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Raper recalls Bluebag
By Ray Chesterton, Daily Telegraph
January 09, 2008 12:00am
ANYONE familiar with Johnny Raper's sometimes waywardness won't be surprised to learn he took four decades to get back to his rugby league roots.
Even Odysseus got home quicker than that.
"There are a lot of memories here for me," Raper said. "This is where I got my grounding in rugby league."
Raper, 68, was among 90 of the faithful at Newtown Town Hall yesterday to acknowledge Newtown's longevity as the premiership's oldest surviving foundation club.
Not the first club, as Newtown cheekily insist they are. That honour most certainly belongs to Glebe.
But Newtown were among the 1908 foundation clubs and, with Glebe's demise in 1929, are the longest surviving club, even if they now play in second tier competitions.
Raper, better known for his association with St George and official status as an Immortal of the game, said Newtown had always been an emotional link in his career.
"I was born in Camperdown in Newtown territory and, under the old residential rule, that's where I played grade football," he said.
Raper was Newtown's first-grade second-rower at 17 with Peter Ryan as lock, the position Raper made his own at St George.
"Peter taught me a lot. Everyone at Newtown did," Raper said. "I was only 17 and in those days of no replacements you needed to learn in a hurry."
Newtown, originally the Bluebags because their jumpers were a similar colour to a commercial washing powder, became the Jets in 1973.
They won premierships in 1910, 1933 and 1943 and were shock grand finalists under coach Warren Ryan in 1981 but lost to the Jack Gibson-coached Parramatta.
Newtown featured in some of the game's iconic moments, including the only 1-0 scoreline in a match, against St George in 1973, when Ken Wilson's field goal booted them to victory.
Meanwhile, South Sydney have appointed New Zealand Testmen Roy Asotasi and David Kidwell as co-captains, Steve Mascord reports. Coach Jason Taylor's decision follows the loss of 2007 co-skipper Peter Cusack to Hull.
