dashing fullback Stephen Jani pokes his nose through the Sydney High defensive line during the 1991 GPS rugby season. Photo – Andrew Stark

Photo – Andrew Stark

w S tark

of 1991 that they may as well have been Langlands & Gasnier. My letter rather presumptively nudges Gordon into sending Chris Stephandellis to the schoolboy rugger and I even included a Joeys fixture list to help push the point. Of course the Maggies talent spotters were already well aware of both Thompson & Jani so my typewriter ink was somewhat wasted. A further factor was the St Josephs 1st XV of 1991 was co-coached by former Wests centre and duel international, Stephen Knight, while former Magpie winger Steve Broughton was also an ex Joeys boy.

My letter also contained a bunch of “hot players from the Commonwealth Bank Cup” and a bit of chit chat about members of Skull Mullholland’s winning St Greg’s side. It’s interesting to retrospectively sift through some of the names mentioned. Gymea High School prop Adam Ritson was just 14 years of age in 1991 and did famously play first grade at Cronulla two seasons later. Injury did later cut short a very promising career. Andrew Tangata-Toa made the grade at Newcastle & St George-Illawarra while also representing Tonga. Andrew King played 133 top grade games across four clubs. Ian Dunemann (along with his brother Andrew) played in the Ones for the Cowboys, while Hayden Mack had a stint in the lower grades at the Steelers. Brett Porter was a gun back rower for Palm Beach Currumbin and it was a surprise that during subsequent winters he never poked his head into the big league. While the progress beyond 1991 of Farrar Ag forward Jamie Southwell is unknown.

Photo – Andrew Stark

My excitement at the prospect of St Gregory’s lads Horan, Francis, Kearney, Cross being joined by team mates from the Campbelltown College was to be white anted by South Sydney in the subsequent months. Gordon alludes to Wests junior Horan holding out for more money and he would subsequently be joined by Magpie scholarship player Michael Francis at the Rabbitohs. They would also be joined by Peter Driscoll and in time by Paul Quinn (via Parramatta & Penrith). Souths cherry picked a host of talent from under Wests nostrils during this period and disappointingly, a number of players had no problem taking the club’s scholarship money without ever pulling on a black & white jersey. Wests scholarship recipient Michael Francis, who joined Tim Horan & Peter Driscoll at Souths Photo courtesy of Big League Magazine.

Above Right:

Tim Horan in action for the 1989 Wests SG Ball Cup team. Photo – Andrew Stark

Right:

I recently stumbled across my old match day program from the Joey’s vs Trinity trial game played in mid June of 1991 (a section of which is shown below). The game was played a month prior to my letter to Gordon Allen and the programme shows both Thompson & Jani’s names highlighted by my trusty black biro. By September of 1991, both Stephen Jani and Graeme Thompson were members of the Australian Schools rugby team which toured New Zealand. In subsequent years Graeme Thompson would represent NSW and Queensland while also playing Sevens for Australia. He played club rugby for the Newcastle club’s, Wanderers and the Wildfires, while also having stints with Gordon in Sydney and the Wests Bulldogs in Brisbane. Stephen Jani played Shute Shield rugby for the strong Sydney University club and featured in many Students 1st XVs alongside former Wests Junior Rep’s prop Nick Duffy. That the dashing fullback with the Langlands side step never progressed into senior representative teams is somewhat of a mystery. Many winters beyond the early nineties, I was chatting with one of the forwards from the champion Joeys team of 1991. I asked him about Jani’s surprising lack of senior success and he reasoned that the big number 15 was one of those lads who’d already fully developed physically at High school and that in the years that followed, once everyone else had caught up, he went from being an out and out champion to being just, very good. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

St Joseph’s College centre Graeme Thompson pictured running Newington College ragged during the 1991 GPS Rugby season. (Photo – Andrew Stark)

Below Left:

The St Josephs team list vs. Trinity (15-6-91) with my inky notches placed against the names of Thompson & Jani.

Below Centre:

Wests international three-quarter Stephen Knight shown in action during 1974. Knight joined Br Tony Boyd as the coaches of the Joeys 1stXV. (Photo: source unknown, found on the internet) Below Right:

Photo – Andrew Stark

One Random Photo From The Files … Metropolitan Cup – April 1998 – Concord Oval Martin Patton

I snapped this photograph at Orana Park, Photo: Andrew Stark

Wests Metro Cup team of 1998 included an athletic fullback/winger with a fascinating back story. While most of the players running around in this competition had arrived via the junior rep’ or bush footy pathway, 27-year-old Texan, Martin Patton had honed his skills playing as a running back in the Canadian Football League. The above photograph was taken in 1998 when Wests were edged out 14-8 by the Kellyville Bushrangers. The image at the foot of the following page was shot a couple of seasons later and captures Martin Patton offloading for his centre John McKelleher during the Magpies stirring 24-20 victory over Ryde Eastwood. It’s not exactly clear how Patton went from being a star gridiron player in both the United States & Canada, to arriving in Sydney to pull on the famous black & white jersey of the Western Suburbs Magpies.

Martin Patton tragically lost both parents and a sister to a car crash when he was a very young child. At the age of eight, he lost another brother in a further road accident. In 1991 he offered, “I’ve bounced back from both my parents dying and bouncing around several different foster homes. All that experience has made me a better man”. While playing for the University of Miami, Patton fell foul of the law via credit card fraud and an unfortunate incident involving a team mate who’d crashed while driving his motor bike. Patton had rushed to check on the welfare of his friend when he found himself getting into an altercation with the attending police. He duly found himself in the holding cell at the local lock-up. “It wasn’t exactly like show-and-tell, but when my turn came to speak and I told them I was a footballer player, every head turned. Even the drunk who had been snoring.” Martin Patton starred during stints at Miami, Texas and Canadian clubs; Shreveport Pirates (pictured above) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He retired from playing American football at the end of the 1996 season, and began playing rugby league for Wests in 1998. He continued at Wests until the end of the 2000 season. On the 20th of November, 2012, like so many of his family members before him, 42year-old Martin Patton was killed in a car crash in Shelby County, Texas.

