The Inevitable Move to a more Professional Game (1990 – 2004)
The club was feeling pretty chipper about the new decade. We were reigning First Grade Premiers and Club Champions and Charlie Grieve was about to complete his third year as President, Jim Blackie his third year as Club Captain and John Ross and Bob Butcher, their first years as Hon. Secretary and Treasurer respectively. We had also become used to having the best clubhouse in Victoria. Nevertheless there were movements in the rugby world that would have profound consequences for a devoutly amateur a club such as the Harlequins. The inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup and its successors every four years made the elite players realise they were offering a unique entertainment product (horrible word) that was making mounds of money for TV companies, home unions and the International Rugby Board, while they (the players) received little more than expenses and the enjoyment and kudos of playing at the highest level. Within 10 years elite players were earning huge amounts of money through playing payments and sponsorship and the game had become fully professional at the highest level in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In the northern and southern hemispheres new professional competition structures like the Heineken Cup and Super 12 were introduced to market rugby to a larger audience and to provide a higher standard of competition just below international test level. Teams at these levels pay coaches who specialise in forward play, back play, general conditioning as well as an army of physiotherapists, psychologists, doctors and strategists. All this player support slowly but surely trickled down to clubs like ours and we now have a first team doctor, physiotherapist and masseur, spend thousands of dollars per year on tape alone, and our clubrooms boast a well-equipped first-aid room. Although our support team members do not receive payment for their time it still costs plenty to provide the services. The modern first team players no longer spend time and money in the bar after training, and many of them do not drink. They see their role as a player and the club supplies all they need to play. Inevitably it would be a challenge for the club to meet this new paradigm and find the money.
The playing success in 1989 led to an increase in general support from members while additional sponsorship in 1990 reached $51,500 and trading turnover in all its forms exceeded $100,000. Of that amount some $67,000. came from the bar (an increase of 10%), $10,700. from the canteen (an increase of 11%) and $9,770. from sales of gear (an increase of 11%). Subscriptions, however, fell by 10% to $13,655, which was attributable to our not having a fourth team or veterans. It was an odd situation considering the playing successes of the previous year and the ambience of our top quality clubhouse.
On the playing side there were major changes in our coaching complement. Mike Bull moved up from the second team to officially replace Mike Hammond as first team coach, while Allan Campbell took over the second team from Neil Carter. Eamonn McSweeny, who had been having a quiet ale in the bar one week before the start of the season, learned the third team had no coach and in, either a stroke of true club spirit or alcoholic stupidity, agreed to take on the role. The colts under coach Keith Jones were the revelation for the year. We had 50 players and were able to enter two competitive sides in the Colts Grade and provide 17 players for State duty at Under 21 and 19 levels. One of those was Andrew Heath, who later moved to Queensland and played for Australia as a very powerful prop forward.
Mike Bull left the conditioning of the first team to Captain Dirk Williams and concentrated on selection and strategy. Selection was an ongoing problem due to our over-representation in the State squad and to an abnormally high level of injuries and sickness in the middle of the season. Despite this we remained in contention and with more players available towards the end of the home and away matches, we hit our straps and clinched second spot on the ladder. With a near flawless display in the major semi-final, we comprehensively beat Minor Premiers Moorabbin 25 points to 15. They won the elimination final to set up a return match in the grand final.
Another first team appearance in the grand final brought David Bray, Andy Corp and Stan Gyles into action to organise the second successive lunch at the Kelvin Club on Friday 18th September the day before the big match. Stan Gyles arranged an interesting guest speaker, Dr. Hugh Burry, a former All Black back row forward, who had recently returned from the UK where he had worked at Guy’s Hospital in London for many years. It was quite a surprise for Mark Baxter who had last seen him more than 20 years before refereeing a match he had played in. His speech about the relative strengths of the southern and northern hemisphere and the consequences of the game going professional at the highest level was thought provoking although most members were thinking no further than the match the following day.
After the week’s rest we were confident we could prevail again but in a stunning form reversal Moorabbin proved they had the mental toughness and deservedly won the 29 points to 9.
The second team played with great confidence and sense of purpose throughout the season losing only two games to win the Minor Premiership and with 15 points to 13 victory over Moorabbin it won its second Major Premiership in succession. Allan Campbell was continuing his great run of premiership successes as a coach.
Eamonn McSweeny’s thirsty thirds took some time to get used to their new coach and he to them. They lost 7 of their first 9 matches and then went on to win fourteen “on the trot” to book themselves a place in the grand final. Although they lost the match to “inevitably” Moorabbin 15 points to 20 it was a quite remarkable performance. The side also had an air about them as they had the largest number of ladies supporting them, and their post match celebrations are still looked back on with awe and astonishment.
Colts coach, Keith Jones had difficulties that our current coaches could only dream about. He had decided to segregate his 50 players into two equal A&B squads-the A squad coached by himself and the B squad by Les Rangahwa-, but with so many selected for Under 21, and Under 19 State duties as well as injuries, it became clear the strategy was weakening our finals aspirations. The A squad had the best players and eventually won the Minor Premiership but not without close scores and several “come from behind” victories that added many grey hairs to Keith Jones’ head! In the major semi-final our pack took the Box Hill forwards apart and still managed a one point win to advance to the grand final. After a week’s rest there was a repeat match against Box Hill who had won the elimination final. Unlike our first team the colts maintained their nerve and their form and played superbly to put Box Hill away 33 points to 9. Keith Jones is still sorry we do not have a video a video of it.
Despite the disappointment of the first team’s loss in the grand final, Major and Minor Premierships for the second team and colts, plus the unexpected grand final appearance by the thirds certainly made it a performance to savour. When Dirk Williams retained the 1990 ABC Player of the Year Award for the second successive year it added icing to the cake.
The Friday Lunch Club had found Deckers in North Melbourne under the stewardship of Colin Rowlinson and decided to make it a permanent venue. It was located in a street of terraced Victorian houses close to the Victorian Market, which made parking a lottery. The restaurant was in a state of genteel decay and if there were ever a storm during lunch, the meals would be garnished with dessicated plaster falling gently from the ceiling. The owner, Derek Decker always greeted his Harlequin guests wearing white gloves that he never removed to shake hands. The food was challenging and, to sum up, it was just perfect! The format for the lunch was: entrée followed by introduction of guests and club news; main course followed by fines; sweets followed by jokes (where the agreed worst joke teller was awarded the tie, which he had to wear to the next lunch); coffee with the lunch to be formally closed with the singing of the Harlequin song.
The juniors had a rather disappointing playing year because, for the first time in many years, we were unable to secure a flag in any age group in the round robin finals or in the seven-a-side competition. Nevertheless, 30 players were selected in Victorian teams. One of our boys, Stephen Lewis, managed to represent Victoria in Under 10’s, 11’s and 12’s. Quite an achievement! On the administrative side we became strongly represented in the Victorian Junior Rugby Union with Richard D’Acre elected Secretary and Ron Kinghorne, Leighton Bullock and Murray Smart as executive members.
With money in the bank after a successful playing season Jim Blackie succeeded Charlie Grieve as President (as he had done in 1988 as Club Captain), and Mike Bull relinquished the first team coaching role to take over as Hon. Secretary. Bob Butcher remained Treasurer-thus the organisational side of the club for 1991 was again in excellent shape. The coaching group for 1991 season also looked strong with a succession plan many companies would envy. Allan Campbell was appointed first team coach after his success with the second team, where he was replaced by Graham Jerome. Eamonn McSweeny relinquished the third team to take a general committee role and was replaced by Ken Phillipson. Les Rangiahwa, who had coached the colts B squad, replaced Keith Jones as head coach.
After several anonymous seasons our touch rugby players burst into our consciousness again. Organised by long-time senior stalwarts Mark Sawyer and Sete Kita we had two men’s teams and one women’s. They even managed to secure sponsorship from Sinclair Devere & Asociates, appoint Craig Matthews as team manager, and enjoy the services of a masseuse, Karen. All teams made the finals with Men’s A winning the Premiership, Women’s A runners-up and Men’s D losing the elimination final. Brett Godfrey, the current CEO of Virgin Blue Airline, won the Victorian Touch Association’s “Best & Fairest” award for the second successive year. It is said he was a real flyer!
The club also got off to a flyer in the V.R.U. seven-a-side tournament held on 3rd March. The first seven won all six games, although the final looked problematic at half time with Moorabbin leading 10 points to 0. Our young (with the exception of Sete Kita) team, however, rose to the challenge and ran Moorabbin off their feet to score 20 unanswered points and take out the Championship cup. The second seven cunningly lost their first round match and proceeded to walk away with the Plate trophy. It seemed a dream start, but the successes of our touch and sevens teams were not repeated during the season proper.
During April, we farewelled Dirk Williams who had made such a huge impression on Victorian rugby. He was an established Wellington representative before he came to Victoria in 1989 to continue his chiropractic studies. With the help of Don Cannon we had been able to convince him to join the Harlequins and what an acquisition he was. As Captain he handled fitness and conditioning training as well as providing a commitment and toughness on the field that was second to none. He also captained the State side but he decided to raise his sights, travel north to Sydney and play for Eastern Suburbs. He later gained selection for the Wallabies squad touring Britain as a trainer/player and later was offered a position as conditioning coach for London Irish. We were not surprised.
