‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 15 The end and a new beginning.

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 15

The end and a new beginning.

When season 1996 came around I wasn’t to know it would be my fourth and final year at JPII. Living in Berowra and working in Marayong was a 80km round trip everyday! Fortunately, my last season at JPII was to be a successful one,  just like 1995.

Being involved in the NSWCCC Representative side was fantastic. Trent Worrall and Adam Scarpin were both in the squad as were the Carle brothers, Nick and Leo from Fairfield Patrician Brothers. As the football gods would have it I was later to coach their nephew Andre Carle, much later at SPX. Playing in the annual NSW All Schools tournament the side came through as Champions, a great achievement. As ever politics played a part and the tournament was made up of two NSWCHS sides, us the Catholic NSWCCC and independent school side NSWCIS.  Little did I realise at the time but the following year I’d actually be switching allegiances’ going over to the NSWCIS association. Even less predictable at the time was our achievement of also winning the NSW All Schools tournament with NSWCIS years later in 2015!

Working alongside Catholic stalwarts Bruce Baker, Dave Mamo and Mark DeVries, we put together a formidable side to win the Championship out at Valentine Park. Something that sticks in mind here was a key coaching change switching the talented Nick Carle from wing back to wide left midfield. Having watched him,  he was great going forward but struggled with both stamina and defensive intent. Having a defender behind gave him license to do what he did best. Nick later went to play for Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets Crystal Palace Bristol City and Australia. His brother Leo, who played more centrally in the midfield, was also I fine player but had a bit of a temper. Both went on to be good coaches.

A side story to these players was a pre-season JPII game back in 95’ out at Fairfield. The game was being played on some far flung paddock and I had no idea where we actually were! Being big MCS rivals the game started to get out of control. Several flare-ups occurred as I worried for our sides safety. The Carle Boys and their pals were not being reigned in by the coach Bruce Baker who was refereeing the game. Another scuffle was diffused by Michael Cunico,  who knew some of their squad. Then ten from time I’d seen enough even though  we were 3-2 up. I marched on to the field and said “Thanks Bruce” shaking his hand, “But we haven’t haven’t finished yet” said the surprised Fairfield coach. “We have” I said, turning to take the JPII boys off the field. To me, once again my Duty of Care took precedence. The MCS was always keenly contested but the only other similar incident took place down at Eastwood one afternoon. On this occasion,  Rugby League players watching from the sideline misinterpreted a bit of push and shove at the end coming on to start an all in brawl! This was tricky because trying to break it up, several Eastwood players wanted to punch my lights out. Fortunately some of our players stepped in. What stuck in my mind was an Eastwood bloke shouting “Why are you sticking up for a teacher?” Our blokes just came back with “Because we are!”. No harm done but it was a very uncomfortable walk back to my car parked a kilometre away.

At the start of the 1996 MCS campaign, Headmaster Michael Carr posed a straightforward question. “What is going to prevent you winning the MCS again?“. My answer wasn’t a difficult one to come up with. Always the optimist I answered, “We are missing one piece, an important one, a goalkeeper.” It was to my surprise that he just said, “Well go and find one, don’t your players know anyone outside of JPII?” I told him I’d work on it.

Over time it seems that a lot of the big successful League and Union schools have done their share of ‘recruiting’ players. Personally it was new to me. Quickly I pulled together a few of the senior players and asked if anyone knew a good goalkeeper. Jason Vella came up with an immediate solution. “My mate Bubba is a great keeper, he is a Hindu kid who goes to Mitchell State High in Blacktown.” I countered quickly with, “Ask him if he wants to come to JPII to play in goal for us”. So here we were, a Systemic Catholic Senior High School trying recruit a player from a Non-Catholic State school up the road. In truth I didn’t really have too much time to think about it because Jason came back to me quickly and said, “Bubba wants to come here but won’t pay School fees”. Who was I to argue? I went to the school office and told them to put Bubba’s name on the JPII waiting list. To my surprise the office called me a fortnight later saying, “Do you know someone called Bubba, he has a place to start at the school!”

Well the rest is history. Angatesh ‘Bubba’ Rao proved to a brilliant keeper. He played eleven games in the MCS Competition only conceding four goals in those games. Returning Captain Adam Scarpin, led the side brilliantly, fully deserving his call up to the NSW Schoolboy side. Trent Worrall had his third season in A Grade while Jason Vella also returned, his brother Brian had played left back in our original 1993 MCS winning team. Our last regular season game had been a shock 0-1 loss to Auburn. Up until then we had swept all before us. This loss didn’t prevent us from being Minor Premiers still winning it by several points. What it did do was help us focus. We were in another MCS Grand Final alongside our B Grade side who were also Minor Premiers in their competition. The semi-finals had been at Valentine Park, Glenwood. This was the headquarters of Football NSW, even though they had multiple pitches there were always a bit shifty when it came to bookings. You’d think you were playing on the main pitches when in reality you could be punted to the dreaded outside fields. Apparently at that time the NSW Association owned the surrounding land for as far as could be seen at Glenwood. This meant that FNSW were always comfortable and eventually able to build their super stadium with two Astro pitches and lovely grass field. For me, to be the scene 25 years later of probably my greatest coaching success with SPX,  winning the NSWCIS Cup. As mentioned earlier, the MCS Season 1996 was indeed a great one. Minor Premiers again with a record of seven wins, a draw and single defeat. Experienced players Worrall Waring Borg Vella and Captain Scarpin all went around again. Three stepped up from B Grade, Mancia, Longhurst and Makrypodis while newcomers Kishtoo and Galea also made the grade alongside Constantino and stylish centre back Adamcewicz. A young chap named David Beecroft was found guilty of family association and dispatched to fullback! We accounted for Emu Plains in the semi-final 2-0 with our best performance of the season. All this added up to another Grand Final at Melita Stadium alongside our B Grade who also made their Final as Minor Premiers. They won an exciting game 3-2 over Fairfield.

Our final against Holy Cross Ryde proved to be very tense, ending goal-less. Extra time came and passed. For the fourth time in two seasons we went to penalties, crowning the season off win a 

4-2 shootout win. Champions again! Working with our coaching team of Mark Campbell, Chris Wilson, Christine Dent  had proven a successful  combination.

Three MCS doubles in four seasons and a win in the Statewide NSWCCC Cup made it seven finals from seven at Melita. The JPII MCCS girls Side also picked up its third consecutive final win in 1996.

As it would eventuate, things were changing out at Marayong. The school was changing from a Senior High School to 7-12 and I took the opportunity to move closer to home at St Pius X College Chatswood for 1997. Little did I know it would the venue for an even greater football love story!