Photo: Andrew Stark

SHAFTED The Great Joint Venture Swindle by Andrew Stark

Back in the 70s, The Partridge Family belted out a melodious little Neil Sedaka ditty called, Breaking up is hard to do. Without wishing to dilute the message imparted by Reuben Kincaid’s supergroup, the history of the Wests Tigers would suggest - getting together ain’t no picnic either. A recent revelation by former Western Suburbs chief executive, Martin Bullock has shone some light onto the shambolic joint venture club’s ground zero. An almost immediate reneging of a deal which was at the very core of the marriage between the two foundation clubs, Western Suburbs and Balmain. In a two part, Nine newspapers, Michael Chammas expose, the Wests Tigers inaugural chief executive stated, From the very first board meeting, it was determined that the future of the club was the south-west corridor, specifically in the Macarthur region. Bullock continued, Everyone went back to their boards after that meeting, and they quickly changed hats and began to look at their own self interests. Never in my time was there a united focus on the future of the club. So back in July of 1999, one of the chief requirements coming from the Wests side of the bargaining table was that the club become a south-west Sydney concern. Given that Balmain had previously relocated its home games to Parramatta and even changed its name to the Sydney Tigers for a period, the Magpies may well have been lulled into the false misapprehension that the orangey crew were a progressive, forward thinking organization. They may have been silly enough to take them at their word. Even Balmain legend, Benny Elias had written in his 1993 biography that the Tigers should abandon Leichhardt and relocate to Melbourne. Chapter 20 in ‘”Balmain Benny” is titled, Why Balmain must move. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark Photos Left to Right: Benny Elias, The Partridge Family, Martin Bullock (pics from internet)

The one certainty is that we cannot hang on too much longer at Leichhardt. If we do cling to that tradition it won’t be long at all before we hear the soft tread of the executioner. - Ben Elias (1993) Tragically, when push came to shove, the orangey crew (ultimately in cahoots with Wests Ashfield) panicked, reneged on the deal and strutted jauntily back toward a slow, lingering demise at the eighth wonder, Leichhardt Oval. The joint venture has paid lip service to the burgeoning south-west for over two decades now, while other clubs merrily cherry pick the talent. In 2021 the Wests Tigers boasted just one Wests junior within its combined NRL & NSW Cup squads. Despite Wests Ashfield control, the joint venture club continues to be litle more than, Balmain-Lite. The media, the fans, the rugby league community, all refer to the spluttering entity as “the tigers”. They rave about Leichardt, quote the old Balmain adage of, black & gold shall never fold, and speak of Tiger’s greats who never actually pulled on a Wests Tigers jersey … and all the while, your more likely to win Powerball than you are hear a commentator use the singular, Wests, to describe the modern incarnation. So with regard the internal battle for brand perception, those 1999 orangey crew members have won the day. That it appears to have taken dishonesty, and that it’s ultimate consequence has been to consign the club to basket case status, is the greatest tragedy in all of this. Referee Chris Sutton (pictured left) inadvertently summed it up during the Wests Tigers final game of the season. In one of the year’s most tepid efforts, the team trailed wooden-spooners Canterbury 38-0. While attempting to set an unruly scrum in the games dying moments, Sutton exclaimed, What a mess ! The Wests Tigers circa 2021 are a gypsy club. A rag-tag circus which intermittently rolls into your neighbourhood, all the time expecting you to believe that yours is the chosen postcode. They are rugby league’s equivalent of a serial bigamist. They have any number of wives on the go – Concord, Leichhardt, Homebush, Parramatta, Campbelltown – yet spectacularly fail all of them. Quite bizarrely, they fail to realize that everyone has totally cottoned on to the deception. The rolling pin that delivers the killer blow must surely be just one deep sleep from landing. Unless of course the club finally decides to man-up and head fulltime to Campbelltown, honouring a vow delivered twenty two years ago.

Photo Andrew Stark

Scott Davey The talented three-quarter is pictured above as an 18-year-old, in action for the 1990 Wests Flegg Cup team during their round 6 clash with the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (that’s Jason Small sunbathing in the background). Educated at Leumeah High, Scott Davey formed a useful centre pairing with future Wests top grader, Jason Benge in the Wayne Ellis coached under 19s of 1990.

He played SG Ball for the Magpies in 1989 and Flegg in both 1990 & 1991. Canterbury born, Davey would head to Belmore in 1992, and made his first grade debut off the bench during early June of that same year. It was a game the Bulldogs would lose 12-11 and it was made famous when with three minutes remaining on the clock, and with his side trailing by two, Terry Lamb quite bizarrely slotted a neat 40 metre field goal. Coach Chris Anderson gave the young Magpie product his first starting cap during late August of the same year, Davey playing fullback for the Dogs in the 16 all draw against the Eels at Parramatta. He played lower grades during the following two seasons, before receiving a call up for the renamed Sydney Bulldogs in round 12 of 1995. Davey played in the centres and scored a try as the blue & whites downed Sydney City 22-14. Just four top grade games across as many seasons at the Super League bound Bulldogs saw Davey head to Parramatta in 1996. He played four NRL games for the Eels including a mid April clash with Wests, which saw the Tommy Raudonikis coached Magpies claim an 18-14 victory.

Photo courtesy: of the Camden Advertiser

Davey later became a tremendous servant of the Camden Rams. He played and coached with distinction at the Rams and his whole family is keenly involved in rugby league at the club (see below). In 2021 Scott co-coached the Camden U18s alongside his former SG Ball Cup team mate, Brad Delaney.

Scott Davey the Bulldog MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

James Tautaiolefua & Trent Peoples Magpies In The Rabbit’ Rabbit’s Burrow Back during mid April, I was in attendance at Stadium Australia for the round 5 NSW Cup clash between Wests and Souths. A quirky, if not sobering fact to emerge from this game was that the only two Wests juniors on show, both wore the cardinal & myrtle of the Bunnies. Ingleburn High School product James Tautaiolefua and his former Wests Matthews Cup team mate Trent Peoples were both members of the 2021 Souths NSW Cup team. Twenty two year old Tautaiolefua played Matthews Cup & Ball Cup for the Magpies between 2014 & 2018 before progressing to the Wests Tigers NYC/Jersey Flegg team in 2017 & 2018. The following year, the dashing fullback headed to Redfern.

photo courtesy of South Sydney Rabbitohs website.

