THE BROTHERS CHRONICLES

Transcription

1 BROTHERS RUGBY CLUB,SYDNEY THE BROTHERS CHRONICLES A publication for the older CBOB VOL 1 ISSUE 3 FEBRUARY 2012 Yeah mate I remember playing against CBOBS bloody hell you blokes just wouldn t lay down Tony Brunsden (RIP) Capt. Hunters Hill Kentwell Cup Welcome to all past players and supporters Inside this issue: Player Profile Ian Gibson Player Profile John Andrews COLTS FUND RAISING Barraclough Cup 1990 Revisited Wallop s Corner Grafton Rugby Tours Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed Issue 2 Great news in regards to having a Colts Side in But with this comes obvious additional costs see John Andrew s background letter and appeal for financial help. Revisiting the 1990 Barraclough Cup and the Grafton Tours should bring back some great memories. If there is anyone you would like to add to the mailing list let me know. waughs@skymesh.com.au Terry Mico David Mico* Bob Towers Brian Hadlee* Ian Meers John Sullivan John Andrews Michael Lowry John Waugh Life Members Martin ichols Barry Williams Brian McElvogue* John Punch (Snr) Paul Muller Steve Jaques Michael Williams Tony Padovan Adrian Brannan Robert Bruce Damian Henry Tom Burns

2 Brothers Rugby Club Sydney would like to acknowledge and thank all our sponsors. Our Major Sponsors are: Flight Centre and The Orchard Tavern

3 400 Games Michael Wren 300 Games Michael Lowry Ian Meers Damian Henry Michael Cahill Michael Bird Adrian Brannan John Waugh John Andrews Terry Mico Martin Nichols 200 Games Michael Williams Roy Anderson Sean Brannan Steve Jaques David Taylor James Mulcare Tony Padovan Ian Welsh Peter Powell Matt Gibbs Paul Muller Phillip Colvin Phil Hogan Tim Parsons Tom Burns Dan Ridley Andrew Simpson John Bezzina Damian Eyre Robert Bruce Enda Winston Centurions 100 Games Kieren O Hegarty John Gibbs Michael Sullivan Glenn Morrissey Lino Anastasi Thomas Broomfield Greg Nixon Terry Woodward Noel Ponton Ian Davison Declan O Connor Pat North Tony Hanrahan Dick Reading James Vianellos Arthur Oliver Craig Leckie David Becklie Roger Shanahan Keith Bromwich Adam Morrissey Hans Krenmayr Christopher Ford Dom North Craig Swanson Billy Madgwick Pat Gourtley Greg Stacey Sean Nyssen David Cooper Jon Evans Paul Tessoriero Dave Bullard Tim Leibbrandt Beau Keller Scott James Peter Watkins Michael Hall Stuart Mangion Steve Gustafson Stephen Carrick Andrew Cansdell

4 PLAYER QUESTIONNAIRE Player s Name: Ian Gibson Nickname: it) Sometimes Gibbo (but too many others have claim to How did you hear about the club and who introduced you to the club? School What year did you join? 1971 What position did you play? Prop and then (after I slowed down) I moved to Second Row What year did you stop playing? 1981 Did you play for any other clubs? Yes, Northern Suburbs Did any other members of your family play for the club (brothers, sons etc?) Brother, Don Did you hold any executive positions at the club? Yes, Club Captain a couple of stints Did you coach any sides? NO Did you captain any sides? Yes - Under 20's, then Barraclough, Stockdale, Kentwell and Barraclough again. Did you win any premierships? Yes Stockdale 1974 and Barraclough Did you go on any club trips or tours? Grafton 1981 Are there any great moments or stories you would like to share? Many. Too many to put together just now Who were some of your more colourful colleagues/characters? Terry Woodward. Bob Towers, Steve Prosser, Noel Ponton, John Waugh, Pat Wheelahan and many more Was Dockers your main drinking spot? Yes, sure was. Orchard Tavern

