Good Old Days..

[happy_tiger]

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.

Maybe in 20 years we can watch CC , NRLW and then NRL

 

[TrueTiger]

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.

Yes jirskyre you make some very valid points in regards to the old game against the new,,,In my day back in the 80s at my prime,we had the old leather balls to pass and kick,have you ever had the chance to kick one of those wet for a goal to win the game,I have and they were like trying to kick a bag of spuds,very heavy and mind you my kick fell short and went under the black dot..
another thing about the old days,I was given a training jumper,an old woollen Turvey Park RLFC jumper,full length sleeves and lace up front,,,try and run and train in the rain wearing one of those,but that's what we had to do..I reckon I would have loved playing these days with everything they get and technology on their side..

 

[jirskyr]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

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.

“In the shell or sugar coated!!”

 

[jirskyr]

I miss having Laurie Nichols doing the lap of LO, throwing air punches. I was really sad when he died. I met him as a kid at the trots, wearing a singlet in winter at night at the trots, he was clearly a bit mad but also gentle and kindly spoken.

I got his autograph that night, if you can believe it, got the autograph of a famous fan.

 

[Geo]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

 

[happy_tiger]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

Yeah but were his rolls OK ....bad Dad's I know .....

 

[jirskyr]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

Yeah I've seen him, he's old enough, but I'm not sure, I remember the original bloke already being old and that was 35 years ago.

 

[Geo]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

Yeah I've seen him, he's old enough, but I'm not sure, I remember the original bloke already being old and that was 35 years ago.

Maybe it's his son..family business,,,

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

Yeah I've seen him, he's old enough, but I'm not sure, I remember the original bloke already being old and that was 35 years ago.

Your perception of ‘old’ may have changed!

 

[BZN]

My mum and dad came from the country, Batlow and moved to the big smoke, Enmore. They were mad Western Suburbs Magpie followers (don’t know why they didn’t follow Newtown). Took me to many games at Pratten Park and the SCG. I could rattle off all the names of all the Western Suburbs players (Kelly, Diamond, Parish, Pittard, Ferguson, McGuiness, Meany, Mowbray et al) much to the amusement of my uncles and aunties who were Souths followers. I started playing, or should I say pretending, at a very young age

In 1966 we moved to North Ryde, part of the Balmain district for junior football. Spent many years playing in the district, usually in the year above my age. We still followed the Western Suburbs Magpies and went to many games at Lidcombe etc. Favourite team to beat was of course Manly.

I loved the scrums, and the actual contest for the ball, although they could deteriorate into a heaving lump of flesh. Halves had to put the ball into the middle of the scrum, not the second row. Hookers were actually hookers and used their feet to hook the ball back and out to their side of the scrum. Forwards could push the other team off the ball. The play-the-ball was a one-on-one scrum, I liked how the marker was able to contest for the ball.

Game day was great, if you came early it was three games for the price of one. There was a clear path for players to make it to first grade and you could see their progression or regression. If you had a bad game in first grade you could be dropped to reserve grade the next week, but you would still be wearing the same colours and the team had the same name.

There was no wrestle. The Wrestle has killed the flow of the game and has also led to very serious injury (eg McKinnon). It should be outlawed, the refs have failed dismally here. The tackle type, ie dominate, that the refs call is just a load of bulldust.

There were fewer interruptions without the bunker and with one ref. You just took the bad refs calls with the good but the game flowed. The calls really havn't gotten any better, the blame has just shifted to the bunker with only the occasional benifit.

I absolutely hate the refs “coaching” the teams. If the players don’t know the rules or can’t follow them, then penalise them. They’ll soon learn. The refs should just shut up and ref the game.

The players over the years have managed to show increasing disrespect for the refs. I cannot think of any other sport, maybe others can, were the players can argue with the ref the way Rugby League players can and get away with it. It is something that has crept into the game and should be stamped out.

I also cannot think of any other sport, again others may, where the last person who touches the ball before it goes out of play is not called as the team who last touched the ball. If you don’t "play at the ball" in Rugby League, which is very subjective I must say, you are deamed as not touching the ball and the other team is punished. Huh? That’s a dumb rule.

I miss the punch ups. The b***h slapping that is allowed now is laughable. Bring back the Biff. Some of the things players get away with today would be stopped in its tracks by a good left hook by an enforcer aka Noel Kelly style.

This has sort of turned out to be what I hate post so I’ll stop. But I do miss the flow of the game, it is now very stop-start and heading towards NFL territory.