James Tautaiolefua 2020

Back rower Trent Peoples is a Campbelltown Collegians junior who attended St Gregory’s College. Having played Matthews Cup for Wests in 2014, Peoples switched his allegiance to the Illawarra Steelers, playing two years of SG Ball Cup in the Gong. He subsequently lined up for the Dragons at NYC/Jersey Flegg level in 2017 & 2018 before joining Tautaiolefua in accepting an opportunity to play for Souths.

James Tautaiolefua in action for the Wests Ball Cup team of 2016 (photo – Andrew Stark)

Peoples as a young Magpie (photos courtesy of Facebook) Below Left to Right: NSW Cup 2021 – Trent Peoples, James Tautaiolefua, Trent Peoples - in action vs. Wests (Photos – Andrew Stark)

Above:

Photos: Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

James Tautaiolefua SG Ball Cup 2016 Photo: Andrew Stark

STAR STAR TURN TURN

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE Issues 11 - 15

July 2021 – November 2021

Online presentation © Andrew Stark 2021 No part of this magazine/fanzine/presentation, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner

No part of this magazine/fanzine/presentation, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner

MAGPIE MEMOIR November 2020: 2021 January July 2020: Volume 2 Issue 9 Volume Volume11Issue 1 Issue 4

MAGAZINE MAGAZINE One Fans Tribute to the Western Suburbs DRLFC

FOREVER

TRAPPED ISSN:2652--4406 ISSN:2652

ON THE

WRONG SIDE OF HIST OR Y

Photos – Hugh Stark

Andrew Stark grew up just a hefty punt kick from Strathfield Park in Sydney’s inner west, during the heady days of the 1970s. He was quickly to become a passionate supporter of his local rugby league team, the Western Suburbs Magpies. Stark began snapping photographs at the occasional game during the early 1980s and later became chief photographer for Terry Williams’ Sydney League News publication, covering grassroots footy from the mid 1990s on. Stark has captured a myriad of Magpie-centric images over the past three and a half decades, concentrating on the junior representative level, with an occasional foray into the senior grades. This quarterly fanzine series, aims to combine current events with a look back through the photographers vast collection. It is one man’s humble celebration of the mighty Western Suburbs D.R.L.F.C

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE November 2021: Volume 2 Edition 9

Welcome to this special, chip-on-the-shoulder, post lockdown edition of MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE - a bumper 24 page instalment which provides the author ample opportunity to, whinge and whine about the dodgy hand fate has dealt his favourite footy club. A rough chronological structure underpins the issue, however it does often veer into stream of consciousness territory, so please be warned (insert Lifeline number here).

If the history of Wests were a Shakespearean play, it would surely be classified alongside The Bard’s greatest tragedies. Flourishing acts imbued with great inspiration, noble characters and any number of brave men. Yet ultimately, despite their collective and heroic endeavour - it all turns to mud. Wests were up against it from the get go ... and the struggle really only intensified from there. tark - Andrew S

Photo – Andrew Stark Above:

Wests 2021 Jersey Flegg coach, Wayne ‘Chops’ Lambkin dives on a loose ball for the Magpies against Manly at Brookvale during 1988. -- Photo: Andrew Stark --

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE is Written, Photographed, Designed & Published by Andrew Stark. All photographs were taken by Andrew Stark, unless otherwise credited.

© Andrew Stark 2021 email: 10dollarjpegs@gmx.com ISSN: 2652-4406 front cover top : Lunch Hour (1944) a lithograph by acclaimed US artist Joseph front cover bottom: Uncredited photo found on the internet

Hirsch.

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

WESTS

FOREVER TRAPPED ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY

Born in Sydney’s south-west during the mid 1960s, my family moved to the inner west when I was still an infant. I was quick to adopt the local footy team, an association which would both, shape me and scar me for life. The 1970s was a great time to cheer for the Magpies as Tom Terrific, Joe Cool, the Snake, Boydie, Dallas, the Sloth and co, took it up to all comers. Supporters of glamour clubs such as Manly, Saints, Easts or Canterbury often scoff at my use of the adjective ‘great’, as no grand final appearances, let alone premierships, were forthcoming. Yet the Don Parish coached 1974 finals run, Yappy Holman’s 1977 team winning the Amco Cup, and the Roy Masters Fibro era that followed, they were all the stuff of inspiration for this young lad from Stratty. By the mid 1980s, the vultures were well and truly circling overhead and Wests was under siege. A look back over the history of the black & white club reveals a horrid run of ‘bad fortune’. When this unlucky streak is mixed-in with the Magpies perennial outsider status, it’s somewhat surprising they got as far as they did. It all began in the Ashfield Town Hall back on the Tuesday evening of February 4th, 1908, when the Western Suburbs Rugby League Club was formed. Sadly the first season boasted just the one win, after a hefty number of potential Wests players banded together to form the rival Central Cumberland club. By seasons end, Wests had narrowly escaped finishing last. The following year provided the club with the first of what would become a pantry full of wooden spoons and it took Wests a number of seasons to climb off the bottom of the competition ladder.

