We are the official Over 35′s team of the Gordon Highlanders, dedicated to continuing the traditions and promotion of the game of rugby not to mention a bit of fun, friendship and fraternity, as well as a few beers, along the way.
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To learn more about us read about our History and be sure to check out the latest News and upcoming Matches.
Stags on tour in the UK
The Gordon Stags are looking for players to come and join us in the fun of playing Over 35′s Rugby. Who knows, you might even be tempted to come to the World Oldies Rugby Festival with us to be held this time in Fukuoka, Japan during the first week of November. Anyone who’s been will vouch for how great that experience is.
IMPORTANT NOTES
NO Prior experience required
NO Minimum fitness levels
NO Training required
NO Mandatory Attendance
&
It’s not every weekend
(Usually every 2nd or 3rd)
It’s all about running around the field and having a great time with a beer and a BBQ thrown in. Games are usually 20 minute thirds and played in the spirit of “Everyone goes home in one piece” with unlimited substitutions – you can play for 5 or 10 minutes and then substitute off for some rest and recovery if needed.
There's always time for a port before kick off
We play approximately every 2 weeks from the last weekend in March to mid October and, whilst we like to ensure we get a full team to as many games as possible, attendance is not mandatory. After all, we’ve all got lives, and wives, that need attending to.
No experience is necessary and for those who are new to the game of Rugby, or those that need to refresh their memories since they (like many of us) last played in high school, the IRB has produced a Beginner’s Guide to Rugby (2.8MB download). The Guide provides useful information about the laws of the game, referees signals, positions and how to play. So now you’ve got no excuses for not joining us in a game of Oldies Rugby.
If you’re interested, or just want to come along to see what it’s all about, Click Here to contact our President who’ll be more than happy to give you all the details and welcome you aboard.
Chatswood Oval provided the perfect setting for our first game of the 2012 season. A cooling breeze blew across the perfectly prepared pitch as Eleven of Stags “finest” took to the field with the aid of Five of our “brothers” from Killara West-Pymble. In addition, we had the very welcome services of “Big Matt” and “Big Bruce” from Wahroonga to join in North Shore alliance versus the dark side forces from the North West, OakHill & Eastwood.
The Oakhill lads arrived with a squad of Ten and were ably supported a willing bunch of about Six Eastwood Old Charcoals. So, let the game begin.
Let the port begin
The Stags forward pack certainly took it up to the opposing forwards. The Mighty Stags comprised of Brett “Nico” Nicholson, Robbie Bissett, Rod Cheney, Peter “Bez” Bezuidenhout (looking pretty lean and keen following a 12 month spell) and yours truly, Graham “Macca” MacDonald. In support were the “heavyweights” of big bad Bruce and Matt, who both assisted magnificently.
Bruce scored a nice bottle of red for his efforts at the after match function.
The backs struggled to make many breaks with the limited amount of ball the forwards could secure. Jeremy Anderson had a crack at half back until “Tricky” Rick Brennan turned up late and got the ball moving out wide to Chris Perfect and Scott Tanfield in the centres and Thomas “Rocky” Roch on the wing. On the other wing new recruit Allan Tricker was quick to turn his past rugby league experience to advantage of the Stags.
It's in there somewhere
Just as well Golden Oldies matches always end in a draw otherwise this was not one of our finest displays of defense without the ball or free running rugby with the ball. However, the match was well controlled by referee Mark Montgomery and thoroughly enjoyed by all, especially after the game with the help of a few icy cold ones and the odd hot sausage sanger. Many thanks to Dianna, Coota and Hamish for their skill on the BBQ, Finchy for keeping control of registrations and match day collections, Jon Leek who made a fleeting appearance from Perth and Alex “Grumpy” Burton for running the water & taking copious happy snaps.
All the essentials
Conspicuous by their absence on the day were the following:
Recovering from old or recent injuries; Karl Houghton (neck) and Matt Curran (knee)
Overseas; Matty Prowse (flying high), Dave Whitely (soaking up the rain in Fiji), Buddy Travers (preparing for trekking in Nepal), Pablo B (skiing France when we last heard)
Work & other commitments; Kris Weston & Matt Redward (chasing the bad guys), Nick Gleeson (new dad), Gene Burns (son’s footy game), Martyn Riddle (sailing function), Mark Stavely (in Geelong watching AFL)
You can view more photos here (Thanks Grumpy)
We turned up for the annual Battle of the North Shore between Wahroonga, Lindfield, Gordon and Killara West Pymble. The event was hosted by new comers to The Battle, KWP who put on a great day with the BBQ pumping, icy cold beers on hand and a table full of pre filled port glasses for pre kick-off toasts or for just grabbing some fortification anytime you were off the field.
The ground was packed with players and supporters from four teams. Following the exciting boost of new players attending the Eastwood match two weeks prior and the addition of even more new players to the Stags at this venue, we anticipated a strong showing from those present. What we walked into that day was nothing short of an “ambush” with a full day of hard running, firm tackling Golden Oldies rugby.
