RUGBY LEAGUE NEWS:
| It wasn’t always like this.... | ||
| Written by: Tittoolate (Titans) | ||
| January 21st 2010 10:27 PM | ||
I had an initial theory that this was all a NSW plot to bring the rest of us down to cockroach level, but if Steve Menzies and Ben Kennedy were decent blokes then I guess geography isn’t the determinant. So, being a rugby league fan I did the honourable thing and gave up thinking. As did the author of today’s article in League HQ, calling for a ban on cheerleaders. Really? It is all the girls’ fault? Don’t you just feel great when society blames the victims? It wasn’t always like this. The roots of rugby league run deep in the Queensland countryside. One of the nation’s rugby heroes, Duncan Thompson, calls to us through the pages of the game’s history. Let’s contrast and compare, class, the Johns duo with Thompson. Duncan Fulton Thompson MBE, born in Warwick in 1895, came from hardy Queensland stock. He played league at the highest level during the period 1913-25 except for the war years. Speaking of that, he bolted on his folks in 1916 so he could sign up. Duncan joined the Toowoomba regiment (49th Battalion) and was shipped off to Ypres in France. The 49th saw action right throughout the Northern desert and Western Europe campaigns including the famous battle to free Villers-Bretonneux on 25 April 1918. Thompson was wounded on 5 April 1918 and by January 1919 he was home again, minus a lung courtesy of a German rifle bullet. History is silent on whether he and a bunch of his mates sexually abused any French girls, but I’m guessing that wasn’t his style. Duncan was told he’d never play sport again, due to his lung (or lack thereof). With characteristic Queensland flair he took the advice with a large pinch of salt and dived back into sport. In 1919, the same year as he was repatriated, Duncan played League for Queensland and Australia. Ok, I’m willing to accept that there were not a million capable players hanging around at that time, the war being in full swing until November that year, but regardless this was herculean. Not satisfied in proving the prognosis wrong, he helped Valley’s win the cricket Shield in 1919-20, again played league for Australia against the old enemy in 1920. He helped Norths in Sydney win their Pennants in ’21 and ’22 and then toured England with the Kangaroos. The Poms visited us in 1924-5 and again Duncan was capped, with his brother Colin. I’m out on a limb here but what odds that neither was a coke-head or wannabe porno star? 18 June 1924 saw a staggering 10,000 fans land in Toowoomba to see the Clydesdales play England. Consider that, at that stage, Toowoomba boasted 30,000 inhabitants. Inspiration tells me that there was stuff-all to do on the ‘Downs for entertainment. Eight minutes into the game and we were up 10 to nil. The game went to and fro with Toowoomba and the Poms trading points right down to the wire when at 5pm the referee blew up the game – Toowoomba had held out the visitors 23-20. And indeed, the Clydesdales were undefeated that year. Duncan’s leadership of the Galloping Clydesdales help put Toowoomba on the map as the “World’s League Capital”. Not finished, the ‘Downs Fox’ coached Toowoomba to multiple state victories in the 50’s. Heart, courage, loyalty, respect, honour, sacrifice. Those sentiments can be applied to one-lung Thompson MBE without fear of rebuke. As a kid my mates and I played with a Duncan Thompson footy. Frankly I thought nothing of the name, just figured it was from the eponymous sports store. And now the gut-wrenching tales that unfold in the media make me think back to a bunch of skinny kids in a cold Toowoomba winter kicking a bit of puffed up leather - bearing the name of a true hero. We didn’t know it, but we were graced to grow up then. What's the legacy of today’s icons? ---- 738 words. Ref: Image of Duncan Thompson from www.rl1908.com Posted in the F7s Matches forum in May 2009 The F7s is an article writing competition hosted on The Front Row forums here on LeagueUnlimited.com To join a team, click on the banner below  FOR ALL F7s MATCHES, CLICK HERE |
