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Final litter of the Bulldog academy |
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Aug 23, 2008 - 10:10 AM - by aj
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Source
The article below, believe it or not, comes from Josh Massoud.
Final litter of the Bulldog academy
THE door swings open before I climb the front steps. Mary Durose is waiting. A 70-year-old lady of amazingly strong proportions for her age, she collects me in her arms and plants a kiss on my cheek. We've never met before.
The warm greeting catches me unawares, but this is Mary's way. As she leads me inside we pass under a wall hanging that reads: Cead Mile Failte. That's Celtic for "100,000 Welcomes".
The Irish-born nurse specialises in welcomes. She and husband Peter have welcomed more than 250 strangers under their roof for the past 22 years. All the guests were young men forced away from their families, all of them were footballers, and all of them arrived with a dream of playing first grade at the Bulldogs.
I'm sitting in the lounge room of the Bulldog Academy in Belmore. The name is a misnomer because this place is actually two houses joined together to make one home, not some sterile-sounding rugby league institute. Seven Toyota Cup players sleep in the front dwelling, but they eat and drink with the Duroses out the back.
They also happen to be the final litter of Bulldogs pups that Mary and Peter will host. After two decades of service, it's time to move on. Thanks to seven mini-strokes and now diabetes, 67-year-old Peter is confined to a wheelchair. Mary lost her upper teeth to mouth cancer five years ago. She can no longer care for Peter and seven hungry footballers, whose appetites demand she cook from 5am everyday and tally a weekly food bill of $800.
It breaks their hearts. From across the room, Mary's alert blue eyes mist over as she names the players who have passed through this abode and previous ones the Leagues Club purchased to accommodate recruits from interstate and overseas. For starters there's Darren Smith, Jonathan Thurston, Willie Mason, Jamie Feeney, David Kidwell, Scott Hill, Issac Luke, Shane Martinee, Roy Asotasi . . . and Sonny Bill Williams.
"I've got them all written down in my book," Marys says. "If I had it I could tell you more, but I just can't remember everyone off the top of my head."
Unlike the rest of us, Mary knows them as people and not acclaimed footballers. For every SBW, there's 20 kids who didn't make it. But they are all equal in Mary's eyes because she took them in as no-names - starting off with Darren Ireland, Heath Cruickshank and Marty Crequer in 1986.
The trio were billeted to the Duroses' house, then in Kogarah. It was their idea. The couple were great mates of late Canterbury patriarch Peter "Bullfrog" Moore and they wanted to help.
"We used to eat up at the Leagues Club and the young players would just sit there looking at our food," Mary recalls.
"We'd ask them if they wanted anything to eat, but they'd refuse even though they were drooling. Back in those days they only got paid twice a year. They never had any money to buy dinner."
FFrom the moment Mary and Peter shouted them dinner, the couple's fate was sealed. The next thing they were cooking them dinner - slabs of chicken snitzel, Flintstone-sized legs of lamb, sackfuls of potatoes.
The ever-canny Moore seized on such hospitality. "He kept telling everyone that there's this nice Irish lady who loves to look after all the kids," Mary laughs.
"After a while we were getting too many for the house and we had to nag the Bulldogs into a buying a bigger place."
After much pleading, the club listened. It bought a handful of properties around Belmore Oval in 1994, including a two-bedroom residence occupied by the Duroses. The players lived in the other houses, but gathered at Mary and Peter's for breakfast and dinner each day.
"Peter furnished all the houses with stuff he collected from the street," Mary adds. "The club paid for the food and everything else, but when it came to furniture the Bullfrog would cry, 'No more expenses! No more expenses!"'
A couch that was actually purchased - albeit at a garage sale - still remains. More a tattered pile of cushions nowadays, it continues to serve its original purpose opposite the Playstation in the players' quarters out the front.
The Duroses moved here in 1997, when the club decided to shift everyone on to a single property. Mary is guarded about its location, given what might happen if the address fell into the wrong hands.
"There was one time when people discovered us and we had women hanging out the front at all hours," she says. "But thank God we've never had an incident. Not one.
"The closest we came was during Coffs Harbour (rape allegations) when we had someone try to retaliate, but got the wrong house.
"They graffitied the next door neighbour's fence."
There's been no trouble inside the house either. Not one player has been evicted for breaching a simple set of house rules the club stipulates: No women, no alcohol, and no caps at the dinner table.
"Gentleman don't wear caps in the house," Mary stresses. "It's only a little thing, but it's a mark of respect. These days, a lot of them are falling down because they don't have enough respect."
As she reminisces, Mary turns her head to the dining table. "If only that table could talk . . . the stories it could tell," she whispers.
She has enough yarns to fill every page of this newspaper, and I sit entranced by them all.
There's the one about the kid who had to be taught to use a knife and fork. The kid who refused to eat bananas. The kid who squandered his $15,000 Super League cheque the next day because he thought he could beat the taxman. The religious kid who said grace before meals and prayers at his bedside and now captains New Zealand.
And so life springs yet another surprise on Mary, Peter and their beloved Bulldogs. In three weeks they will be gone, lost to the club like the sizzling aroma of kebab skewers along Bulldog Alley on those famous multicultural days.