In May we had the pleasure of hosting the Blackheath Club from London for the Melbourne leg of their Australian tour. Blackheath is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in the world - they claim to be the oldest and their tie simply has the word “club” in a silver spray with a black background. We lost 31 points to 15 on a Thursday and enjoyed a typical rugby celebration. Mark Baxter billeted their tour manager as they had both played in the same Kent county team in the 60’s. We also hosted the New Zealand Harlequins from Waikato on one of their periodic tours to Australia as well as the South Australian Open and Under 21 teams. All this took place in one frantic week. It was not only great fun, very profitable but showed what we could do as a club when we put our minds to it.
Although this was already our fourth season in the new clubhouse we had not yet formally named it, so finally on that Thursday we were able to invite the Strang family to pull the cord and reveal the "Donald J G Strang AO Memorial pavillion" and it seemed quite appropriate that we should share the occasion with one of the oldest English clubs. Only the London Harlequins would have been better.
The first team could not put their minds to it and managed only 5th position and therefore did not play in the finals, while the second team squeezed into 4th position on percentage before concluding their season by losing 6 points to 19 against Power House in the minor semi-final (the 22-2 penalty count against us in that match had not improved our chances!).
Stan Gyles and his team had been overconfident earlier in the year, deciding the first team would make the grand final, and had organised a grand final lunch at the Kelvin Club on Friday 20th September 1991. They had done this to ensure the guest speaker for the lunch would be a stand-out. And a stand-out he was, Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop. It was a marvellous lunch, 
fondly remembered by all club members there, not only because he was a famous surgeon and war hero but also a Victorian who, like our David Shepherd, played for Australia while playing for a Melbourne club. Nobody seemed to mind the first team was not in the grand final and other teams were still possibles.
In the colts we maintained our player numbers and once more entered two sides in the competition. In the end this was more of a curse than a blessing. Injuries in the first and second teams continuously denuded the colts of players. Whilst it gave younger players valuable experience it forced coach Les Rangiawha to change line-ups of his team from week to week. He was unable to establish a consistent and cohesive game plan. Although the A team finished second with a record of 16 wins to 2 losses they lost both finals 6 points to 21 against Moorabbin and 6 points to 19 against Box Hill. The outstanding team in the colts competition Moorabbin. They had a 1051.11 percentage that suggested we would have struggled to beat them even if our team selections had been more settled.
It was therefore left to the thirsty thirds to give our 15-a-side playing season some respectability. Firstly, and something of a rarity for the third team, the training performance was strong and a group of almost 30 players identified themselves as the thirds. They played attractive rugby, winning 15 of their 21 matches to top the table, but whilst they scored most points they also conceded more points than the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed sides. In percentage they were than the three sides behind them. This implied that they were a high risk/high reward team and a danger in the finals. After the major semi-final, which we lost 21 points to 10 against Kiwi-Hawthorne, it seemed our fears were justified. In the preliminary final we scraped past Power House 19 points to 18 and were through to the grand final for a rematch against Kiwi-Hawthorne with little confidence. Our lack of faith was entirely misplaced for they came out firing, played expansive rugby and beat Kiwi-Hawthorne 22 points to 10 to add the Major Premiership to their collection. The third team had now played in successive grand finals, a feat unheard of before or since. This was directly linked to the playing numbers in the colts. In 1990 and 1991 we had two colts sides in the competition enabling them and not the third team to fill the inevitable gaps in the first and second teams caused by injuries etc.
The juniors’ season was unremarkable except that the V.J.R.U. had wisely brought the schools into the Under 16 competition and increased the number of teams playing. This was unfortunately not the case in Under 12’s where Harlequins and Box Hill, the only clubs competing, played each other every week with each team seeming to win on alternate weeks. What a pity it was our turn to lose when the final came around!
In 1992 Harlequin Club membership stood at 218, including 13 lifers and 56 non-voting members. Bar sales had climbed to around the $80,000 mark, while canteen sales had seen a steady decline from $10,600 in 1990 to $6,500 in 1992. Crowd attendances were down and the club was unable to host any touring teams. The club’s playing strength in 1992, however, was remarkable with eleven teams and 250 players representing U 8’s to veterans. It was also great to see how many first team players found time to support the junior teams on Saturday mornings. We hopedthis would encourage our juniors to stay in the club and play senior rugby. The gap between U 18’s and colts (U 21) has always been a difficult one to close because of other diversions such as VCE studies, university and entry into the workforce. Our touch rugby teams did exceptionally well with men’s A and B winning their championships. It was a different story in women’s where our team failed to make the grand final for the first time since the 1982/83 season. That was a record all our male rugby teams would have killed for!
The thirsty thirds and veterans enjoyed their season, as they always do. The veterans, now re-named the cavaliers (AGAIN), were especially delighted to play their best rugby in the final match when they drew 5 points each and deprived old rivals Melbourne of the premiership. As the Melbourne Club recorded in their newsletter.
On 25th July, 1992 the gerries of MRUFC decided not to send many players
Another record for the veterans was the 121 year old second row (combined ages) of Ian Lochrie and Mike Sizer who packed down against Morwell.
The season, however, truly belonged to the first team for whom 1992 was an extraordinary year.
A few games out from the finals we were languishing in fifth place on the ladder and were in the process of being defeated by Melbourne. A loss would have seen us out of the reckoning. A Melbourne player punched Mark L’Huillier, our tight head prop. Big mistake. Mark was ordinary in a fight but he was a tremendous scrummager as he subsequently proved in his appearances for Victoria, the Australian Barbarians, Sydney University and the USA World Cup team. He channelled his anger into a devastating scrummaging performance and, with the aid of Phil Dolan, who had a superb game at five-eighth, Harlequins stormed home to win the day and keep our finals hopes alive.
The last game of the season saw us against Moorabbin. Again we had to win to cling onto fourth place and to secure a berth for the finals. All seemed lost with Moorabbin, the Minor Premiers, comfortably ahead 15 points to nil. But then Phil Brooker, who had been somewhat controversially selected by new coach John McKee, stepped in. Phil kicked six second-half penalties in what was generally considered the best five-eighth performance by a Harlequin since Ian Dunne was in his pomp, to lead us home to a narrow win and a place in the finals. We beat defending premiers Kiwis by a couple of points in the first semi-final and won by a point in the preliminary final to set up a grand final clash against Moorabbin.
After his overconfidence last year Stan Gyles had nothing planned for a grand final lunch, particularly as we had been in 5th place before the last round of the competition. With just 6 days notice he, with David Bray and Andy Corp booked the Kelvin Club, printed the special menu, chose the meal and wines and even managed to find 2 guest speakers. Marshall Wilson, a sports and rugby journalist was a big disappointment but David Culbert, Commonwealth and Olympic Games long jumper, talked about elite level sport in general and the joy of competing at the Olympics in particular. Littie did we know this was to be the last grand final lunch for 6 years.
Nobody gave our first team much of a show against the Minor Premiers. However, in a display of tenacity we have not always shown in finals series, we scored a try, kicked two goals and generally did enough to finish the 80 minutes one point ahead of an experienced and “filthy” Moorabbin outfit. Saul Cannon, son of that great contributor Don Cannon, took the place of the injured Mark Sawyer, who had captained the side 18 times during the season, to play in the Premiership side. Many Harlequins over the years have missed out on a premiership due to injury and the vagaries of team selection. Some like Oseo Koliloa play in two, and most due to their scarcity never even have the opportunity to play in one.
The second team managed a reverse of the first team’s performance. At the end of the normal season they had won 17 of their 21 matches, conceded only 145 points and won the Minor Premiership. In the major semi-final we were well beaten 18 points to 16 by Moorabbin, who had come second to us albeit with a superior points percentage. The shock result, however, came in the preliminary final against Box Hill, when we lost 27 points to 18, against a team we had well beaten twice during the season. There was a small “silver lining”. By winning the Minor Premiership we received the Malcolm H.G.MacDonald Shield. Malcolm MacDonald had been a Harlequin for some 45 years and had given great service as a coach and committeeman but his fame came from his unstinting support of the club. He never missed a first team game and he never failed to give loud support. After the match his rendition of “My Brother, Sylvest” had become a club institution. It was with great sadness we learned that Malcolm died during the finals series, but at least he had known the Harlequins would have his trophy for 12 months. Being a great rugby traditionalist he always maintained the Minor Premiers were the best team in the competition. He would have been especially proud of the colts. At the end of the season they were level with Moorabbin, both teams having won 12, drawn 2 and lost 2 matches, but Moorabbin had a slightly better percentage. Coach Les Rangiawha, whose son Douggie played in the side, was nevertheless confident his team could win the premiership. In the major semi-final we beat Moorabbin 8 points to nil, and two weeks later it was Moorabbin again. There was much discussion in the club as to whether the break was good for us or not. Well it was, and we put Moorabbin away again 18 points to 7.
