Players from 1975 CYMS and Macquarie teams to reunite
Players from 1975 CYMS and Macquarie teams to reunite
RUGBY LEAGUE: Group 11 derby to celebrate 40 years of Dubbo's thrilling cross-town clashes
1975 CYMS players Col Parkes, Rick O'Dea, Andrew Hamblin and Paul Madden with the special jerseys the modern Fishies will wear on Saturday.
Photo: BELINDA SOOLE
THE local Group 11 derbies between CYMS and Macquarie are always some of the most passionate matches of the season but this Saturday's clash is set to be even more significant.
The Fishies and Raiders meet again at Caltex Park and the day will be used to celebrate 40 years since the two fierce local rivals first met in a Group 11 grand final.
That match in 1975 was won 20-7 by the Fishies and that side will be honoured this weekend with the modern CYMS first grade side set to wear replica jerseys with the names of the 1975 players emblazoned on the back.
There will also be a reunion of the 1975 first and reserve grade side and 1975 CYMS first grade five-eighth Neil Musgrave, one of the big driving forces behind the reunion, said it will be a special weekend for the club.
"I've kept in contact with a lot of them but not all because I've been away from Dubbo since the late 80s," he said of his grand final winning teammates.
"But blokes like Brian Wilson and Mick O'Neill I haven't seen as much so it will be really good to catch up.
"It definitely doesn't feel like 40 years, I nearly died when I heard that's how long it had been. But most of us aren't that old now, all were only 20 or 21 when we played."
The CYMS side of 1975 was captain-coached by John McDonnell, who had captained the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in their 1974 loss to the Roosters, and contained a number of players who went on to test themselves in Sydney.
Brian Wilson, Col Parkes and Steve Merritt all went to Manly the following year while the late David Grant was recruited by Souths before going on be the inaugural captain of the Canberra Raiders.
The Macquarie side was also one stacked with talent and was captain-coached by Noel Sing while their under-18 side won the title that year.
Despite the 1975 final being a famous win for the Fishies, Musgrave does not have the fondest memories of that particular grand final after he was struck by a powerful Marshall Peachey shoulder charge shortly before half-time.
He left the field and then ended up spending the next two days in hospital with a collapsed lung.
That story and many others are expected to be revisited when the CYMS and Raiders 1975 players gather at the Castlereagh Hotel on Friday night for a catch-up before the match.
Musgrave was keen to thank Ross McDermott and Robert Atkins for helping to organise the gathering with the Raiders players and said he looked forward to reminiscing about the decider from 40 years ago.
"It was a fantastic day and the score, 20-7, didn't indicate the game, it was a great, hard match," Musgrave said of the final.
"Macquarie had a good side too and there were probably 5500 people at the game, it was the biggest country rugby league grand final ever and they probably don't even get that now."
The Raiders went on to taste premiership success in 1978 and 79 while CYMS had to wait another 11 years after their 1975 win. Musgrave admitted a Fishies win on Saturday would make the weekend all the more special but hoped he and the rest of the returning players would be able to see three hotly-contested matches at Caltex.
The former five-eighth now lives in Sydney but has family at Dubbo and often gets back to watch his grandsons play in the local juniors when he is in the area.
While saying he could not wait to witness another local derby, he did confess he was concerned with the current state of rugby league in the bush.
"They still have that rivalry, I go to a few games whenever I'm back but country rugby league has suffered big time," he said.
"Senior football clubs in Sydney now take kids from the country and offer them the world when they're 15 or 16 and as we know, only about 1 per cent of all those kids make it so bush football has really suffered."