1975 Annual Report and Team Reports

 

President's Report

 

The number one object of our Club is to play and generally to promote and foster the game of Rugby. This has been the number one object of the Committee during 1975, an object which, however, has not been allowed to override the overall enjoyment and fellowship of the Club.

On the Rugby field three out of our four teams reached their Grand Final - a noble effort by the Fourth XV, the First XV were unlucky to lose their Grand Final after a season disrupted by injury and State Representative calls and of course the Second XV won their premiership after being without doubt the best team in their grade all season.

Besides all this there were some notable achievements in the Rugby scene. The First XV won the Neilson Cup - the first time this coveted Trophy has been won by our Club. The Club as a whole won the West End Trophy for the Champion Club in South Australia and our first real interstate tour was made - to our Melbourne friends the Harlequin Club - a tour which was a credit to our organizers and most thoroughly enjoyed by all participants.

At my taking office at the 1974 Annual General Meeting I expressed the hope that our Club would help to foster the game of Rugby by supporting the South Australian Rugby Union to the utmost My thanks goes to all the members who did so magnificently - the Club was conspicuous in its help and efforts towards the governing body of the game and their efforts were no little consideration in our being awarded the title of Champion Club.

Financially the Club has built on the period of consolidation during 1974. The trading results, have again been satisfactory and all creditors were covered tip to the end of the financial year.  However Club finances perforce must be a great concern for Committees for several years hence until our fixed commitments are entirely fulfilled and thus all members must ensure that the Club's finances are not disadvantaged in any way. In this connection it was my particular disappointment to see so many members pay their subscription - surely a very easy method of Club support - much later than the date by the Constitution and to further note that even at this date there are so many who are unfinancial. The Club now is a significant business undertaking and as such must be run on a businesslike basis which embr aces such things as control of debtors, accountability of officers and adherence to laws - licencing and others which affect Club administration, these matters I commend to the incoming Committee.

At the last Annual General Meeting the Club accepted the 1974 Committee's recommendation that Howard Clay and Sid Feldheim be elected Life Members. May I formally congratulate them and place on record the Club's thanks for their years of conspicuous service.

As I said above activities for the fellowship and enoyment of members off the rugby pitch have continued with a full programme of social events, the fielding of cricket teams, the circulation of a regular Newsletter and so on. The Club's thanks must go to all these people, committee members and otherwise who gave their time and efforts to thus help the Club financially and the members feel a part of the fellowship. An extension of the volunteer bar system introduced last year was made during the season by ladies acting behind the bar on Saturday afternoon. Not many members realise that this action was entirely originated by the ladies themselves in an effort to help the Club finances and I am sure that all the Club will join me in sincerely thanking them - may they and other ladies around the club be in a position to help out next year.

Many members have congratulated me for a successful year but of course the congratulations should rightly be given to your Committee one and all, for without their efforts the Club success would not have been achieved. In turn the thanks of the Committee must be given to the members of the Club who have shown throughout the year that they have supported their Committee both by generally supporting their decisions and by enthusiastically offering suggestions for the betterment of the Club. I would urge all members to continue this support and remember that when electing the Committee that these are the men who by their work and through your support will guide the Club to success in the succeeding twelve months. May I personally thank on your behalf the Committee of 1975.

Finally I record with regret the death early in the year of our friend and Patron, Sir Norman Jude This loss is greatly felt around the Club and among all Rugby men in South Australia.

Paul E. Butler
President

 

ANNUAL REPORT 1975

GENERAL

1975 must be regarded as being the year of consolidation. Our Club had less difficulty fielding teams, we have a sounder financial position and generally the Club has functioned as a more integrated unit. It was particularly pleasing to note the co-operation and organisation of the women in helping wherever possible in all areas. Thank you girls. I do not propose to labour the point made in the President's report about unfinancial members however it seems that this problem occurs year after year. It is to be hoped that new members as well as the old, take careful note of the financial responsibility involved with membership. I have it on good authority that 'non payers' will be 'non players' and/or 'non stayers' in 1976.

