DOWN MEMORY LANE
We once again continue our history of the Carroll Cup and this week we are up to 1979 & 1980. Read on and enjoy.
GREAT SCOTT! WWHS JUST TOO GOOD
Now that the Sydney Swans are one of the most popular clubs in the land, certainly the best supported in New South Wales, Brett Scott can look back with pride and say he was one of the “originals”.
Scott, only 19, was amongst those involved in the controversial move from South Melbourne to the Harbour City for Sydney Swans’ foundation season in 1982 and played in the very first game, a 29 point win against Melbourne at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of a crowd of a meager 15,764. That milestone match was just Scott’s eighth in the Victorian Football League and he would play 59 all up for the Swans from 1981-1989 in a career unfortunately dogged by injuries.
In 1979 Scott, from The Rock Yerong Creek, was a dominating player for his beloved Wagga High in another undefeated year for the Blue and Whites. He led the series goalkicking for all schools with a then record 27 and followed up a bag of 10 against Combined Catholic High Schools at Maher Oval on August 16 with eight the following day in Wagga High’s 14.14 (100) to 7.3 (45) thumping of Albury High in the annual challenge at Robertson Oval.
In the second encounter against Kooringal High, Scott held a remarkable 17 marks. WWHS was desperate to win back the Carroll Cup but had a classy Mt Austin High to contend with after CCHS failed to measure up. MAHS was brimful of talent that, with Paul Hawke and Mark Purcell joining Shaun Chandler and Chris Fellows from WWHS and Kooringal’s Mark Hull as NSW representatives at the national Under 16 championships in Perth during July, after which Hawke won All-Australian selection, a feat he would repeat in 1980.
Stephen Cox was WWHS’s best in a three goal win against MAHS in the school’s first showdown. He was again the star when, despite converting only 10 of 31 scoring shots, WWHS wrested the Cup by restricting MAHS to just five behinds in a 75 point win in the return bout, despite the best efforts of David Foster for the beaten team. Success, too, for Kooringal when it won its first ever match, trouncing CCHS by 75 points in its final game, Tony Hicks and Hull booting four goals.
WWHS: 10.21 (81) Best: S.Cox, B.Scott, I.Winbank, C.Fellows, S.Chandler, P.Brown
MAHS: 0.5 (5) Best: D.Foster, P.Buchan, M.Loveday, M.Cox, M.Powell, P.Dryden
CCHS, WAGGA HIGH HAVE CUP ALL TIED UP
The first and only series tie in Carroll Cup history occurred in 1980 when Combined Catholic High Schools and Wagga High beat all-comers and had a win apiece in their meetings, both great exhibitions of schoolboy football. It all came down to the two encounters between the competition’s traditional heavyweights, with CCHS winning the first by eight points and WWHS three goals ahead at full-time in the return clash. There were plenty of season highlights.
One of the real stars was WWHS’s Michael Power, prompting coach Robert Currie to write in The Hill: “If Michael doesn’t make the grade in his first love, Rugby League, he most certainly has a good future in Australian Rules Football to fall back on.” Power did shine in local league, for Magpies and Tumbarumba, particularly the latter for which he was a prolific points scoring centre and five-eighth with 35 tries and 282 goals for 704 points in the now defunct Group 13 from 1985-88 ( the first three seasons of which were premiership years for the Greens including Clayton Cups as NSW Country’s best team in the first two). At WWHS Power kicked a school best of 11 goals in a Carrol Cup game, coincidentally booting his last major after taking an unselfish pass from Brett Scott, who previously held the record which stood at 10. WWHS had a crack side with Stephen “Tich” Buchanan and Craig Patterson both gaining State selection.
CCHS, however, deserved to finish on equal terms and had its own league convert kicking plenty of goals in John Keough, who later made his mark for Brothers and Kangaroos. Flamboyant forward Troy Conlan and tenacious centreman George Galvin, CCHS’s Captain Courageous, won plenty of kicks.
Mt Austin’s best and fairest was the sensational Stephen Nolan, mature beyond his years, who that year represented the fabled South West District Football League and, wearing shoulder pads to protect a shoulder injury, helped secure Turvey Park a memorable first grade premiership with some high flying marks and a crucial goal two minutes from full-time in the grand final against Coolamon at Narrandera Sportsground.
WWHS: 10.2 (62) Best: R.Enders, B.Scott, C.Patterson, S.Chandler, S.Cox
CCHS: 6.8 (44) Best: J.Keough, G.Galvin, D.Galvin, M.Phyland, S.Buchanan
CCHS: 10.7 (67) Best: G.Galvin, T.Conlan, C.Bevan, J.Keough, P.Phyland, M.Phyland
WWHS: 9.5 (59) Best: M.Eagle, C.Patterson, S.Cox, S.Barclay, R.Enders, S.Chandler
Last Modified on 09/02/2010 15:29