However, this great club performance did not herald a continuation of Harlequins dominance in the competition. In fact, most of our great players of the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s drifted away to join the Harlequin diaspora scattered around the globe. President Jim Blackie had cannily resigned after two years at the helm to be succeeded by Mike Bull after his two years as Hon. Secretary. Harlequin elder Tony James stepped up as Hon. Secretary to ensure that, regardless of playing results, the year would not be without its moments of drama and controversy. In the Secretary’s section of the 1992 Annual Report Tony wondered whether the “South Sea Island” singing during home matches was conducive to the maintenance of the true Harlequin spirit!
The euphoria of the previous year did not permeate the 1993 season, and for the first time in many years not one senior team made a grand final. The good-natured comments from the touch-line degenerated into abuse of officials and opposition players, so much so, that President, Mike Bull specifically mentioned it in his annual report. The Harlequins have always had a reputation for considering themselves superior as a club to the rest, and those other clubs were happy to see us “let ourselves down”. Despite our poor finals performance our four senior teams had a combined won 55, drawn 3, lost 22, points for 1941, points against 857 aggregate season, and we were runners up to Moorabbin in the V.R.U. Club Championship.
The juniors had a successful season with teams playing in the U.8’s, 10’s, 12’s, 14’s, 16’s & 18’s competitions but there were many difficulties with the differing standards of competition, quality of refereeing and numbers in the various age groups. Rugby is played in a few of the private schools that run inter-school matches during the season. The Victorian Junior Rugby Union has managed to include some schools in their U.12’s and U.14’s competitions but only sporadically. And in the U.16’s we lose many players to compulsory school sides. We recruit younger players successfully but we can not easily keep them.
It was not a great year socially as it seemed our “touch-line” behaviour had weakened the club spirit. The opening event, the “Annual Committee Roast”, promised much but flopped for a lack of numbers. Some of the subsequent functions were successful but only because of support from the netball crowd that had somehow become attached to the club. It was good for our finances but did little for our morale.
The administration of the club in 1994 was complicated and strewn with obstacles. Russel Bate, a former player of great distinction with Harlequins and Victoria, returned from Sydney where he had played first grade rugby and took over as President. David Bray returned to the committee as Hon. Secretary, and Michael McCreadie became the new Treasurer. Unfortunately for us Russell was offered a promotion by his employer and was back in Sydney before the season was over. Don Brooker jumped in, as acting President, and did, as expected, a very good job. The committee also managed to put together the club’s first five year plan with specific targets in four areas: 1) Capitol works; 2) Rugby; 3) Sponsorship; 4) Finance to begin in 1995. Jenny Brooker, the new Chairman of the Juniors, replacing Richard D’Acre, had to stand down and was replaced by Rod Abbott. Coming after such a disappointing year these changes were unsettling. Nevertheless, we were able to field six senior teams including the cavaliers and win two Premierships. Our fourth team was bolstered by the round three arrival of the Melbourne Church of Christ rugby team, who happily became a band of Harlequins. What they made of the Harlequin brand of Christianity has not been recorded but anyone who wants a game is always welcome with us. The colts were the outstanding Harlequin team of the year. They lost their first game by 30 points and then went on to win the next 17 to clinch Minor and Major Premierships under the shrewd coaching of Wayne Hunt. Three players Justin Berger, Troy Hunt and Aaron Hammond each scored 100 points and seven were picked for the State team.
The other premiership was won by the Cavaliers, although that premiership was of a different kind. On the Queen’s Birthday weekend they won the annual “Lightning Premiership”, which is a slow-motion form of sevens with fifteen players! The Cavaliers also put in a good showing at the World Masters Games in Brisbane with seven Harlequins playing in a composite Victorian side. The success of the Cavaliers was in no small way due to the efforts and determination of their manager Sadie Lochrie, partner of that ancient Cavalier Ian. Sadie has never accepted any excuse from any player to be unavailable for the team mainly because they were all terrified!
Another highlight of the year was the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Hobart Harlequins. Peter Bolton, Don Cannon, Colin Rowlinson, Ken Webster accepted Hobart’s invitation to attend the dinner and watch some rugby. This group, largely stars from the golden touring years of the 70’s, were keen to show they still enjoyed a good time away from home. But as we have said before – what happens on tour stays on tour.
Don Brooker was formally elected President with Cam Clyne the new Treasurer, while the rest of the key committee remained unchanged. April was a sad month for the club with the loss of two well-known Harlequins. John Ross in his ten years made his mark as an administrator. He had been Treasurer of the senior club, manager of several teams and a terrific supporter of the juniors. Mike Sizer, however, had made his mark over 25 years on the playing field and for all those years as a veteran. The following article appeared in “Milo’s Diary” in the Age and was written by his team mate David Elias
Among Victoria’s small but devoted rugby union crowds, Michael Sizer was
Lancashire-born Sizer was regarded as the embodiment of the spirit of the ruffian’s
A Melbourne Harlequin for more than 25 years, it was always said if he could
Obviously a higher team was in urgent need of a good second-row forward!
Those muscular Christians from the Melbourne Church of Christ, who had joined the Harlequin fourth team in 1994, had obviously benefited from the experience. They were selected for the Australian Church of Christ team that competed in the International Church of Christ Tournament in the United States and beat all-comers.
Don Brooker had instigated a drive to secure more sponsors to cover the ever-increasing costs of running a large rugby club without increasing subscriptions-particularly for the players. For 1995 our general sponsors were: Dulux Paints, Graham Moir, Peerless, Sportscorp (owned by that perennial Harlequin contributor Any Corp), Cadbury Schweppes (the Managing Director played for the veterans) and the Wine Barrel. The specific team sponsors were: Mothers Bar and Restaurant, Cheers Bar both in the CBD and probably aimed at the first and second teams and finally John Allison Monkhouse (Funeral Directors)) definitely targeting the veterans! Whilst not a sponsor as such, we were also well supported by the Malvern Sports Medicine Centre in Ashwood. Through their Dr Peter Fuller-a former Australian 800 metres champion-we gained the services of Dr Tracey Peters, a sports medicine specialist, as our team doctor, who has been very beneficial to the club and many players. New training lights were also installed during the early part of the season. All in all, the administrative and support side of the club continued to improve.
On the playing side we were delighted that seven of our players Cameron Clyne, Phil Dolan, Matt Hammond, Lawrence Mawhinney, Tony Rowe, Andrew Scott and John Walshe were selected for the V.R.U. squad to tour New Zealand. In April, after 6 rounds of competition, we were second in the Club Championship with our first and second teams in the four and two colts teams in the four in Colts Grade. It looked good but the rest of the season was not worth writing about. Our performances were dismal and we failed to win any prizes.
The major committee changes were the election of Allan Low as President, the return of Mike Bull as Hon. Secretary and a new Treasurer Trevor Gawne.
Although 1995 was a poor year on the field we started 1996 with confidence. Talented younger players such as Justin Berger, Matt Hammond, Eanna O’Duill, Phil and Andy Bennett came through to join seasoned players Andy Scott, Phil Brooker, Graeme Watt, Manu Valentini, Jim Donovan and Kevin Houlihan. Despite this talented nucleus training was strangely insipid. First team coach Peter Kirk put it more strongly in his annual report. Who could disagree with his disappointment when 15 first team players managed to make training on only two occasions. Sometimes it was only 6. Our State commitments were onerous and we were hit with injuries but this could in no way excuse the position in which we found ourselves at the finish of the season. Not for 60 years had we finished a lonely last forcing us into an ignominious relegation decider against Northcote at muddy Croydon on a wet September afternoon. We were in desperate shape. Graeme Watt played with a broken bone in his arm and Andy Scott with a knee that later required surgery. We flew in a mate of Phil Brooker’s from New Zealand to play half-back for us. Tony Penwill, a very talented flanker, played at inside centre, and Jason Purkis, a good hooker and a handy flanker, played most of the match on the wing. We were up against pretty good opposition too. Northcote had reached the final of a State-wide knock-out competition and had a seemingly endless pool of largish to over-size Samoans to draw on. But Brooker’s mate could really play, Scotty’s knee held up, Northcote made the mistake of running into Penwill rather than around him, Manu was Manu, and we wanted it more than they did. And so we improvised, adapted and then went on to survive in First Division. It was a salutary lesson that we probably deserved.
The first team’s woes overshadowed the second and third teams who made the finals. The seconds, under experienced coach Alan Campbell, even managed a narrow loss to Kiwi Hawthorne in the grand final. The third team turned pre-season bad luck (Dave Conroy’s injury) into a season benefit (Dave became assistant coach to Campbell Reid) and earned a place in the elimination final. A shaky start by the colts produced just 2 points through forfeit in the first round. Were we about to consider the unthinkable (at least for 20 years) – no colts? It came pretty close but coach Roy Capener managed to find players, including Under 18’s, and they found enough success to reach the finals. It had been very close.