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6 PLAYER QUESTIONNAIRE Player s Name: John Andrews Nickname: Panda How did you hear about the club and who introduced you to the club? I was telephoned by Terry Woodward, I guess in 1969 and asked if I wanted to play Rugby. Terry was then working at the NRMA, where my Uncle Tom was, I believe, his boss. What year did you join? I played just one game in 1969 for the U 20s, which happened to be at Roseville Chase. I played no other games that year for CBOBs, as I was playing League with Lane Cove CYO (with Billy James) and thought that two games a weekend was too much as I was in First year Uni. I got over that the next year and played for CBOBs on Saturday and league on Sunday. Basically thereafter I played for CBOBs every Saturday in the rugby season until I gave it away, reluctantly, after being sort of scalped in my last game (see below) What position did you play? Mostly breakaway, but in a weak moment I was convinced one year by Greg Johnson to play Hooker, as we had no hookers that year. Not sure what year that was, but I did spend a fortune thereafter getting my back fixed, given we were playing Kentwell Cup and Colleagues had the Combined Subbies Front Row. Not a pretty sight. Did you play any other sport under the CBOB banner e.g. Cricket, Basketball or Squash? Only a season or two of cricket, but not very well. "Most Memorable Game and Why" Probably my last game in 1991 at Boronia Park v Hunters Hill. I was playing 4 th Grade and had decided to take my then 4 year old daughter Jane to watch her dad play for the first time. I had a mate (Ron Bendall, then editor of the North Shore Times), who lived across the road, and he brought his 4 year old along. By half-time I had collected a cut down the side of my head from a glancing sprig which opened right up and had blood everywhere. Ron took me to a local GP who wouldn t touch it, so spent some time, as was my usual routine, at the RNSH getting a large amount of stitches inserted on both the inside, and outside. Didn t look real great in Court on the Monday. What year did you stop playing? See above Did you play for any other clubs? Only for Kings College, London whilst at London Uni in and a few games for London NZ. Apart from those, only ever played for CBOBS. No desire to play anywhere else. Did any other members of your family play for the club (brothers, sons etc?) My step-son Daniel Barrow played a couple of seasons. Did you hold any executive positions at the club? I was Publicity Officer (in the days when the NST would print anything you wrote); Club Captain a number of times and was also Social secretary.

7 Did you coach any sides? Yes, maybe when our records are up to date I will be able to work out when and what teams. I never coached a First grade Side, but did coach the seconds on a number of occasions. I was captain coach of 4s when we played (and lost) to Matraville in the Grand Final at Macquarie Uni, the same day seconds won the Grand Final in 1984 Did you captain any sides? Yep, but too many to recall, and the memory fades as to the years. Did you win any premierships? No Did you go on any club trips or tours? Only the one for old-farts to the Central Coast. I had no stamina to go to Grafton. Are there any great moments or stories you would like to share? I was always pretty boring, not being a successful tourist, but having a great time playing as many games as I could. I remember one day playing 3s, 2s and 1s against CBC Bank and winning the lot. Pretty stuffed but pretty satisfied. Snaring Steve Jacques to the Club was one of the most pleasing phone calls I made. We haven t been able to get rid of him since. Who were some of your more colourful colleagues/characters? One who springs to mind is Arthur Oliver, who played a game before he got married later the same day. Too many others to recall. I often think of Frank Mahony when I see his brother Michael around the various Courts and recall some outrageous incidents in London. He was certainly one of the more active members when it came to extracurricular activities of the horizontal kind. Was Dockers your main drinking spot? It has changed very dramatically since the old days, but it has probably been the only hotel I have been to with any regularity over the years. A lot different with the yellow tiles of old.

8 BROTHERS RUGBY CLUB TO HAVE A COLTS (UNDER 21 S) TEAM IN 2012 THIS WILL BE FIRST TIME THE CLUB HAS FIELDED A COLTS SIDE SINCE 1972 (UNDER 20 S) * THE CLUB S ABILITY TO FIELD A COLTS SIDE WILL ALSO ASSIST THEM IN THEIR APPLICATION FOR PROMOTION BACK TO THIRD DIVISION BUT WITH THIS GREAT NEWS COMES THE OBVIOUS ADDITIONAL TEAM COSTS INCLUDING: PLAYING KIT INSURANCE TEAM REGISTRATION THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS THE CLUB NEEDS YOUR HELP *Editor s Note: We did have Under 18 s in the Mid 70 s

9 CBOB S Under 20 side 1972 PLEASE SEE BACKGROUND LETTER AND REQUEST FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM JOHN ANDREWS WE HAVE OVER 200 MEMBERS ON OUR MAILING LIST LET S GET TOGETHER TO ENSURE THE SUCCESS OF OUR COLTS SIDE. ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

