The Touring Years (1970-1979)
The innovative and questioning sixties were followed by the derivative seventies, which generally became a much more pessimistic decade. Apart from some pretty awful clothing styles, such as flares, acrylic dresses and safari suits we faced: the highest inflation rates since the great depression; the aftermath of the war in Vietnam; oil shocks plus Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser! For the Harlequins, however, it was a great period. It was the last decade without a proper headquarters, where the “old-fashioned” Harlequin spirit was at its peak. Players in all grades, supporters and club officials all knew each other and the operation of the club was a joint effort. By today’s standards it was not professional, but for those involved it was considered to be something of a golden period, at least from a social perspective. Many interesting men and women joined the club destined to make their mark over the next 30 years. We made a series of ground changes, we had a rebirth of the juniors, we celebrated our 50th jubilee, we won many sevens tournaments and above all we enjoyed a series of season opening and closing tours both incoming and outgoing that helped to define and refine the culture of the Harlequins.
In 1970 Tony James was President again, Keith Jones was Team Secretary, Tommy Towers (son of legendary Wallaby Cyril Towers) and Rex Harris, our two Randwick stars, were still with us. We even had the three best hookers in Victoria in the persons of David Learmonth, Murray Smart and Peter Dodds. To accommodate them Learmonth played at prop, Dodds played full-back for the thirds and Smart played hooker. Peter Bolton was in his prime and there were many second team players good enough to play for the first team.
The ladies committee, ably led by Anne Soutar, supported the club in many ways. They were all partners and girl-friends of members and provided food and organisation for the many social functions that were mainly held at the homes of members. The standard turns in 1970 included “Champagne Breakfast”, “Wine and Dine”, “Bangers and Mash”, “Dutch Auction” and were hugely successful. The prevailing police policy towards drink driving was far less stringent than today, and alcohol was a significant part of the entertainment. We were fortunate not to have any accidents as people unsteadily found their ways home after lots of fun and games. On the other hand, the alcohol certainly contributed to some great occasions which have become part of Harlequin folk law. We entertained the Cootamundra Rugby Club at Harlequin Park at the end of the season and the ladies committee organised a great spread for the two Cootamundra and two Harlequins teams as well as their many supporters. Typically the ladies were able to donate $375.00 to the club for the year as well as many hours of valuable time.
The playing season began with a series of trial matches, one against the touring NZ side Drummond, which we won convincingly 28 points to nil and which showcased the talents of a recruit with huge potential for rugby. Paddy Spruce, who had been introduced to Harlequins by Tommy Towers, only began playing rugby at the age of 20 whilst studying for the priesthood at a Victorian Seminary. According to Paddy, who had played Australian Rules Football, all the other students were from N.S.W. or New Zealand so it was rugby or nothing. He also studied in N.S.W. and played against the Randwick Club, where Tommy Towers also played. When Paddy returned to Melbourne Tommy quickly snapped him up for Harlequins. His great advantage was blistering pace, having been a schoolboy sprint champion and his total fitness. In the trial game against Drummond he scored four tries in great style. This augured well for the V.R.U. seven-a-side tournament on 4th April, for a fast and fit threequarter can run teams ragged. This was exactly what happened. During the competition he scored 12 tries, including 2 in the final, where we convincingly beat Kiwis 23 points to 6. Another outstanding recruit was Paddy McGrath who arrived half way through the season and only played a hand-full of games. He had played for Munster against the 1963/64 All Blacks in Ireland and toured Australia with the Irish team in 1967. He had been relocated to Melbourne by his employer and we prevailed upon him to play for us. He was a superb centre and our left-wing, Gerry Kirwan, a fellow Irishman, had one of the most enjoyable few weeks of his playing life, receiving perfectly placed scoring passes from Paddy time after time.
For the new decade and the season proper we were still operating our two grounds; Glen Iris Park for training and third and fourth team matches plus Harlequin Park, Dandenong for first and second team matches. This was good for the quality of the pitch at Harlequin Park as we did not train on it, but it lessened our home ground advantage, because we saw it only fortnightly. The pitch quality also suffered when local farmers occasionally put their dairy stock on the field to graze-without our permission, which led to some disputation with them! As we owned the land, unlike Glen Iris, we had to prepare the pitches without council help. This involved top-dressing, mowing and line marking. Fortunately our Social Secretary, Chris Drysdale, had a senior position at Rover Mowers Pty Ltd, and their products did much “field testing” at Harlequin Park as part of the Company’s “quality control” programmes!
Club strength was good with four teams and recruitment had been successful with the usual mix of migrants from the UK, New Zealand and N.S.W. The first team had an excellent won 14 lost 4 record for the season, finishing third and feeling confident about the finals. The best win of the season was against Kiwis (the dominant club during the early seventies) in the competition match of the day at Olympic Park. The confidence was not well founded as Melbourne, who finished fourth, knocked us out of the finals with a comfortable 25 points to 6 victory.
The second and third teams had unremarkable seasons not making the finals but some new recruits to the club were playing well and would make their mark in the coming seasons. The fourths, captained by Mike Plumbridge, and comprising a mixture of veterans and mature players finished second after the home and away matches. This excellent performance must have weakened them because they did not win a match in the finals series. There was no formal veterans grade in the V.R.U. competition and our fourth team was a superb model for veterans of “coarse rugby” as it was known in the UK. It was not unknown for port to be drunk in place of the ubiquitous orange at half time!
During the year Peter Bolton, Rex Harris, David Learmonth, Jackie Martin and Murray Smart were selected for Victoria. Jackie Martin was a fiery and very tough wing-forward from New Zealand who provided drive and leadership during the entire season. His drive was not limited to the rugby pitch. He achieved lasting Harlequin fame by being fined for speeding on his way to training. Jackie was employed by a funeral services company and he was driving was a large hearse. Paddy McGrath was not considered for Victoria as the squad had been selected before he arrived in Melbourne but he was picked for the Presidents XV to play against the Premiers, Kiwis. He played a great game and would have assuredly played for Victoria in 1971 but to our great disappointment he returned to Ireland in December 1970.
The fringe sports also were well patronised during the year. The “Tippling Tennis Troup”, launched by Peter Bolton during the 1969/70 off-season, encouraged many of the tennis players to continue their bon-homie onto the golf course enabling them to minimise the time available for gardening, painting, cleaning or maintaining. The 1969/70 cricket team, led once again by the irrepressible Mike Plumbridge, won 4 and lost 4 and managed to beat the Melbourne R.U.F.C. for the first time. We were runners-up in the V.R.U. squash tournament for the third year in succession, winning all but one of our round-robin matches but losing in the final to the very strong Powerhouse team. Our regulars were Martin Fuggle, Peter Dodds, Bob Ede and Mike Stewart, while our second team included Gary Dawkins, Don Cannon, Alan Kaye with irregulars John Vessey, Murray Smart, Mike Dundee and Peter Tozer.
The incoming end of season tour match was against Cootamundra RFC, for whom Rex Harris had played before moving to Sydney, where he played for Randwick. (Rex was an outstanding half-back and understudied the great Ken Catchpole. Whilst he played for the first team only when Ken was on international duty he trained and practiced with the best). Cootamundra were excellent tourists, bringing down two teams which won the second team’s match and lost the first team’s match. We entertained them at Harlequin Park, where the traditional drinking competitions, rugby songs and first-class food provided by the ladies committee made it a day to remember, but perhaps a day after to forget!
There was great anticipation for the end of season tour to Hobart for the Jersey Match and enough players for two sides met on Friday night at the pub next to the Ansett Bus terminal in Swanston Street. After a few post work relaxing beers the bus to the airport was boarded, where a few more beers were consumed in the bar in the departure lounge to sooth the nerves for the flight to Hobart. The Hobart Harlequins met us with a bus to take us to the Ingomar Hotel (where bar-takings for the weekend exceeded the normal monthly total). After an express check-in we went straight to the bar for more drinks and songs. Warren “White Boots” Lewis gave his inimitable rendition of “The Old Mill Stream” standing on the bar, and that was an example of our more acceptable behaviour!
Amazingly the team was able to muster at Sandy Point for a pre-breakfast training run at 07.30am. The game had generated much interest in Hobart and was televised by the ABC from the Queensborough Oval. As we had brought two teams our second played a mixed team from the Glenorchy, Taroona, University and Hobart Harlequins clubs. In a hard fought match the Tasmanian combined side came from behind to win by 13 points to 11. Although the preparation for the match had been extremely “social” our first team was very keen to regain the Jersey, which had been in the Hobart Club House for the previous 4 years. As the report in the Hobart Mercury records we did the job well.
Visiting Harlequins
Wasted
If Hobart had been able to display more teamwork and backing up,
Late Try
Hobart came close to scoring several times before Winter made a
Hobart Harlequins had organised a dance held in the band room of the Anglesea Army Barracks, which attracted a “swag” of unattached females, whose presence was much appreciated by the visitors! Sunday morning was spent trying to piece together what had happened on Saturday night, as well as getting into shape for the barbecue. The barbecue was held at a farm owned by a Hobart Harlequin and was the usual mix of ribald singing, drinking competitions and declarations of undying loyalty to rugby in general and Harlequin rugby in particular. A notable addition to the festivities was the inaugural ladies boat race, which was won by the Hobart ladies-not surprising as we had come alone!! The teams returned to Melbourne to be met at Tullamarine airport by wives and girlfriends. The weekend excesses were conveniently forgotten and much was made of the tough matches we had had to play.
