By CASEY O’CONNOR
LEAGUE followers in the district were saddened to learn on Monday of the death of one of the true characters to have played the game in Stanthorpe, Greg Appleton.
Appo, as he was affectionately known, had progressed from the junior ranks at Norths Devils in Brisbane, and when he came to Stanthorpe in the mid 70s it did not take him long to make his mark on the footy field.
As Gremlins coach in 1978, Appo took the Stanthorpe Gremlins A Grade side to a memorable premiership win in the Warwick and District competition.
This week after hearing of his death, captain of the 1978 side Wayne Cosmo recalled fondly the many games played alongside Appo.
He reminisced that throughout most of the ’78 season, Appo one of the toughest players going round, who had played most of that season with broken bones in his hand.
Gremlins president Norman Crisp was another who fondly remembers playing with Appleton. “You knew he would always give 110 per cent on the field.
“He was a no-nonsense player. He will be remembered as a tough uncompromising country footballer,” Crisp said.
There are plenty of us who agree. Greg Appleton was a great bloke both off and on the field. He played hard and partied hard. He certainly knew how to celebrate a win or a loss in style.
After his football career, Appo branched out into hotel work and eventually bought the freehold of the Yarraman Hotel.
Our paths crossed again a few years ago when he leased the Texas pub. While he was not directly involved in rugby league at that time, he always cast a weather eye over the BRL competition and especially the Gremlins.
Appo suffered some serious health issues in the past 10 or so years and he approached them in much the same way he did his football career. Uncompromising giving 110 per cent. Appo had many close ties in the area, and his death has come as a real shock to many of us, but he has left us with great memories. He will remain part of the Gremlins’ story and will never be forgotten.
I know that his teammates and many friends join me in passing on our condolences to Consie, Renae, Donna and his extended family.
RIP mate
– Casey
APPOINTMENT OF ENGLISH COACH A SURPRISE
THE England Cricket Board has this week announced their new coach and while Australian Dizzy Gillespie was widely tipped to be the next English coach, the job has fallen to another Aussie, Trevor Bayliss.
The announcement of the NSW coach caught many in Australian Cricket by surprise.
In Bayliss, the ECB have opted for a traditionalist. Australians who know him describe him as a man from the old school who loves talking cricket over a beer. In much the same manner as Boof Lehmann, he believes players are at their best when they are relaxed and allowed to think for themselves.
“He gets the best out of his team. He is harsh but fair,” said Shane Warne.
Bayliss, 52, played for New South Wales as a middle-order batsman from 1985 to 1993 but never played international cricket.
As a coach, Bayliss has probably slipped under the radar of many but has a fine record.
Bayliss is a survivor in more ways than one. He was coach of the Sri Lankan side and on the team bus when attacked by terrorists in 2009 in Pakistan.
He is also well versed in the ways of the Aussie team. Last year, he helped steer the Aussies to a Twenty20 series win against South Africa while Darren Lehmann was taking a break.
Commentators and players alike say he likes the game to be played in the right spirit. He encourages teams to play an exciting brand of cricket and his methods work. Bayliss has won almost every trophy going. He has twice led New South Wales to the Sheffield Shield, in 2004 an 2014, and the ING Cup, Australia’s 50 over competition, is a double IPL winner with the Kolkata Knight Riders, led Sydney Sixers to the Big Bash title in 2012 and coached Sri Lanka for four years, culminating in a World Cup final in 2011.
Hopefully, the Ashes urn is one that will elude him, but his appointment is certainly good for English cricket and that can only be good for World Cricket.
BARRACLOUGH WIN NO SURPRISE
AFTER four impressive rounds of golf, it was no surprise that Dylan Barraclough was named overall Stanthorpe Club champion and Junior club champion. The talented teen led from the opening round, increasing his overall lead with each round gradually taking an unassailable lead.
Richard Reardon was the Overall Nett winner.
Other grades were more closely contested affairs. Bill Pyne played well to hold off the opposition in the B Grade Championship and Lance Eagle did the same to claim the C Grade Championship.
Nett events were won by Stephen Kay in A grade, Eric McLellan in B grade and Viv Thouard in C grade. The last man standing award for best nett Veterans went to Aaron Simmers. The final trophy, boys’ Junior nett went to Matthew Burgess. Matthew played all four rounds of the competition and returned consistent scores in each round. With a little more experience, Matthew will be challenging the leader’s board.