10 BROTHERS COLTS 2012 About June last year I was speaking with president Scotty, Ian- the Moose - Meers and a few of the senior players and officials about the future of the Club generally, and about how we could put the Club on a more secure footing for the future in regards to player numbers. As you are probably aware, last year was the first year for some time that we had competitive teams, (apart from the ageing 4th Grade Nicholson Cup winners in 2010), winning the First and Second Grade competitions, as well as Third Grade playing in the Semis. We were faced with the Club possibly folding if we did not do something from the top down, and we were fortunate to have Marty Nicholls return to the ranks after many seasons with Norths. Marty has a lot of connections with Grade players and was able to persuade old St.Pius lads like Vinny Byrne, Greg Wade and Mark Durisic to leave the Grade ranks and join the Brothers. We spoke of the need to get a Colts side together and to that end, we enlisted a couple of the lads who would still be eligible for Colts in 2012 to start spreading the word amongst their mates that Brothers was running a Colts Team in Via the magical world of Facebook etc, they have got together a list of names, perhaps beyond our wildest expectations. Prior to our Season Launch on 20 January at Dockers, Moose, Hans Krenmayr, our First Grade Coach, Tom Burns and I attended a game of Touch that those guys had been organising amongst themselves for some time at Beauchamp on a Friday afternoon. When we left that day we walked away with 25 signed registration forms. Charles Kilby and Michael Summers, the two who played with us in 2011 in Grade but are still eligible to play Colts in 2012, tell us there are more to come. When the Committee spoke of setting up such a team, and realising that the Club needed an ongoing transfusion of new blood to set the platform for years to come, we decided in our wisdom that we would only charge Colts $50 for Subs. We were keen to make the Club attractive to young blokes coming from school, going to Uni or starting out in apprenticeships etc. Indeed, one of the comments made by several of the lads was how cheap we were compared to cricket, hockey and other Rugby Clubs. I suppose there is a lot of good and bad in that!!! I subsequently found out that most of that $50 will be taken up buying a jersey (approximately $48 each). We also supply each player with a set of shorts, socks and have to pay for insurance for 22 players for each team. The Costs per player are closer to $250 that the $50 we are going to charge them.

11 I really believe that a successful Colts team (or dare we hope, teams) is the way forward for CBOBs/ Brothers. We can no longer rely on the older guys in the Club. We need to have blokes flow through from our Juniors to hopefully long careers in our senior ranks. If you are now a little older, wiser and perhaps a little more financially well off than you might have been in the past (or if not, but you can spare a few bob anyway), we would be most grateful if you could assist to sponsor a Brothers Colt in The financial pressures of running 4 Open teams are great in 2012, and whilst obviously the subs for our Grade teams are greater that the $50 we are charging the Colts, I would like to see if we can make the Colts reasonably self sufficient as there are enough costs in getting the 4 Grade sides on the paddock each week, without calling on our general funds from subs, sponsors, social events etc. The Club is probably in the best position we have been player wise at the start of a season for many years. The Club has been recruiting well, but this year we need to run 4 Grade sides, one more than last year. Stating the bleeding obvious, it all costs money to get sides on the field each week. Running a Rugby Club is a lot different to what it was in the past and I know a few of you may be allergic to making financial contributions to what is still primarily an amateur sport. If you want to ring me at any time to discuss any of the above, or you want to get more involved in the Club again in some role, we are always looking to get people back involved in the Club. If you want to be asked, give me a give me a ring and I ll ask you!! Call me on or at home.

12 If you are able and willing to assist financially, And are happy to do so; Please make a direct deposit at the bank or via internet transfer Please mark the reference with: your initials and surname and the word Colts. For ease of processing and to avoid delays/administrative hassles, it would be better to use this method and avoid cheques in the mail. Bank: Commonwealth Bank Account Name: CBOBS Account Number: Account BSB: Reference: Your Initials and Surname & Colts Regardless of whether you are able to assist financially or not, make sure you get along to some home games this year. It looks a very promising year, and the more faces on the sideline the better. Best Wishes John Andrews

13 Revisiting The Barraclough Cup Premiership 1990

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26 WALLOP S CORNER A Props Testimony Son, in this world there are scrums. And in those scrums you need props. Are you willing to do it? As a prop, I have more responsibility than you can ever fathom. You use words like "drunk" and "out of shape"; those words are the very backbone of a life I spent drinking and partying in, and you use them as a punch line. You weep for your wings and centres, and curse the prop forward. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of knowing that the front row, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, wins these games you play. Truth? You can't handle the truth, because deep down in places you don't talk about in your selection meetings, you want me in that scrum; you need me in that scrum. I neither have the time nor inclination to explain myself to a back who scores on the very blanket of ball retention that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just bought me a beer and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you crawl into that scrum and get dirty. Either way, I don't give a damn who you think is responsible. From the Grafton Rugby Club s Website.