The club dinner was held in the Union Room at the University of Melbourne where dinner dress, white damask tablecloths and silver table service were the norm. Mark Baxter, a new member of the Club in 1970, was selected to give the speech to the club. At the completion of the dinner it was back to a post-dinner party (piss-up) at the Ruskin Road house shared by Rex Harris, Murray Smart, Bob Ward and John Vessey. Mark Baxter, who had bought a new evening dress suit for his wedding the following month, wore it for the first time and gave it a first-class work out by sleeping in it. His wife has still not forgiven him! At the club AGM the major change was the election of Keith Jones as President. Keith joined the club in the early 60’s and played half-back in the 1962 First Grade Premiership winning side. He was Company Secretary at Scottish Amicable, a prominent insurance company with its Australian Headquarters in Melbourne. During his tenure committee meetings were held in the Board Room of his company. At the first committee meeting Keith produced job descriptions and objectives for each of the committee members. Colin Rowlinson, who succeeded Keith as President in 1974, declared they were not suitable for the Harlequins and they were not used. Keith was definitely before his time 30 plus years ago, trying to run a sporting club as a business. Today any President not running a sporting club as a business would be thrown out. Times change!
The 1971 playing season seemed much like the season before. Few influential players had left the club and David Learmonth was once more captain/coach of the first team. Brian Snowden was still fitness coach and his sessions had not become any easier. Training in those days started with a jog around the Glen Iris Park surroundings, followed by stretching and “grunt” sessions up High Street hill. These involved 80 metre sprints up the hill with a 100 metre slow recovery back to the start for a repeat, up to 10 times. This was mixed up with similar runs carrying a team-mate up the hill. To finish it was back to the ground for skills work.
The first objective of the season was to defend the seven-a-side title won in 1970 and, with five of last year’s team available, that the club duly did. In the six matches played we scored 110 points and conceded 11 points. In the final we comprehensively beat RAAF Academy, 25 points to 3. They were fit and keen but lacked the special sevens skills we had in abundance. After our success in 1970 we had entered the ACT Sevens, so during the Easter 1971 weekend we duly made our way to Canberra. The games were played in perfect spring weather. Our second seven lost to Queanbeyan in the first round and went on to reach the semi-final of the Plate Competition, where a dodgy “home-town” decision cost us our place in the final. Thus it was up to the first seven to carry the club’s fortunes. It was a tougher tournament than Victoria’s and several matches were won by small margins. The final was ironically against the side that had knocked out the second seven 6 points to 3 in the first round. At half-time, with Queanbeyan leading 10 points (two converted tries) to nil, it looked as if they would be the club’s nemesis, but a stirring second half with tries from Alan Kaye, Rex Harris and speedster Paddy Spruce, and one conversion from Peter Bolton gave us a remarkable one point win. The rather disappointing trophy was a carton of beer which, averaged out amongst two teams with reserves and officials, to one sip per man! Nevertheless, it was a pleasing win because we had been told on arrival that being holders of the V.R.U. Sevens trophy did not really mean very much, Victoria being such a weak rugby state. We tried valiantly to find some flesh-pots in Canberra to celebrate the win but Canberra being Canberra there was none! So beers in rugby clubs and people’s flats was the best we could do. As the tournament had been completed on Easter Saturday we took the opportunity to do some sightseeing in the Snowy Mountains on Sunday before driving back to Melbourne on Monday. An excellent start to the season which, regrettably, was not followed by great success in the first grade competition.
We had the players - Peter Bolton, Bruce Cresswell, Rex Harris, David Learmonth and Murray Smart gained state selection - but the first team finished a disappointing sixth out of nine and consequently missed the finals. It was a different matter for second grade. Alan Soutar, stalwart of Victoria and the first team in the mid-sixties, had been playing for Mike Plumbridge’s fourth team. The committee decided he would be just the man to captain/coach the second team, and so it was. Alan’s dour, down to earth approach, combined with a first class rugby brain, brought out the best in the players. Winning 15 out of 18 games with a points percentage of 365, we were 6 points clear of the second placed team. The final against Melbourne was won comfortably 15 points to nil.
The other successful side was Mike Plumbridge’s “Cavaliers”, who were minor premiers in Fourth Grade (West) in an extraordinary way; 18 wins from 18 matches, 7 against worthy opponents, 3 against incomplete opponents and 8 against no opponents at all. Surely the least match fit undefeated minor premiers in history! The finals were a different matter with the top two teams from Fourth Grade East and West making up the four. Whilst we made the grand final Box Hill, Fourth Grade (East) minor premiers, were too strong and beat us 11 points to 3. A good season for the Cavaliers, reputedly the most democratic side in Victoria with Chairman Mike and fifteen captains!
Despite the poor first team results it was a noteworthy year for Peter Bolton as a Victorian representative. On May 23rd he equalled Wallaby Paul Gibb’s record of 40 games for Victoria. Peter went on to play a further 59 games to set a record that will never be beaten. His playing history in Victoria is quite remarkable having started with the Harlequins juniors that were started by his Father Ron in 1956. At Melbourne High School rugby was not played so Peter started a rugby team that culminated in his greatest schoolboy rugby achievement. He captained the first ever Combined High Schools Team to beat the Associated Public Schools Team. He represented every under age Victorian Team and Colts since competitive matches were introduced in 1958. He was also a member of the 1963 Victorian Colts Team that beat New South Wales in Sydney. Later in 1971 he played in the now notorious match against the Springboks at Olympic Park. The anti-apartheid movement was strongly opposed to the game that was able to be played only under a strict blanket of Police control. The issue caused some divisions in the club, with members for and against the tour that fortunately was forgotten once the match was played. Peter swapped his Victorian jersey for a Springbok one that has pride of place in the clubhouse trophy cabinet at Ashwood.
A sad event in 1971 was the death of Rodney Stone. Rodney, a Life Member since 1967, who had migrated to Australia in the early 30’s, and, being an accomplished oarsman, joined The Mercantile Rowing Club. He quickly became a senior oarsman with Mercantile and won many fours and eights events including the Victorian-8-oar championship in 1936. He obviously met Ron Bolton at Mercantile and he quickly became a member of the Harlequins. His great interest was in the administration of rugby in Victoria and he was our delegate to the VRU for many years. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Harlequin Park at Dandenong in the late 60’s as the only freehold rugby ground in Victoria. Famous as a passionate Harlequin supporter with shooting stick and deer-stalker hat, it was a great shame he died 4 years before his son, John played such an important part in the 1975 Premiership. He would have loved that.
On a happier note there was the tour in 1971 to Gordon in Sydney that was best summed-up in the Club’s Monthly News Letter.
Last weekend Quins journeyed to Sydney for their confrontation with
Highlights were:
-
Pouring rain all through both matches – a rain which only increased our desire to go back to the pokies
-
Geoff Missen, a superbly fit athlete, surprisingly leaving the field mid-
-
Frank Thomas, who was voted “man of the tour”, scoring a try and
-
Tyson Jouthin’s unrelenting attack on the pokies, and he won so much
-
Trevor Hawkins actually playing rugby like he was trying
-
Mark Baxter’s determined efforts to “toss” the boat race
-
Don Cannon’s educational tour of Sydney’s “Art” film houses
-
Peter “the Arab” Draney* playing two matches and then conning his way into 1st Class on the return flight
We could go on for ever but, thank God, the rugby season is finishing.
We hope to do it all over again in another 2 years.
The season was brought to its formal close with the AGM at the Amateur Sportsmen’s Club in McKillop Street, with the club dinner once more held at the Melbourne University Union Dining Room. Cyril Towers, the legendary Wallaby centre and father of Harlequin Tommy Towers, was guest speaker. Despite his enormous credibility his speech was a disappointment and he failed to recreate the feeling of being a member of one of the greatest Wallaby back lines in history. This seems to be a feature of our Annual Dinners, although Harlequins are sometimes very hard to please.
We entered the 1973 season with two key changes to the committee. Dick Carter began his long and successful contribution to the administration of the club as Treasurer and Martin Fuggle took over as Hon. Secretary. A new first team coach was appointed, as our experiment with a captain/coach had not been a success. Ian McDougall was a lecturer at Monash University and a former N.Z. Universities heavyweight boxing champion. This, we thought would be pretty formidable combination and the players were looking forward to a good season. The arrival of two talented and influential players added to our confidence. Jamie McAree, fly-half, formed an immediate understanding with half-back Rex Harris to become the outstanding combination in the Victorian competition. Jamie was a complete player who could kick, defend, attack decisively and, above all, dictate the play. The other new arrival was Ian Diery, a dynamic open-side flanker from the Norths Club in Sydney. Aggressive and fast to the breakdown he created real havoc amongst opposition backs. Ian was also a legendary off-field performer who made our end of season tours quite memorable. The memories of course remain known only to the other tourists! Despite his seemingly wild behaviour, Ian was an outstanding company executive gaining top management roles with Wang Computers in Australia and Apple Corporation in America. Ian was a great extrovert whose leadership was infectious, while Jamie’s quiet authority and skill were very reassuring and combined the pair made a huge difference to the team.