SPORTING

Once again 1975 has and still is proving to be most successful. Our Cricket and Rugby teams acquitting themselves admirably both on and off the field. Particular congratulations to the seven players who made the State Rugby side. Other sports associated with the Old Collegians are also flourishing notably a twilight mixed hockey competition, in which we have two teams, a croquet team, and an eight ball team. It is pleasing to note this diversification. Other sporting activities such as the loosely termed 'sport' of 'car trial' were held with mixed success. All in all a most satisfactory year from a sporting point of view.

MANAGEMENT

Fourteen management meetings were held. The following is the attendance record with the meetings for which the individual member was eligible to attend shown in brackets -

P.E. Butler 14 (14), S. Feldheim 9 (14), A.C. Maxwell 3 (5), G. Ellis 10 (14); I. Hackett 14 (14), D. Rapkin 3 (14), J. Hirsch 5 (7), F. Clarke/P. Mooney 6 (14); P. Bird 13 (14), M. Mitchell 9 (12), G.K. Leery 2 (5), 8. Dawson 8 (14), L. Evans 8 (14), M. McQueen 8 (13), K. Phelps 5 (7), H. Clay 4 (14), H. Yates 6 (9), D. Bradbrooke 3 (9).

Leave of absence was granted to the following members for the number of meetings shown

F. Clarke (2), B. Dawson (2), D. Rapkin (8), M. Mitchell (2), A.C. Maxwell (1).

The sub committee system worked most effectively this year. All sub committees were well attended and without the support of these committees the task of the committee as such would have been far more onerous. Congratulations.

BAR TRADING

The operation of the bar has been most successful both from an administration and financial point of view. However perhaps it should be noted by Members that rosters drawn up ,for Bar Duty should be examined and if the member is unable to attend, alternative arrangements should be made. It was noticed that on one or two occasions hard working thirsty members were without a barman to open up the Club. This cannot be allowed to happen. Special thanks must go to Mr. Bob George for his experienced guidance in the running of the bar. No doubt we will all have the opportunity of examining his influence in this.

BUILDING

There has been little progress on the proposed building alterations. However the negotiations for this project will no doubt be continued by the incoming Committee. Donations to this building fund are still quite acceptable and necessary.

MEMBERSHIP

A number of new members joined the Club this year and we had a record number of playing members. This is most encouraging, but bear in mind that non playing social members should be encouraged. We record with deep regret the death of two of our old members, Sir Norman Jude and Mr. Mike Langridge. Both Mike and Judey will be remembered for their wholehearted support of the Old Collegians.

I think the fact that we won the West End Trophy is ample evidence of our support of the S.A.R.U. We have twelve active members of the Management and other Committees, and special thanks must go to the members involved.

Finally I would like to thank the Committee for their help for the period I was in office and extend to the incoming Committee best wishes for a successful 1976.

A.C. Maxwell
Honorary Secretary.

TROPHY WINNERS, LEADING TRY SCORERS AND GOAL KICKERS FOR 1975 SEASON

BEST PLAYERS

LEADING TRY SCORERS

LEADING GOAL KICKERS

TOP POINT SCORER

DIVISION I.

TEAM REPORT 1975.

The lst Grade side in 1975 had a very successful season winning for the first time the Neilson Cup Knockout Competition. They were also successful in being minor premiers although being beaten by a small margin of 6 points to 4 points in the Grand Final.

Personally, I would like to thank all those players who played in the 1st Grade side during the season and a special thanks to Peter Douglas, Captain, Ross Douglas, Vice-Captain and Howard Clay, Manager. Also thanks to Selectors and to the Committee.

MAX MITCHELL.

 

DIVISION I - RESERVE XV

TEAM REPORT 1975

The Reserves won a Premiership and many thanks go to all concerned.

The season started well with the "Super Seconds" winning eight games at a trot, some of them by cricket scores.

In the ninth game we suffered our first defeat at the hands of West Torrens; and this started a slight slump in form. The lads rallied however, and owing to what I consider first class team spirit and application to the task, we finished minor Premiers.

The Major round saw us going down to Torrens in the first semi and coming back well to defeat Woodville in the preliminary.

