IT’S often said a significant event, something so special it transcends the ordinary, can create friendships that last forever.
And that’s exactly what happened 52 years ago when a group of high school mates from Moree did something so out of the ordinary, their triumph against all odds is widely recognised as Moree’s greatest sporting achievement.
When Michael “Buster” Duke, Terry Quinn, John Brooks, Mike Hadfield, Bernie Briggs, Harry Allen, Peter Peachey, Greg King, Richard Brown, Stephen Dawson, Paul Peachey, Tony Dean, Peter Gillan, Stephen Jones, Gregg Humphries, John Brazier and Peter Butler were selected as Moree High School’s open-weight football team and given a shot at schoolboy rugby league’s holy grail – the coveted University Shield – it was considered an ambitious pipedream and eons away from reality.
But when this group of kids ranging in ages from 15 to 18 were put on the paddock, something special happened.
It all came together under the guidance of coach John McLean, and this determined group of boys destined to become lifelong blood-brothers achieved something most pundits thought impossible.
They started winning.
The team’s admission into Moree folklore began at Taylor Oval in early 1973 and was completed six memorable months later at Grahame Park in Gosford.
Moree High was one of 184 schools vying for 1973 University Shield honours.
It is a competition built on history, and acknowledged as the initial springboard to rugby league greatness.
Competing in the knock-out competition’s northern zone, Moree High began the season by giving Warialda a 48-6 drubbing.
They then annihilated Tenterfield 59-2 before giving Armidale a 20-6 shellacking.
In round four, the team delivered a 14-2 beating to Tamworth – coached at the time by Roy Masters – before outgunning Maitland, 27-5.
After soundly defeating Lismore 44-10, Moree went in to the northern zone semi-final against Newcastle Technical High at Tamworth’s Scully Park.
By this stage, a team once touted as a small fish in a big pond was a warm-blooded predator circling its prey.
Moree ran away with the semi-final 26-10, thus cementing a berth in the University Shield grand-final.
Not since the historic Shield was first decided in 1921 had a Moree team achieved so much, and never has anything like it been repeated.
Boys became men on August 18, 1973, when John McLean’s team turned around a 10-5 deficit at half-time to stage a remarkable second-half comeback and snatch the University Shield, 13-12.
Moree High School had defied the odds.
They were never supposed to win the game – it simply wasn’t in the script.
The 18-7 scrum count in favour of Forbes – it was seven-all at half-time – underscores Moree’s tenacity.
And it’s that one remarkable season of footy that bonded this group of boys forever.
There was less than 15 minutes to go in the game against Forbes High School, with Forbes leading 12-8.
Just when Moree looked beaten, winger Peter Peachey kicked ahead after a sweeping backline move presented a last-ditch opportunity for the boys from Moree High School.
John Brooks gathered in the ball, crashed through the Forbes defence to ground the ball 10 yards from the corner.
Forbes led 12-11 and only a successful conversion by replacement goal-kicker Bernie Briggs – just 15 at the time – would send the University Shield to Moree for the first time.
With 8000 spectators anxiously looking on, Bernie calmly executed the perfect conversion.
It was a long, curving ball that cambered at exactly the right moment – and one that took Moree to a 13-12 win and a permanent place in University Shield history.
Brooks said in an article written several years ago, the bond between the team was tight.
“There’s been a connection between all us boys since those days,” he said.
“Bernie was the one out of the box, though. He was the youngest in the team but he was always ‘the one’.
“He was the youngest but he was shortening up a lot of guys a lot better than what we were,” Brooks laughed.
“It’s interesting how we won all those games. Everybody did their own little thing and we all had a skill-set.
“We laugh about it, and talk about how it all worked and we’ve all had this connection ever since,” he said.
Moree Boars Rugby League Football Club will today remember the man who rewrote the record books in the 1970s and 1980s when Moree and Gunnedah Bulldogs vie for the Bernie Briggs Cup.
The big day of Group 4 round 9 rugby league at Boughton Oval features four grades – under-18s, reserve-grade, ladies tackle and first-grade.
To honour Bernie, universally known as “9”, limited edition Moree Boars #9 beanies in St George colours will be available on game day.
A full canteen and bar will operate.
Moree Boars Bernie Briggs Cup
When: Sunday, June 29
Where: Boughton Oval Moree
Times
Under-18s: 11.05am
Reserve-Grade: 12.20pm
Ladies Tackle: 1.30pm
First-Grade Bernie Briggs Cup: 3pm