The first team played an exciting brand of rugby with a mobile pack and creative backs that was reflected in a 13 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses record for the season and 3rd place in the competition.
In June over the Queen’s Birthday Weekend, the club played in the inaugural Croydon seven-a-side tournament and conducted a sevens master-class. Conceding only 3 points during the tournament, we beat Moorabbin, 49 points to nil in the final. The extravagantly named “Stephen B. Johnson Perpetual Trophy” was won by the Harlequins and never competed for again. Rugby is a funny game!
Colin Rowlinson was elected President for 1974 with Dick Carter swapping the Treasurer’s role for Hon. Secretary. Don Hattaway moved into the Treasurer’s chair and Don Cannon was appointed Club Captain. Heather Carter, Dicks wife, became President of the ladies committee with Lyn Bolton as Secretary and Juliet Swain as their Treasurer
Jim Page decided that a proper juniors section of the club needed to be re-introduced. The momentum of the original creation of the juniors had been lost, and only a few U16 and U14 games were being played on an ad-hoc basis. Jim firmly believed the new juniors needed a unique playing base and real independence from the seniors. Through his good relations with the then Waverley Council he found an excellent home ground for the juniors at Columbia Reserve in Glen Waverley for the 1975 season. The “quid pro quo” for this ground was a re-naming of the juniors as Waverley Harlequins that was to remain until 1991. The ground set-up was so good that the senior club decided to move its home games to Columbia Reserve in 1976, whilst continuing to train at Glen Iris Park. For the rest of the 70’s, under Jim’s guidance, the juniors entered a golden period with great success on and off the playing field.
The club continued its pre-season seven a side success, losing a semi final of the Canberra seven-a-side competition to Easts of Sydney, 18 points to 12 but going on to win the V.R.U seven-s-side competition by defeating Box Hill 18 points to 6 in the final. It was a strong team captained by Ian Diery with Rex Harris, Jamie McAree, John Ballard, Trevor Hawkins, Mark Baxter and Peter Bolton. Forty-two teams from 15 clubs entered the competition played at Olympic Park.
The season itself was not so successful. The first team was coached again by Ian McDougal and finished 5th. The second team was 3rd, the third team, 7th and the 1st Grade Special (golden oldies), 4th. Worst of all was the failure of the colts to finish the season having to withdraw from the competition due to a lack of players. The quality of rugby during the season was best described by the Harlequin contribution to the August V.R.U Newsletter.
Harlequins
The soccer team of the Harlequin Club—Basically United FC—features
P.S. The reason we have not discussed rugby is that we have apparently
The touring continued with 32 die-hard members travelling to Adelaide to play against Old Collegians. It was well organised by Rex Harris and it was he, who was rumoured to be the one who spiked E.K.Jones’ wine at the winery visit. We won the match 12 points to 6. Garden ornaments were smuggled back on the plane and can still be viewed in a tourists’ garden. The season was to be looked back on as good touring, good sevens and ordinary rugby.
The major surprise for the 1975 season was the announcement of the new First Team Coach, Bruce Bailey. Bruce was an ex Wallaby who had toured South Africa in the same Wallaby team as our own David Shepherd in 1963, but, more controversially he was a highly regarded, long term “senior” with the Box Hill Club. Controversial or not, he soon got down to work with the first team squad and introduced a simple no-nonsense style of play that suited the team very well. The backs were a highly experienced group with the best half-back/five-eight combination in Victoria of Rex Harris and Jamie McAree. Rex Harris was appointed captain with the powerful prop, Adrian Boulton vice-captain. Two new forwards and a new back were recruited. Grant Pargeter, a small but passionate second row, and Gordon Smith, a number eight good enough to move Peter Bolton to the second row, were useful additions to the pack, but the real gain was Tim Cornforth in the centres. Tim, a member of the very sporting Cornforth family, was from Norths in Sydney. Ian Diery, also ex North’s, had convinced Tim to join Harlequins on his transfer to Melbourne and had, thereby, done the club a real favour. Tim’s aggressive running and strong defence seemed to give his centre partner, John Stone the confidence to play his running game, but in the finals Tim played games that are still talked about in the club.
Although Bruce Bailey had good material to work with, his knowledge of the game in general, and his expertise in scrimmaging, made the pack formidable. It was a small pack that managed to score many push-over tries against larger opponents that gave the team great self-confidence.
The club also undertook its first-ever overseas tour to the North Island of New Zealand as a pre-season preparation for the hoped-for premiership.
We also hosted the Linwood Rugby Club from New Zealand during their pre-season tour. Although they were an Under 20 side and we won, 12 points to 8, they were a tough bunch and gave us a hard work-out.
The social committee, admirably led by Stan Gyles, achieved the greatest surplus in the club’s history of $2,364.00 that was more than double our previous best in 1973. This was especially useful in 1975 because we played very few matches at our Harlequin Park home ground due partly to the poor condition of the playing surface there but also due to the many “match of the day” appearances of the first team at Olympic Park No 2. It also led to our members finding a new watering hole for casual social activities at the Union Hotel in Prahran which, being close to Olympic Park, was very handy after our matches there. The Union’s Nominee Ken Power (who became a club member) supported us in many ways during the season and the hotel became our base for the finals matches. The Friday lunch club had moved from the Amateur Sports Club and was meeting nomadically on the first Friday of the month in various restaurants.
The first team’s the home and away season was highly successful with a 13 win 3 loss record. Two of the losses were against University, whom we did not meet in the finals. The other loss was against Kiwis in the second last game. This gave our premiership aspirations a solid reality check because, not only were they Minor Premiers, they outplayed us comprehensively in that match.
As Coach Bruce Bailey wrote in his annual report, the real grand final, in fact, took place in the major semi-final against Kiwis that was won 17 points to 14 in extra time. It is now firmly entrenched in club folklore as Tim Cornforth’s finest hour, which was admirably captured in the Age:
Twenty minutes of extra time and the unearthing of a new star centre made
Ahead 14-13 when ends changed Kiwis found the lead too slender.
The win put us straight into the grand final and left Kiwis to play Melbourne in the elimination final. That loss to Harlequins clearly “broke” Kiwis, and we faced Melbourne. Our preparation for the final match days was identical. We met for a light lunch at the Union Hotel and travelled to Olympic Park in a hired coach reserved for the players, coach and support staff. It certainly worked for us, and our (by this time) fanatical supporters had had their own pre-grand final lunch in the car park at Olympic Park. It certainly motivated the team to have supporters to cheer them off the coach. On the motivation front that famous drunk and great supporter Keith Pasquill also did his bit for the finals. For the match against Kiwis he painted a life-like Adrian Boulton doing something quite unnatural to a large Kiwi bird and for the match against Melbourne he painted Rex Harris holding up a beheaded unicorn (the symbol of the Melbourne Club). Our car-park supporters had also made a large banner with the caption;
Captain Rex Harris thought this was very funny, and it caught the moment very well. The team was focussed but relaxed and comfortable with the situation. The match itself was something of an anti-climax, particularly after the heroics against Kiwis, but in a solid performance we beat Melbourne convincingly 10 points to 3. Tries from centres John Stone and Tim Cornforth to a solitary penalty from Melbourne underlined our superiority on the day. After the presentation of the Dewar Shield and obligatory drinks at the Olympic Park bar it was back to the Union Hotel to celebrate in earnest. The ladies committee must have been very confident because they presented players and officials with pewter winners tankards that were already engraved. There were many speeches – comprehensible and otherwise – and once the hotel closed it was off to the infamous “white house” in Brighton for the premiership party. The club dinner at Allison’s Restaurant was, as expected, a fairly raucous affair. The guest speaker was Ron Burke, Manager of the touring NZ All Blacks, and all Premiership players were presented with the jerseys they had worn in the grand final. Mark Baxter was also presented with mounted photographs as a memento, as two days later he was off for a 15 month posting in Germany and South Africa, where he played a season with Pretoria Harlequins. The highlight, however, was the presentation to Rex Harris of the inaugural ABC Victorian “Rugby Man of the Year” award. The presenter was the ABC’s vertically challenged Smokey Dawson who was encouraged by the assembled Harlequins to “stand up” as he handed over the trophy! It had been a marvellous season for the first team with the club’s first Premiership in First Grade since 1962. The appointment of Bruce Bailey was seen as a triumph, although success did not percolate to the second, third and fourth teams, none of which made the finals. Our previous sevens
successes were also not repeated. Perhaps our single-minded pursuit of a first grade premiership took our eye off all other balls.
The committee made a fundamental decision, that Harlequin Park was no longer suitable as our long-term home ground, and that a new facility was needed at some time in the future. This turned out to be a challenge for the club and its members that required tenacity, good luck and hard work to be achieved some 28 years later in its entirety.
After such a successful year Colin Rowlinson was re-elected unopposed as President with new Hon. Secretary Bob Burgess. David Tilbury moved into the Treasurers chair, a move that was proven later to be very profitable for the clubhouse fundraising, utilizing David’s astute financial advice to increase revenue.