Our first game was against our mates the Wahroonga Toothless Tigers and we were very surprised to see that they had been busy recruiting new players as well. Not only did they turn up with a full complement of players but they had secured the services of the rugby legend MARK ELLA for the day.
Intimidated? Not us! In Awe? Well, maybe just a little bit ……. after all, a man who’s played for Australia 25 times (1980-1984), was Australian Captain (1982-1984) and scored 78 points before retiring at age 25 with a reputation as being one of the best fly-half’s to ever play the game is due some respect. What a privilege to have a person of this calibre come out for a game of Golden Oldies Rugby. If it’s good enough for him it should be good enough for anyone. Okay, enough of my man crush, on with the report.
The game got underway with great gusto and it became apparent from the start that Mark had obviously been giving some coaching to the boys from Wahroonga as they turned it on and came at us with everything they had. It was a good close game with plenty of to-and-fro.
The second match was against the hosts, the KWP Limping Leos. The fact that these guys have NOT had a home ground to play on or a club house to access for over 12 months had not reduced their ability to field what appeared to be a squad of about 40 players. With an endless supply of runners who were all under 40 years old and prepared to take possession of the ball at any opportunity it did not go all that well for the Stags.
Finally, our final game against our old friends, the Lindfield Funnelwebs, gave us a chance to take out our frustrations on a bunch of olders guys, so we thought. Unfortunately, we were disappointed once again, as the Webs managed to import a couple of old Gordon Highlander Graders to cut us apart in the backs.
It seemed all the opposition was out to impress Mark Ella at every opportunity.
Overall, it was a tough day at the office but happy to report there was very little blood spilt and no injuries to report so that translates to a very good outcome when all is said & done.The bright side is that the following guys had their first run with the Stags so we welcome them to our club and hope to see more of them in the future:
Kris Weston – Finally got to scratch that itch and showed great potential as a hard running back or breakaway having recovered from a knee injury that prevented him playing against Eastwood
Tony Coote – his first game of rugby ever (has an AFL background, trouble is you can’t kick very often in Golden Oldies) and will be valuable asset once he knows what he is doing. Based upon his AFL background and our current kicking for line standard we’ll be making better use of his kicking talents in the future.
Steve Green – brings some Central Coast rugby experience to our side (ex – Lindfield Rugby when he used to live at East Roseville)
Chris “Flemboy“ Fleming – an excellent prop in the making, just needs to bulk up a bit more
Mark “Nerf” Herford – comes with excellent playing pedigree from Lane Cove subbies and has potential to be a devastating centre, if not No. 10
Gene Burns – Worked his magc out in the backline. Has the build of a half back but appears to be too mobile and too smart to want to play in that position on a full time basis (besides he would have to compete with Gifted, Ric and Jeremy Anderson for this position – watch this space)
And Elvis – another dynamic prop who showed great skill with the held ball as he took it up, hit after hit. Trouble was he tried to pass the ball Bob “Lolly“ Lollback style (Bob is affectionately referred to as Catapult by his fellow backs) while we were attacking 5 meters out from the KWP try line. This led to an unfortunate intercept and a full length of the field runaway try – ah well …….. another story of what could have been.
Welcome back on to the field in 2011 to Jonathan “Jonno” Leek and Matt Prowse for their first run of the season. Thanks again for the effort put in by regulars Ric Brennan, Hamish “Gifted” Macdonald, Karl “Karlos” Houghton, Scott Tanfield and Thomas “Rocky” Roch. Finally, well done to the guys that came back for their second game with the Stags in 2011, Chris Perfect, Matt Curran, Anthony Johnson, Matt “Sausage” Redward and Pablo Bawdekar.
Bring on the Hawkesbury Gala Day.
Keep thinking about inviting other mates to have a run with the Stags this season, as we need even more reserves for the upcoming away games.
Stags at TG Milner
What a great result for our first full team run of the season. The Stags turned up in numbers and what a great sight to see so many players in the Gordon Green – GO GORDON!!Unfortunately, we were not granted access to the No 1 field at TG Millner but we more than overcame that slight drawback with an outstanding performance on the upper playing field behind the Eastwood Club House.
The Eastwood boys turned up keen to play. Unfortunately for them the backs seemed to be missing in action (must have been hair washing day) and the forwards filled their team out to number 13. Of course this meant our backs got to step around some slower moving machinery but also had to tackle some hard running boys that were bigger than they are normally used to. Mind you, those big boys can still motor when they want to with one of them making a break and running away from our backs to score a 40m try.
It was a great day of rugby played in glorious sunshine – those of us who went to the ACT remembered our sunscreen, after all we didn’t want sore heads the next day again (okay, the sunscreen wasn’t going to guarantee that) – over 3 x 20min 3rds and ended with the usual presentations, we remembered to dig the burnt wood trophy out of the cupboard to present back to Eastwood, and speeches that ensure anyone who thought they had a blinder is brought down to earth – gotta love golden oldies.
