Good Old Days..

[Geo]

Footy is like Xmas. It’s fun, but it doesn’t have the same magic as when you were a kid.

I still believe in the Rugby League Santa Claus!

I want to know which Tigers fan is being naughty so we don't win premiership after premiership

Look in the mirror ( if you have one ) ?

How about sharing some memories...

It’s all been done before ....

Bagging happy..?

 

[hobbo1]

Footy is like Xmas. It’s fun, but it doesn’t have the same magic as when you were a kid.

I still believe in the Rugby League Santa Claus!

I want to know which Tigers fan is being naughty so we don't win premiership after premiership

Look in the mirror ( if you have one ) ?

How about sharing some memories...

It’s all been done before ....

Bagging happy..?

Has he made a complaint ?

 

[shane2801]

First game the 1977 Amco Cup final with dad. Lidcombe Oval tragic till 1987. I remember how giant the players were as you ran onto the field at fulltime. The smell of the grass and liniment as you pattted Dallas, Bruiser on the back.
Games you couldnt get to you listened to on the radio. When Wests werent on you waited for scores around the ground.

Orana Park seeing the helicopter land after the game to pick up the game footage for the news that night.
Great days!!!

 

[Geo]

Footy is like Xmas. It’s fun, but it doesn’t have the same magic as when you were a kid.

I still believe in the Rugby League Santa Claus!

I want to know which Tigers fan is being naughty so we don't win premiership after premiership

Look in the mirror ( if you have one ) ?

How about sharing some memories...

It’s all been done before ....

Bagging happy..?

Has he made a complaint ?

Cmon mate you must have some memories or what you liked about the game or didn't compared to now..What else you got to do..

 

[happy_tiger]

Footy is like Xmas. It’s fun, but it doesn’t have the same magic as when you were a kid.

I still believe in the Rugby League Santa Claus!

I want to know which Tigers fan is being naughty so we don't win premiership after premiership

Look in the mirror ( if you have one ) ?

How about sharing some memories...

It’s all been done before ....

Bagging happy..?

Has he made a complaint ?

The only complaint I made was can't we IQ test some Forum members ....

 

[happy_tiger]

First game the 1977 Amco Cup final with dad. Lidcombe Oval tragic till 1987. I remember how giant the players were as you ran onto the field at fulltime. The smell of the grass and liniment as you pattted Dallas, Bruiser on the back.
Games you couldnt get to you listened to on the radio. When Wests werent on you waited for scores around the ground.

Orana Park seeing the helicopter land after the game to pick up the game footage for the news that night.
Great days!!!

That also was the 1st time I saw Wests play on TV

 

[gallagher]

First game the 1977 Amco Cup final with dad. Lidcombe Oval tragic till 1987. I remember how giant the players were as you ran onto the field at fulltime. The smell of the grass and liniment as you pattted Dallas, Bruiser on the back.
Games you couldnt get to you listened to on the radio. When Wests werent on you waited for scores around the ground.

Orana Park seeing the helicopter land after the game to pick up the game footage for the news that night.
Great days!!!

The smell of the wet grass and mud in that really wet winter of 89 at Orana is still with me. They used a helicopter to dry the field before the games that year. The soggy steak sandwiches were great.

 

[TrueTiger]