Tony “mother” Simpson was appointed Club Captain and Jim Page, with his willing band of junior parents, continued with the junior club, the Waverley Harlequins. Bruce Bailey, after last year’s premiership, was automatically reappointed first team coach.
During the summer of 1975/76 the squash team once again featured in the V.R.U. squash tournament Grand Final against Melbourne R.F.C. but were narrowly defeated. Team captain was Bob Ede, ably assisted by Martin Fuggle, Don Cannon, Rex Harris, Peter Dodds and Ian Diery. The Soccer team, organised by Trevor Hawkins, made its irregular appearances providing a welcome change from rugby activities. The cricket section had its usual regular fixtures, winning five matches, losing four, tying one and also winning the “E.K.Jones Bat Match” against Scottish Amicable. In the pre-season Moomba seven-a-side competition we were defeated by guest side Randwick from Sydney in the semi-final with the Galloping Greens going on to beat Kiwis in the final 30 points to nil.
The social side of the club, headed by Social Secretary Stan Gyles, got into full swing with what was to be called the “Annual Harlequin Regatta”. It was held on the banks of the Yarra near Kanes Bridge at the Studley Park Boathouse. The gala event was opened by the marching performance of the Melbourne Irish Pipe Band. It had everything; canoe races, barbeques, drinking boat races, sabotage of most of the canoe races and general frivolity by one and all. Unfortunately it was held just once!
On the rugby side we nearly pulled off successive premierships. After finishing the home and away season second on the ladder we beat Kiwis 9 points to 4 in the 2nd semi-final and went straight into the Grand Final. Kiwis then beat Powerhouse 12 points to 9 to meet us in the final. We were firm favourites having drawn twice in the season and beating them in the semi-final. In the end Kiwis ran out winners 7 points to 3 with a penalty goal and an easy try by Gerry Frost, to a penalty goal by Peter Bolton, his only success from three attempts. For Harlequins Richard Gilbert at lock had one of his best games for the year with Jeremy Courtney, Ian Diery and Mark Thornton doing their best in a team that did not reach its potential on the final day of the season.
Our colts, however, were deserving premiers. After starting the year on Jim Page’s floor checking juniors and thumbing through the phone book for players the arrival of our player/recruitment coach Lindsay Fraser was a timely boost. He helped coach David Bray with emergency phone calls to our newly adopted school, St Kevin’s College, and others to find the players who moulded themselves into a side that eventually took the Ron Bolton Trophy for only the second time in the club’s history. David Bray was replaced by his assistant Barry Houston when he went overseas. The colts finished 4th after the home and away rounds and beat University in the first semi-final to set up the preliminary final match against Army. It was a nail- biting match but we unexpecxtedly beat the highly fancied and very fit soldiers 9 points to 8 to reach, rather unexpectedly, the Grand Final.
The colts went on to beat Box Hill 12 points to 10. It was a memorable team with Dale Wellings, Geoff Wilson and Phil Horne who went on to play very successfully in the first team..
In their second year of continued growth the Waverley Harlequins fielded an Under 9’s team that finished 3rd in the V.J.R.U. competition and seven-a-side tournament, an Under 11’s team that was runner up in the V.R.U. competition and won the seven-a-side competition. They had 3 members in the State U12’s who played in the NSW competition in Sydney and 9 were selected to play for the Victoria President’s XV. The Under 13’s were runners up in the V.J.R.U. competition with 4 boys selected for the State side. The Under 17’s finished third in the V.J.R.U. competition, won the seven-a-side trophy and had 7 boys picked for the State team. Lt was a magnificent effort for only its second year of operation and was well supported by many parents.
1976 was a sad year with the passing of a significant member of the club. Don Moore joined the club in 1956 and over 20 years he worked unceasingly for the club and for rugby. He held office in the club for many years and he took an active interest in junior rugby, both within the club and through the VJRU. Don’s elevation to Life Membership in 1973 was a fitting recognition of his outstanding service. His determined fight against his illness, which slowly crippled him and finally took his life, was an inspiration to all who knew him. He was survived by his wife Val his two sons Glen and Craig, who played for the club, and his daughter Tracy.
On a happier note we bottled the Harlequin Colts Premiership Burgundy. It was a full bodied 1972 red produced from Shiraz and Matasa grapes, selected from the private stocks of the Castlebrook cellars. It was one of many bottlings that occurred throughout the seventies.
At the AGM in October 1976 Colin Rowlinson was again re-elected as President,his fourth year in the role. Stan Gyles switched to Hon. Secretary and David Tilbury continued as Treasurer. Jim Page continued as Chairman of the junior club, Don Smith took over as Social Secretary and Tony Simpson was Club Captain for a second year.
On the heels of the Juniors’ success the club gained the Waverley Council’s permission for the seniors to play their games at the Columbia Reserve Ground on Jells Road, Glen Waverley. We created new position, “Chairman of Ground Management Committee” ideally filled by Charles “Hank” Grieve.
It was a busy year. We relocated, toured the South Island of New Zealand and then we formulated plan to run bingo late in the year as a fundraiser for the new club rooms.
The NZ Chairman was Peter Bolton, the tour manager Keith Jones and a sub committee of Tony Simpson and Jeff Naylor with Andy Corp and David Tilbury to raise sufficient funds to most tourists with a $95.00 subsidy. The team was captained by Adrian Boulton and coached by club coach Bruce Bailey. The team arrived in Christchurch on Saturday 5th March and stayed at Embassy Hotel. The first game was against Linwood on the following Sunday. their team contained no lesser All Blacks than Fergie McCormick and Tony Mitchell. There were two real New Zealand (not the claimed variety) trialists and four Canterbury B players, a formidable side that proved to be too strong and ran out winners 28 points to 3. Following the communal bath there was the function at the rugby club, where some sore bodies were rejuvenated by boat races and the Canterbury brew. Monday saw us take the tour over the Southern Alps through Arthur’s Pass down to the west coast road and north to Greymouth, where we stayed at the Revington Hotel. On Tuesday we played Blaketown, the West Coast current club champions. Out to square the ledger from the Linwood loss and in steady rain, the Harlequins controlled most of the first half playing into the wind and went close to scoring on at least two occasions, whilst Blaketown missed two kicks at goal. In the 2nd half it was still 0-0, when there was a charge down from a Harlequin clearing kick from the line out and we lost the race to the ball as it lay over the goal line. 4 points to 0 down, and there it stayed. It had been a hard gruelling game in typical Greymouth weather. The “Kangaroo Court” was held in Greymouth with the judge being the late great “my name is Silvest” Malcolm Mcdonald, the prosecutor Colin Rowlinson and defence council Warren Lewis. What goes on tour stays on tour, but the bench with a “hanging judge” says it all.
Wednesday 9th March, down the West Coast Road via Shantytown, a reconstructed mining town, then Hokitika for the greenstone factory, then overnight at the Franz Josef Hotel and a visit to the glacier. Thursday the bus continued to Haas, then up and over the Pass and on to Queenstown and the Blue Peaks Motel. Queenstown, as befits a beautiful tourist city was done in style: Mount Cook Fiordland Flightseeing; a 22 mile jet boat journey down the lake, shooting the rapids at Kawarau Bridge and on to the foot of the Remarkables; Gondola lift and the odd training run.
The following day was off to the next game at Alexandra, staying at the D.B.Golden Central Hotel. The game was under lights, something most of our players, except for state reps, had not experienced. The game was exciting with Harlequins winning 13 points to 10 in the last minute of injury time through a converted try. Our try scorers were Mark “Carrots” Thornton and Captain Adrian Boulton. Peter Bolton added a penalty and converted the last try. The celebrations afterwards in the clubhouse are best left to the imagination but the bus trip the following morning across the East Coast and Timaru was not a pretty sight.
Celebrations over and hangovers under control, the team prepared for their last game against Star Rugby Club. With a howling 60 mph wind against us in the first half we were a magnificent 13 points to 7 up at half time. However, on turning around, so did the wind and Star eventually crawled back to a 13 points to 14 win. Hometown knowledge of the weather beat us in the end.
After suitable celebrations, with yet another Nipper Lewis version of “the Harlequin Song”, it was off to Chistchurch the following morning on the team bus. The “Kangaroo Court” was held while the bus was in motion. Who won the grimmers? Who was the c*** of the tour? It stayed on the bus!
Back to Melbourne and the new pavilion and grounds at Waverley. The grand opening was on April 16th, with the first junior match starting at 9.00am, going all the way through to the first team at 3.00pm. Despite excitement of a new ground with better facilities for home matches, the rugby unfortunately for the senior club during the rest of the season did not match up to the expectations after the New Zealand trip. Our first team finished last, a feat they had not achieved the late 20’s and early 30’s.
Our second team did much better, finishing fourth in the home and away season, winning the first semi final against Moorabbin 15 points to 7, then winning the preliminary final against Melbourne 13 points to 3 but going down to Box Hill 10 points to 12 in the Grand Final. It was a spirited team with Dick Man as captain, Peter Bolton playing at full back helped by a mature brigade of Bill Coulter, John Brentnall, Tony Adams, Andy Corp and Jim (Silver-Fox) Blackie. They did themselves proud and showed the Harlequin spirit in abundance. However, it could not make up for the dismal showing of the first team after the two outstanding years.
