Jay

WA Over 55&= #8217;s 2005

The Road to= Wollongong=

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All Masters tourn= aments start with nominations, and the WA Over 55’s ‘The Silver Ducks&= #8217; quickly accumulated 15 names, a good blend of ‘old timers’ and those participating for the first time. The ‘virgins’ were Stev= en Cole, David Cowley, and Bruce Milne. Those that played for WA last year in Launceston were Stan Balding, Len Blyth (50’s), Bill Campbell, Dave Evans, Terry Gaston, KY Lee, David Mellor, Bill Price, Nigel Thomas and Sim= on Williams. Colin Benporath joined the team from = WA Country and Alan Stewart rejoined the State team after a break of a year or= so. The ‘Silver Ducks’ were also fortunate to secure an experienced coach in Edny van den Broe= k. Dave Mellor took on the onerous task of Manager and Len Blyth was selected = (or cajoled) into being the Captain.

Training commence= d about 9 weeks before the tournament and was at some ungodly hour, early on a Sund= ay morning. Teaching ‘old dogs new tricksR= 17; is no mean feat, but with determination and straight talking, Edny convinced the team that we needed to go back to basics. We certainly learnt= how to run with the ball one handed, turn and protect the ball and lay off, and= our ‘piece de resistence’ the cross ove= r, even if it took us considerably longer to apply them during the games !! = We also adopted a new defence system with a sweeper and twin centre halves. We were also fortunate that as the regular season ended we lost no-one to inju= ry. Sadly, a week or so before we left for Wollongong, Edny’s mother became gravely ill and he n= eeded to leave for the Net= herlands and so we would play the tournament without our coach. Len Blyth agreed to stand in and became Captain-Coach.

Most of the team travelled together on the Saturday before the tournament, courtesy of Virgin Blue. The team was to pick up a bus and a car at Sydney airport and Dave Mellor, who had arrived earlier, picked up the bus, only to find that there was no equivale= nt bus for the 60’s. After much waiting and discussion, including 3 Amer= ican tourists wanting to hitch a ride, together with negotiations with the parki= ng control attendant, we moved off with half of the bus packed with the 55R= 17;s and 60’s luggage and half of their team. By the time we got half unde= rway to Wollongong hunger had set in, especially for those unable to get any sustenance on the Virgin flight, and so the bus turned in at a prominent Macca’s sign. Half of the bus disappeared into MacDonalds, the other into a Pizza parlour, with a few renegades drifting into the pub opposite. It took as long to get from Sydney to our accommodation in Wollongong as from Perth to Sydney !!=

The team accommod= ation was at “The Bulli Beach Resort”, cabins on the ocean front, some with sweeping ocean views, although with some variation in the size of the = cabin ! = The following morning was dedicated to settling in, shopping etc. and some took= the opportunity for a swim, the water being described as ‘fresh’, ‘invigorating’ or more truthfully ‘b= l***y cold’. Sunday afternoon was a training session at the ground, finishi= ng with a 15 minute friendly against the 60’s.<= /p>

Monday was the WA 55’s bye day, meaning that WA would need to play all 8 games in 10 da= ys with just 2 rest days. A tour on the bus was organised, running down the co= ast with a fish and chips lunch shared with the pelicans at lovely Kiama, and ending up at the Wombat Sanctuary and the Fitzroy Falls.

A word on fines and nicknames. Firstly on fines. B= ruce Milne was appointed ‘Finesmaster’ (= hence the nickname ‘Fagin’………..“gotta pick a pocket or two”………= ;.) with Bill Price as his willing co- conspirator. For those not familiar with= the fines ritual, it goes something like this – the = Finesmaster and his various spies build up a list of misdemeanours, real of fictitious, that team members have displayed. Examples such as running a yellow light, sleeping on the bus etc attract a $1 fine, collected at an agreed ‘Fi= nes Session’ usually in one of the cabins along with copious alcohol consumption. The session is good natured and always fun. After the finesmaster has completed his list, the session is th= rown open for others to fine their colleagues, but, with a cost of $1 to themsel= ves. This process netted over $800 by the end of the tournament, a testament to = both the fines group and the number of activities exaggerated to make them worth= y of a fine.

And so to nicknames. Many brought nicknames with them from last year – ‘Spider’, ‘Kermit’, ‘Flasher’, ‘Lunger’ etc, some were modified ‘Rabbit’ to ‘Hobbit’, ‘Septic’ to ‘Tank’ and ‘GPRS’ to ‘Gadget’. Others needed to be given nicknames – ‘Tug’, ‘Toro’ ‘Rufus’ ‘Chook’ ‘Rumpole= ’ ‘Stretch’ ‘Fagin’, not forgetting ‘WombatR= 17;. The allocation of nicknames is an iterative process, finally agreed with the recipient, and with the necessary convoluted lack of logic. Finally it took time for all to learn the nicknames but in the end they succeeded in gaining widespread everyday use.