27 Why We Play The Game by Rupert McCall When the battle scars have faded And the truth becomes a lie And the weekend smell of liniment Could almost make you cry. When the last rucks well behind you And the man that ran now walks It doesn t matter who you are The mirror sometimes talks Have a good hard look old son! The melons not that great The snoz that takes a sharp turn sideways Used to be dead straight You re an advert for arthritis You re a thoroughbred gone lame Then you ask yourself the question Why the hell you played the game? Was there logic in the head knocks? In the corks and in the cuts? Did common sense get pushed aside? By manliness and guts? Do you sometimes sit and wonder Why your time would often pass In a tangled mess of bodies With your head up someone's arse? With a thumb hooked up your nostril Scratching gently on your brain And an overgrown Neanderthal Rejoicing in your pain! Mate you must recall the jersey That was shredded into rags Then the soothing sting of Dettol On a back engraved with tags! It s almost worth admitting Though with some degree of shame That your wife was right in asking Why the hell you played the game? Why you d always rock home legless Like a cow on roller skates After drinking at the clubhouse

28 With your low down drunken mates Then you d wake up check your wallet Not a solitary coin Drink Berocca by the bucket Throw an ice pack on your groin Copping Sunday morning sermons About boozers being losers While you limped like Quazimoto With a half a thousand bruises! Yes an urge to hug the porcelain And curse sambuccas name Would always pose the question Why the hell you played the game! And yet with every wound re-opened As you grimly reminisce it Comes the most compelling feeling yet God, you bloody miss it! From the first time that you laced a boot And tightened every stud That virus known as rugby Has been living in your blood When you dreamt it when you played it All the rest took second fiddle Now you re standing on the sideline But your hearts still in the middle And no matter where you travel You can take it as expected There will always be a breed of people Hopelessly infected If there s a teammate, then you ll find him Like a gravitating force With a common understanding And a beer or three, of course And as you stand there telling lies Like it was yesterday old friend You ll know that if you had the chance You d do it all again You see that s the thing with rugby It will always be the same And that, I guarantee Is why the hell you played the game!! This poem contributed by Bill James via Peter Barrow

29 Rugby -The game that's played in Heaven Two 90 year old men, Mike and Joe, have been friends all of their lives. When it's clear that Joe is dying, Mike visits him every day. One day Mike says, "Joe, we both loved rugby all our lives, and we played rugby on Saturdays together for so many years. Please do me one favour, when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's rugby there." Joe looks up at Mike from his death bed, "Mike, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favour for you. Shortly after that, Joe passes on. At midnight a couple of nights later, Mike is awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, "Mike--Mike." "Who is it?" asks Mike sitting up suddenly. "Who is it?" "Mike--it's me, Joe." "You're not Joe. Joe just died." "I'm telling you, it's me, Joe," insists the voice. "Joe! Where are you?" "In heaven," replies Joe. "I have some really good news and a little bad news." "Tell me the good news first," says Mike. "The good news," Joe says," is that there's rugby in heaven. Better yet, all of our old friends who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always spring time and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play rugby all we want, and we never get tired." "That's fantastic," says Mike. "It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?" "You're in the team for this Saturday." This Joke contributed by Terry Mico

30 Grafton Rugby Knockout Carnival 1973 to 1988 For the CBOB Club from the early 1970 s to Mid to late 80 s this was the end of season tour to go on. We travelled via many different ways; touring buses of various standards and sizes, car, sometimes plane for our more affluent members or some because of work commitments, train (what a trip from Central to Grafton) and on one occasion an old London Double Decker Bus bought out to Australia by Top Deck Travel (Bill James this company was the forerunner to Flight Centre). One year we shared a bus with Rockdale Rugby Club. This caused great confusion with the Grafton residents when late one morning some CBOB tourists were returning after a quite night and hoping to cover their tracks they chanted : We re from ROCKDALE, ROCKDALE, ROCKDALE!!! Another year we had an extended tour which began with a stay in Yamba, a game against Yamba in Maclean on the Thursday night and down to Grafton for matches on Saturday and Sunday. Robbie refurbished Top Deck Travel Bus brought out to Australia in the 1990 s