[/QUOTE]

Your posts are always well thought out and composed.
From memory I haven't noticed you rubbishing anyone, even though you may be in complete disagreement with their view.
Well now, I am in complete disagreement with your view re
"I miss the punch-ups" and "bring back the biff".
I doubt very much that you really do want to see violence in the form of punch ups and biffo reintroduced to our game.
I feel, there is enough violence in our game as it is now, and in the world generally without wanting more violence.
Women fighting in the isle for toilet paper in Woolies for goodness sake.
With all the work that has gone into controlling violence from parents on the sideline at young peoples matches at suburban grounds, bringing back the biff would be setting a very bad example for the dumb cluck parents of those young kids.
Aren't we supposed to grow up to be decent people due to the
good and caring examples our parents taught us?

 

[TrueTiger]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

The buns would be ok ..the Gladstone suckers would eat them and not worry about them....its the franks Im worrying about mate..

 

[Russell]

Peanuts, Get your fresh Peanuts.

Hot doggy hot dog.

That bloke is still there at Leichhardt...same buns I think..

Not sure it is the same bloke .....

Hot Doggie, Hot Doggie, Hot Dog!!!!!

 

[BZN]

I touched on the Mick Liubinskas Affair in my post which I'm sure a lot of old Wests Fans would know well and perhaps some Balmain fans to but for younger fans may not..

It was 1975 ans Wests were playing the Dogs at Belmore (was there) in those days you could play in the lower grades and be named on the bench for FG..Liubinskas was named in Reserves but never actually took the field he was then named on the bench for FG..

He came on and scored a TRY in FG the game finished 7 all..woo a point each but no the Scumdogs made a official complaint for use of an illegal replacement and Wests were stripped of the point,,

This resulted in Wests Finishing in a tie for 5th at the end of the Year with Parramatta and Balmain Parramatta went through..had Wests Retained that point we would have played Finals..

So there you have it another reason to hate Canterbury oh and Parra..

I was there with a mate that day also @Geo.
Even though I have been a Wests Magpies fan since forever, I also liked Canterbury as they were the same colour as the church team I played Soccer for in the under 14's for 2 years....St Peters Croydon.
We had a good team, but as I proved to be the worst player in the team, I decided it would be a lot safer for me to not go on to the under 16's.... those kids were getting to rough and tough for me.

 

[Mort]

The good old days, yes, in these current isolated, quiet times my mind does reflect on ‘the good old days’ especially the freedom one had as a child and teenager growing up in the sixties and seventies. My dad was a mad South’s supporter having grown up in Zetland but he didn’t influence my brother and me, so being North Ryde boys and going to Holy Cross we fell into supporting our local district team which was Balmain.
I first played footy for Gladesville Bowling and Sports Club as a hooker with memories of Ian Thompson, who went onto play for Australia, being one of the props. Holy Cross at this time played Rugby Union before switching to league. Being a hooker in the good old days meant your job was to win the scrum. The battle for scrum possession was a fun part of the game. My best effort was to go a whole game at Birchgrove Oval and not lose a scrum.
One of my early memories of going to the footy was when Leichhardt Oval really was an oval. Back in the sixties one cold, rainy day we were playing North Sydney and the crowd was really small. I was sitting with my best mate Pete when behind us some mad looking bloke with T-shirt on started shadow boxing and shouting out tigers! Tigers! and then imploring us all to join in with him. From then on we always looked forward to seeing that ‘mad’ bloke do his thing…you all know whom I am writing about! Also great memories of walking to and from the ground, doubles tickets on the main game and the bloke selling peanuts.
I remember going to what I think was the first ever rugby league game at the SCG on a Sunday which was between Balmain and St George in 1966. We won 10-3 with Keith Barnes kicking 5 goals including one from halfway. In 1969 Pete and I went to the semi final at the SCG against Souths which we lost by a point which wasn’t too bad after Arthur Beetson got sent off for fighting. Next week we went to the game against Manly to see who would get into the Grand Final and was thinking it was all over until at the last moment George Ruebner made a great run to score in the corner which left Len Killeen, being one of the first round the corner kickers in Australia, the task of kicking the winning goal from the sideline. He calmly stuck his heel in the ground, placed the ball in the divot, stepped back a couple of places and kicked it between the posts. We, of course, go on to win the Grand Final from there.
Hmm the good old days were good but it has been great also to go through all the changes, I loved the footy then and I love it now.
P.S. My Alzheimer’s test every year as I get older is to be able to name the entire Balmain 1969 premiership team by positions off the top of my head starting with Bob Smithies, Len Killeen, George Ruebner (replaced by Syd Williams) Allan Fitzgibbon……