Nineteen eleven saw the Black & Whites finally manage to offload the spoon to Balmain, a club to whom they would later become so awkwardly coupled. It was during this opening decade of Sydney rugby league history that Western Suburbs assumed their battler status. Souths and Easts dominated. Both clubs were flush with high profile recruits, blessed with a large population base and were impeccably well connected within the games decision making halls of power. Wests on the other hand were bereft of on field talent and duly struggled. The games governing body, the NSWRFL collected all the gate receipts during these earliest of winters and at seasons end, they would reimburse the clubs via a grant. Records surviving from this period reveal that of the gate receipt grants from 1910 to 1916, Wests were afforded a fraction of the income paid to glamour clubs; Souths, Easts and Balmain. In the eight team divvy up, the struggling Wests received just 4.5% of the grants revenue across these seven seasons. This compares starkly to the 21% paid out to Souths, 17% to Easts, and 14% that went to Balmain. The second lowest recipient was Annandale who received just shy of 6% of the total gate revenue. While the formula used to determine the size of each club’s grant remains a mystery, it must have reflected each clubs individual crowd numbers. Yet overseeing an area with a relatively small population base, and having run dead last in four of the first six seasons, Wests were on a hiding to nothing in attempting to stay competitive. Even from the earliest days of the code, the game was structured to allow the rich to become richer, while the stragglers were left to make up the numbers. Wests battled hard however, and by 1917 the club was beginning to climb the rugby league totem pole. Four top four finishes in as many seasons pre-empted the admission into the competition of St George. This decision cut hard into Wests territory and like a pin into a black & white balloon, Magpie momentum went ‘pop’ and they slumped back down the ladder. During the game’s first half dozen or so decades, players were required to have resided for at least 12 months within their chosen club’s official boundaries to be deemed residentially qualified to play for that club. So when Wests lost a portion of their territory, it was a sizable obstacle to overcome. Beyond that opening 1908 season which included Central Cumberland, Wests territory took in a huge geographical area. During these pioneering days however, it was somewhat akin to footy club swamp land as very few people lived out there. Yet as Sydney’s population grew, the League took an interest, and they exponentially grew their competition. This expansion was always at Wests expense. As previously noted, the Magpies had been consistent top four finishers for a handful of years prior to St George’s entry. In 1935 a further wad of territory was taken from Wests when Canterbury were admitted into the competition. The Black & Whites went from premiers in 1934, to also-rans two seasons later. The next incursion into Wests heartland came with Parramatta’s entry in 1947. A move which prompted the Magpies forthright secretary Lou Moses, at a committee meeting of the NSWRFL to cynically retort; MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE “Thanks for letting us keep Rookwood”. © Andrew Stark

Following through on the history of Wests sub division, the next caustic chapter arrived in 1983. By then, the NSWRL had decided to stop mucking around with incrementally slicing off the clubs limbs, they simply kicked Wests out of the competition altogether. Having been minor premiers in 1978 and playing semi final footy in 1979, 1980 & 1982, the games powerbrokers decided to cull both the Magpies and the Newtown Jets. Wests duly fought tooth and nail through the courts and after a number of doomsday seasons, both on and of the field, they found a compromise position which largely placated their Phillip Street abusers. Move along Wests and we’ll stop trying to kill you off … for now! MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Wests half George Mason, is pictured above scooping up the ball during the Magpies 18-2 victory over St George at Pratten Park during 1929. Mason was a Bankstown City junior who had progressed into Wests top grade side two seasons earlier. Having headed to the bush and played in both the Riverina and for Central Newcastle during the early to mid 1930s, the talented half returned to Sydney in 1936 and linked with his new home club, Canterbury. Having played his final season in 1936, Mason coached the Blue & Whites in 1937 (inset photo shows Mason as a Berry in 1936). When St George entered the competition in 1921, Wests lost five top grade players in one residential qualification swoop. At the end of 1920, Herb Gilbert, Frank Gray, James Redmond, Clarrie Tye & John Wall were all required to depart Pratten Park. Fifteen years later and a further loss of territory was coupled with the loss of; Jack Hartnell, Jack Connell, Bob Lindfield, Frank Sponberg & Alan Brady to the Berries. The 1947 entry of Parramatta saw a further savage loss of Wests country. It also expedited the departure of Neville Spence and Bob Andrews. Andrews became Parra’s first captain while the side was coached by former Wests star fullback, Frank McMillan.

In 1987 Wests relocated from their eighty year Ashfield – Lidcombe home, out to Sydney’s burgeoning south-west region. It was a huge undertaking the likes of which had never been attempted by any NSWRL club before. The heart wrenching loss of revered junior clubs such as the Enfield Federals, Burwood United, Berala Bears, etc was particularly galling as rivals Balmain and Canterbury picked up Wests traditional heartland. Star Magpie SG Ball Cup players and future internationals, Tim Brasher and Jim Serdaris were also lost as it was considered unreasonable to expect innerwest based schoolboys to continually travel to and from Campbelltown. Upon their arrival in the south-west, the Magpies were received with a suspicious, if not openly hostile reception. The area had heard it all before. A few years earlier, the Newtown-Campbelltown and the Campbelltown-Liverpool projects had made similar noises before ultimately coming to nothing. Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra also made 1980s overtures. The local council, business houses and the people of the Macarthur were understandably wary of Wests move. The Magpies secretary Gordon Allen described the task at hand as, pushing the proverbial uphill. “It’s starting to grow. You’ve got to remember we’re the only club which has ever relocated. How would Balmain go under the same circumstances?” - Gordon Allen (April 1988)

The mention of Balmain, leads us to the great cull of 1999. While the forced marriage wasn’t technically a loss of territory, it most certainly entailed a crippling loss of identity. Vlad-the-Impaler style rationalization of the game in the immediate post Super League era saw Souths kicked out (temporarily), Norths pushed together with arch rivals Manly (before being kicked out totally), while the most vulnerable club, Wests, jumped into bed with Balmain. The resultant Wests Tigers, sporting their distinctive orange hue was perceived from day one as little more than the Balmain Tigers rebranded. In one loaded swipe, the Tigers were able to swamp 88 years of Western Suburbs history. We are now twenty two seasons on from that fateful decision and the name of the old black & white club has largely been omitted from the rugby league lexicon. Journalists and fans of the game alike, have no issue with referring to; Souths, Manly, Penrith, Cronulla, or Brisbane etc, using the first, or place name of these clubs. Yet despite the Wests Tigers being a politically sensitive amalgam, the singular use of ‘Wests’ is as rare today as a toe-poke for goal. Newspaper articles invariably begin with a seemingly obligatory ‘Wests Tigers’ reference in the opening paragraph before blanket use of ‘the Tigers’ forms the guts of each and every story. On one miserable Sunday afternoon during 2021, I sat and counted the first half references during a Channel Nine telecast from Campbelltown (I was too depressed to continue after half time). The commentators divvied up the descriptors by using; ‘Wests’ on its own zero times, ‘Wests Tigers’ three times, while ‘the tigers’ was uttered a mind numbingly 57 times. Apart from being insufferably triggering for any old Magpie trying desperately to feel apart of this hybrid club, it’s just hopelessly repetitive. Fifty seven times in 40 minutes: I mean seriously! MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