The ladies auxiliary (formerly the ladies committee) with Liz Boulton at the helm and Jan Simpson as Secretary, once again did a wonderful job in the kitchens at Columbia Reserve. Another Dutch Auction broke all records and a seafood night with prawns and oysters by the boatload was a huge and popular success.
The unofficial Friday Lunch Club had been meeting on and off at the Amateur Sports Club for some ten years and Tony James decided to give it some structure, and in typical Tony James fashion on Friday 24th June he let it rip. First, it was to be called the Harlequin Elders Luncheon Meeting and second, there were to be strict regulations as to who could be a member and as to how he should behave. We have a copy of those proposals. Some of the more memorable were:
-
Guests are not allowed and non-members positively unwelcome
-
Members are honour bound not to promise/infer/hint to a non-member that he may attend
Fortunately the other foundation members would have none of it and all club members and their guests were welcome. The strangely religious name of Harlequin Elders was also not taken up. The proposal would have had a better chance of being accepted in the early sixties!! Nevertheless, Tony James’s proposals were the first and only record of the Luncheon Club’s formation. For the next ten years the lunches would be held at the Victoria Club, first in Queen Street, and later on the 42nd floor of the Rialto Building
The Junior Waverley Harlequin Club went from strength to strength. They had an Under 9’s team coached by Mike Cutlack that won the seven-a-side competition and were premiers for that year. The Under 11’s, coached by Ian Lochrie and John Luck, were joint premiers. The Under 13’s, coached by Jeremy Courtney, finished second and had eight players in the State side. The Under 15’s, coached by Peter Yates, got the team off the ground and ended up with four players in the State side. The Under 17’s were coached by Dick Carter and they won the sevens and every game they played until the Grand Final. Dick said they ‘fell in a hole’. However six boys made Victorian sides and all in all the junior ranks were in a very healthy state.
Our end of season tour was to Gordon who wanted to repay the hospitality we had given them earlier during the year. We lost the game, but won the socialising with memories of David Bray’s magnificent Dam-Busters re-creation on the Hill’s Hoist and Stan Gyles’s sipping Toohey’s with a vibrator. Mark Baxter, who managed the tour, declared he would do anything for the club as long as he was never again responsible for an end of season tour!
To top off a busy year, the Annual Dinner was held at the Danish Club in Middle Park with the highlight of the evening being a presentation to Peter Bolton for 100 first team representative games.
1978 started off with the election of the new President Dick Carter. Dick was to become a formidable president matching his attributes on the playing field with his business prowess as a member of the management team at BHP. He steered the club into a more professional approach and was later to be made a life member. Stan Gyles was re-elected Hon. Secretary and continued with the add-on role of Chairman of the bingo committee. John Wadsworth was appointed Treasurer but resigned in May and Peter Wright took over the role. Tony “mother” Simpson continued as Club Captain for a third year.
During the summer season the cricket side suffered some cancellations due to inclement weather but the very socially orientated Harlequin Cricket Team enjoyed games that were played. Trevor Hawkins and Jeff Naylor were organizers this year and saw the in augural match for the “A.J.Evans Leg” against Melbourne Rugby Club. The leg, a full prosthesis from foot to knee wearing a Harlequin sock, is still used today filled with beer to be drunk by first team players after their inaugural matches. Unfortunately we lost that cricket match but won it back in later seasons. The cricketers also lost the “E K Jones Scottish Amicable Annual Bat” match. However, as was noted in the club records “it was the spirit of the game that is important”. As usual this proved to be a good rallying point for the members in the off-season.
Following the first team’s dismal last place the previous season the 1975 Premiership coach, Bruce Bailey was replaced by David Neilson, the Bursar at Monash University. Bruce Bailey was, not surprisingly, very upset to lose his coaching role, believing that his record of two first class seasons and one abysmal one entitled him to better treatment from the Harlequins. Bruce severed all relations with the club and returned to Box Hill. He was a man with strongly held views about rugby and how it should be played. Players who did not match his vision, regardless of how highly they were thought of throughout the club, did not play in his teams, and a number of them believed they should have been included in the 1975 Premiership side. Their disappointment was understandable considering the scarcity of first grade premierships in our history 1955, 1962, 1975, 1989, 1992 and 2004. This estrangement between Bruce and the club was only finally repaired after his death with the introduction in 1994 of the “Bruce Bailey Blazer Match”, played annually between Box Hill and Harlequins. The blazer was the Wallaby blazer awarded to Bruce for the tour to South Africa in 1963.
Nevertheless, the new season had to begin and the thirds joined the firsts, seconds and juniors at Columbia Reserve. Our ground at Glen Iris with the famous tin shed and two showers continued to be used for training and colts and fourth teams’ matches. The new Chairman of Grounds Committee, Doug McClymont, did a sterling job guiding and directing the marking of both grounds. Unfortunately, there was no ladies auxiliary this year and it was sorely missed. Overall, there was a marked improvement in the results following the first team’s debacle in 1977. Under the guidance of the new first team coach David Neilson and an influx of the new young players, they blended into and built a good nucleus of players for the club for the following season.
The first team finished one point out of the four, the second team was fifth, the third team sixth with the fourth team seventh. Not brilliant but encouraging.
The highlight of the year was the re-emergence of the colts. Finishing the home and away seasonthird on the ladder behind Army and Box Hill after the home and away season, they beat Melbourne in the first semi-final 12 points to 4, beat Box Hill in the preliminary final 26 points to 19 but went down 19 points to 9 against Army at Olympic Park. The smaller and younger Harlequins - some in their first year of rugby - submitted to their bigger older and more experienced opponents only in the last fifteen minutes. The final score did not reflect the guts and determination the players showed. In previous encounters against Army Harlequins could only score 16 points whilst conceding 98. Yet in their biggest match of the season they led 9 points to 3 at half-time. Coached by club stalwarts David Bray and Andy Corps they set the platform for their Premiership win the following year.
The growth of the Waverley Harlequins Junior Rugby Club continued under the presidency of Jim Page. Fielding five teams: Under 10’s; 12’s; 14’s; 16’s and 18’s we had the winners in U.10’s, 12’s and runners up in U.14’s and 16’s. The Waverley Harlequin Juniors had the memorable experience of being ball and sand boys for the Wales v Victoria game at Olympic Park on Wednesday 24th May, with legends such as J.P.R.Williams, Richard Windsor, Gareth Price, Dereck Quinnell and Gareth Davies treading the turf, not to mention that Welsh troubador Max Boyce treading the boards at the St Kilda Palais in the evening! Melbourne came over “all Welsh” for about 24 hours.
The touring continued, except this time we did hosted Gordon from Sydney and Manuka Rovers from Auckland, New Zealand.
Gordon arrived on the overnight train at 9.00am at Spencer street station on Saturday 30th September. Hoping to catch the 40 players and officials off guard due to lack of sleep and hangovers, we arranged two games at the Middle Park grounds that day. The colts were to play at 12.30pm and the seniors at 1.45pm. But to no avail; the colts went down 19 points to 9 and the seniors succumbed to the alcoholic aroma of the Highlanders 24 points to 7.
Supper was arranged at our pub, The Riverside Hotel by the Yarra on Punt Road. At least we won the “Boat-Race”, but we always did! Then it was on to the Hat Night at the Malvern R.S.L, admittance $3.00, but no hat no entry. It was all down-hill from then on with Jeff Missen, an ex-Gordon player and former Harlequin first team coach, acting as liaison (and unofficial detoxification) officer and leading the charge on Sunday at the obligatory BBQ at Naylor’s house in Dandenong Road, Armadale. More songs, more boat races, more emotional moments and a few fell at the fence. Phew-the Monday lunch at the Orchid Gardens Restaurant, Little Bourke Street that mirrored their hosting when we were in Sydney the previous year. Pouring them onto the bus from the Terminal Hotel in Franklin Street it had been a memorable weekend that cemented our already strong friendships and our relationship with the powerful Gordon club for years to come.
Two other history-making events that year were the selling of our Dandenong playing fields and the national television debut of the Harlequin Male Voice Choir.
Harlequin Park at Dandenong had been a brave adventure for the club. We had been the only rugby club in Victoria to buy the freehold of its ground, prepare a rugby pitch from scratch, buy a Nissen hut from the defence forces, cut it in two, transport it from Watsonia to Dandenong and re-erect it as our club rooms. Most rational observers today would consider it madness but typical of Harlequins. It was our main home ground from 1968 to 1977 and during that period we were solely responsible for preparing the pitch (top-dressing and feeding), marking it, erecting the posts during winter, keeping the neighbours cows off the pitch (a former President threatened to shoot them after they ruined hours of painstaking pre-season preparation work!), removing rubbish and all maintenance. And this for a ground that was used only at weekends and at best fortnightly that had been bought without the knowledge that it was only an inch or two above the water table. Nevertheless we had entertained teams from all over Australia, conducted Jersey matches with Hobart Harlequins and enjoyed some fabulous post-game turns, and all without losing one Harlequin in the alcohol induced haze in which many drove back to Melbourne afterwards.