Financially, it had also been a close thing. Improved training lights, which had been installed during the summer, an upgrade of the kitchen and new chairs for the clubrooms put big strains on the budget. Our new Treasurer had found his first year quite a challenge and warned in the annual report that such improvements for the benefit of playing and non-playing members came at a financial cost.
It was with relief we started the 1997 season still in the premier division. Allan Lowe was in the second of his four years as President, and in a significant first for the club Kaye Purkis had been elected Hon. Secretary. Trevor Gawne continued as Treasurer.
In July the Bledisloe Cup Match was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The V.R.U. finally had convinced the A.R.U. after years of lobbying that Melbourne could host a successful major rugby union test match. It was a huge success, resulting in regular Wallabies tests in Melbourne. Our fund-raising committee, headed by Peter Bolton, saw this as an excellent opportunity for the club to make some much-needed money. The A.R.U. and V.R.U. set up a scheme that allowed Melbourne rugby clubs to sell Bledisloe Cup tickets to their members and earn a commission. Peter Bolton’s team was so effective they made the club $10,000. The A.R.U. thought this excessive and discontinued the scheme. We, nevertheless, used the week of the big match as a catalyst for other events. On Sunday 20th July Victoria played Western Australia at our ground, on the Tuesday evening there was a TV broadcast from the clubhouse across the Tasman to New Zealand. On Wednesday the Juniors held their Dinner at the clubhouse, and on Thursday there was a special Gala Dinner with Wallaby and Kangaroo great Ray Price as guest speaker. Harlequins showed incredible stamina, because on the Friday we held a “Back to Quins Night” for all those Harlequins who had drifted away from the club in recent years. Match day we offered pre- and post match drinks at the club and for true believers we held Sunday Sips the day after. The Hobart Harlequins came over for the match and enthusiastically took part in all the club offerings during that frantic week. It was rugby at its best.
After the dramas of the relegation play-off in 1996 the committee’s decided to commence training in November 1966 and organise a pre-season game against Gordon in Sydney. It did much to develop the first team squad. It was necessity after losing some eight senior first team players including Andrew Scott, Manu Valentini and Lawrence Mawhinney. We replaced them through a mixture of good recruiting and developing promising young players such as Andrew Bennett, Dion Warburton, Will Beale, Justin Berger and Trent Boustead. The early part of the season was, not surprisingly, patchy but the pre-season training and trip to Sydney paid off in the second round of the competition giving us a number of stirring victories. In fact, by the end of the season we were playing better than Box Hill and Moorabbin who made the finals. It was, however, a huge improvement on 1996 and positioned us well for 1998.
Les Rangiawtha returned to the coaching fold with the second team after a break of two seasons. Despite the usual cannibalisation of the second team by the firsts in the second half of the season they were there yet again in the grand final. In a disappointing match against Box Hill we gifted them a single point premiership.
The third team’s season was also disappointing on the field as the results belied the talent in the team. Off the field they were, as usual, the social backbone of the club.
It seemed there was a curse hanging over the colts. In the first match of the season six players left the field injured, including one with a broken collarbone and another with a serious knee injury. Half way into the season with injuries overcome and form returning, we lost 12 players to the State colts and U19’s squads. Despite the difficulties the team had encountered they found themselves in third position and felt they had a chance in the finals. Not to be. Several players made themselves unavailable - our sixteen-man squad included two suffering injuries and one who was making his second ever appearance in a game of rugby. Our exit from the finals was to be expected but was nevertheless a real disappointment.
The juniors, still being led by Rod Abbott, recruited well with 135 registered players. The Wednesday evening training became a magnet for parents and assorted senior club members to come to the club and enjoy a beer, chardonnay or cup of tea. Prodigious numbers of mars bars were also being consumed.
The new season beckoned with an experienced and mostly unchanged committee. Neil Carter became the new first team coach with a very experienced assistant in Wayne Hunt. Despite his well earned reputation as a hard “knuckleman” in the front row Neil was a rugby thinker and able to communicate his vision to the team and club very eloquently. The arrival of Brock Parker was a huge benefit. Not only was he an excellent player, having captained the Australian U.21 side, but possessed exceptional leadership qualities that have served the club well ever since. Other talented recruits combined with the maturing of some of our young players gave Neil an excellent squad to work with. We enjoyed another pre-season trip to Sydney to play Gordon. Not only was it a good hit-out against strong opposition but a needed reconfirmation of our strong links to the Sydney club. Our second team, coached by Mark Sawyer and Allan Campbell, was also strong and, assuming no major injury problems, we could anticipate a successful season for our senior teams. The colts were coached by Andrew Scott, a dynamic back-row forward with the club and Victoria, who was in the early stages of a very successful coaching career. From the Harlequins he went on to first grade clubs in Queensland, as a professional coach before moving to Japan for (hopefully) the real money.
Our expectations were largely met when we finished second in both First Grade and Second Grade behind the Melbourne Club and won the Minor Premiership in colts grade with Melbourne second. Thus we made three grand finals playing our traditional rivals Melbourne.
The grand final lunch at the Kelvin Club on Friday 18th September was well attended and Neil Carter gave his coach’s perspective of our chances. He was confident and believed we had the side and the game plan to beat Melbourne.
Initially, it looked as if we did. The finals were played at the John Cain Memorial Park in Thornbury and the second team played at 1.30pm on a different pitch to the first grade final at 3.00pm. The second team’s epic win against Melbourne meant our supporters could not make the start of the first team’s match. This mattered little as we made a flying start and were leading 7 points to nil before most of us had entered the ground. That was, however, the last of the good news as Melbourne beat us convincingly to record their first premiership since the 60’s.
Winning two out of three looked good statistically, but we would have willingly swapped the second and colts teams’ premierships for the first team’s runners-up trophy.
The juniors had their usual mixture of enthusiasm, varying standards, teams with too many players, team with not enough and age groups where the competition was too strong or not strong enough. Wednesday training nights continued to be busy with many former players meeting for a drink while their sons and daughters (girls were eligible and welcome to play in the U.8, 10 and 12 age groups) trained. It was at these sessions that Stan Gyles introduced his Super 12 Tipping Competition, which is still operating, albeit now on the internet. We also hosted the Griff Hunt trophy competition for interstate and Victorian junior teams as well as the VRU junior finals competition. As well as being revenue earners, these competitions provide much needed publicity for our club.
At the AGM the club’s first strategic plan was adopted with the Mission Statement being:
To be the Premier Rugby Club in Victoria by providing an environment where we excel in Rugby, have a professional administration and a strong social and community involvement.
To support that mission a number of new committee positions was introduced, job descriptions for each committee position were written ( Keith Jones must have been smiling, because he had made identical proposals in 1970 when he was elected President) and measurable targets for specific areas of the club were agreed on. Such management processes are difficult to introduce in companies where employees are paid but in amateur clubs with unpaid volunteers it is almost impossible. Two key positions, Chair of Marketing and Chair of Social could not be filled, which put our plans in immediate jeopardy.
One aspect of the Mission Statement, “the strong community involvement” was effectively carried out when John Ross was appointed first team coach (with the new title of Director of Coaching) with additional paid responsibilities as a schools liaison officer. John was a Wallaby who had played his competitive rugby with the ACT Brumbies. He was also studying Sports Management at Deakin University, so this represented a significant change in our approach to coaching and marketing the game and our club to the Victorian public. Alan Campbell formally resigned as a club coach after 17 very successful seasons, but fortunately for us, his determination to retire permanently wavered as we shall see later.
The first team with a new coach full of ideas and Super 12 experience and led on the field by Brock Parker was a class outfit. With an average age of 21-22 they played attractive rugby scoring more than 100 tries – an average of almost 6 per game – and completed the season in second place with a better percentage than the Minor Premiers Box Hill.
The Kelvin Club grand final lunch was another blockbuster. Stan Gyles had managed to get John Lambie as guest speaker. John had played for the Wallabies in 1974 and 1975 and was a talented and enjoyable speaker. Playing for the Wallabies in the mid 70’s with John Lambie would have been a lot of fun!
The grand final against Box Hill played for the first time at their ground was a blockbuster as well. The huge Box Hill pack had been well held by our smaller but very aggressive pack and our backs had played their usual attractive rugby to be leading with just minutes to go. Box Hill to their credit never gave up and levelled the score almost on the final whistle. Extra time was precisely what we did not need. The big Box Hill pack finally gained the upper hand and steamrollered us to win the Major Premiership for the first time in their club’s history. Whilst we were pleased to see them finally win that elusive flag we were not happy for it to be at our expense, particularly as it was a repeat of the previous year’s result.
Happily for the second team their repeat of last year’s result meant successive Premierships at their fifth successive appearance in grand finals.
As part of our never-ending search for new sources of revenue Andy Corp and Stan Gyles inaugurated the Harlequin darts association. We played in the eastern region and, with two teams, it meant we had one of our teams playing at Ashwood every Thursday evening. Darts players are natural drinkers and the Thursday night bar takings made up for those foregone at training evenings (caused by our non-drinking senior players – our founding fathers must be turning in their graves!). Darts became a surprisingly successful event for the club attracting a wide cross section of members. Who would have expected to see Reg Wilkinson, Peter Bolton plus son-in-law, Mike Bull plus son, Roy Capener plus son, Jim Blackie, Ray Baty, Mark Baxter, Ken Quigg and Les Rangiawha playing darts not only at Ashwood but in a variety of pubs, pool halls, RSL clubs and bowling clubs throughout the eastern suburbs.