In the Grand Final the result was never in doubt, as the lads continually kept the pressure on Torrens, rarely allowing them in to our half, with sound defence by all players.

Andy (Boyo) Smith, Johnny (Doc.) Graham and Graham Southern played superbly in front row, rarely allowing Torrens a scrum. They were supported well by Dean (the Giant) Earl and Alf Quinton until he was replaced by John Hirsch, who continued the good work. The back row, Gebthorp, Cameron and Clay tackled their shoulders off all day and Roger (the Tit) Clay kicked five penalty goals.

At half we had about 5ft. 8"of guts and determination in Tim Farrah who combined excellently with a chap with exactly the same qualities in Murray Tye. The centers Maxwell and Kinsella ran and tackled all day and were well supported by wings, Juridini, a first year player and Doran, who scored his first and only try for the year, after a good backline move in which every back handled. At full back we had Ben Perkins, who played a winner, Torrens had no answer to him.

Well, so much for the Grand Final, but many other blokes got us there as well. Paul Butler (Pres.) played an enormous season and missed only the preliminary and the Final owing to injury.

Thanks also to Tony Bew, Ian Hackett, Eric Thiele, John, Rich Chris, Penny, Dick Walsh, Laurie Evans, Bruce Abbot and many others, who helped during the year. Team Manager, Harry Yates was a pillar of encouragement to us all - thanks Harry and Sandy.

It was a long season and required a lot of hard work by all concerned, but we all enjoyed it both on and off the field. We had some enormous booze-ups and many thanks to all the wives and girlfriends and supporters who helped us.

Well so much for '75 - '76 LOOK OUT.

David Jacobs,

Coach.

 

TEAM REPORT

DIVISION II 1975

First of all I would like to congratulate the Club on having three teams in the Finals.

The season started off very well with a great number of lads attending training and working hard at getting fit.

At the beginning of the season Division II started off well with a number of good games of which we won a few. The team selectors were pretty fair with the lads in evening out the players to all Divisions, but then started to forget Division II and concentrated on Division 1 and Division 1 Reserve teams. They kept all the good players in those two Divisions.

Division II had regular players who turned up to training each week and who carried the team. There is always one team that has players who only turn up one night a week. This year it was Division II.

However, I do not blame the players altogether. Part or most of the blame was on the selectors for their selections. Next year I hope they will look after all Divisions as each Division is as important as the next. It is nice to have Division I in the Finals as it was nice to have three Divisions in the Finals this year, but if the selectors had looked after Division II we would have seen four teams in the Finals.

I have enjoyed my period as coach of Division II. I also enjoyed playing a few games during the year. I also would like to thank David Rapkin on giving up his spare time to be team manager for Division II. He did a very good job looking after the teams each week particularly as he never had the same team twice. Thank you David Rapkin.

F. Miller,

Division II Coach.

 

DIVISION III

TEAM REPORT 1975

The "Flying Fours" did not win the premiership this year but we gave it a bloody good shake. Four matches before the Finals we were six points off "the four". We went on to win six matches straight. During the season we defeated every team in the competition except the Premiers R.A.A.F. and we scored 297 points for and had 186 points scored against us. Not a bad result for a team which won 13 games and lost 11.

To thank individual players would be unfair as some 62 turned out for us through the season. Over half of those went on to play higher grades. In fact, if we had stuck strictly to the letter of the S.A.R.U. law, we had only 13 players fit and qualified to play for us in the finals. Nevertheless I do thank all the players and supporters - especially one Darry Bradbrook Esq. He was always a great help but particularly when he closed his mouth enough to open his other eye.

This has been one of my most enjoyable rugby seasons and it confirmed my belief that a strong club needs a strong lowest side. My thanks to the committee for their support although I do not agree with their policy on social rugby; my thanks also to Max Mitchell, Barry Levy and Peter Allen; my congratulations to David Jacobs and the Super 2nds as well as to R.A.A.F.; my commiserations to Max Mitchell, the lst XV and my successor.

Thank you all.

Frank Clarke.