 

[mike]

My mum and dad came from the country, Batlow and moved to the big smoke, Enmore. They were mad Western Suburbs Magpie followers (don’t know why they didn’t follow Newtown). Took me to many games at Pratten Park and the SCG. I could rattle off all the names of all the Western Suburbs players (Kelly, Diamond, Parish, Pittard, Ferguson, McGuiness, Meany, Mowbray et al) much to the amusement of my uncles and aunties who were Souths followers. I started playing, or should I say pretending, at a very young age

In 1966 we moved to North Ryde, part of the Balmain district for junior football. Spent many years playing in the district, usually in the year above my age. We still followed the Western Suburbs Magpies and went to many games at Lidcombe etc. Favourite team to beat was of course Manly.

I loved the scrums, and the actual contest for the ball, although they could deteriorate into a heaving lump of flesh. Halves had to put the ball into the middle of the scrum, not the second row. Hookers were actually hookers and used their feet to hook the ball back and out to their side of the scrum. Forwards could push the other team off the ball. The play-the-ball was a one-on-one scrum, I liked how the marker was able to contest for the ball.

Game day was great, if you came early it was three games for the price of one. There was a clear path for players to make it to first grade and you could see their progression or regression. If you had a bad game in first grade you could be dropped to reserve grade the next week, but you would still be wearing the same colours and the team had the same name.

There was no wrestle. The Wrestle has killed the flow of the game and has also led to very serious injury (eg McKinnon). It should be outlawed, the refs have failed dismally here. The tackle type, ie dominate, that the refs call is just a load of bulldust.

There were fewer interruptions without the bunker and with one ref. You just took the bad refs calls with the good but the game flowed. The calls really havn't gotten any better, the blame has just shifted to the bunker with only the occasional benifit.

I absolutely hate the refs “coaching” the teams. If the players don’t know the rules or can’t follow them, then penalise them. They’ll soon learn. The refs should just shut up and ref the game.

The players over the years have managed to show increasing disrespect for the refs. I cannot think of any other sport, maybe others can, were the players can argue with the ref the way Rugby League players can and get away with it. It is something that has crept into the game and should be stamped out.

I also cannot think of any other sport, again others may, where the last person who touches the ball before it goes out of play is not called as the team who last touched the ball. If you don’t "play at the ball" in Rugby League, which is very subjective I must say, you are deamed as not touching the ball and the other team is punished. Huh? That’s a dumb rule.

I miss the punch ups. The b***h slapping that is allowed now is laughable. Bring back the Biff. Some of the things players get away with today would be stopped in its tracks by a good left hook by an enforcer aka Noel Kelly style.

This has sort of turned out to be what I hate post so I’ll stop. But I do miss the flow of the game, it is now very stop-start and heading towards NFL territory.

Your posts are always well thought out and composed.
From memory I haven't noticed you rubbishing anyone, even though you may be in complete disagreement with their view.
Well now, I am in complete disagreement with your view re
"I miss the punch-ups" and "bring back the biff".
I doubt very much that you really do want to see violence in the form of punch ups and biffo reintroduced to our game.
I feel, there is enough violence in our game as it is now, and in the world generally without wanting more violence.
Women fighting in the isle for toilet paper in Woolies for goodness sake.
With all the work that has gone into controlling violence from parents on the sideline at young peoples matches at suburban grounds, bringing back the biff would be setting a very bad example for the dumb cluck parents of those young kids.
Aren't we supposed to grow up to be decent people due to the
good and caring examples our parents taught us?

Nah... we need an outlet for our primal instincts otherwise we all just meld into a boring bunch of boring politically correct hermaphrodites.

I don’t think I ever saw anyone get permanently seriously injured in rugby league with a good old fashion punch up. It’s all over in seconds. To the contrary, I think it prevented a few serious injuries by stopping players who were dangerously attacking opponents. I don’t think we’d have the wrestling we are plagued with now if the occasional Biff was allowed. Don’t misunderstand the Biff should be punished, based on it’s severity as it was, but not banned like it is now.

Decent people off the field yes, and always set a good example, but what happens on the field stays on the field, The field is a battle ground, gladiator style. Kids know the difference between a game and normal society. You teach them what is right and what is wrong. Just look at video games, some are violent as hell but that doesn’t translate into violent behaviour in society, in some cases it prevents it by allowing a safe outlet for those so inclined,

Bring back the biff.