31 Many touring traditions were enshrined in the Grafton Touring Almanac. Some of the more notable ones: The grading of tourists according to number of tours, 0 caps = virgin tourist 1 to 5 = veteran tourist 6 and above = super veteran Upon beginning the tour all virgin tourist were assigned a veteran tourist to ensure indoctrination of all the touring rituals. One of the main requirements was the continual consumption of copious amounts of the amber fluid although any heavy spirit was acceptable. There may have been more but there has been only one occasion that I know of, where a Veteran tourist was absolutely left legless by a couple of Virgin tourists, the partners in crime who left their Veteran mentor very much worse for wear, were Jaqesey and Kevin Booker. Touring Caps were issued at the end of tour and touring awards were announced. Best player on tour was a much sought after award. An award to be avoided at all costs was the Pain in the Arse Award (this award speaks for itself!!) Trying to list some of the more colourful characters that have floated across this vast touring landscape is an unenviable task, I hope I do it justice. Teddy, Shy Ted, Teddy Two Cans, The Hulk, he had many endearing nicknames but there was only one Steve Prosser (RIP) I don t think anyone will ever forget (I am sure the person Tackled is still rattling) the absolute bone crunching tackle

32 Teddy hit Peter Carson (Northern Suburbs 1st Grade, NSW and Wallaby 1979) with in the game against Yamba. Carson sought Teddy out after the game and congratulated him and bought him a beer. It was a huge hit. Teddy also had another memorable touring moment and it occurred on the Double Decker Bus. He was as he was prone to do on many occasions, flashing a Brown-Eye at passing motorists, as fate would have it, the driver changed lanes suddenly which caused the bus to lurch forward and then back, Teddy and his bare bum did the same, causing him to crash into the window on the landing, smashing it and sustaining a small cut. Teddy s reaction was classic, he went from tourist to tourist pleading with them to check his grievous wound for any glass splinters. The ugliness of his derriere was the stuff of legends, needles to say no-one would come to his aid and we returned to our touring duties as outlined previously. Jack Longhurst played for the Casino Rugby Club in their winning Plate Final team. In the game Jack sustained a heavy head knock but he insisted he was fine. So back at our accommodation we were having a few beers around the BBQ, after several rounds the team management convinced Jack to go to his room and rest as a precaution. The rest of the team continued to drink into the night, finally we thought we better check how Jack was. We found him asleep in his room in the bath There were about 15 empty cans floating in the water. On the same tour Jack checked if the BBQ was ready to cook in a very unique way. (Strict Tour Code enforced here What Happens on Tour stays on Tour )

33 Grafton Rugby Union did not need to hire any Entertainment for half-time of the Grand Final of the Carnival as CBOB s had our own Evil Kenevil (Chris Kerr) His Flip/Flop backward summersaults are still being talked about in the Far North Coast Rugby circles. To see him going across the field along the half way line will live in the minds of all who attended and received a standing ovation. His efforts to get into the winning Grand Final Team s photo shoot was a hoot although perhaps the team concerned didn t agree.

34 Ace it Up Haddo (Brian Haddley RIP) Taking the fastest way down from the pub in Yamba to the Yamba Surf Club He had bits of bark of everywhere especially his poor old baldy head. We insisted if he wanted to leave the pub unaccompanied, we would make use of the rescue belt and reel from the surf club. It s unusual for someone from outside the Club to rate a mention in the Chronicles but I think this character is too good to leave out, especially, talking about Grafton. It was the first time I and many of the tourists had heard the now very well known war-cry. At this time it was Oggi, Oggi, Oggi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Oggi, Oggi etc etc I only knew the bloke as Oggi and he was from the Kempsey Cannonballs Rugby Union Club. They would turn up with about 7 players, put a call out for players, meet on the field put the numbers 1 to 15 in a hat, draw them out and play as selected. Usually the seven players were very handy players and the team would go all right. So here s to Oggi.

