“Before I decided to switch from Souths to Easts, Senator Ron McAuliffe (chairman of the Queensland Rugby League) made a very attractive financial offer for me to come north,” he revealed. “But my wife did not want to move, so I went from one Sydney club to the one next door.” Mr Coote’s club career was dotted with Grand Final appearances, having played in nine premiership deciders in 11 seasons. He won six of them – four with the Rabbitohs and two with the Roosters. It was one of the two Grand Finals he lost – to the great St George team of 1965 – that still lingers strongly in his memory. “We were a very young team – averaging just 22 years of age if I recall – and had beaten
National Men of League President Ron Coote commanded compelling attention when he spoke at theJanuary Full Time Club get together on the Sunshine Coast. The biggest crowd since the Full TimeClub kicked off three years ago, 92 attended the function and members and their guests were treatedto a myriad of anecdotes from the former Rabbitohs and Roosters star.
Adding lustre to the event was the presence of Sunshine Coast MOL Patron Norm Provan, who shared the second row with Coote in Rugby League’s Team of the Century, named in 2008. Along with Jim Hall and Max Brown, Ron Coote is credited with sowing the seeds for the formation of the Men of League Foundation back in 2002. When visiting a relative in hospital on the south coast of NSW he was informed by nursing staff that one of his footballing idols as a kid, Doug McRitchie, was also in the hospital living virtually as a recluse. “And he wasn’t the only former player in that predicament,” Mr Coote said.
“This really struck a chord with me, and I thought it wasn’t right. A few of us got together, called a meeting and the rest is history.”
With headquarters based in Sydney, the Men of League organisation now has almost 13,000 members across 16 branches throughout NSW and Queensland, as well as governing bodies in both states. In the past month two new branches have been launched in Cairns and Darwin. In an outstanding career, Ron Coote played 257 first grade matches for Souths and Easts between 1964 and 1978, 15 interstate games for NSW and 15 Tests for Australia. However, he told the gathering at Mooloolaba Surf Club that some of those interstate games may well have been for Queensland had his wife been conciliatory.
Saints twice that season, so we went in to the grand final feeling reasonably confident,” he said. “But they were a machine, and even though the score was 12-8, Saints were much more dominant than that. As a young team we learned a lot that day.”
He also conceded that the 1969 Grand Final upset, when the 3-1 on Rabbitohs were beaten by Balmain, may well have been a result of complacency. Although he praised the Tigers for their match winning tactics, he told how one Souths forward had seen the JJ Giltinan Shield on display outside the SCG change rooms and suggested it was a waste of time playing the game, and that the players should head off to the nearest pub.
As an exemplary Ambassador for Rugby League – now and during his playing days – Mr Coote
openly expressed his displeasure at the incursion of AFL in to the Western Suburbs of Sydney. He was particularly critical of the conceit of AFL coach Kevin Sheedy. “The pure arrogance of the man this past week when he said he did not know who Nathan Hindmarsh was,” he said. “Does he not realise there are more Junior Rugby League players in Melbourne than there are junior AFL players in Sydney?”
Although conceding the Game had changed markedly since he played, Ron Coote still loves the Rugby League product. However he called on coaches to stop being selfish and seeking rule changes for their benefit.
The next Sunshine Coast Full Time Club get together will be on Thursday, April 11, from 5pm to 7pm, again at Mooloolaba Surf Club. Cost is $20 per head and bookings should be made with Tegan Meyers tegan@menofleague.com.au