So history has again intervened, this time placing Wests on the wrong side of a joint venture. Despite the Leagues Club at Ashfield owning 90% of the franchise, it’s the Balmain heritage that is fostered and continues to be recognized by rugby league’s mainstream. Tigers history is invariably allowed to flow into the present day Tigers, yet for some reason Wests history isn’t allowed to flow into a modern day Wests. The Magpie heritage is shown little respect by the rugby league culture of the day and most disturbingly, it’s shown little respect by the club itself. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Even during the good times, history did invariably conspire against the Magpies. During the 1950s; St George (1953), Wests & Norths (1955), Balmain (1957), Parramatta & Souths (1959) all opened licensed clubs. The Western Suburbs Leagues Club opened its doors in June of 1955 and the football club went on a spending spree soon after. A daring splash of cash for players saw the Magpies tagged, The Millionaires. Yet unlike the vulture-like behaviour shown by Manly two decades later, with the exception of Dick Poole (Newtown), Ian Moir (Souths) & Denis Meaney (Manly), Wests shopping trolley was only ever filled with players from outside the Sydney competition. Internationals; Harry Wells (Wollongong), Kel O’Shea (Ayr, Queensland), Darcy Henry (Forbes) & Ian Johnstone (Coonamble) were enticed to Pratten Park as Wests made a genuine run toward upsetting the dominant clubs, Souths & St George, for a taste of premiership glory. History had clearly taken its eye off the ball back in 1952 when Wests scored a hugely contentious 22-12 grand final victory over Souths. Beyond that however, it was the Rabbitohs and then the Dragons who hogged all of the 1950s glory.

There’s an old adage in rugby league that when it comes to grand finals, a team needs to lose one to win one. Well during the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, Wests lost four grand finals in six seasons. The “win one” half of the equation never arrived. The last of these, the shattering 1963 loss, was described by Magpies skipper Arthur Summons as, the biggest rort in grand final history. Referee Darcy Lawler, officiating in his last game, is said to have placed a bet on the Saints and stood to win 600 quid if the Kogarah team prevailed. The fortunes of the game duly followed this fiscal objective and minor premiers Wests were given no chance by the whistleblower. It was undoubtedly one of the darkest days in the codes history. Sixty years on and this dubious decider is ironically symbolized as everything that’s good about rugby league, in the form of the Provan-Summons trophy. Nineteen sixty three would prove to be Wests last ever grand final appearance (sans orange). Gary Lester in Clouds of Dust wrote; The Western Suburbs dream was over … three grand finals without success was just about all any club could take. Wests went from their momentary millionaire status in the late 1950s, to abject poverty a quarter of a century later. The Magpies won the 1978 minor premiership only to be Hartley’d during a gut wrenching semi final series. The club finished in the coveted top five in 1978, 1979, 1980 & 1982 and yet on a dark evening in September of 1983, the NSWRL’s general committee decided to boot Western Suburbs out of the Above: John O’Gready’s iconic competition. Money had become so tight photograph of Arthur Summons & Norm Provan captured at the conclusion of the during 1982 that even the club’s annual controversial 1963 grand final. picnic, reunion and the player’s end of season trip were all forced to be cancelled. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

Wests one-year coach Terry Fearnley left for Cronulla at season’s end, taking seven players with him. Others were snapped up by Canterbury and Easts as the Lidcombe Oval battlers struggled to match the offers of opportunistic rivals. Wests were left with Dallas Donnelly, Wayne Smith, Warren Boland and a bunch of kids for the 1983 season. Major sponsor Victa departed, the side ran last and to make matters worse, it poured with rain during every home game. It was the most miserable of winters. Dallas Donnelly, Arthur Mountier & Brett Gale, with little to smile about during 1983

(Uncredited Photo: found on internet)

By July, reports began to emerge that a number of clubs were experiencing financial difficulty and that up to half a dozen were requesting emergency grants from the NSWRL. Wests, Parramatta, Cronulla, Souths, Illawarra and Canterbury were all struggling, with only the Steelers and Bulldogs ultimately not needing to head down to Phillip Street with beggar bowls outstretched. Two of these clubs were the premiers Parramatta, who reportedly had their hands out for $400000, while Cronulla’s position was considered so dire that the NSWRL stepped in to administer the club as the Sharks feared being omitted from the 1984 competition. A Chris Masters expose on Four Corners during May of 1983 revealed the corruption of NSWRL president Kevin Humphries who had misappropriated $50000 from the Balmain Leagues Club. This bombshell program became the catalyst for changes with regard the structure of the games governing body. Former referee Tom Bellew took over as NSWRL president while the nine man board included Dennis Fitzgerald (Parramatta), Monty Porter (Cronulla), as well as former Parramatta & Easts back rower John Quayle. Wests and Newtown had no representative on the executive. Not even a lazy bloodline curled out of the games halls of power toward Lidcombe.* MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark * NSWRL board member Monty Porter did play four games for Wests back in 1955. When he found himself stuck in reserve grade at the start of the following season, he decided the Magpies weren’t for him. Porter linked with Thirroul on the South Coast before famously playing in grand finals for St George against Wests in 1958,61,62 & 63. It’s fair to surmise Monty Porter had no great affinity to the Western Suburbs Magpies.

It’s a fact that over 60 years Wests have seen themselves as losers at League headquarters, the more so in recent years when the club has been almost paranoiac about the contention that Phillip Street was stacked against them. – Ian Heads (Dec 1983) Having already borrowed $200000, Wests were struggling to honour the contracts of its players. Things really started to hit the fan when in August, the NSWRL refused to loan the club money when it attempted to make up the shortfall. Wests did manage to pay the players 75% of their contract money by the end of October with a promise to honour the difference as soon as was humanly possible (they were fully paid by March 1985). Yet on September 26th, 1983, the general committee of the league voted 2912 to support a recommendation of the executive. The motion was to punt the Pies and to jettison the Jets. Foundation clubs with a combined 150 year history! When Wests complained having lost large slabs of territory in 1921, 1935 and again in 1947, the self interest of rival clubs kicked in. The League is simply - growing the game - or - take one for the common good - being common retorts. Fast forward to September 1983, and an open vote was held as club delegates ganged up to execute two rivals. Forty one hands to decide the fate of the proud Black & White club. This, after the League’s auditors had given the Magpies the green light just days earlier with regard their financial viability heading into 1984. It’s not clear which clubs voted in favour of Wests and Newtown being ejected. Given that the vote was held to either ratify or reject what the executive had called for, and that it was an open show of hands, lashings of self interest and not wanting to be seen to rock the boat came heavily into play. I might also surmise that neighbouring clubs, especially Balmain and Canterbury stood to gain considerably with regards claiming new territory if Wests and Newtown were shown the door*. Another factor is that with many clubs struggling to meet their financial obligations, it could well have been seen as a - better them than us - scenario. One memory I have during the club’s ensuing Wests 1983 legal action provided the club with a stay of execution. The demise of Newtown however saw a dramatic reconfiguration of Sydney’s inner west junior league b oundaries.

