The Goulburn Rugby Club’s 150th anniversary has been judged an overwhelming success by players, supporters and families, past and present, and members of the Goulburn community after an action-packed day at Poidevin Oval and a sensational evening at Veolia Stadium.
From across this wide brown land the Goulburn Rugby family reassembled to swap memories, to exaggerate stories and to celebrate our club – the oldest country rugby club in Australia.
Club president Jackson Reardon described the weekend as a brilliant way to celebrate the Club’s sesquicentennial.
“There were many chances to share stories and tall tales over a beer or wine, with some actual rugby thrown in as well for good measure,” he said.
“As a club we have so much to be proud of, and this is thanks to our members and volunteers who also put in an enormous effort to pull together our events last weekend.
“We look forward to the future and encourage past members to get involved in our 2023 season.”
Central to the weekend, as with any rugby weekend, were rugby matches and social celebrations, and sewn into the fabric of the reunion were activities to honour some significant club-people for their contributions.
Technically the reunion started with a social get-together at the Club’s major sponsor, the Hibo on Friday 21 October.
Match Day
There were some wobbly legs (and equally wobbly heads) carried over into the golden oldies match on Saturday 22 October but before that, the Under 12s match between Crookwell and Goulburn kicked off the day with a cracking game.
After leading out by three tries in the first half, the well-drilled Crookwell Pups were on fire, but in a determined second half comeback, the Goulburn Under 12s pipped them at the post to take the lead for the first time in the match and win by 19-17.
It was an engrossing match that either side could have won and the Pups are sincerely thanked for contributing so much, not only to the day but also to the Fizzy Reds competition.
Next up on the match day was the golden oldies match between Poido’s Pensioners and Luco’s Lemons. It was an evenly matched game with all the hard work being done in the middle and all the bludging out wide. Like in any game.
There were feats of excellence, and hands like feets as the heroes of yesteryear and yesterdecade went through the motions of remembering how to rugby.
Referee Matt O’Rourke refereed fairly and with that grin you get when you con the club out of having to play a game of Golden Oldies. Crowd favourite Geoff Shepherd powered his way home to two tries for the Pensioners while a pity try was set up for Chris Gordon for the Lemons. Despite the Pensioners scoring two tries to one, the match was a draw in the way that Golden Oldies matches always are.
Photos Pete Oliver.
For the women’s match, the premiership-winning Goulburn Women’s 10s outfit took on best frenemies the Bungendore Mudchicks, who like Goulburn, play the game on and off the paddock in great spirit.
Some of the Goulburn players helped bolster the Mudchicks side, but it was all Goulburn as the Dirty Reds showed the attacking prowess that won them the title this year. The score was something like 60-0, but the Mudchicks never gave up and the Goulburn Rugby Club thanked them for taking time out from their post-season to contribute to this event.
Photos Pete Oliver.
Last match of the day was between the Jackson Reardon captained President’s XV and the Boyd Newby skippered Invitational XV and, like the opening match of the day, it was tightly contested.
Head injuries alone stood as testimony to the competitiveness of both sides with Jacob Roberts coming off early after a bell ringer that left him with a gushing head wound.
Players who’d played side by side and not against each other finally had the opportunity, including the three Cornish brothers who played for the club in 2020. Current first and second graders and players from the recent past combined in a match in which the score see-sawed, with the Invitational side ahead by two points five minutes before full time, and the President’s XV edging them out with a penalty goal and a one-point 15-14 win.
Photos Pete Oliver.
Special thanks were reserved for Bill Barker who, in a Herculean effort, refereed both the women’s and the final match.
Hill Presentations
In between the Women’s match and the President’s XV fixture, the club took a time out to honour three of the “fathers” of the club, each of whom played a key role in making the club what it is today. Each of the three was honoured with a Hill in their name, with signs unveiled on the day.
First unveiled was the John Osmond Hill, named after the man who was not only club president for eight years and played a key role in developing the Crookwell and CAE rugby clubs, but was the person most responsible for acquiring Rugby Park for the Club in the late 60s. Without him, the Club would presumably not have a home ground and would still be wandering around like rugby gypsies from ground to ground. The long hill alongside Klem Oval across from Addison Street is now called the John Osmond Hill and hopefully one day may be developed into a tiered seating outdoor grandstand.
Next to be honoured was Valentine Blomfield Riley. Moving to Goulburn in 1872, he was the current captain of the Sydney University rugby side. His love of the game caused him to call a meeting, which he chaired, to establish the Goulburn Rugby Club on 22 July 1872. Without him, the club would not have been formed at that time. The Hill between the western end of Klem Oval and the scoreboard on Poidevin Oval is now the Valentine Riley Hill.
The naming of the final hill, directly in front of the clubhouse, was the emotional centrepiece of the whole weekend. Terry Tilden, the spiritual father of Goulburn Rugby, started as a player when the club rebooted in 1957. He has held every conceivable role … player, coach, committeeman, Life member (and linesman … but that’s a story for another day) and has barely missed a game. Generations of Dirty Reds, the name he created by the way, have experienced his friendship and support, just as much as opposition teams have experienced his whammies and double whammies.
If you rang up central casting and asked them to send you the perfect clubman, they couldn’t equal Terry Tilden. On being presented by close friend and Wallaby, Simon Poidevin, Tilden was truly humbled and gobsmacked and felt undeserving of this honour that he richly deserved. The Terry Tilden Hill will remain right in front of the seat where he now watches all of our games. It was a stirring moment, and there were lots of tears.
Photos Pete Oliver.
Radio GNFM provided an Outside Broadcast across much of the day to add to the occasion, and the incredible photos across the match day were taken by Pete Oliver and can be found on the Pete Oliver Imagery facebook page.
The Ball
The final engagement of the weekend was the Ball and in many respects it truly was a case of saving the best to last.
Veolia Stadium looked better than it ever has for the Ball, hosted by the simultaneously elegant and casual Rob Sheekey. All of the elements came together perfectly including a red carpet and media wall for entrance photos, a sumptuous three-course meal, video messages and a slideshow of rugby across the years, lucky door prizes and music by the Canberra-based band Something Like This.
Photos Emily and Cathey Stanberg.
A highlight of the night was the presentation of Life Membership to Boyd Newby, Mikael Webber and Rick Buckley (posthumously) with Simon Poidevin highlighting their achievements and with Life Members Matt O’Rourke, Gary Stephens and Kev Kara presenting them with their Life Members ties and or jackets.
The night gave the 320 players, supporters, families and members of the Goulburn community in attendance the chance to catch up with people they hadn’t seen for years with a lot of phone number and contact detail swapping taken place. As there had been all day, there were a lot of laughs and a lot of smiles.
The Goulburn Rugby Club would like to thank the Ball sponsors without whom the event could not have gone ahead, including Principal Sponsors Ray White Goulburn and Panache Financial, and the other sponsors House of Smoke and Fire, AWN, Inspired by Love, Raine and Horne, Top Shot Printing and Framing and Boyce Accounting.
Photos on the night were taken by ES Photography members Emily Stanberg and Cathey Stanberg. And when the official activities at Veolia wound down, the party and the stragglers moved to the Hibernian Hotel.
Photos Emily and Cathey Stanberg.
The whole weekend went off without a hitch and the club has received nothing but positive feedback.
Congratulations to all involved, including architects of the weekend, the 150th sub-committee, and also to the Club committee, to those who helped in the canteen, to the referees and photographers and everyone who played a part in making the event something worth waiting 150 years for.