This is a great post for us older relics to give the younger people like Geo and others some insight on how things used to be done..I was a junior at Moss Vale Dragons JRLFC,from under 8s until I was sent to Chevalier College at Bowral it was a secondary school for boarders and day students (boys only up until 1976)We had a presentation for the under 8s in 1966 and the great Billy Smith presented the trophies that year..Yes MV is a deadest Dragons Den always has been..
Once I was at Chevalier I played Rugby Union which was played at most Catholic schools at the time..St Gregs Campo played league,others like Hurlstone Park,St Pats Strathfield,St Pius Chatswood etc etc played union.I eventually went through my years playing many sports athletics,swimming ,bascketball and representing the College in many sports but the highlight was representing the College in my last year in 1976 playing rugby for the first 15 against a touring New Zealand College,Herataunga College,previously I was playing on the wing and inside centre ,also goalkicker for the 2nd 15..my form was reasonable but was shocked to be promoted to the top squad and to rep the College...
When I left the school I was playing on and off for the Bowral Blacks rugby club as I was doing my accounting course at Sydney TAFE,but would come home on weekends to earn money for the week in Sydney..In 1980 an opportunity came along to move to Wagga Wagga in the Riverina to work in Hotel management,I had a trial with Turvey Park RLFC ,earned a spot in reserves on the wing and a 2 year contract...I stayed 6 years with Turvey earning a team managers award in 1980 the first year with the club and in 1983 got a medal for B/F ...the years with Turvey were sensational,the best years of my life.I was lucky enough to have played against some of the best in the group nine comp at the time,eg Cliff Lyons,he played with Gundagai ,the Diggins brothers played for Junee, Riverina and NSW country..there were more but no need to name drop..My first coach was the great Greg Haywick who played for Australia in 1956 he was the five eight..I loved league more than Union and was lucky to be given the chance to play it while I had the chance given to me..it was an era of greats..the Mortimer brothers who I know well went to the Bulldogs 2 years before I played for Turvey,they were turvey greats,Pete Stirling played for Wagga magpies who is a great bloke in person his Dad used to sell pokies to us in the pub I worked at while playing for Turvey..I could go on with many a tale but the Rugby League back in the eighties was when the guys could play the game with skill and honour while they worked to put food on the table for their families.....enough for now but willing to answer any reasonable questions asked...

 

[jirskyr]

Miss Sunday arvo grand finals, whoever was the “marketing genius” behind switching to a night GF needs a backhander. It has killed off so much of the mystique and allure of GF day for me, there was something special about watching the shadows lengthen across the field as time ebbed away in the most important game of the year…

I'm the same, there's a very strong nostalgia element to it (i.e. day-time grand finals are the way I always remember it being), but also daytime football always lends itself to a faster and drier game.

What I miss most about that is the way the GF used to slot into the day - you'd rock up at someone's house about 11am, they'd have a barbie going, it would be the end of President's Cup and leaning into Reserve Grade; you'd eat your lunch and be able to watch reserves and my Mum would keenly watch the pre-match entertainment.

You'd all be full, the Dads would have their beers ready and presto, kickoff after lunch. Everyone would scramble over from the table to watch the kickoff, inevitably someone would have taken an ill-timed toilet stop, but frankly you'd been watching it on/off for hours anyway whilst you caught up with everyone.

Cups of tea at half time, then the Mums who didn't care much for the result would make sure dessert was ready, perhaps putting the fruit on the pav, ready once FT had sounded. At this stage it was around 4pm, there was no rush to go home, you could dissect the match in a million ways, finish up a half dozen more beers and nibble on the odd sausage to cover as a light dinner.

Nowadays, 7pm kickoff, and at one point they did do 5pm, well bloody hell its 9-10pm at FT, your kids are being absolute pests because they are dead tired, the match finishes and you have to haul-arse home. Doesn't matter that the next day is a public holiday, because most families have to shut down after 9pm and you haven't even had a chance to properly ruminate on the match.

SOO was different - SOO was always a night-time mid-week thing, where you did have a late finish, but you'd think about it on the way into school or work the next day, Thursday, and spend all day talking about the match.

But the GF was always a football match embedded into a beautiful spring family or friends gathering, a long afternoon festival of eating, watching Bob Hawke give his pre-match tip, the odd sip of beer if your Dad let you, then post-match you could revel in the awe of a completed season and crowned champions, enjoying the afternoon and, typically, the start of your school holidays.

Now that all being a nostalgia trip, I say ratings be buggered, move the GF back to 2 or 3pm.