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fight to survive was a mid week meeting of fans huddled in the Lidcombe Oval grandstand. Rick Wayde addressed the hundred or so in attendance and toward the end of proceedings he read out letters and donations received in support of the club’s fight to survive. One that sticks clearly in my mind came from the South Sydney Rabbitohs. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark * West s and Balmain were previously coupled in relation to juniors within the 13 import rule, however Wests demise would have given Balmain open slather on the area. They would then have probably been coupled in a similar deal with Canterbury, who were previously coupled with Newtown.

Wests famously fought the decision through the courts and having won in 1983, were further thwarted when the NSWRL decided to move the goalposts. Kicked out again after the 1984 season, the Magpies spent a handful of years never knowing how many tomorrows remained. While all other clubs were focused with a steely determination on winning the premiership, Wests were wholly fixated on catching their next breath. I must admit to shaking my head in dismay when I recently heard criticism coming from former Balmain fans on each of the Wests Tigers podcasts. They were bemoaning Wests history as the cause for the joint ventures current ills. The gentleman in question threw up the Magpies poor showing during the eighties as typical of Wests on going failure. While Balmain during this period was building toward two unsuccessful grand final appearances: Wests were in court, Wests were moving house, Wests were fully consumed with warding off the vultures. It’s no crime to be poor – Wests Secretary Ray Bernasconi (July 1983) By the early 1990s, the subsequent 1987 move to Campbelltown looked to be heralding in a bright new era for the Magpies. A team filled with highly talented local juniors was coupled with a handful of seasoned recruits from Canterbury and a premiership winning coach. Suddenly, Wests looked to be a club moving toward a genuine shot at the title. Youngsters such as; Jason Taylor, Jamie Ainscough, Russell Wyer, Shaun Devine and Darren Britt were joined by David Gillespie, Paul Langmack, Joe Thomas and Andrew Farrar. Former Wests lower grade coach and winner at the Bulldogs, Warren Ryan was brought in to hopefully add the Magpies to his long list of qualifying sides for the big dance. Ryan had previously led the Wests under 23s to the grand final in 1978 before orchestrating similar, top grade runs at Newtown, Canterbury and Balmain. Unfortunately for Wests, the Wok can be a prickly character. A rift between he and young half Jason Taylor did ultimately split the club asunder, providing a vital fork in the road with regard Wests late 1990s slide toward oblivion. Sadly the club backed Ryan, not Taylor. Finances were again so low that insolvency lurked just a hairs breathe away. Roy Masters reported in mid 1993 that the club had pulled its annual grant to the junior league. Magpies chief executive Steve Noyce conceding, “The Wests Group is finding it difficult in these recessed times”. Wests future, yet again looked in danger. Having re-signed Warren Ryan for a further two years in April of 1993, the club sacked him a little over 12 months later. Wests were just shy of one million dollars in debt and an administrator was appointed to help restructure the club’s finances. A lack of sponsors combined with payroll and fringe benefits tax requirements, along with the on going payout to axed coach Ryan, contributed most of the red ink. Tommy Raudonikis’ team battled hard to compete during these dirt poor, latter years of the decade. Having surprised everyone in 1996 with a typical Magpie-backs-tothe-wall campaign that spawned a finals berth, the first grade team sunk hard toward the tail of the field. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

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Above: Happy Magpies; Ian Schub ert, Lee Crooks and Alan Fallah enjoy a win during Wests troublesome mid 1980s era. (Uncredited Photo – found on the internet)

I actually said to them at one stage, why do you bother to stay in the league if you can’t compete? What are you doing in there? – Warren Ryan to Wests club officials (1994) If rugby league history were to be presented as an ongoing game of musical chairs, then Wests dramatic dive came at the worst possible time. As the DJ hovered over the kill switch, the Magpies were so far removed from a chair they weren’t even in the room. Had this caustic rationalization of the game arrived in 1989 and not 1999, then Wests would probably have been safe. Had it come in 1979, they definitely would have survived. But alas, it arrived in 1999. Wests team that year was arguably the least competitive first grade side in the history of the competition. With finances remaining a problem and the League’s long running Wests vendetta there for all to see … the Magpies were sitting ducks to be axed. A Las Vegas styled marriage was hastily formalized with the Balmain Tigers. Sadly, 1999s crude stapling together of two under threat entities has been an abject failure. The Wests Tigers have played semi final football on just three occasions across 22 winters. Beleaguered fans cling to the club’s 2005 ‘My Sharona’ moment. Yet beyond those two months of Benji brilliance, the club has totally lost the knack. For over two decades they’ve been consigned to one-hit-wonder status.