Our first game wa= s on the Tuesday against New South Wal= es 2 and the details can be gleaned from the match report. All match reports a= re included on the disc and on the website = www.wavets.org . One of the somewhat surprising facets that strikes a newcomer is the time that it takes to play one hockey game per day. The Hoc= key day begins with a team meeting, usually in a cabin and 2 to 2.5 hours before the game. The team meeting discusses the opposition, the tactics etc and th= en the team departs immediately for the ground. I say immediately, but inevita= bly there are stragglers who then become prime fines candidates. The trip to the ground takes half an hour or so and there is a little time to look at what = is going on with other games before KY ‘Stretch’ Lee lives up to h= is name and takes us all for a warm up and stretch, very important for aged bo= dies and muscles and becoming more crucial as we moved through the 8 games in 10 days. It is a testament to ‘Stretch’ and his methods that we had only one injury (‘Tug’s knee) that prevented anyone playing a m= atch in the entire tournament. But I digress, after the warm up we practice on t= he pitch, then the game, then an equally important warm down, then for a shower and during that time we agree on their best player and vote for our best pl= ayer (but more of that later). We then all drift over to the ‘beer tent= 217; which overlooks the other games, and we mingle and have a drink and a chat = with the other team. After we have relived and rewritten the game, the awards are presented, to the best player of each team and also to the Managers. Then we watch some more hockey, have something to eat and finally clamber back onto the bus and back to Bulli. All of this takes a minimum of 5 hours and a maximum of the whole day. It’s amazing where= the time goes, especially when we also have the domestic chore of getting the k= it clean and dry for the next days match.

Now to two more traditions, best player and the ‘Chook’ hat. Firstly the best player. After each game each player picks the first, second= and third best player in the ‘Silver Ducks’ in their opinion. 3 vot= es go to the first, 2 for the second and 1 for the third best, and, of course, it= is not permitted to vote for oneself. The votes are totalled and the best play= er has his 24 hours of fame by being presented the inscribed tankard, to hold = and then present to the next recipient after the next game. To share the credit= no player can hold the tankard more than once, with, if necessary, the award moving on to the next highest score. At the end of the tournament all scores are totalled and the tankard is inscribed with the name of the overall winn= er and presented at the windup dinner after the tournament. =

And so to the ‘Chook’ hat. Nearly every team has some form of embarrassing accoutrement that must be worn on every occasion in public, for example lar= ge infant dummies, a rubber duck swimming ring, pyjama’s and in our case a hat = with a large ‘Chook comb’. There are many examples of the ‘Chook’ hat in the photos on the discs. The ‘Chook hat= 217; is given to the perpetrator of what is perceived to be the most stupid act = of the last 24 hours. The current owner has exclusive rights to decide who sho= uld be the next wearer and why. This gives considerable power to the Chook hat wearer as everyone is pleasant and subservient so as to not become a candid= ate. As with the best player the ‘Chook hat’ is only given to any pl= ayer once. Consequently over half of the team got to wear the ‘Chook hat’ at Wollongong. The ‘Chook hat’ is ceremonially awarded at the fines session, w= ith a list of candidates and why the winner was successful.

Evening meals wer= e also a chance for the team to enjoy each others company socially, whether at a BBQ= in the cabins or at a restaurant. The social activities were organised by Steve ‘Rumpole’ Cole and Alan ‘Wombat’ Stewart and were very well chosen, with a blend of RSL, League clubs restaurants and pubs. The League clubs in NSW were a revelatio= n to many of us, huge, well appointed, well subscribed and populated with a large choice of cheap good quality food and drink. The arrays of Poker machines m= ust deliver considerable revenue !! We even managed = to win $85 or so at a quiz night at one of the venues.

On the middle Sun= day of the tournament all WA teams including WA Country teams got together in one venue for a dinner This was t= he first time this had happened and the 180 participants had a great time, cel= ebrating WA hockey. We were treated to presentations of the history of the tournament back to the 80’s and learnt that WA and WA Country were founder membe= rs and there were four people present who played in that first tournament and = were still playing !!! We were also treated to a marvellous musical rendition fr= om the 60’s team based on such classics as ‘Oklahoma’ , with the lyrics modified t= o read ‘West Australia’ instead of ‘Oklahoma’. For his efforts the <= span class=3DGramE>organiser of the event Mike ‘Spike’ Sputore was awar= ded the ‘Roger Macliver Trophy by Len Blyth, = given to the person who has made the greatest contribution to WA hockey. The presentation powerpoint is on the disc. The late Roger Macliver was a WA S= tate Masters player who last played as Captain-Coach of the over 50’s in 2000 in <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Darwin and was cr= itically injured in a car crash shortly after. Roger was a great team player, both on and off the field and so his team mates in Darwin decided that it was fitting that= an award be introduced to remember Roger by.

On the field the ‘Silver Ducks’ were not having the success they wanted, but des= pite the losses, were both enjoying the games, working hard and striving to be competitive. Although confidence was down, the team were still supportive of one another and the atmosphere was positive. On the second rest day a group went in the bus to Bowral, to the excellent Sir Donald Bradman museum to find some inspiration. Perhaps it was this or the visit to the Buddhist Temple the day before the last gam= e that did it. In any event the last game against Tasmania was the most crucial, playing= for the wooden spoon and with State and personal pride at stake. At the team meeting before the game Captain-Coach Len ‘Toro’ Blyth summed up the challenge by saying ̶= 0;After these tournaments it is the last game that everyone remembers, so lets make this one a game we want to remember. Leave nothing in the tank!” Grim determination, endeavour and belief succeeded and we deservedly won the last game.

In conclusion, Ma= sters tournaments are about enjoying thinking and acting like we are all ‘P= eter Pan’s’, refusing to grow old or grow up, indulging in and shari= ng our mutual love of hockey and in doing so a group of players progressively beco= me a group of friends.

Nigel ‘Gadget’ Thomas

October 2005=

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