The Gladiators by Norman Tasker

Author:Norman Tasker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781743433799
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2013-07-22T04:00:00+00:00

17

THE GENERATION GAP

THE GENERATION GAP has been a fact of life for thousands of years. No matter the era, no matter the society, the old and the young have always seen things from different perspectives. People are fashioned by their time. To Rugby League players of years past, there is admiration and some envy for the players of today . . . and some resentment. Players of the Provan–Summons era did their share of ‘playing up’, but somehow it seemed more harmless, more discreet, than is the case today. Modern scrutiny is part of it. Today’s players have to deal with a less protective press, and the intrusion of modern technologies that give them little privacy. But the lifestyle is different too, and changing priorities have played their part.

ARTHUR SUMMONS

If I could pick one major difference between the players of our era and the players of today, I would say it is that we had a more mature outlook on life, because we had to. Rugby League players these days have so much laid on for them. The good ones have money to burn, they have to think about nothing much else than their football and the various pleasures of youth. By the headlines you see all the time, that seems to involve a bit of drinking. There are too many stories, too, about players treating women badly. I know they are isolated cases, but the many have always been judged by the worst excesses of the few, and too often today there is an imagery to Rugby League that paints it badly.

As individuals I suppose we were similar to all young men over time, but I think it is fair to say more was expected of us.The big thing was that we all got married young. I was married by the time I turned 21. Most of my contemporaries were married in their early 20s, and that forced responsibility on us that dictated the way we lived and the way we involved ourselves in sport. Immaturity was a luxury we could not afford. Maybe we were adults before our time. Compared to the way young people live today, we certainly were. We had to work hard to support a family. And we had all the natural restraints that marriage brings. It was just the way it was in those days. Our after-match celebrations always included wives, and often kids too, and by today’s standards I suppose it was all pretty sedate. Society has changed. People get married later, and there is an inevitable effect on the way a young footballer conducts himself.

Our upbringing also had a lot to do with the way we approached life. My generation grew up without a lot of money. The Depression, and then the war, had seen to that. It was also a time before the modern imperatives of economic growth, shareholder value and corporate dominance had taken hold. I grew up in a very basic house. It was pretty bad, really. But in

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