For Wests fans the failure is more deep seated . Language and its use, whether it be deliberately constructed, casually offered, or cynically contrived, remains important. I would suggest that Wests lost the battle for hearts and minds from day one of the joint venture. It’s been a 22 year Tiger-thon since the kick off to that tumultuous 2000 season. In what has become one of the great unspoken injustices of Australian sporting history*, a fulsome flock of former Magpie fans has been allowed to drift away as their club is consumed by an omnipresent wave of garish orange. Whenever one points out the lack of Wests representation in the joint venture club, a charge of living in the past is invariably hurled. The Wests Tigers are of course here to stay and I’m not trying to unnecessarily stoke Wests v Balmain enmity. But the balance has never been right. The vast majority of fair minded, former Magpies are simply after a genuine 50/50 split when it comes to the way the club is portrayed and ultimately, how it's perceived. I would suggest that for former Balmain fans, following Wests Tigers has been a far easier proposition. The club wears orange, the club is referred to as ‘the Tigers’ by almost everyone, Leichhardt Oval is gushed upon every time a football is kicked in her direction and old legends; Roach, Jack, Elias etc … are never far from the news cycle. Whether by design, or pure fluke, that’s the way it’s panned out. Good luck to Balmain. The fact that the new club remains pitifully unsuccessful and old divisions continue to bubble below the surface however, might suggest it be better for everyone if something was done about it? Within this ramshackle marriage, one partner has deep seated concerns. The other partner, along with the couple’s gaggle of snotty nosed children, all consider the matter to be trivial. For the overall well being of the family unit however, surely they sit down, unite and decide to address the concerns? This isn’t happening at the Wests Tigers, and rather unsurprisingly, the club continues to fail. As mentioned earlier, language is important. Cricket recently changed the term ‘batsman’ to the more gender friendly ‘batter’, in an effort to be wholly inclusive. This was a concerted effort to fully engage both halves of the population within the construct of the sport. I suggest the Wests Tigers do something similar. Spend a season or two resetting the narrative. Make an effort to use ‘Wests’ as the prime descriptor in press releases, marketing, interviews, etc, to help redress the balance. Lighten the use of ‘the tigers’, which for over two decades now has swamped the lexicon. Find a balance and heal the division. To continue to shout down former Magpies and say this stuff isn’t important is to hugely disrespect one of the games proudest foundation clubs. It also guarantees more misery for the Wests Tigers. Change is required and it needs to come via a unity ticket. The club’s emblem is a tiger. The club’s official name is Wests Tigers. Yet if Manly Warringah can be called Manly, Canterbury Bankstown referred to as Canterbury and Cronulla Sutherland shortened to Cronulla – surely Wests Tigers are allowed to be known singularly as, “Wests”. . *alongside the North Sydney Bears

If this blanket tigerization continues as is, there is nothing for old Western Suburbs supporters to cling on to. Wests have battled for 114 years on the wrong side of history. The past 22 years have been some of the most challenging as the club’s identity has been all but consumed. Time is fast running out to address the imbalance … it’s time to put the Wests back into Wests Tigers. It’s time to start again!

The Sloth Isn't Happy! Above:

The expression on the face of powerhouse Wests prop of the 1970s, Bruce Gibbs, perfectly sums up the mood of many Wests supporters, circa right now! (Photo-still taken from 1970s Channel Seven coverage )

Rugby League Week’s take on the 1974 Preliminary Final. I was 10 years old at the time. Wests magnificent run that year was the spark that ignited a lifetime of support for my local club. The Roosters would ultimately prove to be too good that year yet the charge of Don Parish’s young Magpies remains to this day, my fondest of black & white memories. Above:

History and her kissing cousins; Fate and Destiny, stood to one side during 1974 and allowed Wests fans a glorious few months. The minor semi final victory o ver premiers Manly ranks as one of the club’s finest moments and it was certainly an afternoon I will never forget. Wests officials who oversaw the club’s 1934 premiership - from left to right: H.Mo xham, R.Liston, W.Finegan, J.Rubinson, E.McFayden, J.White, W.Knight, C.Prentice.

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Wests had just won their second competition in 27 years. Yet the following season the League decided to handicap the club by introducing Canterbury. The move sliced away a large chunk of Wests territory.

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Strangest thing happened on the way home from the alter! Pre joint venture, the media was happy to use the ‘W’ word. Yet post the coupling, its been all, Tigers Tigers Tigers! The blanket use of ‘Tigers’ has subsequently fed into a Balmain Tigers-are-Wests Tigers narrative, as can be seen illustrated below in the Benny Elias story. Similar ambiguity and aversion to the Wests Magpies side of the equation occurred in a Sydney Morning Herald piece during late August. The headline offered, The Tigers Have Lost The Plot. The opening paragraph added, The Wests Tigers have no idea who they are. My earliest memory of the Tigers is a grand final party and my dad screaming out “why?”. Benny had just hit the crossbar in 1989…” Balmain Tigers flowing seamlessly into Wests Tigers with Orwellian efficiency. So unbalanced has the battle for identity become, that fans who dare to use the ‘W’ word in isolation, are often chided as troublemakers.

ABC radio’s excellent broadcaster, Andrew Moore is one of the few people working in the media to occasionally use the ’W’ word on its own. Yet in doing so, he receives complaints. Moore’s response to this barrage back in 2020 was, “Why wouldn’t I call them Wests – that’s their name”

Circa 2021, I would conservatively suggest that the joint venture club is referred to as, ‘the tigers’ in over 80% of cases. ‘Wests’ on its own would receive less than one percentage point with the difference being made up by the club’s official name, ‘Wests Tigers’. One wonders why tigers are so enthusiastically allowed to flow into the tigers, and yet Wests are met with great resistance when it comes to attempting the same. Since 2000, I would argue that Wests have never been permitted to flow into Wests. When this is pointed out, a typical response is, why is it important? (see above) It’s a respect thing people. Its about being wholly inclusive, about truly honouring the clubs heritage. It’s about fairness, about healing the wounds of division. Do these same people question the importance of acknowledging the traditional owners at modern day Australian gatherings ? Do they query marriage equality? Do they argue against the use of gender neutral language? When earlier this year, the Prime Minister changed the words of our national anthem from, “we are young and free” to “we are one and free”, did these same people arc up? While Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, our country’s story is ancient. As are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect. In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we ensure our National Anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation. Changing “young and free” to “one and free” takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

- Prime Minister Scott Morrison (January 2021)

While I'm in no way attempting to claim here that a footy club’s identity imbalance is on a par with the tragic history of Aboriginal Australians, I am tapping into the general principal of striving for unity. If the Wests Tigers, with its unique coupling of two heritage clubs is to grow successfully into the future, then the use of language is an important tool. A tool which must be used with great skill to ensure that no group is inadvertently chipped away and left behind. Isn't it in everyone’s interests to make an effort to address any imbalance? Isn't inclusivity a good thing? I’m an old Magpie who aches for the old black & white days. I understand however, that that is all in the past now. For twenty two years I have desperately wanted to embrace the Wests Tigers yet like so many former Western Suburbs fans, have felt totally othered by the way the joint venture club is presented. A concerted effort to dilute the use of Tigers with more use of Wests would help address this. Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all and is sensitive to difference. It allows an organization or person to reach a larger audience simply by being transparently impartial. In politics, repetition is how you get your point across