The election of Peter Bolton as President brought the most successful club player and son of the most influential Harlequin to the top spot. Having first played for the Harlequins as a junior in 1956 and observed his father’s role as President and elder statesman for many years, he brought a sense of continuity and permanence to the role. He was nevertheless very aware that the first team had not won a First Grade Premiership since 1992 despite a couple of grand final appearances. Bob Butt had resumed as Hon. Secretary, and Peter secured the services of his business partner Eric Estlin as Treasurer. The new position of Immediate Past President immediately giving Peter the benefit of Allan Low’s experience. There was, therefore, a feeling of anticipation for the new team at the helm for the new millennium.
The new millenium was not without its unpleasant surprises and in July 2000 we were shocked to hear of the death of Randolph (Randy) Creswell due to heart failure. It was not just that Randy was only 64 years old bur he had always had an aura of indestructibility about him. He was big and strong, looked after himself and his world seemed to be totally in order. During his almost 40 years membership of the club he had played in the 1962 1st Grade Premiers, the 1967 side that geat Gordon and the Cavaliers as well as offering his home for club functions over the years. We all knew he was an excellent engineer but the extent of theachievements in his professional life was never mentioned by him. It was a measure of Randy, the man that Archbishop Hollingsworth, who had studied at Melbourne University with him, flew down from Brisbane to lead the thanksgiving service. His obituary in The Age said it all.
Harlequins, being a sentimental lot, eagerly took up Mark Baxter’s idea to host a 25th anniversary celebration of the 1975 First Grade Premiership, particularly as he agreed to organise it. The first task was to track down the fifteen players. Full back, Mark Thornton was lost somewhere in country Victoria and could not be found. Right wing David Simpson was found in Auckland but could not make it. Centres John Stone (still in Melbourne) and Tim Cornforth (resident in Canberra) both made it, as did left wing Mark Baxter. Fly half Jamie McAree was contacted in Brisbane but could not come down. Scrum half and captain Rex Harris, resident in Sydney, immediately said yes. The forwards were also difficult to track down. Props Adrian Boulton and Noel Telford, in Melbourne still, both agreed immediately. Hooker Jeremy Courtenay, now residing in France, was found through the magic of the internet but did not think he would come. Second row Peter Bolton and current President was on board but his partner Grant Pargeter was unfindable somewhere in the UK. Of the three back row forwards Ian Diery did not return any calls made to him in California. Gordon Smith was found in Sydney but could not make the weekend, while Jim McCaffrey was able to join us. Although the first team was not in the grand final it was agreed to hold a special 1975 anniversary grand final lunch at the Toohey’s Victorian Offices in Malvern on Friday 1st September 2000 (the rugby season had been brought forward because of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney). As one wag remarked we had finally been able to organise “a piss-up in a brewery”. After the long and liquid lunch we popped over to the Malvern Vale for a few more sentimental ales.
The Malvern Vale had been our standard destination after training in the sixties and seventies. The tall stories and reminiscences continued on to Saturday, the V.R.U. finals day held at Box Hill Rugby Club, which unfortunately featured only the Harlequins second team-it did not win! It was then back to the clubrooms at Ashwood to celebrate the end of the season and to begin the endless discussions of the relevant merits of the 1975 team as compared to the 2000 team.
Whatever the comparisons between the two first teams it was clear the overall standard of the club was higher in 2000. Our first, second and third teams all finished the season in the top two positions on the ladders, while the colts just missed the finals series in fifth position. Our first team coach John Ross had fulfilled his development as well as coaching roles. He organised pre-season trials against the Canberra Royals in the ACT attended by 22 players. He facilitated numerous coaching clinics and courses and worked unceasingly to maintain relationships with the private schools in the Melbourne area. Schools team sports were, and still are, played mainly by the private schools.
Our relationship with the Monash Harlequins Cricket Club was still rather informal. They drank at the bar in our clubhouse – with some enthusiasm – we are pleased to note, but they kept their own books. In fact no formal merger had ever taken place, although the committee had agreed to it in principle. Thus we had an unsatisfactory situation with a variety of minor sports being played under the auspices of The Harlequin Club, each with a different relationship. There was a golf group organised by David Bray that played regularly but infrequently at courses around Melbourne and environs on a social basis. Darts was played primarily to increase the use of the clubhouse and takings in the bar although, with three men’s teams and one women’s team, it had become a successful and popular fringe activity among club members. It was the brainchild of Andy Corp and Stan Gyles. Andy Corp later became President of the Melbourne Eastern Darts Association which led to the finals of the competition being played at Ashwood (in addition to home games during the season). Darts and golf were played fully within the club framework because all participants were club members or guests, while the Monash Harlequins used our name and shared our facilities but were a separate legal entity. Colin Rowlinson raised the cricket club as an issue at the 2000 AGM but the relationship remains unclear still. At that AGM Peter Bolton formally acknowledged the Australian Sports Medal received by Colin Rowlinson by reading out the letter received from the Governor General. This medal is a Federal Government initiative to recognise outstanding contributions to Australian sport. Colin’s name was put forward by the Australian Rugby Union for his many years service to rugby union in Victoria as President of the V.R.U. and in Australia as a Vice President of the A.R.U. We Harlequins just think he is a top bloke!
The major committee change was the election of Tony Barnes as Treasurer. Tony was a bustling wing or centre who had played for the club in the 70’s, having been instructed to do so by Dick Carter his boss at BHP. Tony had maintained his connections to the club, but various overseas postings meant he had not been active in the administration. Tony was brought back to the fold through his son Damien, a talented winger.
John Ross was appointed Victorian Coach so we had to find a suitable replacement for the first team. Peter Tari brought with him an assistant coach, Rob Ah Khoui who looked after fitness training and ran the backs. Rob was also coach of the Victorian Schoolboys team and a very busy man. Rob looked impressive wearing a dark suit to matches that made him look like an NBL basketball coach. Brock Parker took on the colts and did an excellent job getting them to the finals, which exceeded our expectations.
Harlequin stalwart Eric Grant died after a long and brave fight against cancer. Eric had joined the club in 1961 and after his playing career had maintained his association with the club through the ubiquitous Friday lunch club, where he was “Finesmaster” for several years. In typical style the lunch club decided to have a special lunch on 11th May at the Sorrento Pub – Eric had retired to Sorrento – as a wake while he was still alive. The usual lunch club suspects met at Ashwood to travel by coach to Sorrento, while many of Eric’s earlier Harlequin mates made the journey individually to Sorrento. It was a memorable day full of memories and good fellowship although there was hardly a dry eye in the room when the Harlequin song was sung at the conclusion. Just over one month later on 20th June the same group gathered in Sorrento for his funeral. Eric was buried with his Harlequin Jersey and a good bottle of red. The Harlequin song was sung one last time for him.
There were great expectations in the Victorian rugby community in 2001 because of the tour to Australia of the British and Irish Lions tour particularly as one test match was planned for Melbourne. It soon became apparent that among the thousands of Lions supporters in Melbourne there would be British clubs on tour, who might also be interested in playing some rugby. Our President Peter Bolton thought this was too good an opportunity to miss.
After the success of the 1975 Premiership reunion the year before Peter asked Mark Baxter to look into some form of celebration to coincide with the Lions test on 7th July. With the help of the internet, local tour operators and the Melbourne rugby network we found four British club sides that would be visiting Melbourne. Keith Jones, through his contacts with the London Harlequins, was advised that the Harlequin Gentlemen would be in Melbourne. The Gentlemen evolved from their 1980 5th team and tour overseas every two years or so. Just our cup of tea. Owain Jones’s son, who was working in England, heard that the Old Elizabethans from Bristol were visiting Melbourne and might like a game. He gave us a contact and they came on-board very quickly. Fairwater RFC from the Cardiff area were also keen followers of the Lions, having witnessed their last and very successful tour to South Africa. The Melbourne leg of their tour was being handled by Richard Lee, a travel consultant who specialised in overseas exotic travel. How he came to be hosting a bunch of hard-bitten (hardly exotic!) Welsh rugby-players was never explained to us. Richard was however known to us. He played first team rugby for Melbourne High School in the 1950’s with Peter Bolton and was a member of our veterans’ party that toured Hawaii and North America in 1981. SET Barbarians was a social side based in south-east England consisting of players from clubs like Spalding, Tring and Southampton University. We heard about them on the Web. From Melbourne our very own veterans entered a side organised by Terry Molloy and the Melbourne Masters, a composite veterans side run by Pat Drennan, also put their hand up. All we then had to do was organise it!
Friday night heralded the tournament with a cocktail party for all teams with music provided by the Clare Castle Jazz Band.