Whilst Rodney Stone and his committee had shown great foresight in the mid sixties to buy and develop the land it had become increasingly clear over time that Dandenong was not the solution to our clubhouse problems, and on the 4th July 1978, an extraordinary general meeting of the club was held at which the following motion was carried.
That the club’s Harlequin Park property should be sold at the price of $35000.00 and that the proceeds of the sale should be suitably invested until such time as an appropriate new premises can be obtained. That the funds from the disposal of Harlequin Park and income derived there upon should not be disposed of, without prior approval from an extraordinary or annual general meeting of the Harlequin Club.
Thus the property located on Glasscocks Rd, off the Frankston Dandenong Rd was sold accordingly and vacant possession given on 1st September 1978.
Such important matters for the club were offset by our brief flirtation with the glitzy world of show business. Some other V.R.U. clubs believed we were, in any case, show ponies and more suited to that than rugby. Those perennial troublemakers David Bray, Andy Corp and Stan Gyles had the great idea of entering the Harlequins in the New Faces TV talent show hosted by Bert Newton. Stan Gyles, who was the rugby correspondent for the Herald and Weekly Times, even managed to get his own report published in the paper’s weekend magazine after the club’s show-stopping performance.
Male Voice Choir
Last Sunday week the Harlequin Rugby Union Male Voice Choir
It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that appearing on a TV
Already the opinion that had we put our throats rather than our
You get a pretty good inkling of how Narcissus felt when he gazed
One of my team-mates decided to use the monitor to his advantage
After rehearsal, the act has to sit around for two hours. So the
It was amazing how the courage and brashness rose in our bodies
Four singing sisters who depressed all the following acts with their
talent had to be convinced by the makeup lady, that they were
The cameras spin away from Bert Newton and before you
Well as far as the search for stardom we would have more success
Most of the choir spent the three minutes either trying to avoid
Well at the Yooralla Telethon rather than do the club song again we did “She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes” with Martin “toosh” Conboy dressed as the “she” in hob-nailed boots, dress, Harlequin jumper and a wig. Needless to say neither Harry M. Millar nor Michael Edgeley telephoned but one of the major advertising agencies which handled the Schweppes account, phoned us to do an ad for one of their products with the unlikely name of “Re-Charge”, a new sports drink on the market. So there we were duly assembled in Elsternwick Park with our gear on to do a rugby union, rugby league and Aussie rules ad for the product. It was Mark “Carrots” Thornton who was the star of the piece. During a pretend game when our team was addressed by the coach at half time when we were down by squillions, the coach threw to “Carrots” (often as many as ten takes to get it right) the “Re-Charge” drink. It worked with many more takes of “Carrots” diving over the line to win the game. But the best was “Carrots” simulating the greatest mark in AFL history by jumping 20 feet or more into the air, with the technical director standing on the equipment truck throwing a bottle of the stuff to “Carrots”, while the rest of the team huddled round to hid his trampoline. “Up there Carrots!” Re-charge didn’t last long but the $1924.00 fee we received just about saved the club from financial disaster that year.
In the midst of all these happenings the club was also planning for its most important anniversary, its Golden Jubilee. Early in the year a committee under the chairmanship of Keith Jones was set up to plan and implement a series of special events to be run in the jubilee club year from October 1978 to September 1979. This special sub-committee comprised: Keith Jones (Life Member and former President), Chairman; Tony James (Life Member and former President); Colin Rowlinson (Life Member and former President) and reported to the general committee of the club. After its first ideas meeting in April 1978 Keith Jones forwarded a list of possible jubilee events to the General Committee. Although the club, as a whole, was very keen to celebrate there were various and differing opinions as to how it should be done. The special committee members were all former Brits and former Presidents with long-held memberships of the club while the general committee members were younger and less traditional in their attitudes. Tony James, in particular, felt the general committee was not giving the sub-committee and its proposals the respect they deserved, while Club Secretary, Stan Gyles (a dynamic and creative “ideas man”) was keen to have a celebration that would give the club maximum publicity. Such tensions are good for sports clubs and usually lead to creative results. It was finally agreed in mid-September 1978 that the jubilee year would consist of: the Jubilee Cricket Match on 31st December, 1978; the World’s Longest Try attempt 1st-4th March, 1979; the Veterans Rugby Tournament 13th-16th April, 1979; the Golden Jubilee Dinner 30th June, 1979; the Golden Jubilee Tie and the writing of a history of the club. For an amateur club with no paid officials, no clubhouse of its own and a normal season to administer this was no small undertaking.
As we shall see, the Harlequins rose to the challenge. The Jubilee Cricket Match had a special significance for the club because it was a replay of that famous game played between the Harlequins and the Bohemians almost 50 years earlier in March 1929. As England was making an Ashes tour to Australia, Keith Jones thought it would be a great idea to once more have players from the England touring team plus associated journalists and assorted Harlequins in their creams to celebrate. This was not as straightforward as it sounds. We had to get approval from the Marylebone Cricket Club, the Manager of the England team and the Australian Cricket Board. This was fortunately readily granted. It is hard to imagine such a relaxed attitude from cricket authorities today! So on 31st December 1978 the match was held at the St Kilda Cricket Ground between. Legendary England fast bowler Frank “typhoon” Tyson had migrated to Australia after his heroic deeds with Len Hutton’s 1952 Ashes winning side and, being a man of taste and style, he joined the Harlequin Club to play third team rugby. He was a natural to lead the Harlequins while the Bohemians were led by former Harlequin and cricket tragic Dennis Crawford.
The coin was tossed by Daniel Brewin who had played in the original match 50 years before. The match was fittingly won by the Melbourne Harlequins with Frank Tyson hitting a magnificent six in the last over. The proceeds of the game were in aid of St. Johns Ambulance Brigade. The match was a great success and matched the aims of the committee to honour the traditions and heritage of the club while gaining publicity. It was widely reported in the local press and had a five-minute report in the A.B.C. Sports News on Channel 2. It was obviously a good idea to have selected Graham Dawson of the ABC in the Bohemians team! This first golden jubilee event had certainly given a superb finish to an interesting and significant year in the club’s history.
After some rest and recreation the celebrations got really underway with the world’s longest try attempt at the start of the 1979 season. The longest try was conceived as an excellent and suitable event for a rugby club to undertake and the existing record in the Guinness Book of Records was thoroughly researched. The record was held by the Newtown Rugby Football Club of Powys, Wales who, on 10th July 1977 scored a try at their home ground after carrying the ball 602 miles without any forward passes or “knock-ons”. We felt we had to give that record a “real shake”, and we selected a target of 700 miles. The next question was where to do it. Running along Highway 1 from Glen Iris Park to Gordon Club on the North Shore in Sydney was considered but ruled out for logistical and safety reasons. Finally it was agreed to have the kick-off in Olympic Park No.2 Ground, the V.R.U.’s home pitch, run the requisite distance around the Tan Track, which circumnavigates the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and then proceed to Glen Iris Park for the scoring of the try. The timing was also very tight in March. The V.R.U. Moomba seven-s-side tournament was being held on 10th March and the rugby season was due to start on 31st March, while Easter was not available due to the Veterans Tournament. The “try” had to be scored on a Sunday at Glen Iris Park, and 700 miles would take quite a long time so the dates were fixed; Kick-off Thursday 22nd March at 9.00am, run for 3.5 days and finish in the afternoon of Sunday 25th March.
The next task was to choose a team. Obviously the fifteen runners had to be club members. They could not be first or second team members due to closeness of the start of the season but they had to be capable of running up to 50 miles over 3 plus days. Mark Baxter, former first team wing, was appointed team captain and given the task of selecting the fifteen. Brian Snowden, club fitness trainer from 1967 to 1977, was an obvious choice as were John Waite, veterans wing and class distance runner and Roger Sykes, an average player but an experienced distance runner. The rest of the squad was a mixed bag in their twenties and thirties. Ray Baty, former first team second row; Peter Bolton, former first team and Victoria rep; Adrian Boulton, former first team and Victoria prop; John Brentnall, former first team prop and Victorian heavyweight wrestling champion; Andy Corp, former first team second row; Jeremy Courtenay, former first team hooker; Stan Gyles, current Hon. Secretary; Mike McCarty, Biggles look-alike and third team player; Mike Power, organiser of the Veterans Tournament; Steve Taylor, young third team wing; Mark Thornton, current first team and Victoria full back and last-minute replacement for a withdrawal.
Before the run could begin there was much to be organised. We had to seek approval from the Victorian Rugby Union, the Ministry of Youth Sport and Recreation, the Melbourne City Council, Director of Parks and Gardens, Olympic Park Committee of Management, and the Victorian Referees’ Association. Official time- keepers and referees had to be appointed to certify the attempt was carried out according to Guinness Book of Records regulations. An on-site timing tent and a runners’ camp with catering facilities had to be set up. Sleeping arrangements for the runners had to be arranged. The V.R.U. Referees Association was given the task of ensuring the rules of rugby were obeyed during the run. Nick Driver managed the time keeping, Stewart Jarrett arranged food and medical assistance during the run, Chris Drysdale organised a caravan through his employer, Rover Mowers. It was parked on the tan track with electricity provided from the Gatekeeper’s House inside the Botanical Garden. Flag Motels donated accommodation at their St Kilda Motel for the runners. The fifteen runners were divided into two teams of eight and seven, and each team would do a shift of 8.5 hours while the other team rested (at night at the Flag Motel).