- Terry Barnes (2GB 2021)

I raised this imbalance of terminology on the Wests Tigers Forum recently and it was picked up and discussed on the podcast. The general consensus among the panellists fell into two main responses; firstly - its been 22 years, get over it, and secondly – call them what you like mate. While the podcast fellas seem like decent blokes, all but one of them barracked previously for Balmain. The odd one out is too young to remember the pre-merger days. So with respect, none of them can ever truly know. Their heritage is in the vanguard and they don’t see that as a problem. MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

1975: The Luibinskas Affair - A Pertinent Case Study One of my fondest memories as a kid was sitting with my dad on the packed hill at the old Sports Ground, watching the knock out semi final against Souths when young back rower Mick Luibinskas ran the length from a kick off. The year was 1974 and little did anyone know at the time, but the following winter, lanky Mick would become embroiled in a controversy that ultimately cost Wests their season. It took place during round 15 when Wests battled hard to scrape a 7 all draw against the grand finalists of the previous season, Canterbury. Luibinskas was called into the first grade game after 34 minutes when Jim Murphy was forced off injured. Mick had earlier completed the reserve grade clash, however importantly, he hadn't started in the 1.30pm game. The rules circa 1975 were soon to be shown up as horribly ambiguous. The relevant paragraph stated that a player was eligible to replace another just so long as that player had completed one of the afternoon’s earlier fixtures. Wests took the word ‘completed’ to mean finished. The letter of law rather savagely slapped the Magpies down. The ruling was that the word ‘completed’, in this instance, meant Luibinskas had to have played the full Reserve Grade game before he was eligible to take the field in the top grade. To make matters worse for Wests, Mick had scored the teams only try during the hard fought draw. Canterbury secretary Peter Moore fired in an immediate protest. The following evening Wests pleaded their case during a dramatic meeting of the NSWRL. Magpies secretary Dudley Beger informed the committee that the club had not attempted to cheat, that it was done in all innocence. League vice-president Alec Mackie (St George) accepted that Wests had made an honest mistake however reinforced his belief that rules needed to be abided to. He duly moved that Canterbury’s protest be upheld and that the Magpies be docked their competition point. Balmain secretary Keith Gittoes chimed in, moving an amendment that Wests be fined $100 MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

instead. This suggestion was ridiculed by NSWRL President Kevin Humphries and Mackie’s motion was passed. Wests lost their competition point and by season’s end it would prove to be a horribly decisive deduction. I was one of 14300 fans at Lidcombe on the following Sunday when Wests took it up to the high flying Roosters. Premiers Easts were in the middle of a record breaking winning streak, yet on this particular afternoon, they had to rely on six John Brass penalty goals to pip the Magpies 12-11. Wests cult hero Russell Mullins scored the games only try yet the home side were ultimately penalized out of the game. By season’s end, Wests finished equal fifth on the ladder, alongside Balmain and the fast finishing Parramatta. League policy during this era embraced a mid week playoff to decide which team should advance. When this law was written however, no one seriously considered a three-way scenario. Pushing to one side Wests loss of a competition point back in July, the Magpies finished the year with an infinitely better for-and-against differential than either the Eels or Tigers. The League in their wisdom, ignored the stats and simply put the names of the three clubs into a hat. Balmain’s ticket was drawn and they progressed straight through to the second tier of the playoff series. Wests would play Parramatta on the Tuesday for a right to play Balmain on the Thursday, with the winner to progress to play Canterbury in the minor preliminary final on the Sunday. It appeared to be a hopeless task for all three sides.

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Mick Luibinskas dives over for Wests try during the controversial 7 all draw at Belmore. (Photo - Sydney Morning Herald )

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE

Any fair minded footy fan might have expected Wests better for-and-against differential to count for something. Shouldn’t the hat have been dispensed with in preference to Wests automatically progressing to Thursdays play off. Wouldn’t that have been the fairest response? As it played out, Balmain with a negative 69 points differential were afforded the rails run, while Wests +76, and Parramatta +18 lined up for a Tuesday showdown. Both sides went into the rain effected clash with key members missing. Tellingly, the Magpies went into the game without powerhouse young prop John Donnelly who’d fractured his arm during the final round win over Cronulla. They were further handicapped when John Dorahy was forced off early in the game. I remember racing home from school to listen to the game on the radio. Wests were behind throughout and while never out of the game, we simply couldn't peg the Eels back. Parramatta won the day 18-13. Referee Greg Hartley was embroiled in controversy when in the shadows of halftime he disallowed what would have been a vital a Wests try. The Eels led 13-5 when Phil Mann spilt a Johnny Heyward up-andunder. Magpie centre Tim Murphy followed through and dived on the ball for what seemed a fair try. Yet Hartley was too quick on his whistle, later claiming he had to make a split decision. Quite bizarrely the cocky referee decided to award Wests a penalty instead. In the following morning's Sydney Morning Herald, respected League journalist Alan Clarkson described the key decision as being, “wrong”. Hartley would further earn the ire of Wests three seasons later when he controlled the 1978 preliminary final loss to Manly. Two Wests tries were disallowed on that afternoon. A game in which Hartley is claimed to have taunted the Magpies with, “I’ll get you black bastards under the posts”. Parramatta would kick on to defeat both Balmain and Canterbury before the week was out. Wests luckless 1975 season ended at the SCG on that wet and miserable Tuesday afternoon. The Luibinskas Affair, the ignoring of a stark points differential and finally, Greg Hartley. It was an unholy trinity of events which ensured Wests were once again, on the wrong side of history ! There was a view that there was entrenched privilege at certain clubs; that there was in fact a cartel that ran the game, that principally included clubs such as the Bulldogs under Peter Moore, Manly under Ken Arthurson, South Sydney with Terry Parker and even Balmain with Kevin Humphries, who was the chair of the league at the time. – Roy Masters (Inside Sport 2018) MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGAZINE © Andrew Stark

MAGPIE MEMOIR MAGA ZINE

Andrew Stark

“Thanks for letting us keep Rookwood” - Wests secretary Lou Moses 1946

Photo: Jason Hahn (Photofocus)

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