Advent Photo #16 Past

'Past'
   If I have my history and collection correct then this is a photo of Wanderers 3rd Grade Grand Final 1984 [at the old No2 Sportsground] my first year with the club after two at Newcastle Uni and one off with [you guessed it] a bad knee!! That's me having missed the lineout throw before lifting in the lineout and Steve Lee at halfback is hoping Phil Whetham can grab the ball... an old brown leather rugby ball by the way!!
   You'll notice from the hair that it was blowing a gale that day... in Newcastle the winds pick up and change direction in late August. All season you'll get a light seabreeze to one corner of the ground or across ways but in August it can shift to straight down the ground.
   My recollection is that we spent all but about 20mins of this game camped in our own quarter and tackled ourselves to a standstill against the Waratahs. Both teams had a mix of youth and experience and we played a more expansive style but this is the days of genuine scrums, full on rucking and quiet referees!!
   We held on to win, too exhausted to raise a cheer as we'd done enough to stop them scoring quite as many points as us and defended a slender lead. I did manage to score a try in this match, standing off outside the 5/8 on a rare moment out from their line, I took the ball up having managed to hang onto the pass and was tackled by their 5/8 or inside centre who was a about 4ft tall, so when he fell over backwards I could place the ball on the ground over the line... I'm just glad I wasn't called on to pass it to my right!!
   In this Wanderers side we lost our coach mid season and we had to win something like 9 or 11 straight games to squeak into 4th spot on averages and then won the minor semi, final and GF... it was here in this season I fell for this game and the effort, commitment, team aspect and sheer fun required to make a go of it!!
   It's in my past but tells a story about who I would be over the following 25+ years and who I am today...