 

[happy_tiger]

This is a great post for us older relics to give the younger people like Geo and others some insight on how things used to be done..I was a junior at Moss Vale Dragons JRLFC,from under 8s until I was sent to Chevalier College at Bowral it was a secondary school for boarders and day students (boys only up until 1976)We had a presentation for the under 8s in 1966 and the great Billy Smith presented the trophies that year..Yes MV is a deadest Dragons Den always has been..
Once I was at Chevalier I played Rugby Union which was played at most Catholic schools at the time..St Gregs Campo played league,others like Hurlstone Park,St Pats Strathfield,St Pius Chatswood etc etc played union.I eventually went through my years playing many sports athletics,swimming ,bascketball and representing the College in many sports but the highlight was representing the College in my last year in 1976 playing rugby for the first 15 against a touring New Zealand College,Herataunga College,previously I was playing on the wing and inside centre ,also goalkicker for the 2nd 15..my form was reasonable but was shocked to be promoted to the top squad and to rep the College...
When I left the school I was playing on and off for the Bowral Blacks rugby club as I was doing my accounting course at Sydney TAFE,but would come home on weekends to earn money for the week in Sydney..In 1980 an opportunity came along to move to Wagga Wagga in the Riverina to work in Hotel management,I had a trial with Turvey Park RLFC ,earned a spot in reserves on the wing and a 2 year contract...I stayed 6 years with Turvey earning a team managers award in 1980 the first year with the club and in 1983 got a medal for B/F ...the years with Turvey were sensational,the best years of my life.I was lucky enough to have played against some of the best in the group nine comp at the time,eg Cliff Lyons,he played with Gundagai ,the Diggins brothers played for Riverina and NSW country..there were more but no need to name drop..My first coach was the great Greg Haywick who played for Australia in 1956 he was the five eight..I loved league more than Union and was lucky to be given the chance to play it while I had the chance given to me..it was an era of greats..the Mortimer brothers who I know well went to the Bulldogs 2 years before I played for Turvey,they were turvey greats,Pete Stirling played for Wagga magpies who is a great bloke in person his Dad used to sell pokies to us in the pub I worked at while playing for Turvey..I could go on with many a tale but the Rugby League back in the eighties was when the guys could play the game with skill and honour while they worked to put food on the table for their families.....enough for now but willing to answer any reasonable questions asked...

Sorry Zig I didn't realize you played in the age of Methuselah ...was he as quick as what Geo says

 

[TrueTiger]

This is a great post for us older relics to give the younger people like Geo and others some insight on how things used to be done..I was a junior at Moss Vale Dragons JRLFC,from under 8s until I was sent to Chevalier College at Bowral it was a secondary school for boarders and day students (boys only up until 1976)We had a presentation for the under 8s in 1966 and the great Billy Smith presented the trophies that year..Yes MV is a deadest Dragons Den always has been..
Once I was at Chevalier I played Rugby Union which was played at most Catholic schools at the time..St Gregs Campo played league,others like Hurlstone Park,St Pats Strathfield,St Pius Chatswood etc etc played union.I eventually went through my years playing many sports athletics,swimming ,bascketball and representing the College in many sports but the highlight was representing the College in my last year in 1976 playing rugby for the first 15 against a touring New Zealand College,Herataunga College,previously I was playing on the wing and inside centre ,also goalkicker for the 2nd 15..my form was reasonable but was shocked to be promoted to the top squad and to rep the College...
When I left the school I was playing on and off for the Bowral Blacks rugby club as I was doing my accounting course at Sydney TAFE,but would come home on weekends to earn money for the week in Sydney..In 1980 an opportunity came along to move to Wagga Wagga in the Riverina to work in Hotel management,I had a trial with Turvey Park RLFC ,earned a spot in reserves on the wing and a 2 year contract...I stayed 6 years with Turvey earning a team managers award in 1980 the first year with the club and in 1983 got a medal for B/F ...the years with Turvey were sensational,the best years of my life.I was lucky enough to have played against some of the best in the group nine comp at the time,eg Cliff Lyons,he played with Gundagai ,the Diggins brothers played for Riverina and NSW country..there were more but no need to name drop..My first coach was the great Greg Haywick who played for Australia in 1956 he was the five eight..I loved league more than Union and was lucky to be given the chance to play it while I had the chance given to me..it was an era of greats..the Mortimer brothers who I know well went to the Bulldogs 2 years before I played for Turvey,they were turvey greats,Pete Stirling played for Wagga magpies who is a great bloke in person his Dad used to sell pokies to us in the pub I worked at while playing for Turvey..I could go on with many a tale but the Rugby League back in the eighties was when the guys could play the game with skill and honour while they worked to put food on the table for their families.....enough for now but willing to answer any reasonable questions asked...