The attempt was kicked-off by Brian Dixon, MLA, Minister for Sport and Recreation at 09.22 on Thursday morning, and the long slog was on. Despite the preplanning and training the runners really had no idea what they were taking on. The first day proceeded smoothly with TV and press coverage and a trickle of club members passing by to offer encouragement. 
The “graveyard shift” after midnight was hard for the runners but was even harder for the timekeepers and the referees, who had to be on duty the whole time. By Saturday, supporters were more numerous and the usual joggers and walkers were sharing the tan track with us. David Shepherd, our great Wallaby from the sixties, was visiting from Brisbane and met so many former team mates and friends that he had to take them to the nearby Botanical Hotel for a welcoming beer. David 
recalled he had only a hazy recollection of the event, but he was certain he was there. Saturday evening saw our first runner drop out. Steve Taylor, one of the younger and faster members pulled a muscle after his tenth lap and could no longer run. Peter Bolton was transferred to the A team, thus equalising the team numbers, but weakening the slower B team. The weekend, nevertheless, became a focal point for Harlequins and fellow rugby players from various eras to get together. The weather was ideal, but at 11.00pm Saturday night Mike McCarty of team B withdrew exhausted, leaving the team with 6 fit members. By 3.00am on Sunday morning Andy Corp’s legs had stopped working and with 575 miles completed, the B team was down to 5. Things were hardly better in the A team, where at 3.00pm on Saturday Stan Gyles withdrew with leg problems. With the runners down to 11 and average lap times slowing, the 700 miles target appeared to be out of reach, but at 3.25pm on Sunday afternoon the last lap of the Tan track was completed by Mike Power. The last 6 miles back to Glen Iris Park were shared by John Waite,
Brian Snowden, Mark Baxter and Roger Sykes. At Glen Iris Park all runners still standing put on full rugby kit-except for boots- to accompany Peter Bolton run the length of the pitch to score the longest try, which he also converted! With a total of 678.78 miles in 78 hours 45 minutes the old record was well beaten. Keith Jones submitted our run to the Guinness Book of Records and with on 30th May 1979 they confirmed we were official holders of the record. Although we did not appear in the next edition of the “Book”, because Wolverhampton Polytechnic in England bettered our record before it was published, it was nevertheless a great achievement and jubilee success for the club. The run also made a significant impact on some of the runners. Stan Gyles, Brian Snowden, Roger Sykes, Ray Baty, John Waite and Mark Baxter entered the 1979 Melbourne Marathon and went on to run marathons for many years in Hawaii, Budapest, London, Ottawa, Athens, Berlin, Nuremberg and New York. Other Harlequins, including Geoff Naylor, Stan Shaw and Chris Yeoman, were motivated to accept the marathon challenge.
The Harlequin runners also won the “Exacto Team Trot” in 1980, 1981 and 1982. At that time in Melbourne there were funs runs every weekend and the promoters were always looking for something different. Exacto was a sports clothing 
manufacturer and sponsored this race jointly with Channel 10 TV and 3 AK Radio stations. Each team, with 4 members, ran 13 kms from Brighton to the Flemington Race Course. Harlequins entered the “Football Category” and ran against Australian Rules and soccer teams. It was good fun, but we were also promoting rugby in Victoria by beating teams from more popular football codes.
With the longest try successfully dealt with, the next Jubilee event was just two weeks away at the Easter weekend. The Veterans rugby Tournament was a “first” for Australia and was the brain-child of Mike Power, a marketing man playing for the Harlequin Cavaliers. His committee comprising Andy Corp, Peter Bolton, Frank Aprea and himself, worked exceptionally hard to ensure the event would be successful. The first “coup” was to enlist the Governor of Victoria, Sir Henry Winnecke as patron of the event. Invitations were sent to clubs throughout Australia and New Zealand and we were delighted to have 16 teams accept the challenge.
TEAM ORIGIN
The Cavaliers (over 30’s) Melbourne Harlequins
The Old Buffers (over 40’s) Melbourne Harlequins
The Unquenchables Box Hill Club, Victoria
The Kiwi Has Beens Kiwi Club, Victoria
The Rampants Melbourne Club, Victoria
The University Gents Melbourne University Club
The Geriatrics Powerhouse Club, Victoria
The Old Red Rattlers Hawthorn Club, Victoria
The Old Soldiers Combined Services, Victoria
The Rams Moorabbin Club, Victoria
The Sydney Quins Expatriate Quins, NSW
The Wallaroosters Eastern Suburbs Club, NSW
The Pomes Pome Veterans, NSW and Vic.
The Two Blue Veterans Paramatta Club, NSW
Suburbs Old Boys Vets Suburbs Old Boys, Auckland
Whilst we were very pleased to have teams from NSW and New Zealand we were particularly delighted that the Melbourne clubs supported the tournament so well. It was incumbent upon us to put on a fabulous weekend, and that we did. With an age range among players of 30 to 65 the entertainment supporting the tournament was diverse and substantial.
The tournament kicked off with an evening cocktail party at the Hawthorn home of Harlequins, Rosemary and Randy Cresswell on Friday 13th (yes, on that date) April.
On Saturday the elimination rounds were played from 8.00am to 3.00pm at Olympic Park, while from 2.00 to 4.30pm a ladies “Wine and Cheese” tasting was held at the Melbourne Art Exchange in the CBD. The official Tournament Dinner was held at the North Melbourne Football Club, social rooms followed by a 50’s and 60’s dance party, where “The Geriatrics” put in Olympian drinking and sub-standard dancing performancs.
After the first round matches on Saturday the teams were split into winners and losers for a second round. This ensured every team had two matches before the knock out competition started. The winners and losers groups of on Sunday at 10.30am to settle who would play in the semi-finals and finals.
In the losers group the semi-finals matches were:
- Worn Out Seagulls v Sydney Harlequins
- Kiwi Has Beens v Suburbs Old Boys
Sydney Harlequins and Suburbs Old Boys ran out winners.
In the winners group the semi-finals matches were:
- The Pomes v The Old Soldiers
- The Wallaroosters v The Unquenchables
The Pomes and The Wallaroosters won their matches.
The semi-finals lasted approx 30 minutes each with 2 12.5 minutes halves and were completed by 12.45pm. The 2 finals to be played from 3.15pm to 4.30pm. This left two hours for a juniors coaching session from 1.00 to 3.00pm. The session was free and open to all juniors and was led by rugby legends, John O’Shea, British Lion; Rod Batterham, Wallaby; Pat Cooper, Wallaby; Peter Bolton, Wallaby Trialist and Adrian Boulton, Wallaby Trialist. It had also been planned to have individual skills competitions amongst the veterans but by this time the veterans were too exhausted and the organisers did not want the juniors witnessing their “lack of skills”.
The two finals matches produced rugby of surprising quality considering how much punishment the players had taken off the field of play. The Saturday evening entertainment was a “return-gig” at the North Melbourne Social Club that featured eating, singing rugby songs and, of course, drinking. It was reported that the catering staff at North Melbourne had never come across such a sociable group of people who sang such filthy songs with so much passion!
Somehow, on the Monday the players and supporters dragged themselves to Glen Iris Park for a final match between two composite teams representing Victoria Veterans and Outside Victoria Veterans. At the conclusion of that match the trophies were presented by Sir Henry Winnecke and there followed a superb barbecue of roasted sheep with all the trimmings. We Harlequins were mighty proud of our efforts but the judgement of others is a far better measure of the success or otherwise of the tournament. The following articles appeared in the official publications of the Victorian and NSW Rugby Unions.
Victorian Rugby Union News
Harlequin Veterans Tournament
Veterans’ Victory
Yes it was truly a Victory for Veterans last week and not
The Monday again at Glen Iris Park saw the culmination of
The Harlequin Club has expressed their desire to thank
The Victorian Rugby Union congratulates The Harlequin
Rugby News (NSW)
Vol 57, No. 4 April 28,1979
The first Australian veterans’ tournament staged
The Harlequin Club, which is celebrating its Jubilee
At the end of it all, the Wallaroosters walloped
The Pomes, shattered by the heat and the fact that
The Quins took the field wearing assorted
The social activities (dinner, rugby singing
The oldest player in the tournament was
Easts were presented with a fine trophy to mark
But, a suggestion: Tourney should be for over 35.
Finally two interesting faces who appeared in actual
It was a memorable tournament that had met our expectations. It was great publicity for rugby in general and made sure the fledgling veterans grade being run by the V.R.U. would be maintained and would grow. Sadly Easts did not take up the challenge and run their own tournament but veterans tournaments are now common throughout the world.
Many of the organisers and players/officials in the tournament had also been actively involved in the longest try and they were relieved that the Golden Jubilee Dinner in June was mainly organised by Tony James. Tony, being Tony the dinner and its gestation were not without incident!
