Living History

Frank's story - Events for young adults

Back in Canberra life went on I started playing squash; I was strictly Z grade but enjoyed it. When the footy season started I joined up with the local football club. Because of my size, still only seven stone in a wet overcoat. I said I was 17 and played in the junior grade. As the season progressed I was putting on some weight (the beer probably helped). And when there were not enough players I had a couple of games in the seconds. Now the Second grade is made up of old experienced players getting a bit slow for the First grade but still keen to play and the rest are younger players getting experience and trying to make it into the First grade team. On one occasion the Second grade hooker did not show up so the coach grabbed me and said I was to play. I said I have never played hooker. He pulled me aside and said I’ll show you how to win the scrums. “When you pack down in the first scrum, turn you head and kiss the opposition hooker. He will be so surprised he will forget to look for the ball and you will beat him to it”. I said “You’re joking.” To which he replied “No I’m serious, try it.” So when the first scrum was getting set I looked at the opposing hooker he must have been about fourteen stone and at least 35 years old, I was scared. Never the less as we packed down I kissed him. When I woke up the coach laughed and said I missed the best footbrawl he had seen in years my opponent knocked me out with one punch and then the whole scrum erupted. Needless to say I never played hooker again. The other teams were from Yass, Crookwell, Goulburn, Captains Flat and Queanbeyan. All teams in the first round thrashed us, the junior side. In the second round we had a draw against Captains Flat. You would have thought we had won the grand final that day. The next week we played at Crookwell on what must have been the coldest day I have played football. It was a few degrees below freezing and it was windy and sleet was falling. I was playing fullback for this game. The ball was kicked high down to me and as I was about to take the catch, a large forward from the other side jumped for the ball and landed on my foot. I limped around for a minute or so but it was so cold I soon could not feel a thing so I played on. After the game when we were getting showered and changed I took my boot off and the end of my sock was red with blood. As my foot warmed up in the shower it started to bleed again and the pain hit me. I had an ingrown toenail on my big toe and when I was jumped on it had cut through the flesh on both sides of the toe.

The next day I went to the local hospital and the doctor removed the nail completely. He hand me a prescription and said get this filled in the next twenty minutes before the local anesthetic wears off. I spent the next two weeks with a cardboard box in the bottom of my bed to put my foot in. The pills were my only salvation the pain was incredible. That was the finish of my football for the season.

The other popular activity during winter was skiing. One of the Hostels would organize a bus trip. Leaving Canberra about 3am Saturday stopping in Cooma for breakfast and arriving at snowfields about 10am. We would ski till 4pm then bus back to Cooma, stop for a meal, and then arrive back in Canberra about 11pm Saturday night.

There were two trips, which stick in my mind most. A trip to Smiggins Holes was arranged. When we arrived, all the skis had been hired out so a group of us hired a toboggan. We took it in turns until two blokes lost control and veered off course hit a large rock and destroyed the toboggan. I found a sheet of Masonite about half a metre wide and a bit over a metre long in a shed. I brought it back to the slope and placed it shiny side down. I laid on it and one of the girls sat on my back and grabbed hold of my shoulders I held the front of the Masonite up off the snow and lifted my feet up. We slid down the slope at a good pace and by dropping my feet down into the snow I could change direction or slow us down. The effect was fantastic your eyes were only a few inches off the ground and you appeared to be going a lot faster than you thought. We had a great time for the rest of the day with the Masonite.

The other trip was to Kiandra. On this occasion I had managed to score a blind date and Cheryl was a lovely girl about two years older than I. Because the bus had no heating you had to take a blanket each to keep warm. We snuggled up together and slept until we got to Cooma for breakfast. It started snowing after we left Cooma and we just made it to Kiandra. We got out of the bus and raced into the Chalet to wait for the snow to stop. Instead it turned into a blizzard. It was a long weekend and there was no accommodation available. So we had to sleep in the bus. We spent the next two nights sleeping in the bus and eating and drinking in the chalet. With no heating in the bus and just two blankets between each couple we had to get very cozy to keep warm at night with the temperature well below freezing. A good weekend but we were all glad to get home and have a hot bath and clean clothes.

In the summer the West Indian Cricket Team was touring and they play a Prime Ministers Eleven at the local Manuka Oval. It was walking distance from work and we all took the afternoon off and went to watch. The great Don Bradman, made a special appearance he was in his fifties but it was a once in a life time chance to see him in action, sadly he was out third ball for a score of 4 runs.

Frank

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