Sunshine & Shadow by Larry Writer

Author:Larry Writer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2016-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

[JAMES]

this sporting life

When I was twenty, at the beginning of 1981, Mum was sicker than ever and had less than a year to live. About the only thing that was going well in my life was rugby league.

I’d been playing the game since I was eight or nine and living in Camperdown. At that time, Mum, realising I was growing into a strapping, sporty boy, took me to play with a South Sydney junior team called Mount Carmel.

The first day I ran out onto the field in Mount Carmel colours, I didn’t have a clue how to play league. Before the game I asked the coach what I was supposed to do and he said, ‘Get the ball and run as hard as you can at the guys in the other team.’ So I did, and I scattered them like ninepins. After one long run I looked to the sideline and all the Mount Carmel parents were cheering me. This wasn’t too bad. I was okay at this game.

By age sixteen when I was playing for my team Chelsea at Redfern Oval, I was big, a second-rower or prop, and could run and tackle with the best of them. Once when we were getting beaten 16–0, our coach suggested we put our rivals off their game by starting a fight – standard practice in those days. I did as I was told and I got sent off. The crowd flew into a rage and I was lucky to escape up the tunnel into the dressing room in one piece.

As well as Chelsea, I’d played in a number of local teams in the Eastern Suburbs, such as Bondi United, and coached a few, too.

At Bondi United I had a tremendous coach named Tony Moses. He was able to get the most out of my limited talents and help me play to my potential. Season 1980 was my most enjoyable in football, thanks to fellows like Tony Moses. Kerry Bilsborough, too. Kerry was a terrific footballer, small but with a lot of heart, pound for pound one of the best in the Eastern Suburbs, and he was a lovely bloke and a good friend. Somehow he missed selection in the President’s Cup rep team. I knew he was hurting about that. So when I was invited to play in the side I turned the selector down, in solidarity with Kerry. I regretted doing that then, and I regret it now. He was, however, in those days a bit of a ratbag. He managed to get himself banned from a number of pubs and clubs. I thought he was about to take a big fall, so I took it upon myself to have a heart-to-heart with him. I advised him to leave Sydney and make a new start. He took my advice, moved to Perth, and today he has a beautiful family, a good job, and owns his own house. He came across to Sydney recently and we caught up and he thanked me for giving him the tip to find some greener pastures.

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