 

[Russell]

The good old days, yes, in these current isolated, quiet times my mind does reflect on ‘the good old days’ especially the freedom one had as a child and teenager growing up in the sixties and seventies. My dad was a mad South’s supporter having grown up in Zetland but he didn’t influence my brother and me, so being North Ryde boys and going to Holy Cross we fell into supporting our local district team which was Balmain.
I first played footy for Gladesville Bowling and Sports Club as a hooker with memories of Ian Thompson, who went onto play for Australia, being one of the props. Holy Cross at this time played Rugby Union before switching to league. Being a hooker in the good old days meant your job was to win the scrum. The battle for scrum possession was a fun part of the game. My best effort was to go a whole game at Birchgrove Oval and not lose a scrum.
One of my early memories of going to the footy was when Leichhardt Oval really was an oval. Back in the sixties one cold, rainy day we were playing North Sydney and the crowd was really small. I was sitting with my best mate Pete when behind us some mad looking bloke with T-shirt on started shadow boxing and shouting out tigers! Tigers! and then imploring us all to join in with him. From then on we always looked forward to seeing that ‘mad’ bloke do his thing…you all know whom I am writing about! Also great memories of walking to and from the ground, doubles tickets on the main game and the bloke selling peanuts.
I remember going to what I think was the first ever rugby league game at the SCG on a Sunday which was between Balmain and St George in 1966. We won 10-3 with Keith Barnes kicking 5 goals including one from halfway. In 1969 Pete and I went to the semi final at the SCG against Souths which we lost by a point which wasn’t too bad after Arthur Beetson got sent off for fighting. Next week we went to the game against Manly to see who would get into the Grand Final and was thinking it was all over until at the last moment George Ruebner made a great run to score in the corner which left Len Killeen, being one of the first round the corner kickers in Australia, the task of kicking the winning goal from the sideline. He calmly stuck his heel in the ground, placed the ball in the divot, stepped back a couple of places and kicked it between the posts. We, of course, go on to win the Grand Final from there.
Hmm the good old days were good but it has been great also to go through all the changes, I loved the footy then and I love it now.
P.S. My Alzheimer’s test every year as I get older is to be able to name the entire Balmain 1969 premiership team by positions off the top of my head starting with Bob Smithies, Len Killeen, George Ruebner (replaced by Syd Williams) Allan Fitzgibbon……

Maybe your test should be - name the Souffs team that played that day by writing it down.

Then burn it.... and laugh like crazy!

 

[TheDaBoss]

My mum and dad came from the country, Batlow and moved to the big smoke, Enmore. They were mad Western Suburbs Magpie followers (don’t know why they didn’t follow Newtown). Took me to many games at Pratten Park and the SCG. I could rattle off all the names of all the Western Suburbs players (Kelly, Diamond, Parish, Pittard, Ferguson, McGuiness, Meany, Mowbray et al) much to the amusement of my uncles and aunties who were Souths followers. I started playing, or should I say pretending, at a very young age

In 1966 we moved to North Ryde, part of the Balmain district for junior football. Spent many years playing in the district, usually in the year above my age. We still followed the Western Suburbs Magpies and went to many games at Lidcombe etc. Favourite team to beat was of course Manly.

I loved the scrums, and the actual contest for the ball, although they could deteriorate into a heaving lump of flesh. Halves had to put the ball into the middle of the scrum, not the second row. Hookers were actually hookers and used their feet to hook the ball back and out to their side of the scrum. Forwards could push the other team off the ball. The play-the-ball was a one-on-one scrum, I liked how the marker was able to contest for the ball.

Game day was great, if you came early it was three games for the price of one. There was a clear path for players to make it to first grade and you could see their progression or regression. If you had a bad game in first grade you could be dropped to reserve grade the next week, but you would still be wearing the same colours and the team had the same name.

There was no wrestle. The Wrestle has killed the flow of the game and has also led to very serious injury (eg McKinnon). It should be outlawed, the refs have failed dismally here. The tackle type, ie dominate, that the refs call is just a load of bulldust.

There were fewer interruptions without the bunker and with one ref. You just took the bad refs calls with the good but the game flowed. The calls really havn't gotten any better, the blame has just shifted to the bunker with only the occasional benifit.

I absolutely hate the refs “coaching” the teams. If the players don’t know the rules or can’t follow them, then penalise them. They’ll soon learn. The refs should just shut up and ref the game.

The players over the years have managed to show increasing disrespect for the refs. I cannot think of any other sport, maybe others can, were the players can argue with the ref the way Rugby League players can and get away with it. It is something that has crept into the game and should be stamped out.