35 Referring back to the comment about Kempsey s numbers, CBOB s very rarely turned up short of players on Tour, in fact, one tour we had enough to field two sides. We may have turned up a bit dusty at times, but on most occasions we were competitive. I think the banner comment from the front page is very apt. Yeah mate I remember playing against CBOBS bloody hell you blokes just wouldn t lay down One last incident I think is worth relating is the Revenge of the Senior Citizens. We were staying at the Grafton Showgrounds and we went out for a very heavy as per usual Saturday night. The troops were returning at various times during the Saturday night and Sunday morning usually in very high and noisy spirits. Early Sunday morning at about 6.00am in a scene out of a Western movie, a bus full of senior citizens were driving around and around our double Decker bus blowing on the bus horn, yelling out the windows, wake up you bastards, you kept us awake all night.. etc etc. unfortunately the large percentage of us were pretty comatose, so it had little or no effect. But it was a very comical scene. There are so many more, Churchie being derailed by the huge Oatley winger (St George 1st grader Clen DeVanso?), Hugo playing in the centres, Whorie holding up the scrum to chuck, one of the lads being pick up by the Highway patrol for peeing out the back of the bus.

36 Teddy, Whorie and Moose.

37 Bruce Watt, Jed Carew, Tolly, POC Whorie, Martin Bain, Haddo, Bruce Watt

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39 Yamba Surf Club and Pacific Hotel. Now it should be easy to understand how Haddo had his fall at night!!! Coming home from the Pub

40 1978 USA Tour Tee Shirt Swap From a Canadian Rugby Club

41 THEY NOW? Still FOR THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS Lino Anastasi Dan Beeby Steve Carrick Tony Cannon John Cowan Joe Eizenberg Michael Harding Tony Hilliam Mark Hodges Brian Holahan Chris Lambeth Grant Leslie Steve McGuire Sean Nyssen Arthur Oliver Andrew Smyth Greg Stacey Mick Staunton Paul Tessoriero Doug Whalley Reply to:

42 CAN YOU HELP OUT ON HOME GAME DAY? ON VETERANS DAY JULY 2011 WE RECEIVED ABOUT 15 POSITIVE RESPONSES OFFERING HELP. NOW WE NEED TO CONVERT THIS INTO ACTION. 1. WE REQUIRE A ROSTER OF 16 PEOPLE 2. A COORDINATOR FOR ROSTER PURPOSES WOULD BE A HUGE BONUS 3. DUTIES WOULD INVOLVE GAME DAY SET UP/TAKE DOWN, BAR, CANTEEN AND RAFFLE SALES 4. 4 PEOPLE REQUIRED ON MATCH DAY 5. WITH 8 HOME GAMES THIS MEANS YOU WOULD BE NEEDED 2 SATURDAYS THROUGH THE RUGBY SEASON. NOT A HUGE ASK! 6. HOGS (HOME GROUND SUPPORT) WOULD BE ISSUED WITH CLUB POLO/FLEECE ETC. I AM A HOG CAN YOU HELP ON HOME GAME DAY?

43 Brothers Rugby Club Sydney was formed by Old Boys of St Pius X College Chatswood in 1947 and was at that time known as Christian Brothers Old Boys or CBOB s. In 2005, it was decided to change our name from CBOB s to the very familiar Brothers Rugby Club Sydney. Brothers being one of the most well known rugby brands in Australia. We are on the Web: com.au/home/ Brothers Rugby Club Sydney (formerly CBOBs) aims to provide a competitive rugby environment in conjunction with an active social programme for all its playing and non-playing members. We currently have 3 senior grades playing in the Sydney Suburban Rugby competition with a view to fielding a 4th senior team and an U21 s colts team. Brothers has a long and proud history in the Sydney suburban competition with a long list of premierships won over the years. This is testament to the strength of the club, from its formative years, through to the modern era. Brothers are affiliated to the 5 Brothers clubs in Queensland including Brothers Brisbane and also Brothers Joondalup in Western Australia. Brothers are also affiliated to the Marist Rugby Federation in New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, numbering approximately 40 clubs in all. Brothers are and always have been a social rugby club, with an emphasis on enjoyment through participation. There is a grade of rugby for players of all levels of skill, ability, fitness and girth. We play competitively, but ensure that we enjoy our time representing Brothers. Players of any ability are welcome at Brothers, as it is a great place to continue your rugby enjoyment. Brothers will show you the best sporting and social experience of your life. We train on a Tuesday and Thursday night through the rugby season from 7pm. We are based at Roseville Chase Oval. If you would like to come and play please feel free to turn up and say hello. Or just drop us a note at play@brothersrugby.com.au