As with all Harlequin events there was a surprise on the morning of the tournament. The Melbourne Masters had to withdraw due to injuries or alcoholic poisoning. This withdrawal was welcomed by the remaining five teams as it reduced the number of games they had to play in the round-robin. Ten matches of 15 minutes were played from 11.30am to 1.30pm to establish the league table after which, at 2.30pm third played second for the Plate and at 3.15pm first played second for the Cup - the finals being two 15 minutes halves. The cup final turned out to be a surprisingly tough match between the Harlequin Gentlemen and Fairwater RFC. The Harlequin Gentlemen, who included ex-Lion Peter Winterbottom, were “taken on” by a very vigorous Fairwater, who were evidently keen to show those effete Harlequins what was what! In the end the Gentlemen won by kicking a penalty in a tight game.
Andy Corp had produced some special merchandise for the tournament, including caps, T-Shirts and polos, which were a big seller. Eating and drinking were also indulged in the grand manner and the tournament was a financial as well as a rugby success. All those with tickets went to the test match at the Colonial Stadium and repaired to the Bull & Bear hotel after the game for drinks and supper. The Bull & Bear, owned by Harlequin and former committee member Graeme Rennie, normally opened Monday to Friday due to its location in the Melbourne CBD. We asked Graeme to open it for pre and post match drinks. It was a great night. The bars were full of Harlequins, Lions and Wallaby supporters all enjoying themselves. For the strong we had organised brunch for the following Sunday morning at the College Lawn Hotel in Prahran, owned by another Harlequin Richard Gilbert. Numbers were down but a small group of stalwarts including the Old Elizabethans made it to Prahran for some cleansing ales. Rugby and the Victorian economy were the big winners – as well as the Wallabies – over that weekend.
The normal rugby season seemed to be a little overshadowed by the Lions tour and other off-field events. The first team, which had only five players from the previous season, started by losing the first three matches and new coach Peter Tari was wondering what he had let himself in for. It was certainly difficult for him in his first year as a senior coach but he made a conscious decision to consult some seven senior players about decisions and this led to changes in training and pre-match preparation. This change had an immediate positive effect and the team not only started to win but to win well. Beating eventual Premiers Box Hill 36 points to 24 away and Melbourne University 25 points to nil in the first semi-final were the highlights, but a narrow loss to Northcote in the elimination final was very disappointing, particularly as it was a result of our errors.
At the V.R.U. Awards Night on 12th September that tireless worker Roy Capener was presented with one of six Distinguished Service Awards by the V.R.U. to members of rugby clubs who have contributed to rugby life. For the record over 20 years: Roy has been Secretary and Treasurer of the juniors; managed the U18’s and colts for three years; managed the bar and gear sales for four years; built cabinets and trophy cabinets (he is a first class cabinet maker); handled registrations; supported darts and refereed for six years. It was an honour well earned.
At the AGM in October two members were granted life membership. Mary Brooker, whose late husband Don had been President and whose son Phil has played in junior and senior teams, including the 1992 first grade premiers, became our first ever female to receive the honour. It was well deserved. Apart from supporting her family for many years she had taken over the running of the canteen and provided a marvellous service to all members. During the season she has provided hot food on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday training nights for juniors and seniors as well as on Saturday match days. To keep her hand in she also provided refreshments for the Thursday darts-evenings in winter and summer. She had twice been awarded the Nick Driver Harlequin of the Year Award. In addition she offered her lovely home for club Christmas parties.
Mike Bull had made a big impact on the club since joining in 1989. First as a player, then as coach, President, Hon. Secretary, Club Captain and finally Chairman of juniors. In every role he was successful even as a parent with his sons playing for the club and his daughter marrying a Harlequin player.
For the 2002 season there were major changes to the committee. Peter Bolton could no longer devote the time necessary to the presidency and was replaced by Tony Barnes. Barbara Haugh took over the role of Treasurer, but Bob Butt remained Hon. Secretary to maintain continuity. It turned out to be a rather subdued year. The excitement of the Lions tour in 2001 and the promise of our 75th anniversary and the Rugby World Cup in 2003 seemed somehow to leave 2002 in limbo. Very important decisions were taken to redevelop our facilities during 2003 but the planning and organization necessary to reach those decisions did not cause much reaction or excitement in the club. The playing results were OK but did not spark any enthusiasm. Three senior and three junior (now called youth) teams made the finals but no Premiership was won. Strange things were, however, happening with the veterans. Not only were they training on the field rather than in the bar but they had a full team with reserves! Matthew Tiplady, captain and manager, had certainly used all his enthusiasm and marketing experience to create the strongest veterans squad in years. Only later in the season did we learn he had entered a joint team with Melbourne University Rugby Club into the World Masters Games being held in Melbourne in October. This team of 22 Harlequins and 10 University players even created a new jersey combining the Harlequin quarters with a splash on University blue. To cap it off they called themselves the Harlequin Academicals-an oxymoron if ever there was one! Nevertheless they played well and won the silver medal against a very strong Vikings side in the final of the competition. So strong, in fact, one of their players Paul Gascoigne played in the Premiership winning Moorabbin first grade team. It was a novel experience for the club’s most noteworthy rugby performance to come from the veterans.
With rugby completed for the year members’ thoughts were moving to rest and rehabilitation, free Saturdays and better weather. In November the club became the centre of our universe for the worst possible reason. Philippe Gyles, son of Mary and Stan Gyles (Life Member and former President), was a most promising junior having played for the State and State Schools and the Harlequins – 100 plus games - for many years. On November 15th, having recently turned 15 years, he died of a congenital brain aneurism after exercising on the ergo machine at his school. It was a terrible blow for his family and the emotional outpourings of grief and sympathy were eloquently recorded in his obituary which appeared in the Age Newspaper.
It was, therefore, with astonishment and gratitude the club heard of the offer made by the Gyles family to fund competition standard floodlights for our number one playing pitch. To be known as the “Philippe Gyles Memorial Floodlights” they would complement the building of new changing and committee rooms as a redevelopment and improvement of our existing facilities.
The major anniversary event was the redevelopment of the clubhouse by building extensive changing, committee, first aid and referees rooms onto the existing structure. Together with the new floodlights it would give the Harlequins the best playing facilities by far in Victoria and better than most in Australia. Our President, Tony Barnes took on this development as his first priority, and his extensive business skills and experience gained at BHP and Pasminco were a huge plus. Hon. Secretary, Bob Butt, was also very involved in the initial process. He chaired various meetings with representative groups of club members to gain approval for the project and managed the first negotiations with the City of Monash. Hon. Secretary is probably the most time intensive committee role and it was decided to select a project manager with sole responsibility. As covered in an earlier chapter Tony Barnes appointed Allison and Rod Abbott as joint project managers, which was a masterstroke. Rod, a former Chairman of the juniors and Hon. Secretary, had recently retired after a long and successful corporate career with BP and Access Computing and needed a new challenge. Allison, his wife, an architect, who had made an important contribution to the design of the original clubhouse, was also looking for that new challenge. And what a challenge it was. Dealing with the City of Monash, raising the $175,000.00 club contribution, selecting the builder, managing planning approvals, keeping club members informed and staying within budget was not easy. The result was a triumph for the club and the official opening on Friday 7th November marked a new era.
The 2003 75th Anniversary Dinner was held at the Victoria Club on the 41st floor of the Rialto building. Planned and organised by Jim Blackie and Charlie Grieve and, with some help from Mark Baxter, the evening turned out to be a huge success. Harlequins came from near and far to be a part of it. Long-term member and coach Geoff Missen dragged himself from Adelaide, as did Geoff Naylor and Doug McClymont from Sydney. Barry Howatson managed to fiddle a business trip in Melbourne to justify his flight from Auckland! Several Harlequins were unable to attend because they were otherwise engaged as liaison officers for RWC sides in Australia for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Don Cannon, who was looking after Scotland and Peter Tari Tonga, were both in camp with their teams and unable to secure leave passes.
The highlight of the evening was the presentation of an abridged history of the club.
The evening was splendidly managed by Master of Ceremonies, Stan Gyles, particularly as the effects of good wine, and plenty of it, took their toll on some of the members. Although the evening officially ran from 7.00pm to 1.00am most complained there was too little time to talk to everyone there. President Tony Barnes had the good sense to book a room in the Meridien Hotel next to the Rialto Building but the bad sense to let some Harlequins know! Consequently the party rolled on his room until approx 03.00am, until a complaint to the front desk from the room next door compulsorily wound it up around 3.00am. It was only later in the morning at breakfast did Tony learn that Mike Bull, Chairman of the juniors, had taken that room next door unbeknown to Tony.
Although the season was now officially over there was still much to be achieved in our anniversary year. The Rugby World Cup began on 10th October and, for those without tickets to the many games, our clubhouse was to become their RWC headquarters for the following six weeks. Wasada University of Tokyo were touring Australia to watch RWC matches and to play games against Australian clubs. With the clubhouse extension just completed we were keen to be part of their tour. They trained at Ashwood on 8/9/10th October before playing a combined Melbourne/Harlequins team on Saturday 11th October. The match at 10.30am giving us time to get to the Telstra Dome in time for the 2.00pm RWC match between the All Blacks and Italy.