The Eastwood boys always put on a great day and it’s a pleasure to play against them – Thanks Charcoals.
The outstanding feature of the day, apart from having 18 players attend, was the exciting new talent that joined us for this impressive start to the season. A warm welcome to the following new faces:
Matt Curran , a strong running centre who scored 3 tries and received the Charcoals award for the outstanding player in our team. Matt received one of the best Rugby trophies we’ve seen in a long time – The Eastwood District Tennis Associations Winter 0f 1987 Girls Division 5 winners’ trophy. Due to the fact no one has mantle pieces these days it’ll obviously take pride of place on top of the TV.
Pablo Bawdekar, an ex-Lane Cove player keen to pack down on the side of the scrum or run on the wing or get flattened by about 350kg on the bottom of a ruck.
Anthony Johnson, an exciting addition to the front row and a scorer of an outstanding runaway try under the posts. He’ll lose his membership to the front row club if he keeps that up.
Matt “Sausage” Redward, still fresh after his first run with the Stags in Canberra, scored a number of tries but felt sorry for Eastwood as they were now short a player, due to an “effective” tackle from Karlos, and joined them for the last 10 minutes of the game. Of course he got touched up by our forwards (driven back 20 metres and ball turned over) to thank him for helping the opposition out. Great Golden Oldies attitude Matt and good work from our forwards. Matt is called Sausage by his mates – apparently he’s not good for your health, is a bit fatty but tastes great on a barbie – don’t ask me, I just play rugby with him, ask his mates.
Kris Weston, who was dying to get on the field but is recovering from a knee injury. Kris came to check it out and ran water for us. Great work Kris, see you at the Battle of the North Shore.
Matt Callahan, not really a new face as he comes from Wahroonga and comes and bashes it up with us when there are no games happening up at Wahroonga. Good to have with us big fella. Better running with us then against us.
Game On!
So that just leaves me to acknowledge the return of our regular players in Karl “Karlos” Houghton, Mark Staveley”– who received the Mug’s Mug for being, not once, but twice penalised and threatened with a send off for shoulder charging (Those Mungos are slow learners), Matt “Croz” Crozier, Scott Tanfield, Hamish “Gifted” MacDonald (The best scrum half that Gordon’s ever seen, just ask him), Ric Brennan, Alex “Grumpy” Burton, Nick “The Ging” Gleeson, Thomas “Rocky” Roch and Dave Whightely. Well done guys on our first local hit out for the season.
Ready to go at RMC Duntroon
Who would have thought you could get sunburnt playing rugby in Canberra, of all places. But that’s what happened last Saturday at the RMC Duntroon grounds when five brave Gordon Stags took to the paddock to participate in this annual fixture. Graham “Macca” MacDonald, Thomas “Rocky” Roch, Matt “Sausage” Redward, Karl “Karlos” Houghton and Brett McLachlan enjoyed the run around, just wished we packed the sunscreen.
In our first game we joined up with the Vincentia Van Gones to take on the might of the local ACT Vikings. It was a torrid affair but we came away with a great result (another draw and a slight burning sensation on our heads). The next game followed shortly after when the organisers teamed us up with our old touring mates (to the 2008 World Festival in Edinburgh) the Orange Emus. We faced the host club, ACT Vets, and this was a real test of all our pre-season training. It’s a good thing that all our matches end in a draw because this side – deploying tactics from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War – managed to find a few holes in our defence via our Red Shorted backline provided courtesy of the Orange Emus. At this point we had red faces from the embarrassment we suffered at the hands of the Vets rather from those extra rays of sunshine.
That match concluded our scheduled involvement in the event but Karlos, Sausage and Rocky hadn’t had enough punishment and took to the field again for the Bega (old & smelly) Blue Veins to redeem themselves against the Vets. It all ended up nicely – sitting in the grandstand with a few beers, being served freshly “shucked“ oysters from the boys from Vincentia and a blue ribbon for each participating player donated by the president of the ACT Vets, John (Pudge) Hillier.
From the grounds of RMC Duntroon, we retired to the “shabby grandure” of Olims Hotel in Braddon for the post match post-mortem and a well earned BBQ feed in the Beer Garden. Oh yeah, the $2 schooners tasted pretty good as well. It certainly is good to enjoy the hospitality of a club with generous sponsors.
Unfortunately, after dinner things went down-hill rapidly as we decided that it was much safer to watch the Waratahs v Brumbies match from the luxurious hotel lounge rather than risk travelling across town to Bruce Stadium. So we settled in with a couple bottles of the 2007 Pepper Jack Shiraz (Rocky’s favourite) and a few more $2 beers while we nursed those bruises, sore ribs and sunburnt heads.
The drive back from Canberra the next day was a long one, particularly with a few sore heads. Bloody Canberra sunshine!