Sorry Zig I didn't realize you played in the age of Methuselah ...was he as quick as what Geo says

He certainly was and harder to tackle ...unlike some of the younger Gladstone kids...they didn't seem to have skill and ability in your day Hap like it was in mine..hehehe haha..

 

[happy_tiger]

Miss Sunday arvo grand finals, whoever was the “marketing genius” behind switching to a night GF needs a backhander. It has killed off so much of the mystique and allure of GF day for me, there was something special about watching the shadows lengthen across the field as time ebbed away in the most important game of the year…

I'm the same, there's a very strong nostalgia element to it (i.e. day-time grand finals are the way I always remember it being), but also daytime football always lends itself to a faster and drier game.

What I miss most about that is the way the GF used to slot into the day - you'd rock up at someone's house about 11am, they'd have a barbie going, it would be the end of President's Cup and leaning into Reserve Grade; you'd eat your lunch and be able to watch reserves and my Mum would keenly watch the pre-match entertainment.

You'd all be full, the Dads would have their beers ready and presto, kickoff after lunch. Everyone would scramble over from the table to watch the kickoff, inevitably someone would have taken an ill-timed toilet stop, but frankly you'd been watching it on/off for hours anyway whilst you caught up with everyone.

Cups of tea at half time, then the Mums who didn't care much for the result would make sure dessert was ready, perhaps putting the fruit on the pav, ready once FT had sounded. At this stage it was around 4pm, there was no rush to go home, you could dissect the match in a million ways, finish up a half dozen more beers and nibble on the odd sausage to cover as a light dinner.

Nowadays, 7pm kickoff, and at one point they did do 5pm, well bloody hell its 9-10pm at FT, your kids are being absolute pests because they are dead tired, the match finishes and you have to haul-arse home. Doesn't matter that the next day is a public holiday, because most families have to shut down after 9pm and you haven't even had a chance to properly ruminate on the match.

SOO was different - SOO was always a night-time mid-week thing, where you did have a late finish, but you'd think about it on the way into school or work the next day, Thursday, and spend all day talking about the match.

But the GF was always a football match embedded into a beautiful spring family or friends gathering, a long afternoon festival of eating, watching Bob Hawke give his pre-match tip, the odd sip of beer if your Dad let you, then post-match you could revel in the awe of a completed season and crowned champions, enjoying the afternoon and, typically, the start of your school holidays.

Now that all being a nostalgia trip, I say ratings be buggered, move the GF back to 2 or 3pm.

SOO kick offs were far better at 7.30 pm time slot ...and you didn't get the twenty minute half times either

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I don’t think it’ll ever go back to a day time gf. It’s all about prime time.

 

[happy_tiger]

This is a great post for us older relics to give the younger people like Geo and others some insight on how things used to be done..I was a junior at Moss Vale Dragons JRLFC,from under 8s until I was sent to Chevalier College at Bowral it was a secondary school for boarders and day students (boys only up until 1976)We had a presentation for the under 8s in 1966 and the great Billy Smith presented the trophies that year..Yes MV is a deadest Dragons Den always has been..
Once I was at Chevalier I played Rugby Union which was played at most Catholic schools at the time..St Gregs Campo played league,others like Hurlstone Park,St Pats Strathfield,St Pius Chatswood etc etc played union.I eventually went through my years playing many sports athletics,swimming ,bascketball and representing the College in many sports but the highlight was representing the College in my last year in 1976 playing rugby for the first 15 against a touring New Zealand College,Herataunga College,previously I was playing on the wing and inside centre ,also goalkicker for the 2nd 15..my form was reasonable but was shocked to be promoted to the top squad and to rep the College...
When I left the school I was playing on and off for the Bowral Blacks rugby club as I was doing my accounting course at Sydney TAFE,but would come home on weekends to earn money for the week in Sydney..In 1980 an opportunity came along to move to Wagga Wagga in the Riverina to work in Hotel management,I had a trial with Turvey Park RLFC ,earned a spot in reserves on the wing and a 2 year contract...I stayed 6 years with Turvey earning a team managers award in 1980 the first year with the club and in 1983 got a medal for B/F ...the years with Turvey were sensational,the best years of my life.I was lucky enough to have played against some of the best in the group nine comp at the time,eg Cliff Lyons,he played with Gundagai ,the Diggins brothers played for Riverina and NSW country..there were more but no need to name drop..My first coach was the great Greg Haywick who played for Australia in 1956 he was the five eight..I loved league more than Union and was lucky to be given the chance to play it while I had the chance given to me..it was an era of greats..the Mortimer brothers who I know well went to the Bulldogs 2 years before I played for Turvey,they were turvey greats,Pete Stirling played for Wagga magpies who is a great bloke in person his Dad used to sell pokies to us in the pub I worked at while playing for Turvey..I could go on with many a tale but the Rugby League back in the eighties was when the guys could play the game with skill and honour while they worked to put food on the table for their families.....enough for now but willing to answer any reasonable questions asked...