Early in 2002 the committee had wondered what kind of rugby celebration should be held to mark the 75 years. When we learned that Melbourne would host two quarter-finals for the Rugby World Cup we thought it would be ideal for an international rugby tournament for Harlequin clubs. Mark Baxter was given the task of organising it. Mark co-opted Keith Jones to help and Harlequin clubs in Belfast, Blenheim, Campbelltown, Dallas, Denver, Hamilton (NZ), Hawaii, Hobart, London, Nairobi, Pretoria and Timaru were invited. We received acceptances from Campbelltown, Hamilton, London and Nairobi. To our great disappointment London withdrew in early 2003 and in September we received the tragic news from Nairobi that one of their players had been killed in a training accident and that they obviously would not be touring. With only three teams, including us, in the tournament we needed another team quickly. Tony Barnes agreed to “find” a President’s Barbarians side that bore a remarkable resemblance to our good friends at the Melbourne Rugby Club. Their coach Greg Fergus had played U12 rugby for us so it was not too difficult to rope them in! The Hobart Harlequins did not enter a team but sent Peter Wilshire to represent them. Hobart has been through some very poor years recently and had to withdraw from the Tasmanian first grade competition. Happily they have stepped back from the brink and would be playing in First Grade again in the 2004 season.
The Hamilton Harlequins decided to send a group of Under 19’s and 21’s from the Waikato province under their policy of developing young talent. The players were highly talented and we hope to see many of them playing NPC rugby in the coming years. They were very well organised with a six-man coaching and administration group plus family and supporters. They arrived from New Zealand early on Melbourne Cup morning and, once settled, went to the race meeting which stops the nation. On Wednesday they played the Victorian Country XV at Ashwood to warm-up for our tournament.
Campbelltown Harlequins were somewhat less professionally prepared. They travelled by minibus from N.S.W. on Friday (12 glorious hours) and made straight for the fleshpots of Melbourne.
The first day comprised a round-robin of six half-hour games (15 minutes each way). Hamilton showed their class and looked the side to beat. Hot sunshine took its toll in the later matches and all teams (particularly Campbelltown) drained some amber fluid to cool themselves down. The league table stood as: Hamilton, Melbourne, Ba-Ba’s, Campbelltown. Those with tickets for the New Zealand v South Africa quarter final at Telstra Dome left early to get to the 6.30pm game.
On Sunday the opening match between Campbelltown and the Ba-Ba’s was cancelled because Campbelltown had maintained their Friday night form on Saturday and were unable to take the field. The Ba-Ba’s did not seem to object as they had also had an enjoyable Saturday night. As a punishment the Campbelltown captain was “forced” to drink a “boot-full” out of the famous club prosthetic leg and boot. With that successfully downed the Campbelltown Harlequins jumped into their mini-bus for another 12 hours of driving bliss.
The final between the Hamilton and Melbourne Harlequin sides turned out to be a lot closer than anticipated. Canny Melbourne coach Brock Parker produced players who had not played on Saturday and who were surprisingly fresh. The cloud cover had increased, the temperature was a few degrees lower and the Melbourne players were determined not to let themselves down. The game was quite a contrast to the Saturday contest with Melbourne in the faces of the Hamilton team who lost some of their composure. The final result was never in doubt, but the Hamilton defence was split on occasions. They knew they had been in a game. To finish the tournament the Hamilton team performed a celebratory Haka that was well received by players and spectators alike. At the presentations the Hamilton captain also drank the “boot-full” after receiving the winner’s trophy. The France v Ireland quarter-final was to be played at Telstra Dome at 6.30pm, so it was full speed in the bar for 90 minutes before everyone drifted off to see the match. Hamilton Harlequins had enjoyed their six days that ended with the All Black’s convincing win against the Springboks. It had been very successful for our club as well. The new changing facilities had been well and truly christened, the tournament had run almost perfectly and the bar, food and merchandise receipts had been excellent.
In the midst of all the celebrations there was a rugby season to be organised and run. The first team on paper looked very strong we were weakened by the loss of four top players to the early season State team matches. Nevertheless, on our day we were perhaps the strongest and most attacking team in the competition. This was no better illustrated in the Bolton-Bott Challenge match between the Melbourne Club and Harlequins. Peter Bolton and Charlie Bott have been stalwarts on and off the rugby pitch for their respective clubs and it had been decided to inaugurate an annual match between the two clubs in 2002. Melbourne won the first challenge in 2002, and we were keen to win it for the first time at our Ashwood headquarters. Tony Barnes held a President’s lunch to precede and celebrate the match. The Mayor of Monash Geoff Lake and the local Member of Parliament Bob Stensholt were special guests plus a collection of Melbourne and Harlequin Club members. After the usual speeches and banter between the clubs we put on a superb display of attacking rugby to trounce Melbourne 38 points to 5. This turned out to be our season’s high point and was, in fact, the last match we won. After losing the last five games we made the four by the skin of our teeth, beating Powerhouse on percentage We lost the first semi-final to Melbourne who, much to our chagrin, went on to win the Premiership leaving us to consider what might have been – or perhaps what should have been. Thank goodness for Allan Campbell’s second team! After looking workmanlike and solid rather than brilliant the team rose to the occasion in the finals to win the flag..
The juniors ran teams in the U.8’s, 10’s, 12’s(two), 13’s, 15’s, and 17’s competitions and it was always a pleasure on Wednesday evenings to visit Ashwood to see small rugby players swarming all over the two pitches. Both U.12 teams and U.13’s made the finals but the older age groups struggled against some very talented (and big) teams from other clubs. Mike Bull retired as Chairman of youth after three highly successful years.
At the AGM on 20th November Tony Barnes was able to look back on a most enjoyable 75th anniversary year. We had built superb changing rooms with competition standard floodlights to come, we had traced our roots via our seven home grounds, we put on a fabulous anniversary dinner, and the history of the club was well under way. Bob Butt relinquished the position of Hon. Secretary, which he had handled with great skill and dedication. His legacy would be: written and published procedures for the running of the club; a long term strategic plan for the club; an effective email communication system for most club members; a major contribution to the planning of the extensions as well as all the usual (myriad) duties of a club secretary.
Tony also looked to the future. The new club amenities would require new ways of cleaning and maintaining them, we would need to spend more in upkeep, we would have to develop ways to utilise them to our benefit and to the benefit of rugby in Victoria. We would certainly need to improve our success rate at the highest level in the V.R.U. competition. He was certain the club and its members would rise to the challenge just as it had done in the past to provide opportunities for all to play, watch, administer and just have a good time. The final act of the season was the conferring of life membership on two Harlequin stalwarts. Alan Campbell who had joined the club in 1973, played many games in all grades and ended up our most successful coach. His 2003 premiership with the second team was his 9th as a club coach. Roy Capener did not feature on the playing field but was a key Juniors’committee member for many years and more recently had held the onerous role of registrar. Roy is also an expert cabinet-maker and the attractiveness and functionality of the bar and canteen owe much to his efforts and skills.
A fitting end to our 75th year as one of the premier sporting clubs in Victoria but, as a member kindly advised us, we did not start playing rugby until the 1929 season so our 75 years should include the 2004 playing season. This intervention was fortunate because the 2004 season certainly ended with a bang. It did not start quietly either. Wendy Rhind, wife of the new Chairman of Juniors Stuart Rhind, took over from Bob Butt as Hon. Secretary to work with a largely unchanged committee.
The first major event of the playing season was the dedication of the Philippe Gyles Memorial Floodlights on Friday 16th April. The inaugural match was appropriately between the Harlequins and Box Hill U18’s sides. Phil commenced his rugby career with Box Hill (Harlequins did not have an U.8 team that year) and played his 100th junior match against them on 24th August 2002. The Hon. Bob Stensholt, State Member for Burwood, representing Justin Madden (Minister for Sport and Recreation), President Tony Barnes and Stan Gyles were the speakers.
Following that match the first ever Victorian Premier Grade match to be played under lights took place between Harlequins and Southern Districts. It was a sad but uplifting occasion and the lights exceeded our expectations. It was the start of a series of matches to be played under lights that would not only display our superb facilities but would present rugby in Victoria in a very attractive and professional manner.
The Juniors seemed to find a new lease of life under Stuart Rhind completing the season with 220 registered players, a club record. Whilst this looked very positive, on closer examination it highlighted a looming problem for the club as a whole. The U.18 side struggled to field 15 players every week, which showed we were losing players during their late secondary school years. As our Colts (U.21) side also struggled with numbers it meant we had to fill our senior teams either from new arrivals to Melbourne, poach from other clubs or convince university students or disgruntled footy players to take up rugby. The obvious challenge is to somehow ensure we keep the hordes of youngsters in the game with Harlequins. The dilemma is not new. We started junior rugby in 1956 to address this problem and almost 50 years later it still has not been satisfactorily resolved. The first, second and third teams all played inconsistently but very well from time to time. The first team’s head coach was Brock Parker, one of our best ever backs, and Neil Carter forwards coach. Neil, despite his long association with the V.R.U. Tribunal, is one of the deeper thinkers in our club. Mike Hammond, coach of our 1989 premiership side was Manager, so in all it was a high quality outfit. Despite this, some older club members did not think we had the side to beat Moorabbin, the dominant team during the season, particularly as they had beaten us twice quite convincingly during the home and away matches. This feeling was not lessened by a very poor last but one game against Box Hill, which we lost heavily, despite Box Hill being just a shadow of their early 2000 sides. Apart from Moorabbin the finals contenders were all over the place and we managed an unlikely second place with the desirable double chance. As it happened we did not need it. We played Moorabbin off the park to move straight into the grand final.