I also cannot think of any other sport, again others may, where the last person who touches the ball before it goes out of play is not called as the team who last touched the ball. If you don’t "play at the ball" in Rugby League, which is very subjective I must say, you are deamed as not touching the ball and the other team is punished. Huh? That’s a dumb rule.

I miss the punch ups. The b***h slapping that is allowed now is laughable. Bring back the Biff. Some of the things players get away with today would be stopped in its tracks by a good left hook by an enforcer aka Noel Kelly style.

This has sort of turned out to be what I hate post so I’ll stop. But I do miss the flow of the game, it is now very stop-start and heading towards NFL territory.

Your posts are always well thought out and composed.
From memory I haven't noticed you rubbishing anyone, even though you may be in complete disagreement with their view.
Well now, I am in complete disagreement with your view re
"I miss the punch-ups" and "bring back the biff".
I doubt very much that you really do want to see violence in the form of punch ups and biffo reintroduced to our game.
I feel, there is enough violence in our game as it is now, and in the world generally without wanting more violence.
Women fighting in the isle for toilet paper in Woolies for goodness sake.
With all the work that has gone into controlling violence from parents on the sideline at young peoples matches at suburban grounds, bringing back the biff would be setting a very bad example for the dumb cluck parents of those young kids.
Aren't we supposed to grow up to be decent people due to the
good and caring examples our parents taught us?

Yeah that is true

but lets all be honest, when we see a good ol punchup in any game

it does add to the excitement and get the crowd going

 

[mike]

The good old days, yes, in these current isolated, quiet times my mind does reflect on ‘the good old days’ especially the freedom one had as a child and teenager growing up in the sixties and seventies. My dad was a mad South’s supporter having grown up in Zetland but he didn’t influence my brother and me, so being North Ryde boys and going to Holy Cross we fell into supporting our local district team which was Balmain.
I first played footy for Gladesville Bowling and Sports Club as a hooker with memories of Ian Thompson, who went onto play for Australia, being one of the props. Holy Cross at this time played Rugby Union before switching to league. Being a hooker in the good old days meant your job was to win the scrum. The battle for scrum possession was a fun part of the game. My best effort was to go a whole game at Birchgrove Oval and not lose a scrum.
One of my early memories of going to the footy was when Leichhardt Oval really was an oval. Back in the sixties one cold, rainy day we were playing North Sydney and the crowd was really small. I was sitting with my best mate Pete when behind us some mad looking bloke with T-shirt on started shadow boxing and shouting out tigers! Tigers! and then imploring us all to join in with him. From then on we always looked forward to seeing that ‘mad’ bloke do his thing…you all know whom I am writing about! Also great memories of walking to and from the ground, doubles tickets on the main game and the bloke selling peanuts.
I remember going to what I think was the first ever rugby league game at the SCG on a Sunday which was between Balmain and St George in 1966. We won 10-3 with Keith Barnes kicking 5 goals including one from halfway. In 1969 Pete and I went to the semi final at the SCG against Souths which we lost by a point which wasn’t too bad after Arthur Beetson got sent off for fighting. Next week we went to the game against Manly to see who would get into the Grand Final and was thinking it was all over until at the last moment George Ruebner made a great run to score in the corner which left Len Killeen, being one of the first round the corner kickers in Australia, the task of kicking the winning goal from the sideline. He calmly stuck his heel in the ground, placed the ball in the divot, stepped back a couple of places and kicked it between the posts. We, of course, go on to win the Grand Final from there.
Hmm the good old days were good but it has been great also to go through all the changes, I loved the footy then and I love it now.
P.S. My Alzheimer’s test every year as I get older is to be able to name the entire Balmain 1969 premiership team by positions off the top of my head starting with Bob Smithies, Len Killeen, George Ruebner (replaced by Syd Williams) Allan Fitzgibbon……

I really admire those Balmain players. I think I have told this story on here before however. The ‘69 Grand Final was played on a Saturday. Our football club’s presentation was on the Sunday @ Lane Cove National Park. For whatever reason the club had asked the Balmain players to do the presentations. This would have been arranged months before there was any inkling of Balmain making the Grand Final, let alone winning it. To thier absolute credit they turned up, somewhat seedy and hung-over but there none the less, and presented the trophies. It was a great day indeed.

 

[Vince Farrar]

Hanging in the garage with mates playing with our pride and joys (cars) listening to the match of the day on the Wireless. The legend Frank Hyde and the “its long enough its high enough and it’s right between the posts “ I think Frank borrowed that from “its a bird its a plane etc” Great memories and then the iceing on the cake Franks tear jerking rendition of Danny Boy oh I’m getting a quiverIng lower lip. They were great days indeed!