Bulldogs CEO Todd Greenberg says a new couple will replace them, but it still makes me sad. The Bullfrog called Canterbury the family club and he was right.
Mason, Williams, Corey Hughes, Steve Folkes, Belmore . . . all gone within a year.
Now Mary and Peter as well.
As I leave we pause to look at ceramic Bulldog signed by Steve Mortimer, its left hind leg snapped in two.
"I once told the Bullfrog we should call this place The Kennels," Mary says as she shows me out. "He replied, 'OK, we'll call it The Kennels . . . and you can be the old *****.
"Well, this old βitch is going now. This old βitch is going . . ."
Bulldogs Toyota Cup players eat dinner at the Rose
household in Belmore. (L to R); Lorenzo Maafu, Sam Aupouri,
Paki Afu, Watson Namoa, Daniel Harrison and Jeco Makatoa.
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13 Replies | 411 Views
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'Dogs out to restore pride against Eels |
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Aug 20, 2008 - 4:56 PM - by DogZZ_
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With the Sonny Bill Williams saga now well and truly over, Andrew Ryan said the Bulldogs could now get on with restoring some pride at the NRL club.
With three rounds remaining the Bulldogs sit just two points above the bottom of the ladder and - after five straight losses - are favourites to collect the wooden spoon.
They have conceded 184 points in the four matches since Williams walked out to play rugby union in France and could be forgiven for wanted the torrid season to end.
But Ryan said the Bulldogs were still determined to finish 2008 on a positive note, starting with Saturday's clash against Parramatta at ANZ Stadium.
"We're playing for everyone involved in the club - the playing staff, coaching staff and mainly our loyal supporters who continue to turn up each week," Ryan said on Wednesday at Westmead Children's Hospital for the launch of Saturday's 'Bandaged Bear Cup.'
"It doesn't matter where we play. Last week it was freezing out at Penrith and our fans were still there so hopefully we can give them a win."
The Williams saga finally ended on Monday when the Bulldogs accepted a $750,000 settlement to drop their legal case against the runaway backrower.
Ryan said the news didn't even rate a mention at training.
"For us, we've just moved on from it a few weeks ago so we just want to train and do our thing and that's all we'll worry about," Ryan said.
"It's all done with as far as I'm concerned.
Ryan said club had reason to be optimistic about the future and was already excited about 2009 when Kevin Moore takes over as coach.
The club has signed Brett Kimmorley, Michael Ennis, Ben Hannant, and Josh Morris for next season and Williams' departure has freed up funds for more additions.
"Obviously the guys coming in, there's some great signings there and we've got a lot of young kids coming in as well who are outstanding talents and we've seen a few of them in first grade this year," Ryan said.
"The future's looking good but for us the playing group and the coach we want to finish 2008 on a good note."
Greenberg admitted on Wednesday the timing of Williams' exit had come at a difficult time for recruitment but expected to announce more new faces before next season.
"Certainly there's not (many players) available now and there's certainly no other Sonny Bill Williams floating around," Greenberg said.
"But we'll be patient, you never know what's around the corner and you never know what might pop it's head up so we'll be patient and see what happens."
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5 Replies | 255 Views
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Bulldogs yapping at Boyd |
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Aug 19, 2008 - 7:43 AM - by MrCharisma
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The Sonny Bill Williams saga is set to produce a positive result for the Bulldogs after all - in the form of Queensland Origin representative Darius Boyd.
The Bulldogs, who yesterday completed the settlement over Williams' mid-season walk-out to French rugby, are now hot favourites in the race to sign the Brisbane star.
Having already signed St George Illawarra's Josh Morris as left centre next year, the Bulldogs hope Boyd will be able to fill the other centre position.
Boyd has been offered a two-year deal believed to be worth $280,000 a season, which is as much as $80,000 more than the Dragons have offered.
"The Dogs are prepared to pay overs on Boyd," a source close to the Bulldogs told the Illawarra Mercury.
"They've got the money available and they want to put the whole Sonny Bill affair behind them."
It is understood the Bulldogs considered making a play for Boyd earlier this season before opting to chase Morris instead.
However, since Williams sensationally left last month, the club was again in a position to tempt the 21-year-old star.
While Bulldogs recruitment manager Peter Mulholland would not confirm the price tag, he remained confident of bringing Boyd to the Dogs kennel.
"I don't think the offer is necessarily over the top," Mulholland said.
"Because we came into negotiations late in the piece, I think with each passing day we're more of a chance."
The negotiation has been delayed with Boyd's manager George Mimis being hospitalised, but Mulholland was hopeful he will sign with the Dogs by the end of the week.
With Broncos coach Wayne Bennett at the helm next year, the Dragons were close to signing Boyd, highlighted by the club dropping his name in a press release to announce the signing of Neville Costigan last week.
But that was before the Bulldogs tabled the bigger offer.
Boyd has an option to stay with Brisbane next season, but has been looking elsewhere after the Broncos signed Melbourne powerhouse Israel Folau.
The Bulldogs have already gained Brisbane prop Ben Hannant and hooker Michael Ennis for 2009.
Mulholland said Boyd's signing would be a welcome boost in the wake of the Sonny Bill issue.
"We just want to put the whole thing behind us and look forward," he said.
Illawarra Mercury
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34 Replies | 1,200 Views
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