Shield memories: On for Young and Tunks
Former
St George Dragons' prop Craig Young and former South Sydney
prop Peter Tunks gave some special insight into the way rugby
league was played back in the 70s and 80s at the launch of
the 2003 Charity Shield.
Tunks and Young both played in the first Charity Shield game
back in 1982 and there was no holding back from the very first
scrum.
"Pre-season
games often didn’t have much in them," said Tunks.
"But then they came up with the Charity Shield idea."
"The
Charity went to the hospitals along with three or four St
George players."
"We
had a few colourful characters in our forward pack,"
added Tunks, reminiscing about the first game, which the Dragons
won 9-7. "And the St George players took exception when
they stole their handbags at the first scrum."
"That’s
not how I remember it," replied Young. "I remember
Tunksy starting a blue. There were about eight blues. It was
designed to raise money for the respective hospitals –
South Sydney and St George – but for some reason it was
just a 'bash-a-thon'."
The
benefits and proceeds from this year's Charity Shield will
go to Farmhand, Randwick Children's Hospital, Wollongong Public
Hospital and St George Public Hospital but there is unlikely
to be any biff equivalent to the 1982 version – although
Souths' captain Bryan Fletcher joked about the possibility.
The
1982 Charity Shield sides were:
St
George: Brian Johnson, Michel Sorridimi, Graham Quinn, Michael
Beattie, Brian Johnston, Tony Trudgett, Steve Morris, Rod
Reddy, John Jansen, George Grant, Craig Young, John Dowling,
Pat Jarvis.
Souths:
Steve Walsh, Mitch Brennan, Tony Melrose, Michael Pattison,
Graham Murray, Robert Simpkins, Peter Smith, Tony Rampling,
Gary Hambly, Ken Stewart, Ken Stewart, Gary Metcalfe, Shane
Arnold, Stan Browne, Michael Carberry, Ziggy Niszcot, Dean
Rampling, Peter Tunks, Ken Wright.
---
Hugh Baldwin
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