Brothers Rugby Club (1946-1947)

Brothers Rugby Club Sydney Chatswood was formed in 1947 from former students of the Christian Brothers College. The College was later renamed St Pius X College.

Some History

The war ended in 1946 and Australia abolished wartime conscription and with it, my obligation for military service. I decided to give Rugby a go and joined the Gordon Rugby Club, juniors U-19 team. We played in the Metropolitan Junior Rugby Union. There were three grades: U-21, U-19 and U-17. Because of frequent industrial disruption, some weekend tram services were replaced by restricted bus services. E.g. The Wynyard-Chatswood bus service terminated at Willoughby Public School. We were the only team on the north side and only had one home game there, at Mosman Oval. For our opponents from Rose Bay 'Wallaroos', transport was equally difficult. Another home game was at Ashfield Park oval. This was notable for the referee breaking his leg when he collided with one of our breakaways, as a scrum broke up. The break sounded around the oval like a pistol shot. The incident was reported in the sport pages of the Sydney Morning Herald. The Christian Brothers Old Boys (CBOB) club had a team in the U-21 grade, which had the same problems as we had. One of their players was Gerald Gates, a school friend from St Thomas, Willoughby, who started at Christian Brothers High School, Chatswood in 1937. Origins of Gordon-Northern Districts Junior Rugby Union

Origins of Gordon-Northern Districts Junior Rugby Union 

Manly and Northern Suburbs already had a joint junior union which had produced many players for the senior clubs and at least one Wallaby, namely the late Charlie Eastes from Manly. With these problems in mind, someone (probably in the Gordon Club) decided to take action. The CBOBs club supported the move. A public meeting was called in late 1946 or early 1947 at the old Chatswood Town Hall on Victoria Avenue. It was well attended and as some preliminary work had been done, another meeting was called. There were a couple of sub-district cup clubs on the North Shore already who probably supported the venture and would enter teams. The meeting was informed that clubs were ready to be set up and start recruiting. So the Gordon-Northern Districts Junior Rugby Union (JRU) was formed.

There were three grades and a weight limit for the two lower grades:

• U-21 with four teams
• U-17 with four teams
• U-19 with six teams, weight limit equivalent to 65-70kg today

New clubs and teams entered the JRU. And it began to provide weekend sport for school boys as young as U-7s.

The 1947 Season

I was in my 21st year but within the weight limit, so was able to play U-19 with CBOBs.

The six teams and playing strips were:

• CBOBs Royal blue/gold V, the stripes came later
• Chatswood Gold/green collar
• Roseville Maroon/white, broken stripes
• Lindfield Sky blue/white, plain stripes
• Killara Royal blue/white, broken stripes
• Gordon-Pymble Red/gold V

Lane Cove joined later from Northern Suburbs juniors. CBOBs home ground was Beauchamp Park which was shared with Chatswood club. Home and away was not strictly observed and we played at other grounds. CBOBs’ first game was a pre-season match against Chatswood at Artarmon Reserve. Sport then, was NOT played on Council owned grounds on the North Shore. The reserve was surrounded by bush and well away from the eyes of Council rangers and the ears of objecting residents.

The reserve was not well grassed, as it is today, so all players had plenty of bruises, cuts and sprains to show after the game. Possibly this was the origin for the later fierce rivalry between the two clubs. The result, I’ve forgotten. The two clubs quickly became the dominant teams in the two lower grades, until team politics interfered with the U-19 CBOBs team. 'Premiership' was decided by 'First part-the-post'. Chatswood won the U-19, and CBOBs the U-17 grade. Later in the year the school’s Ex-Students’ Association invited the players to their annual dinner which became the presentation night for the football club. The 17s were given their premiership blazer and the players who were not ex-students of the school were made honorary members of the association.

I was 21 in 1948 and no longer eligible for junior football. The club lodged an application to enter a team in the sub-district Whiddon Cup competition. Then, there were only three grades: Kentwell, Burke and Whiddon Cup. Never more than fourteen players attended pre-training training for this team so the application was withdrawn. The club continued in the juniors. I lost contact with the club, although Jim Gillespie kept me informed in later years.