The original proposal had been for a Presidents’ and Life Members’ Dinner followed later by a Golden Jubilee dinner for all members. It soon became apparent that such an arrangement would not work. The Life Members and Presidents would all wish to be at the Jubilee Dinner and many of them were living outside Melbourne or interstate and some were frail. To organise their attendance at two similar functions was finally agreed to be a waste of resources and the Jubilee Dinner became the sole function.
The first task in organising a dinner is to estimate the number of attendees and most clubs are naturally over-optimistic, spend the week before the event on the telephone trying to reach the target. This was the case with the jubilee dinner, except that the final ring-around had to be done in the second last week because the names of all attendees had to be printed on the official menu. The magic number decided upon was 120, based on club numbers, past members still in contact with existing members and the gut feeling of the committee. As it turned out 120 did, in fact, attend, so such methods are accurate. The club wanted the function to be more than just a “better than usual” annual dinner and great care was taken in the choice of venue. It had to be very Melbourne, it had to be different, it had to be memorable and it had to be suitable for a traditional rugby club celebrating its 50th anniversary. Various suggestions were made to the committee but Tony James’ choice of the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria in St Kilda Road was felt to meet all the criteria and was unanimously accepted. We had to gain the approval of the Trustees of the Gallery and, while rugby club dinners have a reputation for being high-spirited, we believed our nominated guest of honour, Sir Charles Moses, would provide the gravitas and responsibility required to convince the trustees, and this turned out to be true.
O’Briens were selected to cater the event and the next task was to promote the event and sell tickets. At the beginning of our year of celebration from October 1978 to September 1979 everyone was positive and most members were keen to attend the dinner. The official launch of the dinner was made in the March 1979 club monthly newsletter and all members were sent individual invitations. By mid April there were large cracks in the committee’s optimism and the dinner was attracting some negative comment from members: “$33.00 is considered to be excessive”, “it is really a function for the older members, they don’t want us (players)”. Even the Hon. Secretary, Stan Gyles had stated, “I’m not coming as a protest – it is an elitist function - insisting on dinner suits”. Stan Gyles did attend but did make a protest of sorts. By 30th May there were 68 paid attendees and a further 26 solid promises. This total of 104 was not only disappointing but would also leave the club with a loss on the function. An emergency meeting of the dinner sub-committee was held on 6th June at Tony James’ apartment to consider the options, such as reducing the menu, offering cheaper wines and spirits and finally having a cheaper cigar for each guest! The committee decided to stay with the plan and conduct a telephone assault on members and non-members alike. To their eternal credit the committee did just that and hit their target of 120 attendees.
The evening was a great success and is still talked about by members who attended. The four-course meal, followed by cheese, coffee, port and cigars was finally thought to be good value. The speeches were made by: new member, Paul Blackman; Dick Carter, President; Sir Charles Moses C.B.E., Founder Member and Tony James, Convenor. The highlight was definitely Sir Charles Moses, who spoke of those early days and what the club had meant to him and how he saw it today. He then proceeded to pull out of a plastic bag the original Harlequin jersey and socks he had worn all those years ago and presented them to the Club. Stan Gyles also played a small but memorable cameo role in the proceedings. In protest at the dress code he had gone to the “Op Shop” and bought an old dress suit that did not fit him. His trousers were 10 cm short, and many British born members thought it was a marvellous impression of the English comedian Max Wall. Another unexpected happening was the arrival of a “singing telegram” at the conclusion of the speeches. One of the third grade players ran a novelty greetings business and a small group of players had talked him into the stunt. The telegraph girl was dressed in Harlequin colours and sang us a song about the 50 years of the Club. Most laughed themselves silly but Tony James was livid. The dinner was his show and he had done a great job, but singing telegrams were not his scene. Fortunately everyone else found it amusing so a “scene” of a different kind was thankfully avoided.
Of the twelve life members of the club eight attended the dinner, Ron Bolton, Tony James, Keith Jones, Charles Moses, Max Penwill, Colin Rowlinson, Don Strang and Reg Wilkinson. Max Penwill’s son, John and his son Tony were also there while Max’s late father Bert, also a Harlequin, was probably looking down fondly on the occasion.
Of the 184 ordinary club members 70 attended the dinner, which meant -excluding life members – 38 former members and friends wanted to be part of the celebration, while 114 could not or did not.
The Golden Jubilee Tie, which had a dark blue background and an embroidered Harlequin motif with 50 beneath it, was well received and 97 were ordered. There are still plenty of them to be seen around the Club at luncheons and similar occasions. The final jubilee event was to have been the history of the club. Phil Beard, club member and a journalist with the Sun newspaper, wrote an opening chapter and introduction but the committee did not think it suitable. Phil did not have the time to do it justice so the project was put on hold – for some 25 years, as it happened.
Nevertheless, the club had celebrated its golden jubilee in great style and had proved its ability to run events that brought members and friends together and publicised the game and the Harlequins in Victoria. Many of the people who organised those events are still members and this continuity is a strength and guiding principle of the Harlequins.
Meanwhile, while all this celebrating was going on, the club still had to carry out its primary function of running a rugby club during the 1979 season. The Ladies Auxiliary had, unfortunately, not reformed for 1979 which was a double loss for the club. Firstly, their annual financial contribution would be sorely missed but, more importantly, their catering and hospitality skills would not enhance the various “turns” during the season. Many wives and girl friends did their bit but the formal structure was missing. The preparation for senior grades was impressive with coach, David Neilson organising strength and fitness tests to be carried out at the Footscray Institute Human Performance Laboratories. Our players learnt a lot about themselves and the weaknesses they needed to address. Success was soon realised with the Moomba Seven-a-Side Tournament where we maintained our impressive record by reaching the final to be well beaten by Kiwis 24 points to nil. We hosted the strong North Sydney club pre-season in February and lost 24 points to 12 despite leading at half-time. The team was in a rebuilding phase with the new young players replacing many stalwarts of the 70’s. It was a good performance to finish in fourth position and qualify for the finals. Coach David Neilson put it in his summary for the Annual Report.
The second team, coached by former first team and Victoria hooker Murray Smart, had an excellent season finishing, second and reaching the grand final to be beaten by Melbourne 18 points to 3. The third team, coached by Allan Low, won the minor premiership but were unable to take out the premiership, losing to those perpetual ‘spoil-sports’ Melbourne 28 points to 11.
It was thus left to the colts contesting to bring home the bacon. David Bray, with assistance from Andy Corp coached the highly successful colts. The 1978 loss in the grand final had been a great disappointment but a number of that side was still eligible in 1979 and some talented newcomers were recruited. The team was obviously a good one but its single greatest attribute was team spirit. The team motto was ‘never give up’ and they never did. Pre-season, one player said in jest “let’s go through undefeated”. Half way through the season it became a key objective and, with a combination of inspirational leadership on and off the field, that objective was achieved. It was doubly sweet to avenge the 1978 defeat by the Army by beating them twice 24 points to 4 in the second semi-final and 12 points to 3 in the grand final.
This strong performance enabled us to win the Club Championship for 1979, which we thought was entirely appropriate in our jubilee year. There was, however, still that important part of Harlequins rugby to complete, before the season and decade came to an end. Tours! On 28th September we caught an early evening flight to Sydney to take on our favourite Sydney club, Gordon. They were as usual superb hosts but our rugby performance was some way short of superb with the seniors losing 52 points to nil. The Colts acquitted themselves well (as expected) but lost 14 points to nil. There were some misgivings amongst the committee members about such heavy losses. The pre and post-season tours were expected to be fun, but there should be some rugby benefit to the Club and players. Gordon would not want to play against us if we were a push-over.
On 6th October we hosted Elizabeth RUFC from South Australia and, for a change, it was Harlequins turn to dominate a tired and hung-over opposition 38 points to nil. To complete a frenetic period of tours we entertained the Clifton club from New Plymouth in New Zealand just one week later. They ran out winners 26 points to 12 but, considering we had our annual dinner the night before, we did fairly well. One area in which we continued to reign supreme was ‘boat races’. Heroic selfless performances were witnessed as Harlequins literally swamped their opposition. Interesting that this dominance goes back to our first incoming tour in 1929 when Charles Moses beat the Wallabies’ champion.
On a sad note for the jubilee year, one of our oldest members W.J. (Bill) Christie, Life Member died on 3rd December. Bill had joined the Harlequin Club in 1931 and was already known in the Victorian rugby community as an excellent referee. His pre-war support for all aspects of the club were well remembered and he was elected President when the club reformed in 1946. Bill had a distinguished career with the Royal Australian Artillery, retiring with the rank of Colonel, before returning to his pre-war position as Advertising Manager for the Sun News Pictorial. Poor health in his latter years restricted his participation in Harlequins affairs but he was proud of his life membership and was particularly disappointed he could not celebrate the golden jubilee.
It had been a roaring, tumultuous ten years with the usual highs and lows. Rugby throughout the world was about to “enjoy” perhaps the greatest decade of change since the great union/league schism in 1895 with the World Cup and the introduction of the professional game.
- Printer-friendly version
- Login or register to post comments
