The Dapto Canaries are hosting their annual Old Boys Day this Saturday, celebrating both their first-grade and reserve-grade premiership squads from 2006, alongside their Under 18s Grand Finalists. The event will take place at Dapto Showground the club’s Harrigan Cup Round 10 fixture against Collegians.
The club was founded in 1911, one of five founding teams of the Illawarra Rugby League. Since their inception, they have won 17 first-grade premierships from 1966 to 2016.
Canaries Assistant Coach Adam Blake said this weekend is about connecting with the club.
“It celebrates the history of the club, and to me, it’s about connecting,” Blake said.
“People that have played for the club and those in the community are getting together and celebrating previous success and hopefully future success moving forward.
“It’s an opportunity to get together and share some old stories and reminisce on some of the glory days.
“For the younger guys, the current players, it’s about sharing some knowledge. Old boys coming up and telling them the way the game used to be, and some of the things they used to do, and then obviously taking on a little bit of that information.”
Building Community
Blake said the day is an important feature in building a rugby league community.
“There’s lots of things that I think are important in having a strong club, but I think if you do have a bit of history in terms of having success, you can share that with the club,” Blake said.
“We’ve got lots of our old boys that are either coaches or assistants or trainers or part of the committee; having those guys around helps some of those people that maybe haven’t had so much success over the past couple of years and hopefully they get a bit of information that can help them improve their game and improve us as a club as a whole.”
The Dapto Canaries have had multiple notable players in their history, including former Steelers coach Allan Fitzgibbon; Steelers players such as Brian Hetherington, David Walsh, Paul McGregor, and Craig Fitzgibbon; and current NRL first-grade talent such as Blake Lawrie and Tyrell Sloan (pictured below). Newcastle Knights NRL Coach Justin Holbrook will be a special guest, captaining the 2006 premiers.
Blake said the event may be the motivation they need to replicate the glory they’re celebrating.
“We have this really great bunch of players. There is a bit of belief in the club that we can do it if we keep everyone fit and healthy,” Blake said.
“It’s a really strong competition this year. Pretty much any team on the day can win, which is great for the competition, but I’d love to think that we can go a little bit better than last year and hopefully win that.”
The event begins at Dapto Showground at 12.00pm, with an after-match function at 5.30pm at Dapto Leagues Club.
Words: Harrison Mellare
Photo credits: Denis Ivaneza (main) and Dapto RLFC Facebook