In Saturday’s event, sponsored by club Member, Geoff Patti, Lance Eagle returned best score of nett 68 on a countback to win the men’s event. Mark Harris also returned nett 78 to take the runners-up spot.
The Ladies event went to Lyn Ludlow with nett 76 slightly ahead of runner-up Hannah Reeves with nett 78.
After four busy weeks of club championship golf this week, 4B aggregate stableford has been scheduled by the Stanthorpe Club and will be sponsored by the Spencer family.
A single stableford will be played with a draw for partners after the day’s play. This event has always created interest with everyone keen to learn the result of the draw. It is a shot gun start at 11.45am, and players are asked to register by 11.30am.
TREAT FOR MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIASTS
THERE is a real treat in store for Motorcycle racing enthusiasts next week.
Scott White competes in Australia’s premier drag racing series – the ANDRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championships and is currently ranked as the number two Australian Pro Stock Motorcycle Racer. On Wednesday (June 3) White, who hails from Darwin, will be making an appearance at Warwick Industrial Supplies in Warwick. White, who is enroute to the Winter Nationals at Willowbank, will have his Pro Stock motorbike on display at WIS, Fitzroy Street. White will be available for a chat and perhaps a photo between 10am and 3pm.
ZONE CHAMPIONSHIPS
ALL roads lead to Wallangarra Golf Club for the Zone On Men’s championships. The course is in tip top condition and the event is open to all members of Zone One clubs which includes Stanthorpe, Wallangarra, Texas, Inglewood and Warwick clubs. See the flyer on the club notice board.
Tee off is scheduled for 9.30am and 10.30am and further information is available from the Wallangarra Club.
TURKEY TRIPES POPULAR
THE Summit Bowls Club recently hosted the popular Turkey Triples day. The event always draws a good roll up and the overall winners were the popular local team of Ray (Postman) Spiller, Valda (Missile) Newlands and Eliseo (Zorro) Zamprogno. Second round winners were Don Lewis’s team.
Last Saturday in the Trophy Day, Two Bowl Triples the team of B. Brown, Val Newlands and Keith Mungall managed to hold out T. Morris, A. Mattiazzi and W. Thomas in a close game with the scores finishing 20-19. In other games, Attilio Zamprogno, Quentin Stanley and Mike Sweeney had no answers for Col Stratford, Kurt Empen and Len Covill who had a big 29-8 win. The winning card drawn for the winning team was skipped by Keith Mungall. A reminder that Ladies Bowls is on today (Thursday 28). There is a social game on Saturday and the Club Challenge on 27/28 June.
ALL HAPPENING ON COURSE
IT IS all happening on the Warwick Golf course at the moment. Take your pick – hole in ones, changes to RRR, 33 points winning a comp and the Warwick Pennants side almost upsetting Middle Ridge and City in the annual Golf in Australia Matchplay. You have to be on the ball to keep up.
The changed format for Red Roosters Rumble is proving popular – (it is now round Monday to Friday). Doug Wilson is showing a bit of RRR form taking out the prize for the second consecutive week. It took only 19 points to win the pro shop booty. Keith Carney was runner-up with 17 points and Garry Adcock was the only run down with 16 points. Doug Wilson also grabbed the only pin and that was at nine.
On Saturday, David Craggs (33 points) won the Men’s Single Stableford sponsored by B and K Motors on a countback from Greg Sellick Saturday’s Men’s Single Stableford event was sponsored by B and K Motors. The run down looked like this Tomkins 33, Nick Tomkins and Rick Mills 32, Phil Economidis 31, and Chris Hall 31. Pins were won by John Creed (7), Trevor King (9), Peter Morrison (11), and Greg Sellick (13). Five and 16 proved too elusive.
This Saturday is Teal Ribbon Day, and patrons are encouraged to donate to ovarian cancer research. Men are playing a single stableford event sponsored by Advanced Metal Products.
Sunday is a Four Ball Ambrose fund-raising event for Akooramak (care of older persons) facility. The timesheet is filling fast, so give the pro shop a call if you are intending to play. The crew at the Pro Shop can help you put a team together if need be. Call Rob or Astrid on 4661 3664 or email proshop@warwickgolfclub.com.au
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN IN ACTION
LAST Sunday Warwick’s magnificent Seven played the Golf in Australia Annual challenge. The historic 36 hole scratch Matchplay challenge is played between Warwick, Toowoomba (Middle Ridge), City and Borneo Barracks golf clubs. The best play off against the best. The magnificent drew the Ridge in the first round and after a valiant battle went down 4/3. Not bad considering the Ridge has just won both division One and Two of the Darling Downs pennants. (Plenty of quality scratch/low marker players to choose from).
