Well before the days of State of Origin, football was a religion at “Watts Park”. I watched them all come and go, the veterans of many Open A teams or local club sides, or kids from many neighbouring backyards. There weren’t too many games of “touch” in those days. We would collect the ashes from the fireplace, mark out the try lines, side lines and half way, straighten up the goal posts, pick sides and launch ourselves into battle. The field seemed so much bigger then – a vast S.C.G. – and we were all the popular heroes of the day.

“And McCarthy scores!”

“What a great covering tackle by Ron Coote!”

“…and Simms lines up the conversion attempt…”

Bobby Fulton was my favourite but that’s another story.

Greg and I had to face the speed and power of Mick and Chris fairly regularly, and we learnt quite a few lessons there. Mick had a neat step and fend, and used his wrists to control the ball. Chris was all speed and strength,and very hard to stop. After facing them each day of the week, it was a pleasure then to try out the tricks we’d learnt on kids our own age as they came from everywhere around the neighbourhood after school or on weekends.

Such was our passion for football that we would play from the time school finished in the afternoon until the light began to fade and mum would call us in for tea. We would play all weekend , stopping only at 3pm to watch the match of the day on the ABC. We’d even snatch a quick game at half-time! Still, we couldn’t get enough.

It was then that Mick introduced us to night football (popularly thought to have begun in Sydney).We’d park mum’s car at the goalpost end of the field, and used the car’s headlights for east-west illumination. Then all the lights on the southern side of the house would be turned on, and the curtains pulled back, to light up the sideline.

The eastern end and near the front gate was still a bit dark but, with several extension cords, a pole and a desk lamp, that was soon overcome.This extended our playing time considerably, our only restriction being the life of the car battery! Another innovation at this time was the use of a white football, with a dark loop painted at each end. Such was the popularity of the game, which we could now play through the heat of the summer, that Kerry Packer soon heard about it and introduced it to the Sydney fans.

As the names of our heroes changed from Coote to Pringle to Price, the elder legends of ‘Watts Park” graced the field less frequently. School or college holidays, Easter and Christmas would see the teams reformed, now for the gentler but still fiercely competitive games of touch. The field became smaller and the gaps in the defence became harder to find, but the magic of “Watts Park” never changed.

Contributed by Tony Watts

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