The annual invasion of the Great Lakes by an army of teenage rugby union players occurred last weekend; hotels and motels booked out, caravan camps, cabins and all accommodation occupied, restaurant tables filled, the beach towns of Forster-Tuncurry overrun by swarms of youths and young women and their parents, club and camp followers and officials, all marshalled by the NSW Rugby Union's Michael Doyle and his sturdy body of Waratah workers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Everything wrapped in a two-day, million-dollar package of amateur rugger in what has become an economic bonanza for the Great Lakes region.
What a gathering of talented young men and women players it was; 50 teams of 13 players a side, strapping, bronzed youths, and glorious, young women to take the breath away.
Rain fell all Saturday night after a splendid, fine first day of qualifying games, but by Sunday morning, the weather had cleared and the games continued for the NSW under-17 and under-15 seven-a-side rugby titles in the afternoon.
And with MidCoast Council's immaculate grounds on display, the sand-based beds of Harry Elliott Oval and Peter Barclay Field offering sheer perfection of well-drained and well-surfaced- grounds, the games of speed and crushing tackles could not have been more spectacular.
And such talent - it made the Forster Tuncurry Dolphins' team manager yearn for a cheque book with an Arabian oil merchant's unlimited budget to sign a dozen players or so for next season's Kennards Hire Lower Mid North Coast premiership competition.
"The carnival is great, the conditions are perfect, everyone is loving it. We'll be back next year."
- Visiting spectator
The most enthusiastic player among the 500 competitors was four-year-old Isaiah, not that he had a team or a club or a coach in his ear.
He just played with a smile and an older boy, happy to kick his yellow ball and run around, totally without a care in the world.
And in the grandstand, seated with her two-metre tall husband, a cattleman big enough to throw and cut a two-year-old bull calf single-handed, was one of the camp followers, beautifully suited, hair shining and coiffured, not an eye-lash out of place, unwilling to move lest her image cracked.
And then there was the try-scoring five-eighth, Logan Lemusu, born with one good hand and his other minus fingers, yet as fast and nimble as any player and able to pass the ball on either side without inconvenience, and score tries.
But the quality, the number of players of Tongan, Samoan, Fijian and Asian extraction, big, small, fast, slow, players of luminous, brown eyes ... where would Australian rugby be without them, all anxious to succeed and restore the code's honour, conscious of the recent international setbacks?
Players like frizzy-haired Palu Tausala, an Avondale Wombats back with physique and pace and football instinct, who received a ball from the kick-off, side-stepped two defenders and swept down the left wing to touch down 60 metres away in the corner.....easy-peasy.
Returning to the grandstand on Sunday, the unearthly one was missing, never seen again.
Probably back at the property, helping her husband bulldog and brand the calves.
Somehow, someone has to pay for those clothes.
But what a vision.
Boys or girls, those young players were fit and fast and fearless, a courageous lot, and what powerful, punishing tacklers they were.
Boys or girls, they hit hard and did not flinch.
One official lamented that many of the better young players emerging were preferring to skip two or three seasons of colts rugby and play at grade level, missing an important early grounding to prepare them for the more physical demands of senior football.
But clubs' colts teams are short on numbers.
The Gordon Highlanders' boys team won their final, but of all the champions, the Randwick Magic were most aptly-named.
Led by the talented Joiful Fotu-Moala, they won the NSW under-17 girls' title for the fifth successive year, inflicting a 33-0 defeat on, of all teams, the powerful Sydney University.
Michael Doyle, the Waratahs' senior manager of Sevens rugby, has groomed a marvellously efficient workforce beneath him, although he is losing his right-hand man and operations co-ordinator, Garry Walsh, sadly retiring.
The Forster Dolphins were splendid hosts.
Former 10-year president, Damian Daczko and wife, Tina, ran the canteen both days at the Barclay Field clubhouse while new club president, Ben Manning and secretary Kurt Forrester and their new committee toiled at Harry Elliott Oval's canteen and barbecue.
Little wonder in the splendid conditions one visitor observed after Manly's under-15s won their final: "The carnival is great, the conditions are perfect, everyone is loving it.
"We'll be back next year."
And the last man to leave the complex was Lyle Gilmore, labouring away thanklessly, hour on hour, picking up and sorting the rubbish and debris discarded by the guests.
Such is life.
Did you know? Great Lakes Advocate online subscribers not only have 24/7 access to local and national news, sport, what's on and entertainment - they also have access to our print edition in digital format, with all the advertisements and classifieds at their fingertips.