Borneo beat City in the first round leaving Warwick to play City in the second round. This was another tough contest. Warwick eventually went down 4/3. Congratulations to Tim Sutton (captain), Adrian Murphy, Shane McKenzie, Charlie Morrison, Nathan Jones, Jay Roberts and Dylan Barraclough who all played exceptionally well.
Borneo and Ridge fought it out for the silver chalice. Ridge won the bragging and engraving rights.
INGLEWOOD TWO DAY PISTOL EVENT
THE Inglewood SSAA trial two day pistol event has been hailed a success with 28 competitors taking part over the two days. 25 metre standard Rimfire and Centrefire were held to allow competitors to shoot a different calibre/class over the one weekend.
Winners are grinners and Iain Bowen and Tom Donald were doing plenty of that.
In the Centrefire event, Iain Bowen defeated the experienced Tom Donald with Phil Neal placing third.
In the Rimfire event, experience came to the fore with Tom Donald taking out the major prize ahead of Andrew Clarke and Scott Johns.
With five Sundays in May, a working bee has been scheduled by the club for this weekend. However, there has already been plenty of work done in preparation. Corner posts have been erected for the new cover over the pistol bays and a dozer cleared firebreaks around the infrastructure. Still plenty to be done, and the club is hoping for plenty of support this weekend.
BIG NUMBERS FOR FRANK HODGSON MEMORIAL DAY
NUMBERS swelled at the “Garra Golf Club last Saturday as a big field turned out to play in the Single Stableford Frank Hodgson Memorial Day.
It is a popular day on the Wallangarra calendar and a fine score of 39 points was good enough for K. Williams to claim a win in the event. Chris Edwards finished in second place with P. Williams, K. Hines and A. Lutter all finishing on equal points in third place.
Sean Hampstead took the Pin shot on the third and Gary Sutcliffe hit one close on nine. It was another very successful day.
This Saturday the club has a 4BBB scheduled and on the club hosts the DDGA Zone 1 Championships with Tee off between 9.30am and 10.30am.
MONDAY’S OUT FOR HOOP RUNNERS
HOOP runners were planning to add a Monday afternoon time slot to their schedule, but at this stage a long standing club ruling prevents Monday games. It is back to normal Wednesday mornings until an alternative to Monday can be found. The organisers apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced by this.
Last Wednesday, two short games were played followed by a longer game after the break. As all players get more experience under their belt, the games are becoming very keenly fought affairs.
In his first game back from a break, Bill scored “hoop in one”. Shirley Evans also added another to her tally.
With several players off travelling at the moment, only two games of association croquet were played last week. Margaret Dickenson and Grace Howard played Pat Schnoor. Pat won this match 26 -17. Margaret had a break of five and one of four but that was not enough to give the girls a win. Pat played well and had breaks of nine and seven.
In the other game, Val Shephard and Carol Verwey (21) defeated Andrea Denkewitz and Heather Widderick (19). It was a very competitive game. Val played well and had a break of four and Carol two breaks of two and one of three. Andrea had a break of four and Heather a break of two.
MAUGERI TOO GOOD AT SPORTERS
A TURN out last Sunday at Stanthorpe Sporters where Angelo Maugeri proved too good coming away with a win. Runner-up was Owen McPaul with the run-downs going to Josh Anderson and Rod Pettiford who also had the Best Gross. The pin shot on the 12th went to Terry Byrnes and the 17th to No Won Kim. Paul Byrnes took the Pro Pin and a meat tray. Josh Anderson took home the remaining meat tray.
Same time tee-off next Sunday between 8.30am-9am.
Date claimers: Saturday 6 June is the Jeff and Biz Ihle day and Sunday 7 is the Central Motors Day, so no Sporters. Hope for great roll-ups on both days.
RAMS ON THE RISE
THE Wallangarra Rams continued their push in 2015 with a narrow win 32-28 win over Tenterfield last Saturday in the local derby.
The win was a shot in the arm to the Rams who are greatly improved this season. Roger Bartholomew scored a hat-trick for the Rams and was the best on ground.