Meanwhile, the committee had been planning how to maximise the value we could extract from our new facilities and proposed to the V.R.U. that we host the preliminary finals. As expected Bob did a great job organising the day. We used both pitches with the first game at 9.15am and the last at 5.15pm under lights. Bob recruited 85 volunteers from all parts of the club membership. Former club and V.R.U. President Colin Rowlinson, now in his 70’s, did a stint as a car park official and many more did likewise. It was both a success for rugby and a showcase for the Harlequin Club, its excellent facilities and first class administration. To our great surprise we watched Melbourne beat Moorabbin comprehensively in their elimination final to set up the grand final between Harlequins and our great rivals Melbourne.
Tony Barnes, horrified to learn his employer needed him in the US for important business discussions, reluctantly left the following Tuesday in a foul mood. Stan Gyles quickly moved to organise the traditional Grand Final Lunch at the Kelvin Club in Melbourne Place. Our last visit there had been in 2000 before our loss to Box Hill in extra time. Brock Parker addressed the group and was strongly questioned about tactics. Some of our older “armchair Generals” thought we had got it wrong in 2000. The Box Hill ground where the finals are played is domed in the centre and the slope can affect a game, particularly in gusting wind. It had been a very wet week and even worse weather was forecast for Saturday and all wondered how our players, excellent dry weather runners, would cope with the conditions. Brock gave nothing away. He had played in that 2000 final so he felt the tactics would be right. As if on cue it started raining as Brock left the lunch and it continued all night and most of Saturday.
Earlier during the week the V.R.U. had held its presentation evening to celebrate the 2004 season. It was a great evening for the club. Steve Eskrigge won three first grade Premier Division Awards: the Bundaberg Player of the Year (for the second year in succession); Leading Try Scorer 12 tries; and Highest Points Scorer 172 points. To crown it all Tony Barnes won the award for Best Club Administrator of the Year. All these awards were well and good, but the only award the club really wanted was the Premiership.
Despite the weather and the wear and tear of three earlier matches, the pitch for the 3.10pm kick-off was surprisingly firm. The Box Hill Club had done an excellent job preparing the ground.
From the kick-off it was clear there would be no misunderstanding about the game plan and its implementation. After 5 minutes, however, scrum-half, Will Morgan injured his leg and was replaced by veteran Justin Berger. While Justin was a former State fullback and had been playing from the bench this season Harlequins supporters were confident his temperament and experience would enable him to handle the scrum-half position.
Steve Eskigge’s accurate kicks to the north-west corner, accompanied by strong pick and drive, were quickly rewarded by two forward-pack tries from Matt Tully, converted by Eskrigge, and Eugene Multipola. Twelve points up after 13 minutes and all the sceptics’ doubts were effectively removed. Melbourne, by this time were defending desperately, and an errant hand in a ruck led to penalty success from Ekrigge. On the 27 minute mark we won a lineout ball on half way and went open. Full-back Todd Cornford made a clean break from a well timed pass from Eskrigge, straightened, ran 30 metres and off-loaded back to Eskrigge, who went over for his first try of the afternoon without a hand being laid on him. The conversion was a formality and we led 22 points to nil. The Melbourne team and supporters were in a state of shock.
Melbourne managed a well-worked try but the conversion was unsuccessful and at half time we led 22 points to 5. Melbourne came out purposefully and attacked down the left side. A chip to touch on our quarter line was gathered by a covering Eskrigge who just managed to flick the ball inside to Cornford – kick it out shouted the Harlequins faithful from the sidelines – who beautifully stepped two Melbourne attackers and set off on a weaving 70 metre run up the center leaving Melbourne defenders spread-eagled. Winger Bill Bale, following up, arrived just in time to take the pass as Cornford was finally brought down. As he too was tackled Bill slipped the ball to the ever-reliable Eskrigge, who crashed over in the corner. It was without doubt the best try of the season. Melbourne responded with a converted try at 49 minutes to bring the score to 27 points to 12. Willy Kombo managed to score a scrappy try that lacked the class of the previous one but still gave us another 7 points with Eskrigge’s conversion. Melbourne to their credit kept up the pressure and, after 62 minutes, their full back waltzed through some poor tackling to score under the posts. 34 points to 19.
The Harlequins supporters sensed the momentum might be turning in Melbourne’ direction, but Eskrigge scored and converted his own try. 41 points to 19. Melbourne came again with a converted try at the 70 minutes mark. The Melbourne supporters came alive and their team responded with another converted try, but their cheers had barely subsided when Justin Berger picked up the ball from a wheeled scrum to sprint from the quarter line to the corner for an unconverted try. 46 points to 26. By now Harlequins were playing out of their skins and the Melbourne supporters knew it was the end for them. To add insult to injury Harlequins were awarded a penalty on the Melbourne line. Eskrigge took the ball and instead of the expected penalty kick Steve, quick as ever, took a tap and put French breakaway Arnaud Berger away in the corner for an unconverted try. Two minutes later the game was over and Harlequins had won a fabulous match 51 points to 26. Despite the conditions Harlequins had scored the most points in any Premier Division First Grade final in V.R.U. history.
Further history was made during the presentations. For the first time all winners were given medals by the V.R.U., and a new award, “The Paul Gascoigne Medal” was awarded to the best player in the Grand Final. To no one’s surprise it went to Steve Eskrigge who had given an all-round masterful performance in the wet, scoring three tries and kicking one penalty and four conversions for a total of 22 points.
The Harlequins supporters could not believe it. The Harlequin song was sung with genuine passion and emotion by all who crammed into the changing room after the presentations. It had been 12 years since the last First Grade Premiership and everyone wanted to savour the moment.
Team and supporters returned to Ashwood for the celebrations, which were long and raucous. Paul Purkiss finally kicked the boys out at 04.15am, mainly because he had to return at 07.30am to prepare the rooms for the Juniors Presentations at 10.00am!!
The Annual Dinner with Nick Farr-Jones as guest speaker on 24th September was, not surprisingly, a sell-out. Everyone wanted to extend and re-live the euphoria for just a little bit longer. Four of the usual suspects (old farts) spent the Friday afternoon preparing the clubrooms, which certainly looked terrific when members started arriving for the dinner. In his speech Tony Barnes reflected on the achievements of the past 12 months: the dedication and use of the Philippe Gyles Memorial Lights; the hosting by the club of the preliminary finals; the partnership with the Monash University Ladies RUFC and the First Grade Premiership after a wait of 12 years. Nick Farr-Jones gave a memorable speech extolling the satisfaction and rewards he had gained from playing rugby as a junior, at Sydney University and as captain of the Wallabies, particularly holding up “old Bill” at Twickenham in 1991. His only regret was that he had never played in a First Grade club Premiership. He was happy he had played in the amateur era where the love of the game was everything. This was just what everyone wanted to hear as it encapsulated everything the Harlequins stood for. After the speeches it was the usual presentations. The special presentation to the Premiership team was the highlight although the award of Harlequin of the Year to Sandy Ash was very popular. Sandy was rewarded for her great work in the medical team supporting the first and second teams on Tuesdays and Thursdays at training and every match day. Modern teams would be unable to take the field without strappers, masseurs and injury managers like Sandy. Stan Shaw made a special donation to Tony Barnes of a framed photograph of the late David Shepherd, the only Harlequin ever to play for Australia whilst a playing member of the club. The photograph was donated by David’s widow and would be given a special place of pride in our clubrooms. During his speech Nick Farr-Jones had talked about the different cultures of rugby playing nations and had supported the tradition of the All Black’s Haka that evinced an enthusiastic response from the New Zealanders in the club. Nick then had challenged them to perform the Haka that night. The challenge was accepted and some 15 or more removed their dinner jackets and, led by Bob Butt, former Hon. Secretary, gave a most impressive performance, as far as we knew, for the first and only time in the clubrooms. All that was left was a final rendition of the Harlequin song led jointly by David Bray and Eina O’Doull. And what a rendition it was.
Since those first matches in 1929 The Harlequin Club has been constantly evolving, developing and changing. We now have the best facilities, we are holders of the Dewar Shield and our history suggests the future will be an enjoyable ride for all those who care to get aboard. Perhaps we can improve on our record of one First Grade Premiership per decade since the fifties. Whatever happens our members will enjoy the experience and someone else will perhaps make that judgement when we celebrate our centenary.
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