Shoalhaven Rugby Football Club faced a year of decision in 1975 when it was again resolved to nominate a First Grade side & this was done along with a Second Grade side only.

The Firsts were coached by former New Zealander Bob Hammond who had joined the Club the previous year and Seconds by Dave Stock, a man of many talents. In the first half of the season First Grade won four out of the first six games and drew another. However loss of key players to injury including virtually all of the backline’s leading players such as Bill Ellison, Peter Phelps and Graeme Watson made winning very difficult. Watson was the first “import” who had been specifically recruited to play for the club and came from the Southland Province in NZ. At one stage only one original member of the backline & three forwards who had been first choice at the beginning of the year was available. As a consequence the Second Grade team was never able to field the same side two weeks running but players like Ian Hutchinson, Pat Muller and John Ryan put their all into the games, Ryan travelling from Henty each weekend to play.
First Grade captain Mal Sconce was selected in the Illawarra side for Country Week, making him the third Shoalhaven player to gain that honour. Interesting to note that same year Kiama Rugby had nine Illawarra reps including one Wallaby, Geoff Shaw (who would captain the Wallabies) and two other players, Gary Grey & Brian Weir, who would also become Wallabies.

The Club may not have had a notable season on the field but it was functioning well with concentrated efforts for fundraising and specialist committees to oversee aspects of the club’s activities. It may seem somewhat quaint in these days but raffles at local hotels ie the Bridge or the Nowra on Friday nights, selling raffle tickets in Junction St on Saturday mornings, 100 clubs, after match functions and refreshments sold at home games at Lyrebird Park all helped defray increasing costs such as ground hire, jerseys etc.

The players bought their own shorts- WHITE of course. Team managers had been introduced and all did an invaluable task that was often thankless. It seemed that all Club members, from President Tim Johnston down were somehow directly involved. Ask some of the ladies from that era what sublime joy they experienced when two sets of wet & muddy jerseys were brought home “just to be washed-dear”. The Club finished the year with $1919.98 in the bank.

Lyrebird Park was a reasonably decent ground having a bank on the western sideline where the spectators would gather. It was on this sideline that at one game a group of SRFC supporters had decided that the referee Leuan Lewis, a British naval officer based at Albatross, was incompetent, blind, didn’t know the rules, should go home (to England), and that his parents weren’t married when he was born. In a magnificent display of “Joe Cool” he halted play, walked to the sideline in front of his detractors and threw his whistle into their midst and said quite forcibly “would any of you like to take over?” An immediate and utter silence fell over the crowd and after what seemed like an eternity referee Lewis reached into his pocket, withdrew another whistle, blew time on and got on with the game. Bugger all heckling followed.
In those days half time saw the team manager saunter onto the field with a bag of cut up oranges and a bucket of water and a sponge to revive his team. The same bucket (& usually water) and sponge was also used to administer first aid to injured players. A very few opposition sides used to slip in a bottle of sherry to aid in recovery. The first couple of scrums after half time were interesting as was the dash shown by normally docile backs.

The Club undertook quite a big step for a young club when at the end of the 1975 season an overseas trip to Paeroa, Nowra’s twin town in NZ. The touring party consisted of players (in white shorts), a few “heavies” and a couple of in-betweens. Although beaten in the couple of games played the trip was considered a great success. Many instances and great characters including “The Sherriff” and “Maori Bob” were fondly remembered and later discussed. The highlight on the field was surely the try set up by a basketball pass by Ralph Cook to enable Greg Horton to score one of the few tries on New Zealand soil.
Strict regulations as to “what goes on tour stays on tour” prevent further discussion. However it can be revealed that one tourist was told that he “wasn’t sixuuully attractive” and that a certain Sydney rugby league first grader is still wondering about those strange faces looking at him across several bowling greens in Rotorua. Probably still there trying to work it out. All who were supposed to return home did so although it has been suggested that some were issued with NTA’s (never to tour again) by wives, partners, Mums etc.

One of the Club committee members Alan Colman lived behind Lyrebird Park and it was at his home that the after match bbqs were held at what became known as “the Pit”. It was an ideal spot for such functions and soon gained a reputation as the place to be after a home game. It is said that other teams were heard to complain that Shoalhaven must train for the “boat races” as they were rarely beaten at the “pit”. Perhaps a ring of truth to it but it may have been Shoalhaven player Ian Perkins playing his bagpipes that spurred on the locals.

Club Secretary John Phelps began writing his weekly newspaper column “Around the Rugby Rucks” under the by-line “Slaggie”. It immediately caught on as it was always interesting and quite often controversial and on occasion he was roundly criticised in the letters to the editor pages. John wasn’t afraid to take the Club to task and certainly wasn’t backward in exploring obvious deficiencies in similar codes. Being a solicitor, John or “Rivers” as he was known in Shoalhaven rugby circles, had a way with words and certainly knew how to keep people talking about rugby. His impact on the early years of SRFC was huge.