Sorry Zig I didn't realize you played in the age of Methuselah ...was he as quick as what Geo says

He certainly was and harder to tackle ...unlike some of the younger Gladstone kids...they didn't seem to have skill and ability in your day Hap like it was in mine..hehehe haha..

Touche old ,old old friend

 

[TrueTiger]

This is a great post for us older relics to give the younger people like Geo and others some insight on how things used to be done..I was a junior at Moss Vale Dragons JRLFC,from under 8s until I was sent to Chevalier College at Bowral it was a secondary school for boarders and day students (boys only up until 1976)We had a presentation for the under 8s in 1966 and the great Billy Smith presented the trophies that year..Yes MV is a deadest Dragons Den always has been..
Once I was at Chevalier I played Rugby Union which was played at most Catholic schools at the time..St Gregs Campo played league,others like Hurlstone Park,St Pats Strathfield,St Pius Chatswood etc etc played union.I eventually went through my years playing many sports athletics,swimming ,bascketball and representing the College in many sports but the highlight was representing the College in my last year in 1976 playing rugby for the first 15 against a touring New Zealand College,Herataunga College,previously I was playing on the wing and inside centre ,also goalkicker for the 2nd 15..my form was reasonable but was shocked to be promoted to the top squad and to rep the College...
When I left the school I was playing on and off for the Bowral Blacks rugby club as I was doing my accounting course at Sydney TAFE,but would come home on weekends to earn money for the week in Sydney..In 1980 an opportunity came along to move to Wagga Wagga in the Riverina to work in Hotel management,I had a trial with Turvey Park RLFC ,earned a spot in reserves on the wing and a 2 year contract...I stayed 6 years with Turvey earning a team managers award in 1980 the first year with the club and in 1983 got a medal for B/F ...the years with Turvey were sensational,the best years of my life.I was lucky enough to have played against some of the best in the group nine comp at the time,eg Cliff Lyons,he played with Gundagai ,the Diggins brothers played for Riverina and NSW country..there were more but no need to name drop..My first coach was the great Greg Haywick who played for Australia in 1956 he was the five eight..I loved league more than Union and was lucky to be given the chance to play it while I had the chance given to me..it was an era of greats..the Mortimer brothers who I know well went to the Bulldogs 2 years before I played for Turvey,they were turvey greats,Pete Stirling played for Wagga magpies who is a great bloke in person his Dad used to sell pokies to us in the pub I worked at while playing for Turvey..I could go on with many a tale but the Rugby League back in the eighties was when the guys could play the game with skill and honour while they worked to put food on the table for their families.....enough for now but willing to answer any reasonable questions asked...

Sorry Zig I didn't realize you played in the age of Methuselah ...was he as quick as what Geo says

He certainly was and harder to tackle ...unlike some of the younger Gladstone kids...they didn't seem to have skill and ability in your day Hap like it was in mine..hehehe haha..

Touche old ,old old friend

No worries little buddy ...feel free to pm me if you need a history lesson on the good old days of how league used to be played like it should be..

 

[happy_tiger]

Actually the fog has cleared ...watched the 1990 GF on the way back from Tangalooma on the ferry

 

[happy_tiger]

I don’t think it’ll ever go back to a day time gf. It’s all about prime time.