Coedie Tandy continues to weave his magic for the Rams and always looks dangerous with the ball in hand, and is a great addition to the Rams team. The Rams led at half time and had to withstand a strong challenge from the Tigers who are ruing their missed opportunities. The Tigers led 28-16 with five minutes to go, but a late try to the Rams sealed the game in their favour. Captain coach Brendan Minns said after the game the Tigers ball control had not been as sharp as it should be and unforced errors were giving their opponents easy metres and opportunity. “We have the ability to put on points but are just making things difficult for ourselves,” Minns said.
The Tigers will be hoping to turn things around this weekend when they play Stanthorpe for the Patron’s Cup. The Rams go head to head with Killarney and they will be looking for another two points to improve their position.
LEAGUE TAG
IN the BRL Ladies League Tag competition, the Tenterfield Tigerettes once again showed they are head and shoulders above the competition with a decisive 28-6 win over the Ramettes. Killarney who were monstered last weekend by the Tigerettes are slowly finding their way in their first year of competition. It was a much-improved effort to get within two points of the Gremlinettes (16-14) in a thrilling game. It was another solid performance from the Stanthorpe girls who continue impress. Their big challenge comes this weekend when they meet the Tigerettes. Their previous clash was a low scoring game with just eight points the difference. Stanthorpe have improved since that game, and if there is a threat in the competition to the Tigerettes it will come from the Stanthorpe girls. Should be another entertaining game
SURGERY FOR GREMLIN
STANTHORPE Gremlin’s player Jason Cobon suffered a nasty ankle injury at Killarney last weekend and has undergone surgery to repair the damage. Cobon who had earlier scored for the Gremlins came out of a tackle in all sorts of trouble, and was in severe pain until the arrival of the ambulance.
The injury is a blow to Cobon and the Gremlins as he has been in good form again this season. It is unclear at this early stage if he will recover in time to return to the paddock this season.
Players and supporters wish him a speedy recovery.
COWBOYS CONTINUE TO IMPRESS
THE Warwick Cowboys A Grade made it back-to-back wins on Saturday with a 56-0 whitewash of the Oakey bears.
It was an outstanding performance from the Warwick side to hold the bears scoreless in the game and coach Matt Gainey was impressed with the Cowboys defence.
The win takes the Cowboys to 10 points on the TRL ladder just two points behind Highfields Wattles and Pittsworth. The Gatton Hawks are still making all the running at the top of the table on 16 points with eight wins from eight games this season.
The Cowboys made it a clean sweep on Saturday with wins in all four grades.
The Reserve Grade won 48-18; the Under 18s match was a closer game the result 28-22 and the C Grade had a 26-16 win.
This weekend the Cowboys will be looking to add another win when they host the Goondiwindi Boars on Saturday at Fr Ranger Oval.
WATTLES GUTSY WIN
IN A low scoring game at Highfields, Wattles turned on some spectacular defence to outmuscle the home side in a true arm wrestle. Wattles prevailed 12-6 in a thrilling game.
Highfields drew first blood in the game with a try in the opening quarter. Wattles Brodie Ciesolka scored both tries. His first was fine individual effort to get his side on the board in the first half. In the second half, he crossed for the winning try 16 minutes from full time to break the deadlock. Cameron Moodie had added the extras for both tries and Wattles defended their narrow lead until full time.
In other grades, Wattles defeated Highfields 23-16 in Reserve Grade but were soundly defeated in the Under 18s 58-24.
This weekend Wattles host Toowoomba Brothers in all four grades.
GREMLINS TAKE HOLD OF NO 1 SPOT
THE Stanthorpe Gremlins cemented their spot at the top of the BRL table last weekend with a tough win against premiers Killarney.
The Gremlins were without nine of their regular first grade players and it is a credit to the young players who stepped up to the mark last weekend.
The more senior players including Ben Staley and Jason Wilmot played a real leadership role in the win. It was a game of two halves.
Stanthorpe had the better performance in the first half and took a handy lead to break. Killarney played much better in the second half and a hat-trick of tries to Matthew Butler put them in a strong position and back into the game. A shoulder injury to the Killarney captain coach John Trindall was a setback for the home side. Dion Galloway has been in excellent form in recent games and once again was one of the best on the paddock for the Cutters.
A serious ankle injury to Gremlins Jason Cobon put a dampener on the win for the Gremlins who are now two points clear of Tenterfield at the top of the BRL ladder.
