I'm sticking with the Rugby Union theme for another week... with this prized t-shirt!! It goes along with a Randwick Playing Jersey and Cap from the early to mid 1990s... a golden period for the Club.
When I first became interested in Rugby Union the Wallabies were beginning to challenge the All Blacks more regularly through Tony Shaw, Greg Cornelson and an array of back line talent. At the same time a stunningly good Australian Schoolboy team under the coaching of Geoff Mould went on an undefeated tour of the UK/Europe and included a number of young blokes from Matraville High School amongst the usual smattering of Sydney and Brisbane GPS School representatives. A striking memory of that tour was the number of games played in complete fog. One on the weekend sports programs showed the team disappearing on field into that fog and reappearing at the end of the match and no footage of the game was available... It was the 1977/78 side which included players like: Glen, Gary & Mark Ella; Wally Lewis; Michael Hawker; Tony Melrose and even local Dominic Vaugh from the Waratahs Newcastle.
Schoolboy representation is no certain path to the Wallabies but the Randwick club benefitted from a whole generation of talent when you toss in Lloyd Walker and others.
Then came David Campese, Simon Poidevin and the list goes on... I still fondly recall my day at the SFS in the late 1990s and 'that try' scored by Chris Latham who handled several times in a movement started from a looped pass 'in the tackle' by Campo and stretching the length of the field!! Just too good...
Thanks to entry courtesy of Tom Towers I enjoyed the Club's post GF celebrations back at Coogee as well!!
In recent years the Wicks have been up and down, with player equalisation from the Super side, Sydney Uni with degrees and postgraduate studies on tap coinciding with their old boys volunteering to sort the place and some expert coaching... leading to several premierships in a row.
The Club can also be a bit self seeking as I recall in some years we played Randwick trials that for them was a scouting and recruiting trip as there might be more Stuart Pinkerton's up here!!
So, in short, the running game, the club history and the characters it creates are all part of fond memories of Randwick!! The galloping greens!! I am still a member of the Club!!
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