Actually Gunners ...how many people these days work Sundays ..that is the problem

But I totally agree with everyone's sentiments about daytime GF's

 

[TrueTiger]

Miss Sunday arvo grand finals, whoever was the “marketing genius” behind switching to a night GF needs a backhander. It has killed off so much of the mystique and allure of GF day for me, there was something special about watching the shadows lengthen across the field as time ebbed away in the most important game of the year…

I'm the same, there's a very strong nostalgia element to it (i.e. day-time grand finals are the way I always remember it being), but also daytime football always lends itself to a faster and drier game.

What I miss most about that is the way the GF used to slot into the day - you'd rock up at someone's house about 11am, they'd have a barbie going, it would be the end of President's Cup and leaning into Reserve Grade; you'd eat your lunch and be able to watch reserves and my Mum would keenly watch the pre-match entertainment.

You'd all be full, the Dads would have their beers ready and presto, kickoff after lunch. Everyone would scramble over from the table to watch the kickoff, inevitably someone would have taken an ill-timed toilet stop, but frankly you'd been watching it on/off for hours anyway whilst you caught up with everyone.

Cups of tea at half time, then the Mums who didn't care much for the result would make sure dessert was ready, perhaps putting the fruit on the pav, ready once FT had sounded. At this stage it was around 4pm, there was no rush to go home, you could dissect the match in a million ways, finish up a half dozen more beers and nibble on the odd sausage to cover as a light dinner.

Nowadays, 7pm kickoff, and at one point they did do 5pm, well bloody hell its 9-10pm at FT, your kids are being absolute pests because they are dead tired, the match finishes and you have to haul-arse home. Doesn't matter that the next day is a public holiday, because most families have to shut down after 9pm and you haven't even had a chance to properly ruminate on the match.

SOO was different - SOO was always a night-time mid-week thing, where you did have a late finish, but you'd think about it on the way into school or work the next day, Thursday, and spend all day talking about the match.

But the GF was always a football match embedded into a beautiful spring family or friends gathering, a long afternoon festival of eating, watching Bob Hawke give his pre-match tip, the odd sip of beer if your Dad let you, then post-match you could revel in the awe of a completed season and crowned champions, enjoying the afternoon and, typically, the start of your school holidays.

Now that all being a nostalgia trip, I say ratings be buggered, move the GF back to 2 or 3pm.

Im with you jirskyre,these days watching the GF at night,is hopeless Im in bed before kick off because Im pissed and as you say it used to be an 11am start with friends..I know ...(its because your an old has been and should pace yourself)..yeah I know but that's the way it seems to be these days..

 

[jirskyr]

The other thing I miss is being able to go to Leichhardt every other week, it wasn't like such a one-off like it basically is now. My Grandparents lived down the road and I'd walk over with my Dad - we were a 3-generation Leichhardt family at that stage, my great grandfather having raised his family in Lilyfield.

Nothing better than a win and the happy walk back to Grandpa's for a cuppa and some tea cake.

In regards to the football itself, I've watched enough classic matches to not be too rose-coloured in pining for ye olde brande of league. Some of those games are really hard to watch, especially the bog-standard ones; real scrappy affairs and lacking much of the flair and rhythm common in the modern game. People say it's become robotic, and I can see that, but the opposite of robotic can be quite sloppy.

Those old leather footballs, ridiculous how much effort they needed to be moved around the field, and how often matches fell into an ugly war of attrition, with limited ball movement, super-early kicking, awkward hit-ups against a 5m defensive line in a boggy trampled field.

But you know in saying that, I could not stand the old way the game was televised - the ABC Saturday game was fine, but the 60-minute hatchet job on Sunday was appalling, no Friday Night matches, and if Balmain wasn't the main game, you'd have to listen to the radio call and wait with baited breath for "around the grounds" to give you a score update. Uh uh no way am I going back to that, I'd gladly accept everything "wrong" with the modern game in order to consume it the way I do now, at my leisure, I can even pause it if my kids are being annoying.

 

[WT2K]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts. That guy stuck in my mind as I read through memory lane within this topic.

I'd love all three grades back on the same day. Get to the ground early and cheer each grade on.